Contrary to all predictions, automobile manufacturers have set modest targets for this year’s business plans. After a two-year boom, the automobile market is expected to be more quiet in 2017.

VietNamNet Bridge - At the Da Nang University of Technology, Nguyen Huynh Nhat Thuong is a famous student. His early warning system for floods has won top prizes at scientific research contests.

 Despite being born into a poor family, Huynh Tien has had a thirst for invention. Realising farmers tend to stick to low-productivity traditional farming techniques, he worked to devise an automatic seeding machine in 2013 and a ridger in 2015. 

 President Tran Dai Quang on May 13 toured Fujian province, a coastal locality in south-eastern China, as part of his State-visit to the country.

The crowds of visitors around booths selling Vietnamese food at the Embassies Food and Culture Festival in the Czech Republic’s Prague on May 13 reflected the increasing popularity of the Southeast Asian country’s cuisine in Prague.

 Dao Thi Huong won a bronze medal at the 2017 Asia Wrestling Championships which took place from May 10-14 in New Delhi, India. 

 Hoang Van Ta, 53, was the first person to farm salmon in his commune in the mountainous province of Lang Son in 2007 and now he earns as much as 4-5 billion VND (180,000-220,000 USD) a year from salmon.

 Work started on May 14 on the first phase of a big ecological tourism complex on Cat Ba Islands in the northern port city of Hai Phong, which is projected to be Vietnam’s first carbon-free tourism area.

 President Tran Dai Quang on May 14 met with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawar Sharif and Secretary General of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party Toshihiro 

 Military-run telecom group Viettel’s 4G subscribers increased by 1.5 times following its official launch on April 18 and reached nearly three million by the end of April, the company announced.

 The ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) at banks in the first quarter of this year is was varied, according to a daily report by Bao Viet Securities Corp (BVSC).

Eleven teams of developers from APEC member economies will be in Hanoi from May 18 to 19 to participate in a 24-hour app challenge.

 Viet Nam’s tourism industry recorded a successful year with VND400 trillion (US$17.6 billion) of total revenue in 2016. However, the travel companies’ profits are not commensurate with their revenue, vneconomy.vn reports.

 The optimism appears justified given that 95 per cent of the Asia’s population now lives in middle-income economies, while as recently as the 1990s, more than 90 per cent of Asians were low-income earners.

 Substandard investment procedures and regulations hinder investors in major power plant projects, baodautu.vn reported.

 All Asian architectural students and architects aged under 40 have been invited to join the Spec Go Green International Awards 2017, which aims to honour environmentally friendly architecture.

 Chefs from 12 countries will compete at the international Cao Lau (a Vietnamese dish made with noodles, pork, and greens) cooking challenge in Hoi An on June 12-14.

 Young comic actor Huynh Lap set a new record when his parody film based on Vietnamese blockbuster Tam Cam: The Untold Story earned three million views one day after appearing on YouTube.

 About 30 manhole covers on pavement in HCM City’s District 5 have been turned into streetside paintings by art students as part of a programme to raise awareness about environmental protection and urban beauty.

 The Ministry of Health has launched the second phase of a project on encouraging Vietnamese people to use locally manufactured drugs at a conference today in Hanoi.