Retailers face foreign competition; Firms urged to prepare for AEC; VN Steel Corp to withdraw from non-core sectors; Rubber industry faces falling prices; SBV looks set to resolve weak banks in 2015

PM Nguyen Tan Dung last week officially signed a decree forbidding the parent company Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) in using its capital to invest and acquire shares in real estate project, banks and insurance companies.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The 8km canal that runs through seven districts in HCM City may becoming polluted again as local people are throwing tons of rubbish into it every day.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Every five days, a person falls into the river in Quang Nam province in central Vietnam while crossing the Ba Ren pontoon bridge.

The Vietnamese public, who are known as the biggest beer drinkers in the world, as optimists about their future, and as big spenders on luxury goods despite modest incomes, curbed their expenses in 2014 more than in the past.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Four inspection teams have been set up by the Ministry of Transport to supervise transport fees among transport enterprises as fuel prices continue to drop, already two times in the first month of the year.

VietNamNet Bridge – Efforts to prevent local residents from living on houseboats in Ha Long Bay have largely failed due to a lack of aquaculture planning and management.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Ministries and sectors should rework ineffective poverty reduction policies, Son Phuoc Hoan, Vice Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, told Nong Thon Ngay nay (Countryside Today).

VietNamNet Bridge – Doubts have been raised that reports about the overloading at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City have been “fabricated” to support the urgent construction of Long Thanh Airport.

 VietNamNet Bridge – After winning the Miss Ao Dai Vietnam crown on January 5, supermodel Tran Ngoc Lan Khue will represent the country at the 2015 Miss World pageant.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Industry insiders have called for the local tourism sector to focus more on Asian markets given a rise in regional visitor arrivals in the past year.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Thi Hanh, head of the General Department of Taxation’s Personal Income Tax Management Division, shares with VIR’s Manh Bon some new points in tax payment implemented from January 1, 2015.

VietNamNet Bridge – More and more forged-degree distribution rings have been discovered recently, reflecting the high demand for such certificates in Vietnam.

Tran Van Hay, known for not cutting and washing his hair for 50 years and having the longest hair in Vietnam, passed away in 2010 at the age of 79. Before passing away, Hay told his family to keep his 6.8m, 10.5kg hair as a keepsake.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The core idea in Ha Noi's "smart city" plan is to build a "smart government," Phan Lan Tu, director of the city's Department of Information and Communications, tells Tien Phong (Vanguard).

The Ministry of Information and Communication’s (MIC) decision to change telephone area codes twice within six years shows an ineffective use of the national telecom number repository and a lack of long-term planning.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam's sprinting queen Vu Thi Huong has decided to withdraw from the national teamcontesting the upcoming Southeast Asian Games because of her health.

Most of the industrial zones (IZs) in Vietnam developed by foreign investors have higher occupancy rates than those developed by Vietnamese because they have better strategies to attract businesses.

VietNamNet Bridge – Enhancing cultural exchanges between Vietnamese and foreigners is one of several activities to be implemented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism,

 VietNamNet Bridge – The larger community ends up paying the price as businesses continue to abuse legal loopholes and bring banned industrial waste into the country,