International news headlines today

A PetroVietnam Gas worker operating equipment. The company shares soared more than 4 per cent, boosted by higher gas and oil price in the international market. — Photo pvgas.com.vn HÀ NỘI — The benchmark indices finished higher on Monday, but the VN-Index failed to cross over the key psychological level of 1,400 points level as the rising selling force weighed on the market in the late session. On the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index increased 2.83 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 1.395.53 points. The market opened the morning session on a positive note, with bullish sentiment pushing the benchmark to 1,399.97 points. However, the rally was capped by profit-taking activities in the last minutes. The market's breadth was negative as 193 stocks climbed and 245 declined, while the liquidity remained high. Accordingly, more than 795.9 million stocks were traded on the southern bourse, worth over VNĐ23.65 trillion (US$836.8 million). The index's uptrend was mainly …

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Trung Nam Group installs 25 offshore wind towers for the VND5 trillion Dong Hai No 1 wind power project in the southern province of Tra Vinh yesterday. — Photo courtesy of Trung Nam Trung Nam Tra Vinh 1 Wind Power Joint Stock Company, installed the last wind tower of the Dong Hai No 1 wind power project in the southern province of Tra Vinh yesterday. The firm, a member of Trung Nam Group, installed a total of 25 towers in the VND5 trillion (US$217 million) project over the past ten months in an effort to run the first offshore wind power project of the group. According to the firm, the project with a total capacity of 100MW would add about 330 million kWh of green energy annually, connect to the national grid, help diversify sources and gradually approach the ability to balance sources with fossil fuels, especially in the context of international orientation for a "zero carbon" future. Starting at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, the firm has used 1,100 engineers and …

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Nội Bài International Airport receives a small number of passengers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. — VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has proposed increasing the number of domestic routes from October 20. The CAAV sent the proposal to the Ministry of Transport for when the first phase of the pilot period of reopening domestic flights ends. Previously, the CAAV proposed a four-phase plan to resume domestic flights. In the first phase, to be carried over ten days from October 10 to 20, airlines resume routes with a flight frequency not exceeding half of that in the first 10 days of April, the time before the fourth coronavirus wave in Việt Nam. Passengers on the planes must be distanced as well. In the second phase, the CAAV proposed to continue opening flight three routes from Hà Nội-Đà Nẵng, Hà Nội-HCM City, and Đà Nẵng-HCM City from October 21 to November 30. The frequency on each route would increase to not exceed 70 per cent compared to …

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A view of Đà Nẵng City at night. — Photo baodanang.vn ĐÀ NẴNG — The central city of Đà Nẵng plans to reboot local tourism from October 20, as the COVID-19 pandemic has been under control. From November, the city will embark on “travel bubble” with the central province of Quảng Nam and the northern province of Quảng Ninh, heard a meeting between the municipal People’s Council and local voters last week. Director of the municipal Tourism Department Trương Thị Hồng Hạnh said the city will initially welcome domestic visitors and pilot the serving of foreigners with the slogan “Enjoy Đà Nẵng”, ensuring safety of tourists and employees in the sector. Also in November, the city will serve international visitors who come for official duty, visit relatives and return home. They will be put under quarantine for a week and follow other regulations by the Health Ministry. Others include tourists on full-package tours and those with vaccine passports, focusing on those from the Republic of …

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A coal mine of Núi Béo Coal JSC in the northern province of Quảng Ninh. —  VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đạt HÀ NỘI — Although global coal prices have reached a record high, Vietnamese coal mining enterprises have still failed to increase revenue and profit, and some of them have even suffered losses. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world average coal price has reached the highest level in history with a year-on-year hike of 110 per cent in the past nine months of 2021 and surging 75 per cent compared to the beginning of the year, though the nine-month global coal demand only increased 4.5 per cent year-on-year, after falling 5 per cent in 2020. However, experts from SSI Securities JSC (SSI) said that the coal price in Việt Nam was not in line with the global price due to the Government’s strict price management policy that allowed only two firms – Việt Nam Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corp (Vinacomin) and the Quảng Ninh Province-based Đông Bắc …

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A vaccine being administered in Lâm Thao District, Phú Thọ Province, on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trung Kiên HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health announced 3,168 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the country's tally to 867,221. A further 75 deaths were also announced, mostly in southern provinces (51 in HCM City and 14 in Bình Dương Province). The national death count is now 21,269, about 2.5 per cent of the total confirmed cases. Five southern localities saw three-digit numbers of new cases today; HCM City (968 cases), Bình Dương (439), Đồng Nai (393), Sóc Trăng (174), and An Giang (109), followed by four more Mekong Delta provinces; Kiên Giang (99), Tiền Giang (94), Cà Mau (77), Long An (68) and Đồng Tháp (61), showing that the southern regions continue to be the country's biggest hot spot. The breakdown in daily new cases in the rest of the country is as follows; Phú Thọ (58), Bạc Liêu (48), Đắk Lắk (46), Quảng Nam (45), Thanh Hóa (42), Gia Lai (40), Trà Vinh (33), Khánh Hòa …

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Collection 'Missed and Remembered' by Hanoi London College for Design & Fashion's new graduate Bui Thanh Lam. (Photo coutersy of London College) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Bui Thanh Lam has been shortlisted to compete at the International Student Design Competition 2021 in London held by creative network Arts Thread. Lam's collection Noi Nho (Missed and Remembered) is about her love and admiration for her grandmother who joined the Liberation Art Ensemble during the anti-American war. "My grandmother was one of many prime examples of a perfect woman," Lam said. "She was the model of my life, and I want to bring the same spirit from her times over to modern women. They are still as elegant as ever, but bring over a breath of fresh air." The story of her grandmother was not sad and they were memories worth keeping with love and happiness, according to the designer. The collection is women's wear for Autumn/Winter which is still the same brand of that meticulousness in all the …

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At the meeting (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien hosted a reception for heads of Vietnam ese representative offices abroad in Hanoi on October 18. Chien congratulated the officials on being appointed to such positions for the 2021-2024 term, and stressed that defence external affairs forms an important part of the Party and the State’s external work as well as people-to-people diplomacy. The Central Military Commission and the Defence Ministry highly valued the attention and close coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in international integration and defence external affairs over the past time, contributing to implementing the defence external work comprehensively, he said. The Deputy Minister expressed his hope that the chief representatives will fulfil their assigned tasks outstandingly, helping to enhance diplomatic ties between Vietnam and countries and international organisations, and …

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Illustrative image. (Photo: AFP/VNA) Phnom Penh (VNA) – The Cambodian government decided to shorten the quarantine period from October 18. However, the absence of regular commercial flights to Cambodia from the main tourist hubs and people traveling for business purposes is raising concerns about a lack of international visitors. Many experts and travel agency representatives in Cambodia said that when the new normal state is applied, Cambodian authorities need to closely monitor "travel bubbles" with countries that Cambodia regularly receives a large number of flights to and from, both direct or transit. Currently, flights from Malaysia to Cambodia have been banned since July 2020. This ban needs to be lifted so that regular flights are restored. According to a statement released by the Cambodian Ministry of Health on October 16, foreign investors, technical experts, diplomats, and cooperation project managers and coordinators, as well as Cambodian officials returning …

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A Vietnam – Switzerland cultural festival takes place on October 16 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations (1971 – 2021). (Photo: VNA) Geneva (VNA) – A Vietnam – Switzerland cultural festival took place on October 16 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations (1971 – 2021), and enhance people-to-people exchange and cultural and economic cooperation. Present at the event were Vice President of the Council of the State of Geneva Mauro Poggia, and Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. In her welcoming remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Le Linh Lan highly spoke of the achievements in the bilateral relations, saying 2021 holds a special meaning as the year marks the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties and the 30th anniversary of their development cooperation. Switzerland was among the first Western nations to establish …

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