Vietnam ethanol plant to be merged with oil refinery to cut costs

The Dung Quat Bio-Ethanol plant in the central province of Quang Ngai Vietnam’s only remaining ethanol plant will be merged with the oil refinery at Dung Quat as a cost-cutting measure at a time of low demand. BSR, a PetroVietnam subsidiary that owns the Dung Quat oil refinery, and Petrosetco, another subsidiary that owns the Dung Quat Bio-Ethanol, are wrapping up procedures for the merger. The ethanol plant, which has a capacity of 330 tons per day, has been on a trial run since the start of last year. The US$80-million plant, while awaiting the country’s switch to biofuels by 2015, has been exporting most of its output.  News website VnExpress quoted BSR chairman Nguyen Hoai Giang as saying...

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Posted in: Business,Vietnam

Let the online buyer beware

Vietnamese law struggles to keep pace with the boom in online shopping A man browses for cell phones online. The rapid development of Vietnam’s e-commerce industry has led an increase in fraud, while a new government decree lacks punitive measures. Photo: Diep Duc Minh Tran Minh Tan was delighted to find a used Sony Vaio laptop for just VND5 million (US$236) online. The computer technician from Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap District transferred money to the seller’s account and was promised he would receive the computer within two days. “It wasn’t until the fourth day that I realized I’d been cheated,” he said, adding that he found the laptop on a popular IT site. Similar instances of fraud are becoming more...

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Posted in: Business,Vietnam

US House votes to continue NSA's phone surveillance

The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to continue collecting data on US phone calls, in the first legislative move on the programme. In a 205-217 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency's (NSA) ability to collect electronic information. The NSA's chief had lobbied strongly against the proposed measure. The vote saw an unusual coalition of conservatives and liberal Democrats join forces against the programme. Republican Justin Amash attached the amendment to a defence spending bill The details of the NSA dragnet were made public by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for America's electronic spying agency. He is now a fugitive, seeking asylum in Moscow. ...

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Posted in: Society,USA

China charges disgraced politician Bo Xilai

Mr Bo was removed from his post in March 2012 China has charged disgraced politician Bo Xilai with bribery, corruption and abuse of power, state media say. Bo Xilai, formerly the Communist Party chief of Chongqing, was expelled from the party after a scandal surrounding the murder of a British businessman. His wife Gu Kailai was jailed in August for the killing of the Briton, Neil Heywood. Mr Bo was charged by prosecutors on Thursday in Jinan in Shandong province, state media said. The scandal was one of the biggest to rock China in years. Source: bbc ...

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Posted in: China,Society