With housing demand remaining strong, banks are optimistic 2017 will be a big year for mortgages.

 Over 400 years ago, the Lao migrants got help from the Thai ethnic people in Muong Va commune, the Laos-bordered province of Son La, to build a tower that became a national ancient architectural relic of Vietnam in 1995. 

 The 2nd India Buddhism culture day in Vietnam will be organised at Thien An Pagoda in Tam Dao district, the northern province of Vinh Phuc, on March 16 and 19.

 Hollywood film director Jordan Vogt-Roberts said he is honoured to be Vietnam’s tourism ambassador and will do his utmost to help Vietnamese tourism take off.

 The Central Highlands region is expected to attract more than VND230 trillion ($10.1 billion) worth of investment in the period of 2016-2020.

 Vietnam’s total export earnings hit $13 billion in February, raising the total in the first two months of this year to $27.3 billion, up 15.4 percent annually, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT). 

 The European-standard dairy farm Vinamilk Organic Da Lat was inaugurated in Tu Tra commune, Don Duong district, the central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

 PCI rankings of five centrally-run municipalities through years

 The national security service has identified two teenagers as the hackers behind recent attacks on the websites of several domestic airports, the Ministry of Public Security said on March 13.

 Secretary of the Party Committee and Governor of Laos’ Vientiane capital Sinlavong Khoutphaythoun received visiting Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen The Hung in the Lao capital city on March 13.

 Good settlement of post-war matters like AO/dioxin victims as well as leftover bombs and mines in Vietnam will make contributions to consolidating and promoting friendship between Vietnam and the US.

The US Department of State’s 2016 annual Human Rights report acknowledges some of Vietnam’s achievements in protecting human rights, but makes biased statements and does not reflect the real situation in Vietnam.

VietNamNet Bridge - Nike and Adidas are willing to pay 10-17 percent of their profits for their marketing campaigns. Will Vietnamese businesses do the same?

VietNamNet Bridge - The Japanese government is tightening management over admission to language schools, but this doesn’t mean the country will reject all Vietnamese students.

Mai, an office cleaner, was groped by an official as she worked. When this happened several times, she had a video taken of the act, and lodged a sexual harassment complaint with authorities in Ca Mau Province.

 Hanoi and the northern provinces will see light showers, scattered drizzles and humid weather until the end of this week, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting has said.

 Residents in Tam Nong District on Monday morning used about 20 vehicles to block a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) toll station in the area to protest what they call unreasonably high tolls.

 A 60-year-old Cambodian woman has been arrested and charged with smuggling eight kilograms of gold from her country into the southern province of An Giang.

 The Danang International Airport will throw open the doors to its new US$154 million terminal on April 25, say airport officials.

 Airlines transported an estimated 52.2 million passengers in 2016, up 29% from the previous year, according to a report by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam.