VietNamNet Bridge – Over the last 10 years, Vietnam has been able to stabilise its population growth, and authorities have shifted their focus to population quality.

 The banking sector’s profits were anticipated to rise significantly in 2017, driven by the handling of bad debts and the recovery of the property sector.

A court in HCM City yesterday began to hear the case of 15 people who allegedly plotted to use petrol bombs to blow up Tan Son Nhat International Airport as the country was preparing to celebrate Liberation Day, 

 VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City People’s Committee has sought Government approval to set off fireworks to mark New Year and Tet (the Lunar New Year).

The rapid growth of digital media, how traditional media can compete with social media and how the media can ensure its financial survival were among the main issues discussed at the annual national conference 

 The Ministry of Health has asked Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for more time to issue circulation numbers for certain medical equipment (categories B, C, D) by January 1.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A collection of 132 works on truc chi, an artistic handmade paper, is on show at a visual art exhibition in Hue.

 The HCM City People’s Court on Monday sentenced Huynh Ngoc Den to four years in prison for illegally accessing computer networks, telecommunication networks, internet and digital devices of others.

 The Ministry of Transportation (MoT) on Monday announced eight public-private-partnership (PPP) investment projects under the build-operation-transfer (BOT) form on the Eastern North-South expressway for 2017-2020.  

 Six primary school students exhibiting unusual behaviour were suspected to suffer from dissociation disorder, according to a report director of the Dak Lak Department of Health Doanh Huu Long sent to the Ministry of Health last week.

 The annual Binh Duong Television International Football Cup (BTV Cup) will be organised in late January instead of the customary December.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City Department of Transport put 18 new compressed natural gas-fuelled (CNG) buses into service on Monday in addition to 39 new diesel buses to replace old ones.

Vietnam and Japan should pioneer in speeding up the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership as the two nations have a strategic partnership, traditional friendship.

The unemployment rate among university graduates and those holding higher degrees in the third quarter of 2017 was 4.51 percent, compared to 3.63 percent in the previous three months.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to add 10 relics to the list of special national relics.

 Eighty-five young music talents nationwide were granted 2017 Toyota Scholarships in Hanoi on December 26.

 Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has approved an equitisation plan of the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG).

About 13 million foreigners chose Vietnam as their holiday destination in 2017, which is considered a record of the tourism sector and marked a year-on-year rise of nearly 3 million in the number of foreign visitors for the first time.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged newly-accredited US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink to promote the exchange of high-level delegations.

Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan hosted receptions for newly-accredited Ambassadors of Cuba and Spain to Vietnam in Hanoi on December 26.