Sugar import quota to stay unchanged

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Industry and Trade will permit sugar importers to fulfill import plans under a current import quota of 250,000 tonnes.

Businesses agonise over 20 percent interest

VietNamNet Bridge - Businesses are facing a million-dollar question these days: whether to continue to borrow from banks since interest rates have gone through the roof.

Heritage homes in Hanoi await restoration

VietNamNet Bridge - For the last ten years, hundreds of heritage homes in Hanoi’s old quarter are listed by city authorities for restoration and preservation work, as residents here have been banned from repairing these houses themselves. 

Remittances tumble amid instability

VietNamNet Bridge - Overseas remittances into Vietnam saw a decline in the past months on the back of economic vulnerabilities.

Victoria’s Secret model perform in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – Supermodel Heather Marks arrived in HCM City on May 13, to attend the Long-legged Festival, which took place last night, May 15, at the Ocean Club, HCM City.

Korean “Sexy Queen” in HCM City

VietNamNet Bridge – Kim Hye Soo, a movie star from South Korea appeared at a fashion event in HCM City on May 14.

Students suffer depression because of exam pressure

VietNamNet Bridge - Doctors have rung the alarm bell over the increasingly high number of students who suffer depression. Especially, the number of hospitalized cases reported increases in exam seasons.

Half of Vietnamese surrogate mothers in Thailand return home

VietNamNet Bridge – After nearly three months living in the Kredtrakarn Center for Protection and Vocational Training in Thailand’s Nonthaburi Province, ten Vietnamese surrogate mothers have returned home.

Vietnam telecom market remains unsustainable

VietNamNet Bridge - The UK-based Business Monitor International (BMI) said Vietnam’s telecom market is still in the 17th place in the Asia Pacific Telecom Business Environment Ratings and the future is looking increasingly bleak.

SOCIETY IN BRIEF 16/5

Fight delayed by false bomb threat; Unsettling weather conducive for diseases; Binh Duong police hunt businessman’s murderer; Maersk Line's vessel grounded at port; Solar panel project kicks off    

Hanoi: Cyclos are about to be eliminated

VietNamNet Bridge – Director of the Hanoi Police Bureau has instructed to inspect cyclos, seized illegal cyclos and gradually ban cyclos in Hanoi.

"Pirates of the Caribbean 4" debuts at 64th Cannes Film Festival

Cast members pose for photos prior to the premiere of the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" at the 64th Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, May 14, 2011.

Quake-hit Japan faces temporary recession

The Japanese government Monday passed a 50 billion U.S. dollar extra budget for fiscal 2011 in the first of a series of emergency funding measures to aid reconstruction efforts in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Safety suffers on Ha Long Bay cruises

VietNamNet Bridge – Three months after a tour boat owned by Truong Hai Co Ltd sank in Ha Long Bay, drowning 12 people, another boat has gone down at the World Heritage site.

Trawlers to get satellite link-up

VietNamNet Bridge – About 3,000 fishing vessels in 28 coastal provinces are to be equipped with satellite monitoring devices in August, under a project of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development aimed at helping them

IPs play dirty in war on waste

VietNamNet Bridge – The unchecked release of untreated effluents into the environment by a majority of industrial parks (IPs) is killing rivers as well as fishing as a vocation in many localities nationwide, residents complain.

Vietnam tests tsunami early warning system

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam’s first tsunami warning system comprising a network of 10 centers was successfully tested in central Da Nang City on May 15.

Interest, inflation weigh on shares

VietNamNet Bridge - Stocks lost value on meagre trading last week on the nation's stock exchanges.

Israeli forces fire at Arab protestors on borders with Syria, Lebanon

Eight people were reportedly killed and dozens of others were wounded on Sunday when Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators at two locations near Israel's northern borders with Syria and Lebanon.

56 foreigners seized for online stealing

VietNamNet Bridge - Ho Chi Minh City police yesterday arrested 56 foreigners, most of them Asians, for swindling foreign individuals and businesses and used hi-tech devices to steal their bank account information.

Director of ‘The quiet American’ to visit Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge - Phillip Noyce, the Australian director of “The quiet American,” will visit Vietnam to promote his authorized biography and meet film and media personalities around the country from May 27 to June 8.

Butterfly, medley produce three golds at Malaysia Open

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese top swimmer Vo Thai Nguyen bagged two golds and one silver at the Malaysia Open over the weekend.

Bryan brace helps Nghe An stay top

VietNamNet Bridge – Jamaica's Kavin Bryan struck twice, while Nguyen Trong Hoang and Hedges Devon Derron added two another goals to help Song Lam Nghe An overpower Khatoco Khanh Hoa 4-0 in the Eximbank V-League yesterday.

Life in the home of oldest tea trees in the world

Around 200km from Hanoi, Suoi Giang commune in the Van Chan district, the northern mountain province of Yen Bai, is 1,371m above sea level.

Primary schools tap online learning aids

VietNamNet Bridge – More than 200 primary schools around Viet Nam have voted with their mouses by choosing to incorporate the innovative English teaching programme Phonics-Learning Box UK into their classes.