Quang Nam removes 20 hydropower projects

 VietNamNet Bridge - Under the direction of the Prime Minister, the central province of Quang Nam is considering to remove and suspend 20 hydropower projects.

Vietnam tourism and the failure of huge projects

 VietNamNet Bridge - Numerous tourism projects have been revoked, making the picture of foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction in Vietnam gloomier.

Vietnam establishes air force - naval brigade

The newly-established 954 air force-naval brigade can perform the following tasks: military transport, reconnaissance, aerial, water-surface and on-the-ground observation, search and rescue at sea, on land and rescue and flood prevention.

Southern hub embraces CNG bus fleet

VietNamNet Bridge – The number of buses powered by Compressed Natural Gas in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to reach 350 in 2015,

Cua Dai wins TripAdvisor accolade

VietNamNet Bridge – Cua Dai beach in the central province of Quang Nam has been ranked one of the 25 most beautiful beaches in Asia by readers of the popular travel website Trip Advisor. Voters placed the beach,

Hanoi begins collecting road maintenance fee from motorcycles

The fee is VND50,000 per year with motorcycles of less than 100 cm3 and VND100,000 for motorcycles of over 100 cm3. This is the lowest level in the framework of road maintenance fees issued by the Ministry of Finance.

TRAVEL IN BRIEF 5/7

 Jetstar adds flights to Da Nang; Vietnamese caravan begins off-road trip to Tibet and Mount Everest; Da Nang, Nha Trang popular; Hue sets next target

“Vietnamese Song” comes back with new version

 VietNamNet Bridge - Bai Hat Viet or Vietnamese Song television contest will be back in 2013 with many exciting changes.

Sensational Tu seals gold in style

 VietNamNet Bridge – Van Ngoc Tu successfully defended her title of the women's U52kg kurash event at the ongoing Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games in Incheon, South Korea yesterday, July 4.

Private sector continues to grow

VietNamNet Bridge – The number of private sector enterprises in Viet Nam rose by 2.56 times between 2006 and 2011 while the number of State-owned enterprises over the same period fell by 12.7 per cent.

Russia not to decide Snowden's fate: diplomat

 Moscow will not influence the circumstances around Edward Snowden because the NSA leaker has not appealed for political asylum in Russia, a high-ranking diplomat said Thursday.

European stocks rally on central bank policy pledge

European shares prices rallied and the euro plummeted against the dollar on Thursday after the eurozone and British central banks signalled that easy-money policies to stimulate growth will continue for some time.

Origin certificate fraud still runs rampant

VietNamNet Bridge – Falsifying a Viet Nam C/O for goods exported to major market countries having tough tax barriers, such as the US and EU, remains a common fraud committed by foreign-invested enterprises to pay lower tax rates,

Manzi features artist extraordinaire

 VietNamNet Bridge – Manzi Art Space on Saturday will host an exhibition featuring artwork by Nguyen Manh Hung – one of the most popular young visual artists in Viet Nam.

Capital calls for funds to build playgrounds

 VietNamNet Bridge – Local authorities in the capital are being forced to call for private capital to invest in more parks for children in new urban areas.

Google launches Vietnam search tools

 VietNamNet Bridge – Google Inc announced on July 2 the launch of three new search tools in Vietnamese - Knowledge Graph, Voice search on Android and Google handwrite.

Huge blood-donor campaign begins Sunday

 VietNamNet Bridge – One hundred volunteers will travel to 15 provinces and cities nationwide from Sunday to encourage people to donate blood.

Chinese medicinal materials flood Vietnamese market

Although Vietnam has up to 4,000 species of plants that can be used as medicine, nearly 90 percent of medicinal herbs in Vietnam are imported, mainly from China. Paradoxically, Chinese traders have flocked to Vietnam to purchase medicinal plants.

Heart-breaking stories of trafficked women told

VietNamNet Bridge – Many heart-breaking stories of trafficked women are being recited at Peaceful Place exhibition currently being held at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum by Center for Women and Development

Intellectual property violations hit local firms

 VietNamNet Bridge – Infringements of intellectual property rights are still a headache, causing huge losses among local companies, but there are not effective cures for the problem, heard a seminar on intellectual property in HCMC last Saturday.

Harvard scholar and a song dedicated for Vietnam

"I want to send it as a gift to friends in Vietnam who are far from halfway around the world. I understand that you had big losses in war with millions of dead people, and you are the spirit of this work," Ambassador Swanee Hunt says.

Tour scandal raises questions

 VietNamNet Bridge – Last week, more than 700 Vietnamese people were left stranded in the middle of a MICE (Meeting-Incentive-Conventions-Exhibition) tour in Bangkok.

Vietnam combats spread of nuclear weapons

 VietNamNet Bridge - With the transfer of all remaining high enriched uranium “HEU” fuel rods to Russia, Vietnam has demonstrated by concrete actions its policy against the spread of nuclear weapons in the world.

HIV undetectable in two patients after bone marrow transplant

 Two HIV positive patients who underwent bone marrow transplants no longer have detectable virus in their blood cells, even after stopping anti-retroviral therapy for months,

More funds needed to fire up bio-gas sector

 VietNamNet Bridge – The production of bio-gas plants to convert animal waste into fuel for lighting or cooking has come up against financial difficulties in Viet Nam.