Price stabilization program for 2011; Ha Noi IZs urged to offer investment incentives; Cement exports tipped to expand; Seafood firms take 30 spots on list of top 500 companies; Agriculture, aquaculture and forestry exports increase

VietNamNet Bridge – Well-paid local football stars are increasingly looking to the investment sector as a way of supplementing their incomes.

In times when the fine line between publicity mongering by celebrities and morbid curiosity about personal lives of celebrities are crossed freely and frequently, it is not surprising that celebrity weddings are a hot topic.

VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign manufacturers are seeing new credit barriers to develop investment projects in Vietnam, which could reduce net capital inflows this year.

VietNamNet Bridge - Meandering through lush forests and tapering mountains ranges, the Suoi Ngoc (Pearl Stream) in Hanoi’s Thach That District invites visitors to lose themselves in the natural splendor of its environs.

In 2010, the real estate price in Hanoi increased by 30 percent. In some areas the land prices increased by 100 percent or more. Experts say there are latent risks in Hanoi’s real estate market.  

VietNamNet Bridge – Farmers in Vinh Chau district, the southern province of Soc Trang, are harvesting violet onion to supply the market at the lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

VietNamNet Bridge - The US consul in Ho Chi Minh City, Le Thanh An, is an ethnic Vietnamese who will celebrate his first Tet in his homeland for 45 years.

VietNamNet Bridge – The number of people taking medical examinations for parasitic diseases has increased since last June, says Dinh Xuan Sinh, head of the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases' Viet-Anh Infectious Disease Ward.

VietNamNet Bridge – Piles of telecom cables have been left on the roads of Bach Mai and Truong Dinh, Hanoi for a long time. They have become traps for passers-by.

VietNamNet Bridge - Decree 01/2011/ND-CP on issuing sovereign bonds, government-guarantee debts and local governance debts will take effect from February 20, 2011, and it is expected to boost the development of Vietnam’s bond market.

VietNamNet Bridge - PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation Ltd (PVEP) has signed a syndicated loan of US$430 million with 14 foreign banks.

VietNamNet Bridge - Apple high-end gadgets of iPhone and iPad on sale starting this year will have as an indispensable part a new compact blood sugar testing tool invented by a Vietnamese engineer living in the US.

VietNamNet Bridge – A tourism park with a strong cultural theme is being built in time for Tet (lunar New Year) in HCM City's suburban Cu Chi District.

VietNamNet Bridge – Tran Hoang Ngan of HCM City Economics University, a member of the National Advisory Council for Financial and Monetary Policy, spoke toTien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

According to a survey conducted by UNDP in Hanoi and HCM City in 2010, 1.47 percent of interviewees in Hanoi and 3.77 percent in HCM City said they don’t go to hospitals for examinations because they can’t afford healthcare services.

VietNamNet Bridge – Every morning at Van Noi Market, pile after pile of colourful, shiny fruit and vegetables are arranged by traders, ready and waiting for the first customers of the day.

VietNamNet Bridge - Techcombank has raised cash-withdrawal fees to prevent Vietnamese from flocking to Cambodia to withdraw millions of dollars from Cambodian ATMs to benefit from the difference in exchange rates.

VietNamNet Bridge - The 9th Vovinam Championships closed in Algiers City, Algeria on January 28, in the presence of the Vietnamese ambassador to Algeria, Do Trong Cuong, and many high-ranking sports officials.

Border soldiers, families receive Tet gifts; Five Filipinos rescued off Vietnam recovering; Highway 1A clogged as vehicles tail up 30 km; More cases of A/H1N1 in northern region; Ministry pledges Tet crowd control