Hai Phong-based Mai Van Phan has become the second poet from Vietnam to win the prestigious Cikada Prize.

 Vietnam has implemented a wide range of policies to preserve and promote cultural diversity among ethnic groups, considering it an extremely important factor to ensure peace, stability and sustainable development.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the government’s regular meeting in Hanoi on December 1, during which he urged cabinet members to well perform their promises to the National Assembly and voters as well as the NA’s resolutions.

 Immigration New Zealand has announced that three Vietnamese sailors who had been detained by New Zealand authorities while being on board a Korean ship did not violate the law and are in good health condition.

 A national-scale painting contest organised by the Danish Embassy in Vietnam awarded winners at a ceremony in Hanoi on December 1.

 The out-going Ambassador of South Africa to Vietnam Kgomotso Ruth Magau has been honoured with the “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” insignia of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) at the end of her term in Vietnam. 

 Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Phung Quoc Hien called on Vietnam’s NA and Canada’s parliament to increase their exchange of delegations and law-making experience.

 Shares rose on both local markets on December 1 following a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC exporters on extended oil output cuts and expectations for good fourth-quarter earnings reports.

 Citizens of additional six countries can now apply for and receive Vietnamese e-visas.

 Minister of Public Security To Lam presented the Friendship Order, a noble distinction of the Vietnamese State, to two leaders of the Federal Security Service of Russia at a ceremony in Moscow on December 1. 

 The trial of Vietnamese citizen Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian citizen Siti Aisyah, the suspects in the murder of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) national Kim Chol, will continue in January next year.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A “terrible waste” of resources is taking place as a grand plan to shift Government offices, schools and hospitals to suburban enclaves in the capital city fails to materialise, almost three years on.

 VietNamNet Bridge – On a typical morning in HCM City, Nguyen Hai Tung, 27, appears on the twenty fifth floor of a building in District 7. He is preparing for a good day’s work, but not as a white collar worker.

 Vietnam recorded average forestry production value growth of 6 percent per year, nearly doubling the target of the national forestry development strategy following 10 years of implementation.

Vietnam can and should extend social protection to those in the informal economy through a mix of contributory and non-contributory schemes in order to achieve universal coverage, experts said at a conference on Wednesday.

VietNamNet Bridge - An unprofessional way of doing business and bad management skills have led to problems for street food chains after short periods of operation.

“We woke up from a noon nap to find part of the village’s main road gone!” Vo Dai Lua, a resident of Thua Thien- Hue Province’s La Khe Trẹm Village, spoke with a mixture of amazement and fear.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Folk music researcher Bui Trong Hien recently completed a report on the revitalisation of hat cua dinh (singing at the village’s communal house). 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Damrey, the twelfth typhoon that hit Vietnam this year, struck Ha Thuan Village more than a month ago, but the roads to it in Duy Vinh Commune are still deep in mud.

 VietNamNet Bridge – In contrast to the number of English, Chinese and Korean teachers in Vietnam, Natalia Zolkina stands out as being one of the few Russian-language lecturers in HCM City.