President Tran Dai Quang on May 14 met with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawar Sharif and Secretary General of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party Toshihiro 

 Youngest Vietnamese heart transplant patient goes home, Vietnamese lass wins national letter writing contest, APEC moves to boost sustainable urbanisation amid globalisation, Khau Pha paragliding festival kicks off in Yen Bai

 Military-run telecom group Viettel’s 4G subscribers increased by 1.5 times following its official launch on April 18 and reached nearly three million by the end of April, the company announced.

 The ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) at banks in the first quarter of this year is was varied, according to a daily report by Bao Viet Securities Corp (BVSC).

Eleven teams of developers from APEC member economies will be in Hanoi from May 18 to 19 to participate in a 24-hour app challenge.

 Viet Nam’s tourism industry recorded a successful year with VND400 trillion (US$17.6 billion) of total revenue in 2016. However, the travel companies’ profits are not commensurate with their revenue, vneconomy.vn reports.

 The optimism appears justified given that 95 per cent of the Asia’s population now lives in middle-income economies, while as recently as the 1990s, more than 90 per cent of Asians were low-income earners.

 Substandard investment procedures and regulations hinder investors in major power plant projects, baodautu.vn reported.

 All Asian architectural students and architects aged under 40 have been invited to join the Spec Go Green International Awards 2017, which aims to honour environmentally friendly architecture.

 Chefs from 12 countries will compete at the international Cao Lau (a Vietnamese dish made with noodles, pork, and greens) cooking challenge in Hoi An on June 12-14.

 Young comic actor Huynh Lap set a new record when his parody film based on Vietnamese blockbuster Tam Cam: The Untold Story earned three million views one day after appearing on YouTube.

 About 30 manhole covers on pavement in HCM City’s District 5 have been turned into streetside paintings by art students as part of a programme to raise awareness about environmental protection and urban beauty.

 The Ministry of Health has launched the second phase of a project on encouraging Vietnamese people to use locally manufactured drugs at a conference today in Hanoi.

Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) has proposed a plan to the Ministry of Transport to transfer Cau Gie-Ninh Binh Expressway toll-collection privileges at a cost of VNĐ9.1 trillion (US$402.12 million) over a period of 30 years.  

 The HCM City Department of Transport is considering building four smart parking lots, worth VNĐ170 billion (US$7.5 million), in the city’s downtown area, including Lam Sơn Square, 23/9 Park, Tao Dan Park and Le Van Tam Park.

 Hanoian parents face an annual headache of registering their children at public schools, and the school year 2017-18 is no different, with the number of public schools limited but the number of children at school age rocketing in the city.

 Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups begins a series on the Xo Dang, an indigenous people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Though street calling is less common now than it used to be, you can still hear it from time to time on the streets of Hanoi.

 In recent years, a model of mini water puppet stages has become popular with domestic and foreign audiences.

 417-year-old Phu Vinh village in Chuong My District, 25km west of the center of Hanoi, is famous for its sophisticated bamboo and rattan products.