Storm Sarika is expected to enter the Tonkin Gulf and head toward Vietnam’s coastal provinces from Quang Ninh to Nam Dinh on October 19 with winds up to 165km per hour, according to the National Forecast Hydrometeorological Forecast Centre. 

 A chopper of the Vietnam Helicopter Corporation lost contact on October 18 morning during a flight training session in the northwest of Dinh Mountain in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. 

 The New Zealand government said on October 17 that it is to review its free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN, citing a rising number of non-tariff barriers that hinder bilateral trade. 

The tourism sector in the four central provinces suffering from the seawater pollution caused in April by Taiwanese steel maker Formosa Ha Tinh has reported thousands of billions of dong in lost revenues.

 VND851.38 trillion (US$39 billion) was raised for the national target program on rural development in 2010-2015, says a government report just sent to National Assembly (NA) deputies.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requested an investigation into the discharge of water from the Ho Ho Hydropower Plant dam to define which organisations and individuals were responsible in order to compensate affected people.

About VND53.50 billion ($2.4m) from the state budget has been used to compensate for people who were given wrong sentences within the past 12 months.

VietNamNet Bridge - National Assembly’s deputies think that it is necessary to set up public debt clocks in the central areas of large cities.

 The Hanoi People’s Committee has decided to restart the riverside megacity project along the Red River, called Song Hong City, after 22 years on the drawing board.

 Consumer electronics retailer The Gioi Di Dong recently opened a batch of sealed boxes of iPhone 6s Plus to find that the boxes contain rocks instead of phones.

 Hoang Thanh Trang has added another feather to her cap, emerging victorious at the Hungary women’s blitz chess tournament held recently in Budapest.

 The industrial real estate market has picked up pace in 2016 as foreign investment continues to pour in Vietnam.

 The economic growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2016 must be much higher than that of previous months in order to achieve the GDP growth set for this year, the Government reported to the National Assembly Standing Committee on October 17.

 The Viet Nam Competition Authority (VCA) is actively supervising the recall and exchange programme of all Galaxy Note 7 models from Samsung Electro-Mechanics Viet Nam Co Ltd (SEMV).

 A baby born with suspected microcephaly ​has been reported in Krong Buk district in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, according to the Health Ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine.

The northern mountainous province of Cao Bang has welcomed its first baby conceived via intrauterine insemination, marking the development of the local health sector in applying advanced technology in treatment.

 Vietnam will suspend the import of Distiller’s dried grains with soluble (DDGS) from the US and peanut (Arachis hypogaea) from Sudan and Hong Kong (China) due to the products’ contamination with insects subject to Vietnam’s plant quarantine. 

Prolonged heavy rain due to a tropical low pressure from October 14 - 15 inundated many streets and residential areas in the central provinces of Nghe An and Quang Binh.

 Localities are making every effort to prepare for the arrival of typhoon Sarika, the seventh of its kind to hit the East Sea so far this year, which is forecast to directly impact the northeastern and central regions on October August 19.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has said that the north-south highway requires lower costs compared with other projects, but the Ministry of Finance (MOF) says the required investment is high compared with the long-term public investment plan.