ASEAN tourist staff can work within bloc from 2015

 VietNamNet Bridge – Employees in the tourism industry certified by the Tourism Certification Board in any one of the ten ASEAN members will be recognized by the others and thus able to find jobs in the region from 2015

Mekong Delta Region trailing behind in development

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Mekong Delta region is trailing far behind the rest of the country in development of education, medicine and science, even though it is considered the richest rice basket of Asia.

Vu triumphs at Binh Duong International Billiards Open

 VietNamNet Bridge – Duong Anh Vu defeated teammate Ngo Dinh Nai 40-35, after 27 turns in the all HCM City final at the Binh Duong Province International 3-cushion Billiards Open on Saturday.

NA Chairman yet to okay draft casino decree

 VietNamNet Bridge – National Assembly (NA) chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung has turned down a proposal on a draft Government decree on casinos as submitted by the NA Finance-Budget Committee earlier.

Vietnam tops world server attack rankings

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam has the highest number of website server attacks in the world (394), leaving Russia (34 servers attacked) and India (19) far behind.

Nghe Tinh folk singing becomes national cultural heritage

 VietNamNet Bridge – Nghe An and Ha Tinh central provinces hosted a ceremony on August 17 to receive  the national cultural heritage certificate for vi giam folk singing and launch the second vi giam folk singing festival.

Phu Day festival seeks national heritage recognition

 VietNamNet Bridge – The northern province of Nam Dinh is working on a dossier of the local Phu Day festival with a view to seeking recognition of its as part of the national intangible culture heritage.

Island set for major status upgrade

 VietNamNet Bridge – Phu Quoc, a popular tourism destination, is being primed to become a major development hub with a huge fillip in status as a centrally managed administrative and special economic zone by 2020.

Mekong Delta’s rice turn fragile to hydropower plants

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese scientists have voiced their deep concern about the fate of the Mekong Delta and the Vietnamese rice farming in the context of the hydropower plant boom.

Lak Lake – pride of Daklak

Waterfalls, forests, rivers and mountains are the pride of locals in the Central Highlands region. For people in Daklak, along with Buon Don Tourist Village, Trung Nguyen Coffee, Draysap and Trinh Nu waterfalls, Lak Lake is the pride of the province.

Rural incomes fall, poverty rate unchanged

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam has achieved significant progress in improving people's living standards, but not in rural areas, a study by the Central Institute for Economic Management has found.

The “second Da Lat” in Central Highlands

 VietNamNet Bridge - Also with cold weather, pine forests and mansions nestled in the morning dew, Mang Den is like the second Da Lat city in the majestic forest and mountain of Central Highlands.

Many famous discotheques in Saigon raided

 VietNamNet Bridge - Suspected as sensitive places which are the home to prostitutes, drug addicts and gangsters, a series of large discotheques in Saigon have been checked.

BUSINESS IN BRIEF 20/8

 FLC buy-out hastens Hanoi’s Alaska Garden City; Forex rates to remain stable; Viettel seeks equal hi-tech incentives; Mining, new products boost Masan Q2 profits

Travel agents offer holiday deals

 VietNamNet Bridge – Many travel firms have kept tour prices unchanged while others are offering big discounts of 30-35 per cent for the upcoming National Holiday early next month (September 2).

Customs officers to get more power

VietNamNet Bridge – Customs officers will have additional powers to chase smugglers suspected of transporting goods illegally, under a draft revision of the Customs Law.

Strong business results lift shares

 VietNamNet Bridge – Investors cheered good business results of large-cap companies which helped boost shares on both national stock exchanges last week. This uptrend is expected to advance into this week's trading.

15 fishermen on Cyprus ship saved

 Project adds vital nutrients to daily foods; Five injured in level crossing crash; Quang Nam doctors make baby mistake; Capital told to build bus stations

Texas issues measles alert

 Health authorities in the U.S. state of Texas have issued a measles alert due to a sharp increase of cases this year.

Viet Nam's first female film director dies

 VietNamNet Bridgez – People's Artist Bach Diep, one of Viet Nam's first female film directors of Revolutionary Cinema, died of cancer on Saturday. She was 84 years old.

Japanese team wins ABU Robocon champion

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Japanese team has become the ABU Robocon champions. Vietnam 1 has won second prize while Vietnam 2 and Indonesia have shared third prize.  

First silver medal for Vietnam at Asian Young Games

 VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan won the first silver medal in weight-lifting event for Vietnam at the Asian Young Games which is being held in China.

GM Liem to play tiebreak against Russian rival

 VietNamNet Bridge – Chess Grand Master Le Quang Liem could not maintain his advantage of winning the first leg of the Chess World Cup’s third round against Russia’s Alexander Grischuk and was defeated by his opponent in the return leg on August 18.

VTV to screen rediscovered film

 VietNamNet Bridge – A poignant documentary titled Ky Uc Viet Nam (Memoirs of Viet Nam), featuring Viet Nam in the years 1964-81 by Japanese film makers will be broadcast tonight, Aug 19.

100 southern glass paintings on display

 VietNamNet Bridge - Since 1957, this is the first time that glass paintings - the unique folk painting art of the South – are introduced in a major exhibition.