Skilled grafter Le Duc Giap from Thanh Oai district, Hanoi can earn hundreds of millions of Vietnam dong during the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) by selling pomelo trees which he has engrafted with up to 10 different varieties of fruit.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said on January 8 that incidents such as the mass poisoning of fish off the coast of Vietnam in 2016 should never happen again. “It was a painful lesson,” he said. 

 About 31.4 trillion VND (1.38 billion USD) was used in building new-style rural areas in 2017, heard a conference held by the Central Coordination Office on New Rural Development on January 8. 

 The court began to question defendants about their specific roles in wrongdoings accused of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management at the trial that opened on January 8. 

 Vietnam’s football teams had an outstanding 2017 with six national teams qualifying for Asian championships and this will prove to be their achievement as well as challenge in 2018.

 Vietnam took second spot out of nine Asian countries and territories surveyed for the 2017 Prudential Relationship Index, which was released in HCM City last weekend.

 The National Assembly (NA)’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children held a conference in Hanoi on January 8 on the building and implementation of policies on youth development.

 Foreign retail businesses who came and introduced modern trade methods, technology together with professional management skills, have posed a big challenge to Vietnamese retailers.    

 Vietnam welcomes and supports measures related to the Korean Peninsula to foster dialogue and maintain peace and stability in the region, stated Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang.

 Effective defence cooperation between Vietnam and Japan, including the ties between the two ground forces, has contributed importantly to the bilateral friendship.

 Vietnam traditional martial arts (Vovinam) will be an official sport at the upcoming ASEAN University Games.

 Vietnamese shares ended the first trading session of the week (January 8) on a positive note as financial-banking, energy and rubber sectors led the market upturn on expectations for good earnings reports.

 Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has signed Decision No.16 approving the restructuring plan of the Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem).

 A 4.3-magnitude earthquake hit the northwestern province of Dien Bien at 6:21am on January 9, the second one recorded this year and also the second within just two days.

 HCM City FC made another surprise in the transfer market on January 8 when they introduced their newest player, Brazilian striker Gustavo Santos Costa.

VietNamNet Bridge - Some of the outstanding achievements of young people in 2017:

VietNamNet Bridge - On January 1, 2018, the luxury tax on some car models with small cylinder capacity was reduced and the import tariff on ASEAN sourced cars was cut to zero percent.

In 2017, Vietnam's total import-export turnover exceeded US$400 billion, reaching the highest level ever. 

At large hospitals like K and Bach Mai, physicians often receive patients in critical condition because of poisoning from herbs and supplemental food, or from counterfeit herbs.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam’s water resource security is facing challenges at a time of climate change.