HCM City: Explosion at U.S. Consulate General store kills one

 VietNamNet Bridge – In the afternoon of July 18, a gas explosion occurred in the warehouse of the U.S. Consulate General at No. 51 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, taking the life of a male worker.

Ha Anh to act as int’l pageant MC

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s famous model Ha Anh has been invited as a MC to the final round of Miss Global pageant scheduled for August 3 in California, USA.

Vietnam to host 2014 int’l Chemistry Olympiad

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam will host the 46th International Chemistry Olympiad in July 2014, drawing high school student participants from 70 countries.

HCM City hosts int’l track-and-field tournament

 VietNamNet Bridge – The 20th international track-and-field tournament (or called Ho Chi Minh City Open 2013) will be held on July 20-21.

Foreigner detained for online swindling

 VietNamNet Bridge – A Nigerian national named Okoye Uchenna, 36 years old, has been taken into custody for appropriating property through online swindle, the police in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho said on July 17.

Trial tours in world's largest cave to be launch next month

 VietNamNet Bridge – The central province of Quang Binh plans to launch experimental adventure tours to Son Doong Cave, which is considered the largest cave in the world, in early August this year.

Hotline on Vietnam's sea, islands

 VietNamNet Bridge – A free hotline has opened to enable people to provide information the sovereignty of Viet Nam's sea and islands.

"Intelligent knife" can detect cancerous tissue within seconds

 An "intelligent" surgical knife can tell surgeons, within seconds, whether the tissue they are removing is cancerous or not, British researchers reported Wednesday.

No new ports permitted in southeast region

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Transport will not grant permission for building new container ports in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, HCMC and Dong Nai until 2015 as ports in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai have been operating at far below capacity.

BUSINESS IN BRIEF 19/7

 PM orders agencies to tighten their belts; Drop in profits revealed by BVS; Banking sector remains tainted by widespread corruption; Construction ministry outlines housing strategy; Metro pulls sturgeon from its shelves

Three-month gold sales total 45 tons

 VietNamNet Bridge – An additional 26,000 taels of gold was sold at auction on Tuesday, taking the total so far to over 1.19 million taels, or nearly 45 tons.

Six-month inventories fall on lower production

 VietNamNet Bridge – The total value of goods in stock declined in the first six months as production output was lower than in the same period last year,

SOCIETY IN BRIEF 18/7

 Strange disease identified as hepatitis; Capital may set up 190 taxi ranks; Japan grants 30 scholarships for Vietnamese cadres; USAid funds children's rehabilitation centre

Vietnam wins three golds at int’l maths contest

VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese delegation to the 2013 International Mathematics Competition held early this month in Bulgaria have won three gold medals at the event, which is designed for students in grades 5 to 10.

U.S. military unveils Atlas humanoid robot

 The U.S. military unveiled Thursday one of its most-advanced humanoid robots known as Atlas, which was created to assist in future emergency situations, the American Forces Press Service reported Friday.

Foreign investors lead M&A charge

 VietNamNet Bridge – Mergers and acquisitions are expected to pick up pace this year despite a slow start to the year, mainly thanks to the increasing interest of foreign investors.

Teaching German in Vietnamese schools

VietNamNet Bridge – German Ambassador to Vietnam, Jutta Frasch and Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training, Pham Vu Luan signed a cooperative agreement on teaching German as a first or second language in selected Vietnamese schools.

Hundreds of heavyweight motorcycles in custody at Hai Phong Port

 VietNamNet Bridge – Being declared as LX125 scooters and computer screens, but when the customs checked the containers, there were hundreds of heavyweight motorcycles, many of which are up to 1,800 cc, which are banned from import.

Tropical depression strengthened into a storm

 VietNamNet Bridge - The storm swept through northern Luzon Island (Philippines) and will go on the mainland of southeast Guangdong (China).

Hanoi traffic police focus on violations of public cars

Dozens of cars with blue registration numbers (public cars) have been fined by Hanoi traffic police over the past several days. At least four drivers had their driving licenses revoked.

"Bizzare" jaundice reported in Kon Tum

 VietNamNet Bridge – Up to 87 people in the central highlands province of Kon Tum had the same symptoms like having a fever, jaundice...

Two tons of sturgeon smuggled into Hanoi each day

 VietNamNet Bridge - According to the Ministry of Public Security, this volume of sturgeon was smuggled from China to Hanoi and then legalized by certificates of origin from local farms.

Automobile manufacturers can only see big difficulties ahead

A lot of automobile manufacturers are considering stopping assembling cars in Vietnam and shifting to distribute cars in the market. If so, Vietnam would not have its automobile industry, and the forecast car price reductions would be far away.

Gold on Earth may come from colliding dead stars: study

 All gold on the Earth might have come from extreme crashes between dense dead stars, U.S. researchers reported Wednesday.

The "matrix" of billboards in Hanoi

 VietNamNet Bridge - In a small public space, all kinds of billboards and signboards of various sizes, leaflets and even street name plates are hung, making “wall rubbish” in Hanoi.