It’s understandable why the US Starbucks decided to set up its first shop in Vietnam in HCM City, a commercial hub. Meanwhile, it’s enigmatic why it did not choose a Vietnamese partner, but a Hong Kong one-- Maxim’s Group.

Vietnam’s aviation sector posted single-digit growth in terms of passenger number in the challenging year 2012 when macro-economic woes forced individual and corporate passengers to tighten their purse strings.

VietNamNet Bridge – Despite the economic downturn and the decrease in incomes, Vietnamese still hunt for luxurious and expensive things to give to their “big bosses” as the thanks for job opportunities.

Overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs and intellectuals who returned home to attend the conference of the Vietnam Fatherland Front last week expected that the Constitution more strongly protect their freedom of business and research in Vietnam.

VietNamNet Bridge – The lunar New Year is adjacent. Hundreds of enterprises in Quang Ngai City and other localities are in a hurry to produce ginger jam to serve northern customers.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Setting a “red light district” seems to be a good way to solve physiological needs and related problems to illegal prostitution. But...

Duong Trung Quoc, a well-known Vietnamese historian, after watching the clip “Vietnam, hinh hai mot chu S”, has affirmed that Vietnamese students do not keep indifferent to Vietnamese history as previously thought.

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNORE) is planning to prohibit some types of production activities in river valleys in an effort to protect the environment.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The nation's premier fashion event will take viewers on a "unique" journey from the catwalk to the sidewalk this year, presenting conceptual and applied creations of five top designing talents in Viet Nam.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) in the real estate sector in HCM City decreased sharply in 2012. However, experts say this is not bad news at all.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The national science and technology contest for high school students has come under fire from experts, who doubt the scheme's ability to improve the quality of curricular subjects

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has selected 2013 as the key year to implement the national sports and physical development plan in the 2011-2015 period.

The military telecom group Viettel has proposed the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) to increase the floor connection fee for incoming international calls from US4.1cents currently, to US6 cents per minute.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese rice exporters aim to export at least 7.5 million tonnes of rice in 2013, but less than last year, according to Truong Thanh Phong, President of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA).

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Government has earmarked VND379 billion (US$18 million) for two programmes this year to improve environment quality and the country's ability to cope with climate change.

MARD suggests changing import laws; ‘Zombies' thrive in Viet Nam; 2012 auto sales at 93,000 units; Small traders get training for better competitiveness; Many SOEs in HCM City have debts tripling chartered capital

 VietNamNet Bridge – Insurance fraud is on rise in Viet Nam and is becoming increasingly sophisticated, causing a huge loss to insurers and their honest clients,

 VietNamNet Bridge – Lao Airlines on Tuesday officially launched direct flights from Laos’ Pakse to Danang nearly one year after piloting flights to the central coastal city,

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Public Security has discovered the biggest-ever online gambling den in Vietnam and arrested eight people, including five in Ho Chi Minh City and three in Hanoi.

VietNamNet Bridge – The three people who caught and brutally slaughtered three shanked langurs have been sentenced to 12-28 months in prison by the Sa Thay District People's Court in Kon Tum province.