Best major cities to live in

Children with dengue fever are being treated in a hospital As of noon on May 19, the city recorded a total of 8,248 cases of dengue fever, an increase of 33.3 percent over the same period last year. Noticeably, the number of severe cases reached 175 cases, an increase of 500 percent over the same period. The number of deaths was 6 people, up 300 percent. On the afternoon of May 19, the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 prevention and economic recovery held a press conference under the chairmanship of Deputy Head of the Steering Committee Pham Duc Hai. According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Tam, dengue fever is not transmitted directly from person to person but through mosquitos, this disease has no specific treatment or preventive medicine. To protect oneself and family members during the rainy season, the HCDC leader advised people not to maintain standing water containers where mosquitoes breed by laying eggs and mosquito larvae live in standing water. Moreover, he … [Read more...] about Dengue fever in Ho Chi Minh City prompts red alerts

SEA Games 31 volunteers at Hanoi's Thanh Tri Gymnasium. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – About 3,000 volunteers have been deployed for the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) now underway in Hanoi and 11 northern cities and provinces. They are seen everywhere from hotels where athletes and coaches are staying to competition venues, helping make a successful regional meet. Among them, most of who were recruited from major universities, about 1,900 are working in Hanoi while the remainders are sent to neighbouring localities, according to Nguyen Hai Duong, vice head of the organising sub-committee for reception and ceremony. To be qualified, they must be proficient in English and in good health, and have high sense of responsibility, Duong said. They are mainly responsible for providing assistance to foreign national teams and high-profile guests, directing spectators to seating at competition venues, hosting medal award ceremonies, and interpreting at press conferences, … [Read more...] about Volunteers do best to impress SEA Games 31 guests

Low-income housing projects will be prioritised in major cities, particularly Hanoi and HCM City. Real estate giant Vinhomes has announced plans to build 500,000 social housing apartments priced below VND1 billion across the country over the next five year. In August this year, the firm will start its first project. Low-income housing projects will be prioritised in major cities, particularly Hanoi and HCM City Housing and Urban Development Corporation has recently started work on a social housing project in the northern province of Hanoi to offer 564 apartments priced at just VND380 million (USD16,521) each. Thanh Hoa provincial authorities have approved a low-income housing project in Thanh Hoa City which will provide up to 2,400 apartments. Meanwhile, Ninh Binh Province has agreed on a project to build 2,153 apartments at Gian Khau Industrial Park and neighbouring areas. Four low-income housing projects in the country were completed in the first … [Read more...] about More low-income housing projects to be carried out

Thao Nguyen - Senior investment manager Ascend Vietnam Ventures Social commerce, a subset of e-commerce that refers to the process of buying and selling goods or services directly within social media platforms, is not new. In Vietnam, long before traditional e-commerce established a foothold with tech-savvy consumers, such activities largely took place on major social media platforms. Serving both big-city shoppers and the majority of the population who live outside of core urban centres, social commerce made up about 65 per cent of Vietnam’s $22 billion e-commerce in 2020, presenting the highest rate in Southeast Asia, according to Bain & Co. Within the last two years, we have been seeing a new wave of startups emerging in this sector and beginning to harness the untapped potential of Vietnam’s social commerce playing field. Some of those have attracted almost $14 million in funding in Q1 this year. Compared to the regional rate of 44 per cent, Vietnam’s social commerce … [Read more...] about Vietnam poised for the next level of social commerce via innovative startups

Shannon Leahy, trade commissioner for Austrade, and general director of BRG Retail Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy. Photo: Austrade Australia is one of Vietnam’s major suppliers of beef ad lamb products. Local consumers can enjoy a growing range of Australian products from fresh fruits, dairy, seafood, and beverages including a diverse range of sparkling, red, and white wines. Cherries, citrus, table grapes, milk, yoghurt, cheese, cereals, juices, rock lobsters, and abalone are just some of the beloved Australian products that have made it into Vietnamese stores, restaurants, and homes. General director of BRG Retail Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy said, “Vietnamese consumers increasingly demand clean, fresh, and delicious products with premium quality and transparent origins regardless of if they are eating out or at home. Australian suppliers can offer exactly what they want, including high-quality sustainable meat, delicious fruits, the finest dairy and cereals, and premium seafood … [Read more...] about Vietnamese consumers’ growing interest in Australian F&B products

The oldes lychee tree in Hoàng Văn Lượm's garden, a fifth-generation direct descendant of Hoàng Văn Cơm. VNA Photo Mạnh Tú HÀ NỘI – As well as watching the region's best athletes battle it out, visitors to Hải Dương Province for the SEA Games also have the chance to visit the Thanh Hà lychee gardens, where the oldest lychee tree in Việt Nam stands. Located on the Red River Delta, Thanh Hà District has a reputation for the best quality Thiều Thanh Hà lychees. The fruit tree areas in the district lure tourists from near and far. Not to be missed is the “ancestral” 19th-century lychee tree in Thú Lâm town of Thanh Sơn Commune. The tree is recognised by the Việt Nam Book Record as the oldest of its species in Việt Nam. The tree was planted over 150 years ago by Hoàng Văn Cơm (born in 1848) who specialised in fruit trading. In 1870, at a party with the Chinese in the northern Hải Phòng City, he ate delicious lychees, so he brought some seeds to his home and planted them in his … [Read more...] about Hải Dương’s lychees shouldn’t be missed

Worsening outdoor air pollution and toxic lead poisoning have kept global deaths from environmental contamination at an estimated 9 million per year since 2015 – countering modest progress made in tackling pollution elsewhere, a team of scientists reported Tuesday. Air pollution from industry processes along with urbanization drove a 7% increase in pollution-related deaths from 2015 to 2019, according to the scientists’ analysis of data on global mortality and pollution levels. "We're sitting in the stew pot and slowly burning," said Richard Fuller, a study co-author and head of the global nonprofit Pure Earth. But unlike climate change, malaria, or HIV, "we haven't given (environmental pollution) much focus." An earlier version of the work published in 2017 also estimated the death toll from pollution at roughly 9 million per year — or about one of every six deaths worldwide — and the cost to the global economy at up to $4.6 trillion per year. That puts pollution on par with … [Read more...] about Pollution killing 9 million people a year, Africa hardest hit: study

Patrick Lenain-Former assistant director Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Pressures on global supply chains are also a key headwind in the recovery. Supply chain disruptions are not new: health precautions imposed over the last two years have already caused major bottlenecks. Major shipping hubs such as Los Angeles and Shanghai have operated with reduced capacity, with long waiting times to get shipments processed across the borders. With the pandemic fading away, congestion in international supply chains has eased a bit since December 2021. In the United States, government agencies have worked with shippers, retailers, and port authorities to speed up the movement of goods. For instance, ships waiting to unload containers in US ports have declined by 35 per cent, thanks to 24/7 operations and large recruitment of workers. However, the lack of US truck drivers has emerged as a new problem. Action was taken to hire 30,000 additional truck drivers, … [Read more...] about Will international stress disrupt Vietnam’s economic recovery?

The delegates cut the ribbon to inaugurate the second facility of Ho Chi Minh City Blood Transfusion Hematology Hospital. Deputy Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc along with representatives of relevant departments, agencies attended the inauguration ceremony. Doctor Phu Chi Dung, Director of the HCMC Blood Transfusion Hematology Hospital said that the newly-inaugurated hospital had a capacity of 300 inpatient beds, areas of over 33,000 square meters and 33 sub-divisions, a total investment of over VND1,000 billion (US$43 million), including 50 percent of investment capital and 50 percent of hospital capital. The hospital was designed under 3H criteria of the modern hospital, the best place like home and hotel. Apart from the three main tasks of a blood bank, stem cell banking and examination and treatment, the hospital will implement blood transfusion and blood reserve for the city health sector. Besides, the hospital shall be a place of scientific study … [Read more...] about 2nd facility of HCMC Blood Transfusion Hematology Hospital inaugurated

The trip has contributed to promoting the relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the U.S., and between Vietnam and the U.N. and the U.S., while affirming Vietnam’s role and prestige in the international arena. During his week-long stay in the U.S., the PM visited the four cities of Washington D.C, Boston, New York, and San Francisco, with more than 50 activities. He attended and delivered speeches at the summit, and met with ASEAN leaders, including his counterparts from Laos, Cambodia and Singapore, and the Indonesian President. Chinh also had meetings with U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russel, President of the U.N. General Assembly Abdulla Shahid and Administrator of the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) Achim Steiner. He met President Joe Biden, and received senior officials of the U.S. government such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of … [Read more...] about Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh concludes U.S. trip