Da Nang Int’l Marathon offline registration opens

VietNamNet Bridge – The organising committee of the Da Nang International Marathon 2016 has offered offline registration at Viet Nam TravelMart, 68 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street and Da Nang Souvenirs & Cafe at 34 Bach Dang Street. 

Drought forces elephants out of the forest

 Dozens of elephants in Dak Lak Province have been scaring people and destroying crops while searching for food outside of the forest because of drought and disappearing forest land.

Foreigners help keep Hanoi clean

 Some expatriates and local people used last Sunday to clean a seriously polluted canal on Hanoi's Nguyen Khang Street, surprising the local authorities.

Three entities empowered to approve airport planning

  Prime Minister and Ministries of Defense and Transport given power to approve different projects.

Little white enamel lies

Residents in Mong Duong Ward, Cam Pha City, coastal Quang Ninh Province gave their houses a fresh look by putting white enamel tiles on all walls early this month.

Social News 17/5

 27 tonnes of frozen meat stuck at port, Ministry requests raising awareness of injury, drowning prevention, VND9.6 billion awards for Mathematics Ph.D thesis, scholarships for Math students, VNese talent awards 2016 launched

Parents ignore ban on teaching of reading and writing to pre-schoolers

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Education and Training prohibits teaching of reading and writing before the first grade, but parents have ignored the advice.

Testing problems at laboratories hinder fight against unsafe food

VietNamNet Bridge - Two laboratories have offered different conclusions about the same vegetable samples, with one saying the vegetables were safe, while the other saying the toxicity level was 3.5 times higher than the permitted level.

Vingroup supports local producers in fierce competition

  Local producers and suppliers have been at risk at many supermarkets in Việt Nam due to strong competition from foreign rivals, prompting Vingroup to launch a supporting programme that promotes domestic production.

The rarest wild orchid garden in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has many precious orchid species, but many of them have become extinct because of poor conservation. 

Dung Quat wants to set petrol prices

 Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co (BSR), which operates and manages Dung Quat Oil Refinery, has asked the Ministry of Finance for permission to calculate the petrol selling price themselves.

PM calls for business friendly decrees

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged ministries to hasten the process of drafting decrees providing guidelines for investment and business activities, under Dispatch 789/TTg-PL that he signed last weekend.

Linh wins national table tennis event in HCM City

 Dinh Quang Linh defended his men’s singles title on the last day of the National Table Tennis Championships at Ho Xuan Huong Gymnasium in HCM City on May 15.

Are the next 5-year economic goals attainable?

VietNamNet Bridge - The difficulties Vietnam has to face in the next five years will increase as ODA loans will be cut by 50 percent, while new loans will bear an interest rate of 3 percent.

Vietnam studies groundwater-related subsidence in major areas

 The Prime Minister approved a project on studying the impact of groundwater use to land subsidence in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta.

PM approves plan to meet MARPOL regulations

 ​​​Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a plan to meet regulations in the annexes of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Convention).

President meets with Vietnamese businesses

 President Tran Dai Quang talked with outstanding entrepreneurs representing the small- and medium-sized business community in Vietnam during a meeting in Hanoi on May 16.

German writes about Vietnamese expats

 A novel by German author Karin Kalisa about expatriate Vietnamese was released in Vietnamese recently in Hanoi.

Vietnam grabs six medals at Asia Pacific Informatics Olympiad

 Vietnam have grabbed six medals at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO 2016) which was hosted by the Republic of Korea on May 7-8.

Ambassador: Obama’s visit to deepen Vietnam-US ties

 US President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Vietnam from May 23-25 is to further deepen the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Pham Quang Vinh said.

HCM City officials welcome Lao PM

 Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Dinh La Thang and other senior municipal officials welcomed Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to the city on May 16.

Vietnam, Russia resolved to intensify comprehensive strategic ties

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev emphasised the resolve to enhance the countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership during their talks in Moscow on May 16.  

Foundations in place for franchises to flourish in Vietnam

  Vietnam has almost everything needed for franchises to really take off.

Unique bamboo cafe in Dong Hoi City

 VietNamNet Bridge - Café Coco is the favorite destination of many tourists to Dong Hoi City in the central province of Quang Binh. Airy, cool, unique architecture are the attractive features of this café.

Traditional retail channels still favored in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge - Though Vietnam is seeing the strong rise of the modern distribution channel, it is traditional retail which still plays an important role in the Vietnamese distribution system.