Bitter cold to linger on in northern region for another week

The northern and north-central regions will go through another bitter cold week which is likely to stay on until February 20, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Scattered rains and showers are expected across the north throughout the next week, with fog forecast at nights and in early mornings.

Hanoi will see torrential rains and thunderstorm over the next three days, but it will be warmer with the sun shining from February 17.

Meanwhile, it will be sunny in the south-central, Central Highlands and southern regions, with showers and thunderstorms expected in the evening and at night, during the period.

Vietnam records nearly 1,400 cyber attacks in January

Vietnam posted 1,383 cyber attacks in the first month of 2022, an increase of 10.29 percent from December 2021, according to the Vietnam National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Statistics showed an increasing trend of cyber attack incidents on information systems in Vietnam in the context of agencies and units strongly promoting digital transformation.

In 2021, the Authority of Information Security recorded, issued warning about, and guided the handling of more than 9,700 attacks on the cyberspace, an increase of 42.42 percent against the previous year.

Last year, attackers took advantage of the COVID-19 epidemic to spread fake news and create more forms of phishing attacks to steal money. The leaking of personal information was also common.

Party leader’s book on Doi moi path published in Spanish language

A two-volume book titled “Vung buoc tren con duong doi moi” (Firm steps on the path of Doi moi), which includes articles and speeches of, and interviews with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, has come out in the Spanish language.

The 1,500-page original, published by the Party's Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper and the Truth National Political Publishing House in December 2017, focuses on Vietnam’s efforts to comprehensively promote socialist-oriented Doi moi (renewal) process and Party building and rectification; improve the effectiveness of the political system and the strength of the great national solidarity; proactively and actively foster international integration and cooperation; and realise the goals of building a society of wealthy people, strong country, democracy, justice and civilisation. The book has been exhibited at many domestic and international events.

Released in December last year with 1,000 copies, the Spanish version is one of the outcomes of a project on promoting Vietnam's relations with nations in Latin America in 2017-2021, thus helping Cuban readers and those in the region have a better understanding of Vietnam’s renewal policies and development orientations.

US newspaper honours Dong Ho traditional folk paintings

News website Business Insider of the United States has released a video reporting on Dong Ho, a traditional Vietnamese folk art.

Titled “How family kept a centuries – old Vietnamese painting alive?”, the video has attracted 100,000 views since its initial release on February 5.

It tells the story of the history of Dong Ho paintings in the northern province of Bac Ninh, along with the people who are still making art this way in Dong Ho village.

Suspected Vietnamese people smuggler arrested and charged in the UK

Mai Van Nguyen, an alleged high-ranking member of a Vietnamese people smuggling network, has been arrested and charged in the UK.

The 32-year-old from Holloway Circus, Birmingham was detained in an operation in the Woolton area of Liverpool on Tuesday morning by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

He has appeared in court accused of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering. Nguyen was remanded in custody until a later date.

The arrest is the most recent phase of an investigation into the smuggling of mainly Vietnamese migrants into the UK in the backs of lorries in August, September and October 2020. The operation has already seen a number of others arrested and two men charged, including one other from Birmingham.

Mekong Delta region forecast to suffer highest salinity level in February, March

The Mekong Delta region is forecast to suffer more severe saltwater intrusion than the average in many years from the start of February, but not as hard as the 2019-2020 dry season, according to Phung Tien Dung, head of the Hydrological Forecasting Department for the Central, Central Highlands and Southern Regions under the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

The highest salinity level is expected to be in February and March in Mekong River estuary and in March and April in Vam Co and Cai Lon rivers, he said, adding the situation will depend much on the water flows from upstream on the Mekong River and tides, with changes expected in the coming times.

The official warned that the situation will change greatly in the time to come, advising regional localities to keep updated on hydro-meteorology forecasts and actively carry out measures to ease saltwater intrusion.

Vietnam Railway offers up to 50 percent discount to students after Tet

The Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) will reduce train ticket price for university students returning to school after a long period of online learning due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

In addition to the promotional programme applied to all passengers from February 9, students will receive an additional 20 percent discount on fares. Thus, the train ticket price for students will be cut by between 30 and 50 percent.

The programme, which aims at facilitating the students’ traveling, will last until February 28.

Algeria hopes for stronger economic partnership with Vietnam: Ambassador

Algeria hopes to further bolster its economic partnership with Vietnam to match the sound political ties between the two countries, according to Algerian Ambassador to Vietnam Boubazine Abdelhamid.

The diplomat held that bilateral trade has remained modest at 231 million USD in 2021, down from 360 million USD in the previous year due to COVID-19 impacts.

In terms of investment, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) is currently the only Vietnamese investor in Algeria, he said, stressing the need to further expand economic and trade collaboration between the two countries.

Vietnam and Algeria will celebrate the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year, which is a good chance for both sides to specify their cooperation agreements, contributing to reinforcing and developing the bilateral relations, he said.

Regarding cooperation priorities in 2022, the diplomat said that the two sides will organise the 12th meeting of the Algeria-Vietnam Cooperation Committee and the Algerian Culture Week in Vietnam this year.

Prime Minister meets Vietnamese women’s football team

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on February 10 met members of the Vietnamese national women’s football team who returned home earlier the same day after earning a berth at the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time and finishing fifth at the recently-concluded 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup.

The PM called the footballers “diamond girls” and Mai Duc Chung a “diamond coach”, saying they showed talents, intelligence, will and mettle of Vietnamese people, and overcome hardships to bring home victories, contributing to the Vietnamese football.

Chinh affirmed that their achievement reflects firm development steps of Vietnamese women’s football, and expressed his hope for more support for women’s football.

He asked competent agencies, particularly the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, to further review, build and consolidate suitable, synchronous policies to promote football and women’s football in particular.

Vietnam, RoK Foreign Ministers talk ways to advance partnership

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his Republic of Korea (RoK) counterpart Chung Eui-yong had in-depth discussions on measures to advance the Vietnam-RoK strategic cooperative partnership to a new high during their talks in Seoul on February 10.

They agreed on major cooperation activities in 2022, including the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties, the upgrading of the relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the organisation of visits and meetings between senior leaders of the two countries, and the implementation of the existing cooperation mechanisms to bring about pragmatic interests to both sides.

Chung stressed the significance of Son’s official visit to the RoK, which, he said, opens up activities marking the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations, and offers an opportunity for the two sides to look into orientations to deepen the relationship.

For his part, Son affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance and wishes to boost cooperation with the RoK intensively and extensively, and suggested the two countries further utilise the existing cooperation mechanisms in diplomacy, national defence and security.

At the same time, the two sides should work to improve the efficiency of collaboration in economy, trade and investment, striving to raise the two-way trade to 100 billion USD by 2023 and 150 billion USD by 2030, he said.

The RoK’s Foreign Ministry will continue close coordination with its Vietnamese counterpart and other relevant ministries to practically contribute to boosting the strategic cooperative partnership in the coming time.

Construction of HCM City's Metro Line No.1 sped up for commercial operation by 2023

The Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) together with contractors and consultation units will make utmost efforts to complete and put the Metro Line No.1 (Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien) into operation in 2023 as scheduled, said MAUR Vice Director of the board Nguyen Quoc Hien on February 10.

So far, 89 percent of the workload of the Metro Line No.1 project has been completed. Eleven trains used for the line have arrived in Vietnam.

At the event, Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Le Hoa Binh urged relevant agencies to devise measures to surmount difficulties caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and speed up the implementation of the project this year in a safe and efficient manner.

Municipal authorities will hold fortnightly meetings to keep watch on progress and timely address bottlenecks so that the project will be on schedule, he said.

Online photo exhibition on Vietnam-DPRK relations opens

The Vietnam News Agency (VNA), in collaboration with the Embassy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Vietnam, on February 10 launched a photo exhibition on the Vietnam - DPRK traditional relations and imprints of leaders of the two countries.

The exhibition is taking place on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations, and the 65th anniversary of the first meeting between President Ho Chi Minh and Chairman Kim Il-sung.

The online photo exhibition is being introduced by the VNA at https://link.gov.vn/TLAVNTT (Vietnamese) and https://link.gov.vn/PICVNTT (Korean) from February 10 to 17.

On display are over 70 black-and-white and colour photographs selected from the archives of the VNA and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), highlighting activities of the two countries' high-ranking leaders and bilateral cooperation over the past seven decades.

Hoi An maintains position as one of world’s most romantic destinations

The central Vietnamese coastal town of Hoi An in Quang Nam province still maintains its position as one of the world’s 13 most romantic places for travel selected by Global Cable News Network (CNN).

“Hoi An has an undeniably quaint and romantic feel”, CNN said.

The old town, which was recognised by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage in 1999, is a warren of ancient temples, houses and stores built around a number of canals.

Gently humped pedestrian bridges let you wander hand in hand, with hundreds of multicolored lanterns above you swaying in the coastal breezes, it added.

Sitting on a small boat and explore streets and craft villages along both sides of the Hoai River is an interesting experience for couples when they visit the town.

CNN also recommended the town's famous foods, notably banh mi (baguette sandwiches) and Cao Lau (noodle bowl).

International tourism forecast to recover strongly in Vietnam in 2022

The number of international searches about Vietnam tourism is on an upward trend, which is considered as a positive sign for the Vietnam's industry, especially in the efforts to revive it and regain growth momentum.

Analytical data from Google Destination Insights shows that searches began rising from early December and skyrocketed later the same month and in early January.

From the beginning of last month, the volume of international searches for Vietnam’s aviation has remained very high. Notably, the increase rate hit 425 percent on January 21, and 374 percent on February 3 against the same period of 2021.

The search volume for accommodation also started to increase from the beginning of December.

According to statistics, visitors from such countries as the US, Australia, Russia, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, India, the UK and Canada have searched tourism information about Vietnam the most.

The 10 destinations in Vietnam that draw the most interest of foreigners are Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Phan Thiet, Da Nang, Hoi An, Da Lat, Quy Nhon, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Vietnamese team remain 98th in latest FIFA rankings

The Vietnamese national men’s football team maintained their place at 98th position in the world, according to the most recent global rankings released by football’s governing body FIFA.

The nation therefore continued to rank among the world’s top 100 sides in February’s FIFA rankings thanks to their 3-1 victory over China at home in the final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The national team were able to add 6.01 points and have a total of 1218.55 points, becoming the only representative of the Southeast Asian region to be placed in world’s top 100.

New book on work of late poet Hoang Cam to be released

The Writers Association Publishing House and HC 100 project will release a new book to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of poet Hoàng Cầm (1922-2010).

Called Hoàng Cầm về Kinh Bắc (Hoàng Cầm Returns to Kinh Bắc) includes the poetry collection Về Kinh Bắc (Returns to Kinh Bắc) by Hoàng Cầm, selected articles by authors Hoàng Hưng, Nguyễn Thuỵ Kha, Đỗ Lai Thuý, Chu Văn Sơn, Phạm Xuân Nguyên, Trần Thanh Cảnh, Nguyễn Đức Tùng, Lê Thị Thanh Tâm, and Lê Hồ Quang, and some precious documents.

The book launch will be held at the French Institute in Hà Nội and broadcast live on the Facebook pages of the institute on February 12.

Cai luong star’s art project launched on TikTok

People’s Artist Bạch Tuyết, a cải lương (reformed opera) guru, is working on a new project to release videos on TikTok.

Tinh Hoa Cải Lương (Beauty of Vietnamese Theatre), showcases videos featuring dramatic and historical plays performed by Tuyết and her younger colleagues.

Using the TikTok platform, she hopes to attract and encourage young people to learn more about cải lương, a 100-year-old art genre of Vietnamese theatre in the South.

The project’s two first videos are scheduled to be released in March.

More than one million houses for workers to be built in Long An

The southern province of Long And has approved a plan to build more than one million houses for workers, said provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Van Duoc.

According to Duoc, around 500,000 houses will be built in the first phase of the plan in many districts, including Ben Luc, Duc Hoa and Can Giuoc.

Duoc on Wednesday visited some local firms to check the return of their workers after the Lunar New Year Holiday. Most of the workers have returned to work at local firms. However, one of the problems of many companies in Long An is an accommodation shortage for their staff.

Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO) has planned to carry out a low-cost housing project covering a total of 60,000 hectares of land in Ben Luc or Duc Hoa District.

Tran Anh Group is seeking local authority approval for a project to build 10,000 houses for low-income earners with the price of VND400 million (USD17,241) each.

Steering Committee established to speed up progress of Long Thanh Int'l Airport

The Ministry of Transport has just decided to establish a Steering Committee for the implementation of the Long Thanh International Airport Construction Investment Project Phase 1 (Steering Committee).

Accordingly, Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Transport, is the Head of the Steering Committee, and Mr. Dinh Viet Thang, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, is the Standing Deputy Head of the Steering Committee of the Long Thanh International Airport Construction Investment Project.

The Steering Committee also includes the representatives of functional agencies of the Ministry of Transport and airport operation and flight management companies. The Department of Construction and Quality Management of Traffic Works takes responsibility for proposing the establishment of a working group for the Steering Committee.

According to the establishment decision, the Steering Committee is responsible for regularly reviewing and evaluating the situation and results of the implementation of the Long Thanh International Airport Project. In addition, the Steering Committee will consider and handle the proposals and recommendations of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation, and related units during the implementation process of the project under the authority of the Ministry of Transport, and at the same time put forward appropriate solutions to the Government to ensure the project progress.

AAF to fund USD2 million for elephant-friendly tourism model in Dak Lak

The Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) will provide over USD2 million to the central highlands province of Dak Lak to stop the use of elephants in tourism services in the area.

AAF has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dak Lak Provincial People’s Committee on adopting an elephant-friendly tourism model. The MoU aims to end the use of elephant rides and other activities affecting the welfare of elephants in tourism and at festivals, contributing to conservation efforts in the province.

At present, AAF is working with the Yok Don National Park to launch the elephant-friendly tourism model. However, some elephant owners and trainers have been reluctant to co-operate with the new model. AFF has asked local authorities to develop a legal framework in order to require local elephant owners to follow the elephant-friendly tourism model.

AFF has pledged to provide a fund of over USD 2 million for the province to carry out this model. The fund will be used to support elephant owners and trainers to offset their losses from elephant-related services when following the new model.

The model is expected to last five years.

Cambodia to host ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting next week

Cambodia, as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will host the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ (AMM) Retreat) from February 15-17 in Phnom Penh in a hybrid format, the country’s foreign ministry said in a press release.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn will chair the ministerial meeting, the ministry said in a statement on February 10.

Regional and international issues of common interest and concern will also be discussed at the meeting.

Winners of Literature Awards 2021 revealed

The Vietnam Writers Association has announced the winners of the Literature Awards 2021 in four categories of poetry-prose, theory and critics, translation, and children’s literature.

Accordingly, writer Nguyen Binh Phuong won the prose category for the novel ‘Mot vi du xoang’ (A mediocre example).

In theory and critics, author Truong Dang Dung was honoured for research on literary texts and the instability of meaning.

Translator Ha The Giang was named winner in the translation category for his translation of the ‘Out of Africa’ book by Isak Dinesen.

The children’s literature prize went to ‘Mua Tieu Hoc Cuoi Cung’ (The final year of primary school) by author Le Van Nghia.

Healthcare master-plan helps improve height and fitness of Vietnamese students

Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) held a ceremony to launch the school healthcare program for the 2021-2025 period on February 10 in Hanoi, aiming to ensure the physical and mental well-being of Vietnamese students and improve their height and fitness.

The program was launched at a time when Vietnam is taking steps to reopen schools after closure for months to help contain the Covid-19 spread.

Besides, the Ministries of Finance; Health; Culture, Sports and Tourism; the People's Committees of the provinces and cities, and organizations should join the school healthcare program to protect the children and take care of their health so as to give the best for minors, the PM added.

2022 Online Japanese Film Festival to take place this month

Japanese movies across different genres such as comedy, family, crime, anime, documentary, musical, sci-fi and so on will be screened from February 14 to 28.

The second period of the 13th Japanese Film Festival in Vietnam will be held between February 14 to 28, 2022, according to an announcement by the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam.

This year, the number of movies has doubled compared to last year, embracing more different and diverse genres. Twenty Japanese movies are set to be screened during the two-week long film festival including the drama film Aristocrats (2002, Sode Yukiko), classic film Rashomon (1950, Kurosawa Akira), thriller film Masked Ward (2020, Kimura Hisashi), among others. All the motion pictures are shown with both English and Vietnamese subtitles.

People who are interested in the film festival can register for free at https://www.facebook.com/JFF.VIE/.

Source: VNA/VOV/SGT/SGGP/VNS/VNN/Hanoitimes

VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES FEBRUARY 10

President decides to present Labour Order to national women's football team