445 works to compete at National TV Festival

VietNamNet Bridge – The 32nd National TV Festival organizing board has made public the list of 445 works that will compete in 12 categories.

Management companies taking thorny path to set up open end funds

Some investment fund management companies have been moving ahead with their plan to set up open end funds.

Mexican-American singer killed in plane crash

 The wreckage of a plane carrying star Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera has been found in northern Mexico Sunday and there were no survivors, officials said.

HCM City to poison rats that cause kidney disease

VietNamNet Bridge – Food mixed with chemicals will be placed at food processing plants, animal husbandry farms, hotels, bus and railway stations in 24 districts in Ho Chi Minh City--to kill brown rats that cause acute renal failure.

NA Chairman’s tour of Thailand, Japan a success

VietNamNet Bridge – National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung’s successful visit to Thailand and Japan is the outstanding imprint in parliamentary external relations this year. 

Should schools prohibit students to have caressing manners in classes?

General schools have complained that their students freely have caressing manners right in the classrooms. Meanwhile, Vietnamese students nowadays believe that this is the right way of showing feelings in the modern times.

Digital technology services lucrative, but uncertain

Vietnam is now witnessing the boom of Internet-based digital services, since investors can see the big potentials of the market. However, experts say the market is still like a bear garden due to the lack of a perfect legal framework.

Biofuel program: encouragement better than enforcement

Scientists believe that the government should encourage people to use biofuels instead of forcing them to do that.

“Bountiful bond crop” raises worries

While other investment channels have been shrinking in the economic downturn, government bonds have been yielding big fruits. What’s behind this?

14 toll stations to be shut down

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Transport said that from 0h on January 1, 2012, the state-owned toll will be closed. Instead, people will pay road maintenance fees.

Risk of poverty behind hydropower projects

They received compensation for crops, trees, and career change worth of thousands to hundreds of thousands of USD from Dakdrink hydropower project, but many households in Son Tay district, Quang Ngai province, are still at risk of poverty.

5 dead, 12 seriously injured in catastrophic accident in Cao Bang

VietNamNet Bridge – By the evening of December 9, the tragic traffic accident on Keo Put Pass, Quoc Toan commune, Cao Bang Province, left five people dead and 12 others seriously injured.

Review of the 2012 political messages delivered by top officials

Fighting corruption, eliminating interest groups, being determined to prevent the decline of ideology, ethics and lifestyle of a part of party members are the statements emphasized by the leaders of the Party and the State of Vietnam in 2012.

Let's go green in Sa Pa

 VietNamNet Bridge – It was the third time I had visited Sa Pa Town, surrounded by mountains and rice terraces, but this time I had the most fun.

Lower sediment levels major concern for Delta

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam will spend US$6.3 million next year to examine the impacts of mainstream hydro-power on the downstream Mekong River.

BUSINESS IN BRIEF 10/12

Expert claims tycoon arrest disrupts investor confidence; Real estate prices forecast to reach record low in 2013; FIEs gain US$10.5 billion in trade surplus; Even in rice export, the benefits are minimal.

Guarding Unicorns

The reclusive Saola, measuring just some 85cm in height is, without doubt, one of the rarest mammals on the planet. Despite twenty years of intense searching, no Saola have yet been observed by a scientist in the wild.

Most foreign visitors do not return to Vietnam

 VietNamNet Bridge – An overwhelming number – estimated at between 80% and 85% - of international tourists never return to Vietnam after their unsatisfactory first visit, so Vietnam must make drastic changes to enhance its appeal,

More than half of Mekong Delta firms go bust

 VietNamNet Bridge – Compared to a decade ago, the number of operational companies in the Mekong Delta has fallen by over half, meaning more than 40,000 local firms have gone bust over the past ten years,

Foreigners still hesitant on stock market

 VietNamNet Bridge – Although foreign buying value hit an eight-month high in November, securities enterprises said that the investors have yet to come back to the local market given risk concerns.

Annual Rock Storm to return to seven cities

VietNamNet Bridge – This year Rock Storm 2012 will go through seven cities with the theme “Breakthrough Desire”.

Nearly 100 securities firms may be shut down

The work of declaring death for securities companies would be accelerated to go at a highest ever speed, commencing from this month.

Aquaculture in Can Tho

Over the years, aquaculture has been sustainably developed in Can Tho, a land of criss-crossing canals along the Hau River. It has made a contribution to increasing the average growth rate of exports of aquatic products to 18% a year.

Himalaya red-pine trees killed because "they can treat cancer"

Red pine (taxus wallichiana zucc) which only grows in Lam Dong province is one of the rare species with the highest 10 – DB III content, an active element that can turn into taxol used in making up the medicine for cancer treatment.

Domestic businesses moaning about difficulties, foreign ones still live well

While domestic enterprises have been falling into decay over the last two years due to the economic downturn, foreign invested enterprises still have been making profit and scaling up their production.