The Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin (VAVA) mobilised nearly 306 billion VND (13.5 million USD) to support AO victims in 2017, heard a conference in Hanoi on December 19. 

 The job market in Vietnam is expected to be largely positive next year as the country continues to develop its manufacturing base, recruitment companies said.

 A ceremony took place at the ASEAN Secretariat headquarters in Indonesia to bid farewell to outgoing Secretary General Le Luong Minh.

 Vietnam expects to earn more than $212 billion from exports this year, much higher than $176 billion last year.

 6 am - the temperature isonly 9 to 10 Celsius degree. Many people are still curled up in bed. Yet manual labourers in Long Bien wholesale market have been working since midnight.

 The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting announced on December 21 that a tropical low pressure system has formed in the eastern waters of the southern region of the Philippines and has strengthened into a new tropical storm.

VietNamNet Bridge - The maritime shipping crisis has forced shipping firms worldwide to join alliances to improve their competitiveness. Such alliances have also been set up in Vietnam.

 Shares rebounded on December 20 after a brief fall on December 19, boosted by energy and bank stocks on investors’ expectation of positive Q4 earnings from these companies.

 The Phnom Penh–headquartered Lanmei Airlines launched direct flights between Phnom Penh and Hanoi and Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City on December 20.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay Dang Xuan Dung presented his letter of credentials to Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay’s capital city Montevideo on December 19.  

 Fourteen outstanding business leaders from Vietnam were honoured as winners of the prestigious Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2017 (APEA) at a ceremony in HCM City on December 19, the first time it was held in the country.

 Coach Park Hang-seo of Vietnam’s U23 team confirmed that a friendly match against the Republic of Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai FC was an important test for his team ahead of the Asian championships next month.

 The National Academy of Music will host a series of piano concerts on December 22-27, featuring talented artists from the Republic of Korea and Brazil.

 After nearly two years of construction, the Hoang Sa Museum in the central city of Da Nang will open to the public next month, celebrating the New Year and offering a new destination to tourists.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) estimates that Vietnam has to remit $2 billion abroad to import foreign drugs but could retain more money in-country if it could attract FDI into the pharmaceutical industry.

VietNamNet Bridge - The investment rate in solar power systems is now just equal to 20-30 percent of the rate of 10 years ago.

The landslides at Cua Dai seaside in Hoi An City in Quang Nam province are getting more serious. The state has poured hundreds of billions of dong to fight erosion, but the efforts have been futile.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many schools have complained that it is difficult to find PhD students for some arts and culture majors because of inadequate doctoral requirements.

Many people in Hanoi continue to swim in the Red River in the early morning despite the icy winter temperatures. 

 A woman in the central province of Nghe An was stopped while transporting seven dead monkeys for sale.