Not a few Vietnamese customers are willing to spend as much as they can on tiny ornamental plants for home decoration to welcome the upcoming Lunar New Year festival or Tet.

 A meeting was held in Hanoi on January 12 to report on the implementation of the Vietnam National Green Growth Strategy in the 2012-2016 period.

 Increasing hospital fees and benefits from health insurance helped increase the number of people buying health insurance in HCM City last year by nearly 662,000 compared to 2015, according to the city’s Social Insurance Agency.

 Vietnam’s goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh has been fined a hefty 1,000 USD by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after he got a red card at the recent ASEAN Football Federation Cup.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has allowed the Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Co Ltd (Formosa) to import coal for electricity production at its thermal power plant in the southern province of Dong Nai.

 Amazon.com Inc on Thursday said it will create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States, from software development to warehouse work, in its latest move to win over shoppers by investing in faster delivery.

 Anger broke out on social networks when it was discovered that an iconic building in the former imperial capital city of Hue had been changed completely while being restored.

Epicor Software Corporation has signed an agreement with the HCMC Open University to provide the latest enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for application in training and research.

 Japanese and Vietnamese experts gathered at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on January 12 to share experience in enforcing copyright and related rights.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Would you believe that bonsai trees made from copper wire can be as beautiful as the real thing? Le Duy Duc, manager of the Handmade Art page on Facebook, can confirm this is the case.

 Vietnamese Ambassador to China Dang Minh Khoi has said Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to China from January 12-15 is of great significance to bilateral ties in the new period. 

 Chief of the Defence Cooperation and Exports of the Israel Ministry of Defence Mishel Ben Baruch has pledged effective cooperation between his agency and relevant agencies of Vietnam’s Ministry of Defence.

 India’s TATA Group has already planned to invest in a wide range of business sectors in Vietnam, said Indronil Sengupta, Executive Director of the conglomerate in Vietnam.

 The court sector needs to work more closely with investigation, procuracy and relevant agencies to timely and strictly try cases of corruption and violations of economic laws, President Tran Dai Quang said on January 12.

The visit to China by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam is of great importance, a Chinese researcher has said.

 Vietnam and China on January 12 signed 15 cooperation agreements in various fields from economy, transportation and defence to health care, tourism and training, on the occasion of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s ongoing visit to China.

The top Party leaders of Vietnam and China discussed major orientations to reinforce trust and friendship during their talks in Beijing, China on January 12.

Vietnam had a successful year in diplomacy in 2016, with its political stability and development potential continually spotlighted and its relations and diverse cooperation with other countries and partners deepened.

 Australia has declared the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) not dead ahead of key trade talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Sydney on Saturday, despite opposition to the trade pact from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

The Obama administration announced the repeal of a measure granting automatic residency to virtually every Cuban who arrived in the United States, whether or not they had visas, ending a longstanding exception to U.S. immigration policy.

VietNamNet Bridge - In 2006, the Vietnamese stock market had only three businesses with capitalization value of $1 billion and more. The figure by 2016 had risen to 20.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Dong Lac Communal House was recognised on Wednesday by the Ha Noi’s Tourism Department as a new tourist destination in the Old Quarter.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has only three journals accepted by ACI (ASEAN Citation Index), ranking just above Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Brunei. 

VietNamNet Bridge - While the mass fish death disaster was not listed among the "10 most remarkable environmental events in 2016" by MONRE, it was ranked No 2 in the 10 environmental highlights by journalists.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam in 2016 saw a high farm produce trade surplus of $7.6 billion, but big difficulties are still ahead, including returning protectionism with Brexit and US President-elect Donald Trump.