Vietnam’s diplomatic agencies around the world have held get-togethers for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) on the threshold of the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

 The traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos witnessed significant strides from politics, defense, and security to economics, culture, education and science-technology, a diplomat has said.

 King of Spain Felipe VI has described Vietnam as one of the important and prioritising partners of his country in the Asian-Pacific and Southeast Asian regions.

 Vietnam’s activities on islands and rocks under its management in the East Sea are completely normal, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Dang Minh Khoi told Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s participation in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, helped Vietnam access new ideas and development trends in the world serving its building and implementation of national development strategies. 

 Vietnamese State and government leaders on January 21 cabled messages of congratulations to the 45th US President Donald Trump and the 48th US Vice President Mike Pence on their inauguration. 

The heavy gold price fluctuations in 2016 allowed gold investors to make a profit of 17 percent just within three months, while investments in V-30 securities brought profit of 26 percent.

Vietnam’s cheap labor force will no longer be an advantage in attracting investment as the cost for applying advanced technologies is getting lower. Thus, a large number of Vietnamese workers will be thrown off production lines.

HCM City has about 2,000 kilometers of drainage canals, but many are seriously polluted. The pollution comes not only from factories and industrial zones, but also from residents' littering.

Some scholars, who believe the celebration of both solar and lunar new years is unnecessary as it causes a waste of resources, have suggested merging the two celebrations.

 Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to Viet Nam is expected to increase in 2017, said Do Nhat Hoang, director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

 Officials from the Viet Nam General Labour Confederation have voiced concern over a recent proposal revoking the maternity benefits to which female workers are entitled.

 Ha Noi authorities have asked three construction giants to devise planning schemes to develop the areas along the iconic Red River that flows past the capital city.

 Several major hospitals in HCM City are struggling to get crucially-needed special drugs because a legal hitch has suffocated supply. 

 As many as 16 million of the 17 million pre-activated SIM cards that were recalled nation-wide have been locked by service providers on January 15.

 Illegal coach and bus services have been flourishing in major cities in the run up to Tết (Lunar New Year) despite the Ministry of Transport’s efforts to control them.  

 Doctors at HCM City Paediatrics Hospital on Wednesday operated for seven hours to remove a large tumour that had spread to the brain of a 20-day-old infant.

 As legend has it, the Land Genie and Kitchen Gods ride carps to Heaven on the 23rd day of the last month of the lunar year, to deliver an annual report on household activities to the God of Heaven. 

 The Hanoi Medical University is acquiring immune cell therapy know-how from Japanese experts to treat cancer patients.

 Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung on January 20 chose one of three proposed plans to renovate Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City.