VietNamNet Bridge – With a market of more than 40 million regular internet users including 22 million smart phone users, Vietnam has a lot of opportunities to develop the e-book market.

  Labor Ministry survey reveals most employees will receive a Tet bonus this year but the amount will differ wildly.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Open Budget Index (OBI) of Vietnam scored 18 out of 100 points last year, much lower than the global average of 45.

 The temperature at the Mau Son mountain peak in the northern province of Lang Son continued to sink to minus 2oC at 10 am on January 23 and white frosts nipped the 1,500 metre-mountain peak.

 Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) has been given authorization to operate a nationwide computerized lottery in Vietnam for the next 18 years, according to widely publicized local media reports.

 The Prime Minister has recently approved a programme to develop broadband telecommunications infrastructure by 2020.

 Forty-five excellent athletes are getting special training and treatment to prepare for Olympics qualifying tourneys, the General Department of Sports and Physical Education said. 

 Phan Hoang Thai of Vietnam won a silver medal at the 23rd Asian Junior Cycling Championships in Oshima, Japan on January 22.

 Fifteen bands from Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong (China) and Vietnam will perform at the music festival School of Mosh in Hanoi on January 24.

 Ten talented artists in different fields of movie, music and theatre were honoured at the annual Mai Vang (Golden Ochna) Awards ceremony at the HCM City Opera House on January 22.

 Vietnamese football fans will be able to vote for the favourite players in 2015 through the internet, it was revealed in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22.

 Republic of Korea (RoK) businesses have poured additional 6.72 billion USD into Vietnam, making the RoK the largest among 62 foreign investors in the Southeast Asian nation.

  Party and State leaders of Laos hosted receptions for Hoang Binh Quan – special envoy of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong, in Vientiane on January 22.

Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, delivered a report on deepening international integration in order to serve national construction and defence at the 12th National Party Congress.

 Agriculture, rural areas and farmers are among topics debated at the January 23 working session of the 12th National Party Congress which was chaired by Politburo member and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The sixth session of the Vietnam-China Land Border Joint Committee was held from January 17-21 in Ho Chi Minh City. 

  Delegates to the 12th National Party Congress discussed the documents presented to the Congress on the morning of January 23, focusing on how to build a uniform policy for national industrial development and a modern agriculture sector.

  Issues relating to social welfare and human resources drew great attention from delegates at the 12th National Party Congress during their working session on January 23.

Mobile World, one of the largest mobile phone and electronic product distribution chains in Vietnam, is preparing to open its first stores in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar in early 2017, revealed its CEO Tran Kinh Doanh.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Considering the effect of the rollercoaster year that was, including the crash of China’s stock market and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike,