Denmark supports fine arts education in Viet Nam; Festival of ASEAN’s family held in Egypt; President Ho's palm leaf testament recognised; Men fail to make up numbers in quan ho love songs

VietNamNet Bridge – Professor Tran Van Giau, a senior scholar, who was recognized as a Labor Hero and People’s Teacher died at the age of 100 at a hospital in HCM City on December 16.

Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Dang Dung on Dec. 16 handed over the Chairmanship of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) to Ambassador I Gede Ngurah Swajaya of Indonesia that will chair ASEAN in 2011.

VietNamNet Bridge – For the first time participating in the Rainforest Challenge for four wheel drive vehicles in Malaysia from December 4 to 13, Vietnam’s team named Otofun ranked 16th out of 48 teams and won the consolation prize.

Vietnam focuses int’l youth festival on AO victims; VN adopted Hague Adoption Convention; Law awareness in HCM City’s businesses; HCM City lacks toxic waste disposal facilities; Agribank manager arrested for theft

The local public is paying special attention to the sunken Korean fishing vessel in the Antarctic, which had 11 Vietnamese sailors. At present, thousands of Vietnamese sailors are working on foreign ships and facing lots of difficulties and risks.

To capture memorable moments, some young boys climbed up a fence to get into a crocodile cage in a nature reserve in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho. A boy was attacked by a 5m crocodile.  

In interviews with the Indian news agencies, Miss Earth Nicole Faria was lavish in her praises to Vietnam, the host country of the Miss Earth 2010 pageant.

Just several hours after a clip featuring a wedding party of two girls in Hanoi was uploaded on Facebook, it became a big controversy on online forums in Vietnam.

Senior painter Bui Quang Ngoc will display 32 oil paintings, including portraits of famous people and nude paintings at an exhibition at 43 Trang Tien, Hanoi from December 16.

While the gas prices have been increasing sharply, some big gas suppliers unexpectedly reduce the retail prices. The move by the suppliers has been criticized as anti-competitive behaviour and believed to trigger a “gas price war”.

Experts have pointed out that the State Bank of Vietnam still has not found the proper monetary solution, therefore, interest rates are still escalating.

Vietnam consumers are more optimistic about economic growth and new jobs next year than their counterparts in other fast-growing emerging economies in Asia, according to a survey by TNS Vietnam.

Despite the criticism about the low quality of in-service training, the training model is still expanding. Universities are opening more in-service training courses, because they are the main bread earners for them and for university lecturers.

The World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) has agreed to immediately remove Viet Nam's tra (pangasius) fish from the red list of its consumer guidance manual.

The fact that consumers are tightening their belt in the year-end shopping season has caused headache to manufacturers.

Vietnam has been developing open source software for the last 10 years, but it has witnessed no considerable progress so far, according to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

VietNamNet Bridge – Despite deciding that information technology (IT) will play a very important role in the development of the knowledge-based economy, Vietnam still looks puzzled in preparing the labour force for the industry.

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Construction has asked the Government to continue to give preferential treatment to enterprises that are implementing housing projects for workers in industrial zones and low-income families in urban areas.

VietNamNet Bridge – An epidemic has killed about 100 buffalo and other cattle in Phong Tho District in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau since September.