Two Chinese nationals were yesterday sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison for using technical devices to steal VNĐ100 million (US$4,440) from multiple banks.

  HCM City hopes to ease traffic jams by efficiently using existing infrastructure, promoting investment in public transport, developing waterway transportation and speeding up transportation projects.

 Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the Netherlands to continue helping Vietnam cope with climate change, especially the ongoing drought and saline intrusion which is the most severe in the Mekong Delta in the past 100 years.

 Vietnam has urged the Netherlands to collaborate with Vietnam in conducting intensive research into solutions to preserve water in the Mekong Delta, which is facing severe drought and saltwater intrusion.

 The Vietnamese economy will remain stable in 2016 with a growth rate of 6.7 percent, followed by a modest slowing of growth to 6.5 percent in 2017, according to the ADB’s “Asian Development Outlook 2016” report, released on March 30.

 The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced three women to prison for anti-State propaganda at a trial on March 30.

 Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh and his Chinese counterpart Chang Wanquan hailed the third border defence friendship exchange between the two countries as a success following their meeting to review the event in Guangxi province on March 30.

 The Vietnamese Defence Ministry handed over a defence e-portal to its Lao counterpart during a ceremony in Vientiane on March 30.

 The National Assembly debated the draft Law on Signing, Joining and Implementing International Treaties (revised) and conducted procedures to relieve the NA Chairman and head of the National Election Council on March 30.

 Vietnam and Algeria exchanged practices in judicial reforms and court procedures during a talk between Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court Truong Hoa Binh and his Algerian counterpart Boudi Slimane in Hanoi on March 30.

VietNamNet Bridge - Only 50 percent of Vietnamese population can be listed as ‘middle class’ if considering their real annual incomes. However, 96 percent of Vietnamese think they belong to the middle class.

Head of the Western Border Department under the Foreign Ministry’s National Border Commission Thai Xuan Dung has stressed the need for continued coordination between Vietnamese and Lao border localities.

 President Truong Tan Sang asked Samsung Group of the Republic of Korea (RoK) to help Vietnam develop the support industry during a reception for Han Myong Sup, Samsung Vietnam’s General Director, in Hanoi on March 30.

Mobile phones and components remain in the lead amongst the group of ten products that foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) earned from exporting between January 1 and March 15, 2016.

The National Assembly (NA) has agreed to let Nguyen Sinh Hung step down from both positions as Chairman of the NA and the National Election Council (NEC) during a plenary session in Hanoi on March 30.  

VietNamNet Bridge - The continued net sales by foreign investors has raised big concerns. However, experts have said the net sales would end by June.

 Diseases in Hanoi have been controlled over the past three months, Deputy Director of the municipal Health Department Hoang Duc Hanh has said.

  Promises of high returns and increasing competition are prompting developers to spend enormously on luxury resort projects.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the setting up of a research and development centre for human organ and tissue transplants at 108 Military Hospital.

 Surveillance cameras and speed monitoring devices installed along the Hanoi-Lao Cai and  Phap Van - Cau Gie - Ninh Binh expressways will start recording violations on May 1 and July 1 respectively.