Patrons of art and culture may have more options to enjoy them with the release of some significant products, including a music album and an interactive book. 

 Viet Nam’s No 1 long jumper Bui Thi Thu Thao has had an exciting New Year.

About 1,700ha of custard apples are growing in Lục Nam District in the northern province of Bắc Giang. After Tết (Lunar New Year festival), growers will have to spray pesticides by hand  to prevent spider mites from damaging the crop.

The đàn nhị, a bowed two-string instrument, is a multi-purpose fiddle in the vast treasury of Vietnamese traditional music.

 HCM City authorities hope to have at least 15-20 per cent of school children travelling by bus by 2020.

 If rice is Vietnam’s staple crop, xoi (steamed sticky rice) is the nation’s choice dish, as much as the famous pho (rice noodle soup), if not more so. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Illegal loggers have been using motor saws in Yok Don National Park and felling dozens of precious trees for a long time. But no agency has taken responsibility for the deforestation.

 As most of the machines used in the agricultural sector are imported, innovations in agricultural machinery made by Vietnamese farmers are being viewed as “rain after the drought”.

Mai Sen Bistro is more than just a good restaurant. Its staff are trainees from the Anre Maisen Hospitality Training Centre, a vocational school that provides free cookery courses for underprivileged young people.

Tran Phuong My is fast establishing a reputation as an emerging international designer with luxury designs that are elegant, modern and feminine.  

 Viet Nam is trying to tackle the weakness of the pig industry, including the processing and distribution of pork, to promote the export of high-quality meat products to the world market.

 The annual love duet singing festival will be organised on February 27 and 28 in Lim Town, Nội Duệ and Liên Bão Commune, Tiên Du District in the northern province of Bắc Ninh.

 A famous novel by the late author Doàn Gioi, winner of the State Awards for Literature and Arts in 2001, has been adapted into a movie and will be filmed this summer.  

 The government targets to provide vocational training to 2.2 million people in 2018 to meet the increasing demand for human resources, according to the Directorate of Vocational Education under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

 The central province of Quang Tri has planned to set up corridors to protect its biodiversity from urbanisation and illegal exploitation.

 Nhân dân (People) newspaper has reported on the shortage of housing for teachers in central province of Quảng Bình as an example of the problem.

 Tradition has it that during the first three days of the new year Vietnamese families go to pagodas and temples to pay respect to the spirits of the land. 

 A father and son were killed when a four-seat car caught fire near a tourism site in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai on Tuesday.

 The average production value per hectare of agricultural land in Ho Chi Minh City has increased year after year even as the area shrank, according to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

 Medical services at the grassroots level help save costs and ensure sustainability in healthcare, contributing to the improvement of medical service quality, according to the Ministry of Health.