Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party’s Committee Dinh La Thang has said an e-government system will enable the city to move forward with administrative reforms.

 Investors, start-up founders and experts gathered in Singapore for a two-day Tech in Asia 2016 conference. Vietnam News talked with some of them to discover why Vietnam is becoming a hot-spot for start-ups.

 Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Pham Quang Vinh and Vietnamese Consul General to Houston Nguyen Van Hoa met outstanding business representatives in the US state of Texas on April 28.

 Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, started using its new generation aircraft Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the Hanoi-Beijing (China) route, with the first flight landing in Beijing on April 30.

 A letter condemning China’s escalating militarisation in Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes has been sent to the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic by the Vietnamese community in the country.

 The Hanoi Transport Corporation (Transerco) put into operation a new bus route connecting downtown Hanoi with Noi Bai international airport, costing only 30,000 VND (1.35 USD) per leg, on April 30.

The southern province of Binh Duong and the World Bank concluded negotiations on a 92 million USD loan for the urban wastewater collection and treatment project in Di An town on April 29.

 Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung hosted a dialogue with locals in central Quang Binh province’s Bao Ninh commune concerning recent mass fish deaths on April 29.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired an irregular meeting with Cabinet members to consider and address requests made by businesses during the freshly-concluded dialogue with the Government leader in Hanoi on April 29.

 A Vietnamese delegation led by Permanent Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for External Information Service Pham Van Linh paid a working visit to South Africa from April 24-29, to strengthen links in communication between the two countries.

 More than 160 players representing 18 delegations nationwide will be contending for top honours at the National Table Tennis Championships 2016, taking place at Ho Xuan Huong Gymnasium in HCM City from May 8 to 15. 

 Vietnamese enterprises were fined a total of VND8.6 billion (US$385,600) by competent agencies for using pirated software since the Intellectual Property Law came into force in 2006.

 On April 26, Canal+ Group’s Vietnamese subsidiary, Vietnam Satellite Digital Television (VSTV), announced the completion of the purchase of the broadcasting rights of the English Premier League (EPL) for the 2016-2019 period.

 A month after being elected as the prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said he is saddened by the fact that the public and business community continue to be the victims of corruption.

VietNamNet Bridge - “Vietnam has 64 independent economies, including 63 local economies and one central economy,” commented Tran Dinh Thien, head of the Vietnam Economics Institute.

 Foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) with distribution rights will be able to open retail outlets of up to 500 sq m under a draft decree clarifying the trading of goods by FIEs under the Commercial Law.

 Ten auto importers have complained that rapid changes in the calculation method for special consumption tax on completely-built-up (CBU) autos have made it hard for them to build viable business plans.

 Scientists and experts have called for Vietnam to assess negative impacts of coal-fired power projects on the environment and society amid increasing concern over the efficiency of this source of energy.

 The Hanoi Department of Information and Communications has proposed the city government approve a plan to develop a software and digital content park worth VND24 trillion (US$1.08 billion).

 Located east of Ho Chi Minh City,  the offshore commune of Thanh An in Can Gio District was known as the most difficult area of the city.