The finance ministry has announced 10 draft decrees that will guide implementation of as many free trade agreements (FTAs), drawing a roadmap to zero per cent import tariffs for many goods.

 Many expired cars and trucks have been found for sale online at cheap prices despite being banned earlier this month, prompting concerns over traffic safety and environmental pollution.

 The HCM City People’s Committee has approved a pilot programme to sell safe food at two traditional markets -- Bến Thành Market and the Hóc Môn Wholesale Market in the district of the same name.

 A rescue ship from the Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre saved six sailors from a drifiting fishing boat 100km off the coast of Quảng Trị Province yesterday morning.

 Potential wrongdoings involving VNĐ15 trillion (US$658.5 million) and 6.7 million sq.m of real estate were found with the State-owned coal and mining giant, Vinacomin.

 Former Vietnam national team coach Toshiya Miura said he hopes to lead V.League 1 club Ho Chi Minh City to third place this season.

 The Vietnamese Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau held a ceremony on January 5 to launch a consulate office in Macao Special Administrative Region of China.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will lead the Vietnamese delegation to the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Summit, to be held on January 10 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

 National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has written an article, recalling the NA’s achievements over the last 72 years and outlined tasks that need to be done in 2018 on the occasion of the 72 years of the first General Election (January 6).

 The Drug Crime Investigation Department (PC47) under Ho Chi Minh City Police said on January 5 that they had recently cracked down on a large drug trafficking ring.

 Four automatic water environment monitoring stations, produced by the Da Nang Centre Of Integrated Circuits (CENTIC) were put into operation in the central city of Da Nang on January 6.

 Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) was the biggest brokerage on the Hanoi Stock Exchange’s derivatives market last year with a 28.28 percent market share, according to an exchange report on the derivatives market.

 A 17-day workshop that ended on January 6 taught safe driving skills and encouraged university students to promote traffic safety among their peers and in the community.

 New faculties will be opened at universities during the 2018-2019 academic year, according to the Ministry of Education and Training’s new catalogue on training programmes in higher education.

 The property market will continue to grow this year, the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) predicts.

 The Hanoi People’s Court will open proceedings in the trial of Trinh Xuan Thanh and his accomplices accused of wrongdoings at PetroVietnam and its subsidiary PVC on January 8. 

 Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has approved a plan to develop Vietnam’s maritime industry and trade to 2025, with a vision to 2035.

 The Vietnam Embassy in Indonesia is working with local authorities to send home 71 Vietnamese fishermen, who were captured for violating Indonesia’s waters, within January.

 Vietnam’s commercial banks reported solid results for 2017 with the total after-tax profit estimated to grow 44.5 percent from the previous year, according to an independent report of the National Financial Supervisory Commission.

 As Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday approaches, firecracker smuggling is again "hot" in the border areas. Several tonnes have already been seized by customs authorities as they head across the border into Vietnam.