Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News - May 31

Check out the latest news in Vietnam today:

Economy

-- The State Bank of Vietnam's Inspectorate confirmed on Friday it had fined SJC, the country’s largest gold trading firm, VND2.14 billion (US$82,000) after an inspection revealed multiple violations related to gold pricing, anti-money laundering, and tax compliance.

-- Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of Vietnam’s leading private conglomerate Vingroup, has registered to transfer more than 48 million VIC shares—worth nearly VND4.8 trillion ($185 million)—as capital contribution to VinSpeed High-Speed Rail Investment and Development JSC, a newly established company bidding to develop the country’s North-South high-speed railway project.

Society

-- Vietnam’s Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan has praised the medical teams from Children's Hospital 1 and Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for successfully performing a complex fetal cardiac intervention on a 25-week pregnant woman from Singapore on May 28.

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has issued Directive No. 78, calling for urgent action to streamline and simplify administrative procedures in the construction sector, with a goal to cut at least 30 percent of processing time and compliance costs by 2025.

-- A sacred relic of the Buddha arrived in Da Nang City, central Vietnam on a private jet on Friday afternoon and was ceremonially escorted through the city before being enshrined at Quan The Am Pagoda in Ngu Hanh Son District for public veneration until Monday next week.

-- The Ministry of Health on Friday asked the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health to report on a medical incident involving breast augmentation and arm liposuction at the Paris Dentomaxillofacial Aesthetic Hospital that led to the death of a 32-year-old woman a few days ago.

-- Professor Vo Thanh Nhan, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Interventional Cardiology Society, reported at the EuroPCR 2025 cardiovascular conference held from May 20-23 in Paris that heart disease—especially coronary artery disease—continues to be the leading cause of death in Vietnam, with an estimated 200,000 deaths annually.

Travel

-- The Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line in Hanoi experienced a technical failure at around 5:30 pm on Friday, temporarily preventing passengers from disembarking at the final station, Cat Linh. The issue was resolved within approximately 25 minutes.

World News

-- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he planned to increase tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum to 50 percent from 25 percent, ratcheting up pressure on global steel producers and deepening his trade war, according to Reuters.

-- President Donald Trump will maintain the traditional role of a U.S. general at the helm of NATO, at least for now, three U.S. officials, a Western official and a NATO source said, even as Washington pushes European allies to take more responsibility for their security, Reuters reported.