Vietnam is about to finalize the negotiations for second oil refinery

The Nghi Son oil refinery project, the second oil refinery in Vietnam, is now under the final stage of negotiation. It will have the total investment capital of 8-10 billion dollars and the designed capacity of 200,000 barrels per day.

PM committed to realizing Vietnam-DPRK agreements

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese Government will strive to effectively implement the agreements reached between the leaders of Vietnam and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Plan to cut deaths on highways

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam plans to build emergency clinics along national highways to reduce accident-related fatalities, which number about 11,000 each year.

Laos celebrates ASEAN founding anniversary

The Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a hoisting ceremony of the ASEAN and Lao flags on Aug. 7 to mark the 45th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 15 years since Laos became an official member

Survey finds one-third Canadians without necessary health care

 More than one-third of Canadians have not obtained needed health care because of insufficient insurance coverage, according to the results of an online survey released Tuesday.

South VN faces threat of dengue

 VietNamNet Bridge – People in southern parts of the country have been warned to take precautions against the spread of dengue fever, as the risk of getting the disease rises next month.

HCM City plans to ban old motorbikes in circulation

The HCM City People’s Committee has assigned the city’s police and relevant branches to draft the document stipulating the minimum requirements motorbikes must have to be eligible for being put into circulation.

Seeking a husband – hard job of IZ workers

 VietNamNet Bridge –  “I’m 28 already. If I keep staying here, I will be unable to find my man,” said Lieu, a worker of the Bac Thang Long Industrial Zone (IZ) in Hanoi.

Part 3: Phu Quoc fish sauce rescued by westerners

Nguyen Thi Tinh showed off her new fish barrels, where anchovies were being salted to create a kind of genuine fish sauce which Tinh would register to obtain the geographical indication certificate on Phu Quoc fish sauce trademark.

BUSINESS IN BRIEF 8/8

Garment exporters go in search of new contracts;  Province hopes to make hay from corridor;  Troubled firms find customers next door; Surging bad debt leaves financial sector vulnerable; Vinacomin owed VND2 trillion in debts   

The final hundred days

VietNamNet would like to introduce a series of article about the presidential election in the US, by G. Calvin Mackenzie, the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of Government at Colby College and a Fulbright scholar in Vietnam.

Rare collection of Vietnam’s antiques

An exhibition entitled “Vietnamese antiques” is underway at the National Museum of History in Hanoi, displaying over 50 outstanding antiques of Vietnam from the Dong Son culture to Nguyen Dynasty. The exhibition will close on August 25.

Drop in technology studies

 VietNamNet Bridge – Fewer students are enrolling in technology studies although the demand for trained staff in the field is high, according to university officials.

ART & ENTERTAINMENT IN BRIEF 7/8

 Orchestra unites skilled SE Asian musicians; City girl joins Asia’s Next Top Model in Singapore; Spratly photos on show

Int’l organisations help preserve Hue relics

 VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly 50 international organisations have joined hands to promote and preserve the cultural heritage in the central city of Hue, after UNESCO called for their support.

Shocked with suicide instruction websites

Besides pornographic and violent websites, websites teaching how to commit suicide in Vietnamese language have appeared, poisoning children who suffer from depression or those who want to assert themselves in wrong ways.

Backgrounder: NASA's past Mars exploration missions

 NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is set to touch down in the Gale Crater area of Mars early Monday. The mission will study whether the Red Planet has evidence of past and present habitable environments.

Agent Orange victim inspires peace song

 VietNamNet Bridge – The story of Agent Orange victim Nguyen Duc has inspired Japanese high school teacher Toshiaki Uchimoto to compose a song about peace.

The old man who cleans small ads for ten years

 VietNamNet Bridge – Mr. Nguyen Van Minh, 69, in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi, has taken advantage of his afternoon exercise time to remove small ads on walls, electric poles, etc. to beautify the street for ten years.

Chinese unexpectedly stopped collecting cuttlefish, fishing boats stay ashore

VietNamNet Bridge – Hundreds of fishing boats in the sea provinces of Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen have to stay ashore, because cuttlefish cannot be sold to Chinese merchants, who have unexpectedly disappeared.

Old motorbikes likely to be banned in HCM City

 VietNamNet Bridge – Old motorbikes are likely to be removed from the roads as Ho Chi Minh City authorities have considered establishing minimum standards for vehicles to be eligible for circulation, and an expiry date for their duration of use.

Lai Chau: Crossing river by hanging on a cable

 VietNamNet Bridge – To cross the Nam La River, people in U Ra village in Phong Tho district of the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau have to stand on a plank to slip over the river with a cable.

Chau to play Chinese Taipei champ

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam's Le Huynh Chau will compete with the No 2 seed Wei Chen Yang from Chinese Taipei in the first match of the men's taekwondo 58kg category tomorrow, Aug 8, in the London Olympics.

SOCIETY IN BRIEF 7/8

 HCM City to build taxi barriers; 250,000 disabled people to get jobs by 2015; Romanian seized for using fake ATM cards; Landslide kills two in Cao Bang; Soc Trang farmer captures 80kg python

U.S. stocks hold at 3-month high on Europe hopes

 U.S. stocks climbed higher and remained at the highest level in three months on Monday as positive remarks on Greek debt conditions and hopes for more stimulus added to gains boosted by the upbeat U.S. jobs report.