Vietnam Morning Monitor: Australian man jailed for attacking wife in Hanoi, iPhone Duo deposit quotas fill within minutes

| SOCIETY 

-- The Hanoi People’s Court on Friday sentenced an Australian national to 13 years in prison for murder after he attacked his wife during an argument at their home on April 19, 2025, news site Vietnamplus reported.

At around 6:45 pm that day, the couple were sitting on a bed when the man read his wife’s messages with several other men. During the ensuing argument, the couple scuffled and injured each other. The Australian man then struck his wife with a cylindrical metal bar, causing her to collapse with heavy bleeding from her head.

She survived thanks to timely emergency care but suffered injuries resulting in a 59-percent impairment of her health.

-- A chain collision involving two trucks, four cars and a passenger bus occurred on the Hanoi–Bac Giang road, a major gateway to Hanoi, on Friday afternoon, damaging the vehicles but causing no injuries, according to the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security.

Drivers who cause traffic accidents by tailgating face a fine of VND20-22 million (US$773-851) and lose 10 points from their driver's licenses.

-- Three students at a middle school in Ho Chi Minh City have contracted meningococcal disease caused by serogroup B bacteria, with one dying and two receiving treatment.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said on Friday that it had urgently directed relevant units to step up surveillance, epidemiological investigations, preventive measures and efforts to control the risk of further transmission.

-- Thirty entities are eligible to distribute films online in Vietnam, including familiar names such as VieON, FPT, iQIYI, Viettel, Netflix, Galaxy and Yeah1.

The Vietnam Cinema Department will review and take action against individuals, agencies, organizations and other entities not on the above list that classify and distribute or post films online without authorization, director of the department told Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper.

-- Search and recovery efforts for fallen soldiers’ remains continued at Le Thi Rieng Park in Ho Chi Minh City after a memorial, tribute and burial ceremony for 731 Vietnamese soldiers who died during the 1968 Tet Offensive on Wednesday, with another 12 sets of remains found on Friday.

-- Dong Nai City in southern Vietnam has put 762 cameras, including 250 AI-powered units, into operation to monitor traffic and issue fines for violators of traffic regulations.

The camera system operates around the clock, helping authorities proactively detect violations and improve objectivity and transparency in enforcement, according to the municipal traffic police.

| ECONOMY

-- Authorized Apple distributors in Vietnam officially began accepting pre-orders for the iPhone Duo on Friday evening. Within minutes, several retailers, including TopZone and CellphoneS, announced that their pre-order deposit quotas had been filled, Vietnamplus reported. 

A CellphoneS representative said the chain began accepting deposits for the iPhone Duo at 7:00 pm on Friday, with the pre-order period running through October 22. The chain has received nearly 20,000 pre-orders for the iPhone Duo. As Apple’s first foldable phone, customers need to place a deposit of VND30 million ($1,159) to secure a unit in the initial delivery batches.

-- Da Nang City is piloting sandbox solutions for crypto-assets to make payments easier for international tourists, promote innovation and develop the digital economy, a local official said at a seminar on Friday.

He added that tourism holds significant potential for digital-asset solutions, given international tourists’ strong demand for payment options. If properly implemented, the technology could make transactions more convenient, ease the process of exchanging foreign currencies and broaden access to tourism services.

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