🇻🇳Week of October 19

Police in Hanoi have prosecuted a 12th-grade male student for assaulting a female teacher, leaving her with a broken nasal bone. Accounts describe the injury as a fracture of the right nasal wing. The case has drawn attention to violence against teachers in the classroom.123

Hanoi's Department of Education and Training visited and encouraged the teacher who was attacked, according to VietnamNet. The department's move followed the assault and the decision to prosecute the student.4

VIETTIMES published commentary arguing that the classroom podium should not become a place where teachers are made to suffer harm, framing the assault as part of a wider problem in school discipline.5

Four inmates escaped from Trại giam A2, a prison run by the Ministry of Public Security in Khánh Hòa province. Police are hunting the four, and two of them are described as especially dangerous.123

Authorities have opened a criminal case and issued special wanted notices for all four escapees. The prison break is being handled as an urgent manhunt, with identifying details of the four published.456

One of the fugitives has a record of stabbing two police officers, and another is serving time for murder. Three of the four were serving 20-year sentences.7689

Iran has called on the United States to accept its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a step that would follow a period of direct military exchanges between the two countries. Washington and Tehran have been negotiating over Hormuz and the nuclear issue, and the US has set conditions for easing sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian funds.12

President Donald Trump rejected the Iranian proposal, according to Báo và phát thanh, truyền hình Quảng Trị, which described him pouring cold water on the plan. VietnamNet reported that the US rejected Iran's proposal, while Báo Hànộimới said Iran is now reviewing the American response to its Hormuz reopening plan.345

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a new statement on the country's missile and drone capabilities, and Iran said it shot down a 54th US MQ-9 Reaper drone. Iran also warned it would attack undersea internet cables in Hormuz, a threat Laodong.vn said carries the risk of global internet disruption.678

Iran's supreme leader's position on reopening the strait is in question, with Tuổi Trẻ asking whether he backs the plan. Thanh Niên reported Iran warning it will be 'stronger than ever' if conflict with the US resumes, and Dân Trí reported Iran disclosing new attack targets in the conflict.91011

Yemen accused the Houthis of attacking a training camp, killing 58 people. The Houthis fired three missiles at the camp in Yemen and also struck Saudi Arabia, according to accounts carried by Vietnamese outlets.123

Saudi Arabia closed a landmark building during a wave of Houthi attacks, and two pilots were killed. Egypt declared its support for Saudi Arabia in its confrontation with the Houthi force.453

Saudi Arabia accused Iran of supplying weapons to the Houthis as fighting continued in Yemen. A separate account put the toll from the Houthi strike on a military base in Yemen at more than 50 dead, while other reports said at least 58 were killed.678

Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm witnessed the handover of cooperation documents between Vietnam and Denmark, and the two countries upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The agreements span energy, logistics and technology.1234

Tô Lâm met leaders of a group of prominent Danish businesses during the visit. State and centrist outlets carried the same account of the meeting and the document signing.5678

Vietnam said it is ready to work with Denmark to create new models of cooperation. The statement was carried by state media alongside reports of the business meeting.96

Tô Lâm's spouse presented a "Vietnam Bookshelf" to a library in Copenhagen. The gift was reported alongside the bilateral meetings.4

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Hanoi have been chosen to pilot the construction of job positions (vi tri viec lam) as the basis for a salary reform, with the ministry also reviewing job positions and preparing a staffing plan for 2027-2031. A deputy prime minister said existing payroll numbers must not be used as the basis for defining job positions.1234

The staffing proposal for 2027-2031 is to be completed in December, and payroll will be trimmed in cases of surplus that cannot be reassigned after the job-position review. The salary reform project is expected to be submitted to the Party Central Committee in March 2027.567

The new salary structure is to be set so that no one receives less than their current entitlement, and allowances for commune-level officials and civil servants are to rise. The government is concentrating on drafting the salary and social insurance reform project.89

Nine major Vietnamese banks — Agribank, Vietcombank, BIDV, MB, ACB, Sacombank, LPBank, VietBank and Nam A Bank — announced simultaneous cuts to their lending rates. The reductions were reported on Monday, with several outlets later describing preferential rates of up to 2 percent a year.123

The cuts followed a meeting between bank executives and the State Bank of Vietnam governor, after which bank leaders committed to lowering lending rates. The governor said the reduction should also be considered for existing loans, not only new ones.45

VietinBank set out measures cutting lending rates by up to 2 percent a year, and SHB announced a reduction of up to 2 percent a year alongside a new credit package starting at 5 percent a year. A bank was cited offering loans at 7 percent.678

The general director of Nam A Bank described the central bank's demand to lower the rate level as an important message from the State Bank of Vietnam about market discipline.9

Banks will not compete to raise deposit rates to attract money, according to VietnamNet, as lenders move to bring down borrowing costs across the sector.8

Hanoi police are verifying a suspected chemical leak in the city that sent 40 people to hospital for examination, according to VietNamNet and VnExpress. Hanoi police said the leak involved chlorine gas and left 40 people poisoned by the fumes.123

Dân Trí reported that hospitals mobilized all resources to treat the 40 gas-poisoning victims. Lao Dong reported that two patients were in critical condition, and put the number of people with suspected chlorine poisoning at 42.45

Attributed claim: The accounts differ on the count: VietNamNet, VnExpress, Tin tức 24h and Dân Trí reported 40 people taken to hospital for checks, while Lao Dong put the figure at 42 people with suspected chlorine poisoning and said two patients were in critical condition.12345

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a three-way meeting with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Reports of the proposal circulated on Monday, with Vietnamese outlets relaying the American press account that Putin wants a summit with the US and Chinese leaders on Ukraine.1234

The proposal was reported again on Thursday, when coverage described it as a floating or unconfirmed plan for a trilateral summit between Russia, the US and China on Ukraine. One account said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited to the three-way meeting.567

The Kremlin said a US-Russia-China summit could take place on the sidelines of APEC in November.8

Zelensky held a phone call with a US special envoy at a time of disagreement with Trump.9

Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russia, firing more than 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles, according to reports on Thursday. The strikes set oil facilities and energy infrastructure alight, including the oil port of St. Petersburg, where a fuel depot burned.1234

The same week, Russian forces struck Kyiv, and reporting described Patriot air defenses as silent during the attack on the capital. Accounts also described Russia firing an unusual weapon at Kyiv with shockwaves spreading widely, and President Vladimir Putin appearing in rare images.56

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said US intelligence sharing to Ukraine had again been cut. Dân Trí raised the question of whether Russia is changing its position in peace negotiations over Ukraine.78