HCM City’s streets are full of colourful decorations to welcome Christmas and New Year.

 Nearly 100 tonnes of rubbish have been washed up onto the beach at Da Nang City while the waste disposal company said they had too few staff to deal with the pollution.

 A large group of monkeys and douc langurs have been found in a forest in the central province of Quang Tri.   

The State Bank of Vietnam is collecting comments on a draft amendment to Decree No. 24 from 2012 on gold trading management, with the proposed elimination of business conditions for producing gold jewelry and fine arts being the prominent feature.

 Da Nang’s software park has been recognised as a centralised information technology centre – the third of its kind after two in Hanoi and HCM City – following Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s decision on December 7. 

Located in Lac Trung street, Hanoi, the robotic coffee shop has attracted a large number of customers these days with a robot serving drinks to the tables.

 EU leaders are expected to formally agree to start the next phase of Brexit negotiations later.

 Walt Disney has agreed to buy the bulk of 21st Century Fox's business for $52.4bn (£39bn), in a deal both companies said position them to compete in the rapidly changing media industry.

VietNamNet Bridge – Four 40-45 story apartment buildings in Kim Van–Kim Lu New Urban Area in Hoang Mai District are home to about 16,000 people.

 Thai Binh Province People's Committee has proposed a VND3.9trn (USD172m) public-private partnership coastal road project to the Ministry of Transport.

 A train and a school bus have collided near Perpignan in southern France, leaving at least four children dead and many other people injured.

 E-commerce giant Amazon is proceeding with its ambitious business plan in Viet Nam, following Alibaba’s footsteps, said Nguyen Thanh Hung, chairman of the Viet Nam E-commerce Association (VECOM).

 Japanese enterprises raised four problems they face while doing business in Viet Nam in a dialogue with the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform on Wednesday.

Education and investment in human resources (HR) are the driving force for economic development, HR experts and educators from Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) agreed at the Global HR Forum

 The new law on securities should allow full foreign ownership at public companies and investment funds, according to members of the Viet Nam Business Forum’s (VBF) working group on capital market.

The Australian Government on December 14 launched the pilot Logistics Industry Reference Council to promote industry linkages with vocational education and training in partnership with its Vietnamese counterpart.

 Experts gathered at a workshop in Hanoi on December 14 to seek measures to enhance water resources security amid climate change and energy development in the Mekong Delta region.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Fishermen in the south central coastal province of Binh Dinh have asked two companies to pay compensation for damage to their new steel ships.

By October 20, implemented foreign direct investment (FDI) had reached $14.2 billion and foreign portfolio investment (FPI) $4.7 billion, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The Vietnam Steel Association will coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to protect the legitimate rights and interests of local steelmakers who were recently accused of tax evasion by the US Department of Commerce.