The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) issued bills worth some VND43 trillion (US$1.89 billion) in the past week to withdraw money from the banking system.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Some traffic policemen in Hanoi were suspended from work after they were caught taking money from violators, 

Construction investors are often totally indifferent to the storm of dust, construction waste and general filth their projects unleash on the general public. 

 A start-up that claims it will one day allow people to back-up their brains admits it will come at the ultimate price: death.

 Defending champion Le Quang Liem is close to the leading group of the HDBank International Chess Open Tournament after winning the seventh game in the morning session on March 14.

With the cold high pressure system weakening and moving east and a subtropical high pressure system crossing the south, there will be a heat wave in the south, including HCM City, until May.

 The People’s Court of Hanoi on March 14 sentenced three Chinese men, all from Jiangxi province, to up to 42 months in prison for using fake bank cards to steal cash from ATMs.

 Dancers from the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet (VNOB) will perform The Firebird ballet in a contemporary style featuring Vietnamese folk dance at Hanoi Opera House on March 15-16.

Vietnamese players continued their good performance at the ongoing Junior Davis Cup pre-qualification, Asia-Oceania zone, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 A conference took place in the central city of Da Nang on March 14 to discuss ways to turn tourism into a pillar industry by 2020, with a focus on luxury cruise tourism. 

 A group of four female motorcycling enthusiasts from India have reached Vietnam as part of their journey to cover UNESCO World Heritage Sites in seven nations along Mekong River.

 Domestic firms must prepare for more opportunities in the future as a new wave of Japan’s investment into Vietnam is expected to stem from Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

 Tests on major brands of bottled water have found that nearly all of them contained tiny particles of plastic.

 The withdrawal of the $3.2-billion Vung Ro refinery and petrochemical complex shows that Vietnam needs to review large-scale projects and withdraw long-delayed projects, especially those of foreign direct investment (FDI).

The mature Loc vung (Barringtonia acutangula) trees around Hoan Kiem Lake have recently begun to shed their leaves, creating a romantic scene by the water.

VietNamNet Bridge - The news that Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, is arriving in March has stirred up the retail community.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Saigon Players, an English-language theatre group, will stage the comedy Shakespeare in Saigon by Australian director Cernarth Fox from March 15-17.

 VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City plans to earmark more than VND38 billion (US$1.6 million) this year providing free vocational training for people living in rural areas.

 Search and rescue forces have rescued all eight fishermen from a stranded fishing vessel in central Nghe An Province.

 The State-run Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood II) raised nearly 1.16 trillion VND (51.1 million USD) from selling 22.97 percent of its stakes at an initial public offering (IPO) on March 14.

 Vietnam likely to export 6.5 million tonnes of rice in 2018

 Many domestic businesses expect the newly signed CPTPP will bring positive effects on Vietnam through the expansion of export market along with access to the abundant materials sources in CPTPP member countries. 

 The founder of a US start-up that promised to revolutionise blood testing has agreed to settle charges that she raised over $700m (£500m) fraudulently.

Although the stock market experienced vibrant transactions with total value of $368.7 million on both bourses on March 14, the VN-Index of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange failed to hit the threshold of 1,140 points.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the Australian National University (ANU), one of the world’s top ten research universities, right after his arrival in Canberra on March 14 (local time).