The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting announced on December 21 that a tropical low pressure system has formed in the eastern waters of the southern region of the Philippines and has strengthened into a new tropical storm.

VietNamNet Bridge - The maritime shipping crisis has forced shipping firms worldwide to join alliances to improve their competitiveness. Such alliances have also been set up in Vietnam.

 Shares rebounded on December 20 after a brief fall on December 19, boosted by energy and bank stocks on investors’ expectation of positive Q4 earnings from these companies.

 The Phnom Penh–headquartered Lanmei Airlines launched direct flights between Phnom Penh and Hanoi and Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City on December 20.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay Dang Xuan Dung presented his letter of credentials to Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay’s capital city Montevideo on December 19.  

 Fourteen outstanding business leaders from Vietnam were honoured as winners of the prestigious Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2017 (APEA) at a ceremony in HCM City on December 19, the first time it was held in the country.

 Coach Park Hang-seo of Vietnam’s U23 team confirmed that a friendly match against the Republic of Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai FC was an important test for his team ahead of the Asian championships next month.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) estimates that Vietnam has to remit $2 billion abroad to import foreign drugs but could retain more money in-country if it could attract FDI into the pharmaceutical industry.

VietNamNet Bridge - The investment rate in solar power systems is now just equal to 20-30 percent of the rate of 10 years ago.

The landslides at Cua Dai seaside in Hoi An City in Quang Nam province are getting more serious. The state has poured hundreds of billions of dong to fight erosion, but the efforts have been futile.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many schools have complained that it is difficult to find PhD students for some arts and culture majors because of inadequate doctoral requirements.

Many people in Hanoi continue to swim in the Red River in the early morning despite the icy winter temperatures. 

 A woman in the central province of Nghe An was stopped while transporting seven dead monkeys for sale.

 Taxi companies in Ho Chi Minh City have had to cut 3,000 cars from their fleets since the arrival of Uber and Grab, according to the city's Taxi Association.

 Hoi An city in the central province of Quang Nam  has begun the second trial of a public bus route connecting An Bang and Cua Dai beaches, the old quarter and Tre Que vegetable gardens before launching the service in 2019.

The official friendly visit to Vietnam by General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and President of Laos Bounnhang Vorachith is an important political event and a historical milestone.

 Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh is on a working visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) from December 19-21 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties. 

The Government of Vietnam has consistently pursued a comprehensive integration policy with the focus placed on international economic integration, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

The Hanoi air defence grids and all across northern Vietnam defended their skies with bravery in an aerial raids, known in VN as "Dien Bien Phu in the Air" and in the US as the 1972 Christmas bombing.

 General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee Bounnhang Vorachith met and talked in Hanoi on December 20 with former Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts in Laos and the two countries’ young generations.