Germany supports Vietnam’s stance of settling the East Sea dispute by peaceful means on the basis of international law, said visiting Chief of Staff of the German Army General Rainer Schuwirth.

 Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on October 30 signed into issuance the Resolution on Party building adopted at the fourth plenum of the 12th Party Central Committee. 

 A cooperation scheme was signed between the northern province of Yen Bai and the French department of Val de Marne during a celebration of the 20th founding anniversary of their ties on October 31.

 Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, head of the Vietnam Mission to the United Nations, has reiterated Vietnam’s commitment to joint global efforts and actions to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights for all. 

Hundreds of people have been forced to live in slum areas near the seaport in central Binh Dinh Province’s Quy Nhon City, regardless of the pollution and fire risks.

 A new fee schedule will apply for the granting of licenses to foreign financial institutions in Vietnam from January 1, 2017.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The increase of personal vehicles and poor transport infrastructure are the major reasons for traffic congestion in Hanoi and other big cities in Vietnam.

VietNamNet Bridge - Trinh Van Quyet, president of FLC Group, a real estate developer, is a dollar billionaire. Quyet was born into a poor family. He became a lawyer and then a billionaire. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The HCM City Fine Arts and Woodworking Association predicted that Vietnam may reach $7.6 billion from timber and wooden exports in 2016, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2015. 

 The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (MoCST) will conduct a survey on cultural affairs of 53 Vietnamese ethnic minority groups.

 Northern Quang Ninh province has asked the Amata Vietnam Joint Stock Company, owned by Thailand’s Amata Corporation, to begin construction of the first phase of a high-tech industrial park and township complex.

 A series of new policies on land levy, specific allowances for a number of judicial and inspection titles in the Army, assessment of primary pupils shall come into force in November, 2016.

 European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan will lead a high-level mission to Vietnam from November 2 to 4 to sound out trade opportunities.

 Mai Tien Dung, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office, has defended a proposal for hiking Government debt to no higher than 55% of gross domestic product (GDP).

 Sound measures to tackle the country’s mounting bad debts are available, and all it takes is having the guts to employ them, in an effort to systematically solve such issues for the sake of society and the economy.

 At the World Economic Forum last week, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc confirmed the government’s policy to allow foreign investors to engage more in Vietnam’s economy via accelerated equitisation of state-owned enterprises and capital divestments.

 The Halloween parades in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on October 30 attracted thousands of people in a bewildering variety of costumes, from the surreal to the thoroughly gruesome and disgusting.

 Vietnam chess master Nguyen Quoc Hy won a silver medal at the World Cadets U8, U10 and U12 Chess Championships that wrapped up on October 30 in Batumi, Georgia (local time).

 The 50 leading Vietnamese IT companies reportedly earned revenues of VND28 trillion (US$1.2 billion) last year, accounting for 35 per cent of the sales reported by the software and digital content industry.

 Severe floods are expected as the river water level is rising swiftly in the central Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces, which were devastated by historic floods earlier this month.