Vietnam | Pakistan

Rescuers raced to find more than a dozen people still missing on Saturday after a week of heavy flooding in Vietnam, where authorities said at least 55 people have died. Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding. Whole city blocks were inundated this week in coastal Nha Trang, while deadly landslides struck highland passes around the Da Lat tourist hub. At least 55 people have been killed across six provinces since Sunday, while the search continues for 13 others, the environment ministry said in a statement released on Saturday. Mountainous Dak Lak province was the hardest hit, with more than two dozen fatalities, it said. Rescuers were still plucking people from treetops and the roofs of homes as floodwaters receded there on Friday, state media reported. Multiple highways remained impassable Saturday and 300,000 people were without power, after a blackout that initially affected more than a million, the en...

Vietnam closed airports and evacuated thousands of people in areas under storm threat on Sunday, as intensifying Typhoon Bualoi barrelled towards the country, days after causing at least 10 deaths and widespread flooding in the Philippines. The typhoon was generating winds of up to 133 km/h (83 mph) as of 1000 GMT (3pm PKT) and is forecast to make landfall in central Vietnam around 0100 on Monday, slowing as it nears the coast, state-run Thanh Nien newspaper reported. “This is a rapidly moving storm - nearly twice the average speed - with strong intensity and a broad area of impact,” the national weather forecast agency said. “It is capable of triggering multiple natural disasters simultaneously, including powerful winds, heavy rainfall, flooding, flash floods, landslides, and coastal inundation.” Northern and central provinces may see up to 600 mm of rain through October 1, with rivers rising by 9 meters and risks of flooding and landslides, it said. Authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh have starte...

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Israel’s far-right finance minister has demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrap his plan to seize Gaza City in favour of a tougher one, while Italy said on Sunday the plan could result in a “Vietnam” for Israel’s army. Netanyahu’s security cabinet, of which the minister, Bezalel Smotrich, is a member, approved the plan by […]

At least nine people, including children, were killed in central Vietnam when a bus crashed early on Friday, the government said. The accident, which took place at 1:45am in the central province of Ha Tinh, left another 16 injured, the government said in a statement. Traffic accidents are common in Vietnam, with road crashes killing 5,024 people in the first half of this year, down from 5,343 in the same period of 2024, according to data from the government’s National Statistics Office. The government report said the bus was en route from the capital Hanoi to Danang when it veered off the road and hit traffic signposts before rolling over. All of the injured have been hospitalised with multiple injuries, the government said, adding that the dead are aged between four and 49.

Pakistan and Vietnam have agreed to expand cooperation in the Halal seafood industry, signaling a new chapter in bilateral trade relations between the two countries.