It is no secret that Beijing is a particularly dry place to live compared with many other capital cities, especially in winter.

VietNamNet Bridge – In over a week, nearly 100 schoolgirls of the Son Thanh Junior and High School in Tay Hoa district, the central province of Phu Yen fainted.

VietNamNet Bridge – The 10-hectare Thanh Long Sports Center in HCM City will be sold to a banker, a manager of the sports center said on January 23.

Oil giant earns $2.1b in January; World Bank arm buys into Vietnam state-owned bank; Stable fertiliser prices predicted; US firm to build solar cell plant in HCM City; Liberty ranks best in business performance

The Ministry of Finance has turned down a proposal by the Viet Nam Gold Traders Association to reduce the export tax of gold and gold jewelry, announcing yesterday that the current tax rate of 10 per cent would remain in effect.

VietNamNet Bridge - Computer viruses will continue to thrive in Viet Nam this year as internet-users ignore the consequences of installing fake software online, the Bach Khoa Anti-virus centre said in their "2010 Virus Review".

VietNamNet Bridge - Viet Nam is aiming to improve the quality of its forest and their productivity during the next five years.

VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign-invested projects have disbursed US$420 million so far this month, a year-on-year increase of 5 per cent, the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency said.

Auditors have uncovered VND13.774 trillion (US$706 million) in financial wrongdoings at state organizations in 132 audits in 2010, according to the State Audit Office of Vietnam which also said it would scrutinize Vinashin and EVN this year.

A lot of banks failed to implement their plan to list shares on the bourse in 2010 due to the gloomy stock market. However, they believe that they will succeed with the new plans in 2011.

Steel producers foresee that 2011 will be a very difficult year for them especially because they have to pay high interest rates for loans, and face electricity cuts.

With overly high lending interest rates at 18-20 percent per annum, real estate developers have turned their back on the market.

Associate Professor Dr of Science Vu Dinh Hoa has been well known in Vietnam as the first student who won the silver medal at the mathematics Olympiad in 1974.

Several measures have been applied to ease the overloading of airports during Tet . However, passengers have been warned that the overloading will be unavoidable.

HCM City’s residents, travel firms and local authorities all have agreed that it is necessary to develop waterway tourism. However, they still do not know what and how to develop.

Land-related corruption has become widespread and Vietnamese people are familiar with it like with floods after downpours in Hanoi, said director of the Center for Public Research and Development Dang Ngoc Dinh.

VietNamNet Bridge – The 2011 national tourism year will focus on promoting tourism in the south central coast region, it was announced at a press conference held in Ha Noi yesterday, Jan 25.

Now when wild peach trees are becoming scarce and their prices are escalating, hunting for ornamental peach has become a hard work. VietNamNet reports.

VietNamNet Bridge – Cyclists from Laos, Cambodia and Thailand will take part in a four-day Viet Nam cycling race to Cambodia to mark the latter's New Year Festival in April.

Viet Nam, UAE ink visa waiver pact; Japan helps build training school for blind children; Vietnam Airlines’ passenger injured in Moscow bomb attack; Cambodian veterans receive payouts