Dung Quat Refinery in Quang Ngai province is aiming to decrease its turnover by 17 per cent this year, a 2017 target of VND62.4 trillion (US$2.77 billion).

  India’s state-owned mining enterprise, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), is in talks with Masan Resources to buy a partial stake in the Nui Phao tungsten mine, according to Indian media reports.

 The transfer of State enterprise ownership to the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has been disappointing, Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said at a conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

 Authorities in the south-central province of Binh Thuan have turned down a proposed titanium mining project, saying that it could contaminate underground water resources and the environment.

 Top Vietnamese tennis player Ly Hoang Nam earned a berth in the second round of the China F2 Men’s Futures tournament in China yesterday.

 Trinh Dinh Thoi finished 18th out of 24 athletes in the Snowboarding’s men’s slalom event at the ongoing Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan.

 Police in northern coastal Quang Ninh Province have decided to impose fines amounting to VNĐ16 million (US$700) in total on four Chinese nationals for illegally entering Viet Nam from China.

 On February 21, a passenger bus suddenly exploded at 10.30pm when it ran on Highway 18 from Que Vo District, Bac Ninh province to Quang Ninh province, killing two people and injuring more than 10.

 About 76% of European enterprises operating in Vietnam said they are optimistic about business prospects in 2017, according to a Business Climate Index (BCI) survey for the fourth quarter of 2016 conducted by EuroCham.

 For years, ornamental tree planting has helped people in the northern province of Bac Ninh  increase their income and improve living standards.

 A nuclear study by three Vietnamese scientists has been published by Physical Review Letters, marking Vietnam’s debut in the physics journal.

 Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha has signed an instruction to strengthen measures to ensure safety in educational establishments.

While foreigners are enchanted by Vietnam’s tropical fruits, Vietnamese are spending trillions of dong to buy imported fruit, with import turnover increasing steadily in recent years.

 Unseasonable weather in southwestern provinces during the dry season has led to an increase in cases of diarrhoea, dengue fever, and hand, foot and mouth disease, all of which usually occur during the rainy season, according to health experts.

 The “Nouveau Cirque du Vietnam” (Vietnam’s New Circus) troupe made its Australian debut with a circus dance “A O Lang Pho” which delighted the local audiences.

 The Vietnamese sport team started the first day of competition at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Japan’s Sapporo city on February 20, with athletes Trinh Dinh Thoi and Nguyen Thai Binh competing in single-board skiing. 

 Top Vietnamese tennis player Ly Hoang Nam has climbed three places from the 634th to the 631st in the latest world rankings announced on February 20.

Reorganising production and producing high-quality rice with retraceable origins will increase Vietnamese rice’s value on the international market amid fierce competition from foreign products, experts have suggested.

 FPT Securities Joint Stock Company (FPTS) has obtained approval from the State Securities Commission to lift its foreign ownership limit.

Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group plans to increase its charter capital to VND15.2 trillion ($675.6 million) this year, double the current level of VND8.42 trillion.