Children from the south-central province of Ninh Thuan voiced their hopes and concerns about school and family life during a public forum attended by provincial authorities. “Our school has only one run-down toilet that accommodates more than 700 pupils. We wish that our school would have more toilets and the existing one would be improved.” “We love going to school but our parents often order us to go farm or graze cows. Do you have any way to persuade our parents to let us go to school regularly?” “We want our parents to stop quarreling and fighting. We also want them to care more about our studies.”

Vietnam’s universities have dipped to a regional low due to poor hiring practices, cronyism, and low professor salaries and research funding, Professor Ngo Bao Chau said during a recent conference in Ho Chi Minh City. The highly-decorated mathematic genius, who is a recipient of the Field Medal which is considered the Nobel prize of mathematics in 2010, said the protocols for building faculties and promoting research in Vietnam run contrary to international best practices. Schools in Vietnam focus on bringing their own graduates back to lecture, while western countries seek new blood, said the French-Vietnamese professor who currently teaches at the University of Chicago.

A customs official and his family allegedly looted a Vietnam Airlines plane on Wednesday only to forget a bag containing life jackets and food trays at the airport. Tan Son Nhat Airport security found a bag containing a laptop, the jackets and trays abandoned outside the terminal near a taxi queue, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.

The fourth suspect and alleged mastermind of a brutal daylight street slaying in Hanoi on Tuesday was arrested, police said on Thursday morning. Police arrested Nguyen Quoc Van the day after his three accomplices were arrested for allegedly killing Kieu Ngoc Thanh, a 55-year old businessman on a crowded street of Hanoi on the morning of August 5.