In rainy season, the water rises and inundates houses, sweeping crops away. In dry season, the drought chaps the fields. This is what happens with the people in the lower course of the rivers in Central Highlands, where hydropower plants are located.

Da Lat Flower Festival is among the events celebrating the National Tourism Year 2014 and the 120th anniversary of Da Lat. Below are pictures of Da Lat one day before the opening of the flower festival.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Nearly 200 traders and building workers surrounded the Phuoc Son Gold Company in the central province of Quang Nam yesterday, December 26, to claim debt payments.

A 45-year-old man – the owner of a woodworking enterprise in the southern province of Binh Duong – cut a 105mm mortar to collect bronze wires. The mortar exploded and the man was severely injured and lost one arm.

 VietNamNet Bridge - More than four months after Lao Cai’s Chair Nguyen Van Vinh was elected as the province’s Party Secretary, Mr. Doan Van Huong has been appointed as the new chairman.

The Korean director of the Posco E&C contractor and leaders of two construction groups were suspended while two deputy general directors of the Vietnam Expressway Corporation were reprimanded.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cung, 86 years old--a beggar in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, saved each penny to buy gold for decades and always took the gold with him. But all of his gold was robbed on the evening of December 21.

Japanese FC Consadole Sapporo has transferred $250,000 for Song Lam Nghe An FC in exchange for the signature of Vietnam’s top striker Cong Vinh. Vinh will be provided with a car, a bodyguards and an apartment to take his wife and child to Japan.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat international airport will begin work on the expansion of its terminals in 2014 in order to receive 25 million passengers by 2017, according to an airport executive.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The country is estimated to have a trade surplus for the second consecutive year in 2013, according to the General Statistics Office.

VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Minh Hai, 19, will play for Lao Champasak club next year, following a one-year loan agreement between Ha Noi T&T and the Lao League team. 

Why has a Chinese software product, not a Vietnamese or foreign one, been advised to be used at secondary schools? The answer is that there is no Vietnamese suitable product, while foreign ones are too expensive.

 An An-12 cargo plane crashed en route from Novosibirsk to Irkutsk in Russia's Southern Siberia, killing at least five crew members onboard, local emergency authorities said Thursday.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Investors have arranged big money ready to disburse for the big investment deals once the State sells its stakes in some enterprises.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) discovered mistakes in billing customers for prepaid SIMcards, fining selling locations nearly VND2 billion in 2013.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Strong winds and heavy seas had isolated Ly Son Island for the past 10 days, 30km off the coast of the central province of Quang Ngai.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Ninh Binh Province has been stamped with the footprints of sovereigns from the Dinh, Le, Pre-Le and Ly dynasties.

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Health has for the first time issued the set of criteria to assess hospitals towards improving the quality of services provided and increase patients' satisfaction.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of vessels worth trillions of dong have become scrap iron and left useless in the East Sea, turning the sea into the trillion-of-dong refuse tip.

 VietNamNet Bridge – E-Commerce on mobile phones is forecast to see strong growth next year, allowing customers to easily make online purchases, according to Bizweb Viet Nam.

 Harsh sentences for human trafficking criminals; Woman dies in Ha Noi house fire; Former forest rangers, deforesters jailed; Illegal ads just won't go away, officials rue; Northern provinces brace for cold weather

 DLG, API, SDE, HPG announce shareholder transactions; VN economy sees positive prospects; Foreign bank fined for slow disclosure; Record 37 stocks delisted in 2013; SBV banks on steady dollar exchange ratio

VietNamNet Bridge – Eighteen enterprises using imported stainless steel in production have proposed the Prime Minister not to approve the Vietnam Competition Authority’s initial conclusion on cold-rolled stainless steel being dumped in Vietnam.

VietNamNet Bridge – The chill in the Central Highland city of Da Lat will be warmed by flowers and festivities this New Year holiday, during the Da Lat Culture Tourism Week 2013.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A man was arrested in HCM City on Tuesday, Dec 24, after taking two people hostage and holding the police at bay for two hours.