The impact of saltwater intrusion on rivers and canals in HCMC has risen though the dry season has yet to peak.

 Vietnam should be more active in proposing specific areas with which the WTO can support the country, WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said during his visit to Vietnam, the first ever trip made by a WTO chief to the Southeast Asian nation.

In Hanoi, the Pho Tay (streets for foreign backpackers) is located at the T-junction of Ta Hien - Luong Ngoc Quyen - Dinh Liet while in Phan Thiet, foreign tourists visit the streets of Nguyen Dinh Chieu and Ham Tien.

Asia Commercial Bank is still struggling with some VND5.7 trillion (US$256.3 million) in bad debt caused by six enterprises associated with its former vice chairman Nguyen Duc Kien, heard the lender’s general meeting last week.

  The HCMC Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will host a chamber music concert at the Opera House in District 1 on April 19, with local and foreign artists taking part.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The worst drought in the last 30 years from El Nino troubled the local coffee growers in Dak Lak Province, but it also taught them the value of saving water.

 The largest local commercial bank, Vietcombank (VCB), will increase their charter capital to over VND39.7 trillion (US$1.78 billion), said chairman Nghiem Xuan Thanh at the bank's general shareholder's meeting on April 15.

 Vietnamese and Russian tourism businesses signed cooperation agreements to increase the exchange of tourists between the two countries and support each other in implementing tourism development plans.

 Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has said one of the priorities of his country is further developing its traditional cooperation with Vietnam in various fields.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Of the 197 candidates of central-level agencies running for the National Assembly membership, there are the Prime Minister, three deputy prime ministers and 13 ministers.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Two people in the central province of Nghe An unexpectedly discovered a giant oarfish floating on the water on April 13th. They immediately pulled the fish onshore. The fish was 3.6 m long, weighing about 25 kg.

The Dam Sen Cultural Park hired 50 artisans to make and boil a giant square-shaped glutinous rice cake weighing 2.5 tons to offer to the Hung Kings, the founders and the first protectors of Vietnam.

 VietNamNet Bridge - A female French tourist was injured in a traffic accident in Da Nang. Thanks to the timely and methodological assistance of a Vietnamese woman, the tourist was rescued.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Pham Quang Vinh has highlighted the remarkable developments in relations between Vietnam and the US over the past two decades.

 The seventh season of Vietnam Next Top Model will kick off with casting rounds in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in May, according to an April 14 announcement by the producers.

 The Ho Chi Minh City 2016 International Martial Arts Festival will be held from April 22 to24.

 Donna Buenagua Mazon, 41, from the Philippines, was sentenced to death at the second trial of the Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s court on April 15 for smuggling nearly 1.5 kilograms of cocaine into Vietnam.

 Saigon Polar Expo, a newly established ice entertainment venue, has opened to the public at Him Lam new urban area in District 7, HCMC.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Authorities of HCMC on Sunday organized a recycling festival at the HCMC Labor Culture Palace on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street to encourage people to reduce the use of solid trash and at the same time recycle waste.

 The General Statistics Office reports that this time last year, 57,000 local people took the chance to travel around their homeland - an increase of almost 50 percent on the year before.