About 800 overseas Vietnamese from different countries and territories yesterday gathered at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel to join the 2011 Homeland Spring programme to welcome the traditional lunar New Year festival, the Year of the Cat.

VietNamNet Bridge – The lotus is honored by artisans at the Spring Flower and Drinking for Tet Festival and the Exhibition to collect people’s opinion about national flower, national costumes and national wine in Hanoi.

VietNamNet Bridge – Workers are trying their best to decorate Nguyen Hue Road and turn it into the flower street.

VietNamNet Bridge - Thousands of people in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi began visiting the annual spring flower festival that opened Wednesday.

Lunar New Year (Tet holiday) is the chance for rich people to show their wealth through displaying unusual things at home. Besides unique ornamental trees and ornamental fish, some people buy special ceramic items to display.

The HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (Hepza) has said it will compel all those factories emitting smoke at industrial parks (IP) and export processing zones (EPZ) to build treatment facilities by the year-end.

VietNamNet Bridge - The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Belgium has removed Vietnamese tra fish from the WWF’s red guidebook in 2010-2011, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said on January 29. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Joining associations will help wood processing plants effectively address current impediments derived from material and labour scarcity.

VietNamNet Bridge – The deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Directorate of Forestry, Ha Cong Tuan, spoke to Dai Doan Ket (Great Unity) newspaper about illegal logging activities.

VietNamNet Bridge - Viet Nam plans to test the Wolbachia bacterium's effectiveness in eradicating mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus.

VietNamNet Bridge – The special garden of a veteran surprised many people. In a small alley on Au Co Road, Tay Ho District, Hanoi, hundreds of bonsais are displayed.

VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City is preparing for traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) with music shows, charity activities, art exhibitions and calligraphy markets.

VietNamNet Bridge - About 30 percent of the pork tested in Ho Chi Minh City was found tainted with clenbuterol, which was fed to pigs to keep their meat lean but endangers the health of pork consumers.

VietNamNet Bridge – If Vietnamese wooden furniture enterprises join forces with each other to develop in groups, they will be able to settle the current problems, including the scarcity of materials and the labor shortage.

Chile's firms seek business opportunities in Vietnam; Vietnam, Japan sign ODA agreements; Vietnam, Netherlands enhance PPP in agriculture; Saigontourist welcomes Costa Classica cruise ship; Solar cell plant to be built in HCM City

VietNamNet Bridge - On the occasion of the traditional Lunar New Year festival (Tet), Party, State and Government leaders paid Tet visits to various localities across the country.

VietNamNet Bridge - Three multilateral agencies have launched an innovative assessment tool that helps identify the most sustainable sites, designs and operation rules for hydro-power development in the lower Mekong River Basin.

With at least three trillion dong in chartered capital as required by the State Bank of Vietnam, Vietnamese banks have become bigger than ever.

The Government has approved a project to build the Nam Thanh -Bac Nghe Economic Zone by 2025 with a post-2025 vision.

VietNamNet Bridge - The ninth National Vovinam Championships in Algeria closed on January 28 in the Algiers capital in the presence of Vietnamese Ambassador Do Trong Cuong and Algerian sport officials.

Two drugs recalled by health authorities; Abusive massage-parlor owner gets 12 years; Teen sex ring charging $200/time smashed; Giant moth caught in Binh Duong; Fishermen rescued from boat sink off central coast

VietNamNet Bridge - Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has stressed Vietnam ’s priority to information technology (IT) with incentives on investment in infrastructure and human resource development.

The fear that workers may not return to work after Tet has caused worries to the enterprises in labor-intensive sectors, especially garment and footwear companies.

VietNamNet Bridge – An exhibition of cat paintings opened in the ancient capital city of Hue on January 27 to celebrate the Year of the Cat (2011). The exhibition introduces 50 paintings of cats by 20 artists.

Viet Nam's small business confidence index remains positive at 156, the second highest in the world, over the global average of 125, according to a bi-annual small business confidence monitor recently released by the HSBC.