North and central regions grapple with devastating floodsSevere flooding triggered by tropical storm Bebinca has caused extensive loses to life and property in many localities throughout the northern and central regions. Heavy rains and floods also damaged 26 houses, with one collapsing and six others needing to be evacuated. By that time, storm Bebinca had claimed six lives, destroyed 16 houses and damaged many hectares of rice and subsidiary crops in Ky Son district, Central Nghe An province. Heavy downpours from tropical storm Bebinca have added to upstream floodwaters flowing to Central Nghe An province in recent days inundating many mountainous districts of Nghe An. Mountainous districts of Quy Hop, Quy Chau, Tan Ky, Con Cuong, Tuong Duong and Ky Son continue to be beset by heavy rains and flooding.

Olympic talent shares his passion for physicsNguyen Ngoc Long from the central province of Thanh Hoa is one of the two Vietnamese gold medalists at the 49th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) held in Lisbon, Portugal in late July. This year, more than 400 students from 90 countries attended the annual international physics competition for high school students. In May 2018, Long also won a gold medal at the Asian Physics Olympiad and first prize at the National Physics Competition 2018. Nguyễn Ngọc Long won a gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad 2018. With the gold medal at IPhO, you will be admitted to the University of Science at home.

Investors still cannot make profits from hi-tech agriculture productionVietNamNet Bridge - Hi-tech agricultural production requires huge capital and long-term investments, while the risks are high and the policies are not encouraging. Hi-tech agricultural production requires huge capital and long-term investments, while the risks are high and the policies are not encouraging. He went on to say that the entire agriculture production value chain is still small because Vietnam has to spend dollars to import input materials. In principle, the state should encourage investors in the hi-tech agriculture sector by offering incentives. The lack of land fund and land fragmentation has been mentioned recently by analysts when talking about the obstacles to hi-tech agriculture production.

HCM City condo market begins to recoverCondominiums remain the best bet for people living in big cities thanks to their affordable prices, and not surprisingly the HCM City apartment market is showing signs of recovering after the slowdown caused by the Carina Plaza fire at the beginning of this year, insiders said. Not only the primary market but also the secondary market is witnessing a recovery, which is clearly shown through rising prices. The Ministry of Construction reported that condo prices rose by 1.4% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of this year. CBRE Vietnam said in the second quarter, 6,200 condos were sold, down 36% from the previous quarter. The secondary market too saw an uptrend in the second quarter with a 1.7% rise in prices quarter-on-quarter against an average quarterly growth rate of 0.5% over the 2017-18 period, it added.

Banks going the fintech M&A routeVietnamese fintech companies can expect a raft of foreign financial institutions seeking a relationship with them, as the latter have found this route a promising one to access the underbanked population of the country. “They’re all looking at and studying opportunities for investment in local fintech companies,” Choi confirmed. Since then, local fintech has opened to welcome the next generation of fintech players like Weezi Digital, KIU, Wecash, Enablecode, Instant.vn, and Tradle, who were announced as winners of the recent Fintech Challenge Vietnam competition. Local banks want a piece of them as part of their digital banking strategy growth, evident in the co-operation between these winners and local banks like BIDV, Vietnam International Bank (VIB),TPBank, VietinBank, Vietcom- bank, and VPBank. Foreign banks want to get to know their apps as well and use them to tap into the underbanked population.

Unclear labelling of goods upsets buyersA number of convenience stores advertising their brands as “made in Korea” or “made in Japan” have been fined for ambiguous information on the origin of their goods, making many Vietnamese consumers feel confused and nervous. With more than 100 stores of various brands concentrated in crowded streets nationwide, these stores has made the habits of Vietnamese consumers gradually change. Other chains, including Miniso and Daiso Japan, were also found to show signs of unclear origins of their goods. Specifically, many of Daiso Japan’s goods are of Chinese origin, but not labelled in Vietnamese, and do not carry conformity to regulation (CR) stamps in accordance with Vietnamese legal regulations on goods labelling. Reflections of consumersMany Vietnamese consumers have publicly expressed their opinions on the misleading information of some brands’ advertisements.

Asian Games 2018 officially kicks off in JakartaThe Asian Games (ASIAD) 2018 was declared open by Indonesian President Joko Widodo late on August 18 during a colourful opening ceremony in Jakarta. Right after the opening ceremony, a number of Vietnamese athletes in the sports of Taekwondo, Wushu, swimming, fencing and shooting, began competing at the Games. The hosts Indonesia participated in the ASIAD 2018 with 951 athletes, the largest number at this year’s event. The opening ceremony features cultural performances and pyrotechnics. Vietnam’s sports delegation to the gameIndonesia's natural landscape appears at the opening ceremony.

Public debts rise, Ministry warns of ODA trapVietNamNet Bridge - The interest rates offered by China are twice as much as other lenders, while the lending conditions are less preferential. The ministry pointed out that Chinese preferential loans, just like export credits, are conditional loans (Chinese corporations are the contractors for projects) with conditions less favorable than loans from other donors. Chinese loans have an interest rate of 3 percent per annum on average, higher than the 0.4-1.2 percent offered by Japan, 0-2 percent by South Korea and 1.75 percent by India. Chinese preferential loans are provided via China Eximbank. Regarding the investment efficiency of projects using Chinese loans, contractors and equipment, the report says most projects proceed slowly, quality is low, and real investment capital is always higher than the estimates.

Major losses at state-owned firms urge withdraw of state capitalVietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) Chairman Nguyen Phu Cuong confirmed last week that the firm was making big losses in a meeting with the State Audit of Vietnam. Vinachem, like the troubled shipbuilder Vinashin and shipping lines Vinalines, shows a disappointing performance history by state-owned firms despite benefiting from incentives. Losses in the billions and trillions of dong are familiar to the public when referring to losses at state-owned firms or projects, despite the country's GDP per capita currently stands at just VND40 million (USD1,762). And the leaders of these companies might not have thought too much about the losses as the capital is from the state budget but not from their pocket. This situation means that the withdrawal of state capital from many sectors is now an urgent task that should be done to regain public confidence.

Engineer gives free training to young peopleVietNamNet Bridge – Le Van Liem was born into a poor family and had to quit school in the 9th grade to earn a living. Le Van Liem (right) teaches a trainee at his workshop. Once Liem opened a motorcycle workshop, he studied one last skill – welding, to repair simple tools for local residents. Over the past 10 years, Liem has given free training to nearly 50 young people. Liem’s work also helped promote young people’s determination to start their own enterprises, said Diep.

Transport ministry works on high-speed rail proposalThe Ministry of Transport plans to submit a pre-feasibility study report on a high-speed north-south railway project to the government this year for consideration. They have also suggested railway construction experiences of developed countries as well as raising capital for the Ministry of Transport. Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The asked the consortium to quickly complete the pre-feasibility study report in August and work with HCM City, Nghe An and Danang on the station position and direction. The Ministry of Transport will submit the project’s pre-feasibility study report to the government for consideration this year. Vietnam has been talking about the North-South Express Railway for years, but it has been delayed due to high costs.

Honey to become the bee’s kneesViet Nam expects to have sustainable development of the domestic honey and bee industry to improve output and quality of honey over the next two years. Daklak Honey Bee JSC. The Department of Livestock reports Viet Nam currently has nearly 1.2 million bee colonies including 16.6 per cent being domestic bees and 83.4 per cent being foreign bees. According to Nguyen Thanh Son, head of the National Institute of Animal Science, Viet Nam is the second largest honey exporter in Asia and the sixth largest honey exporter in the world. In 2014, Viet Nam exported nearly 50,000 tonnes of honey, earning US$150 million.

Global domain names come to VNThe availability of a series of new foreign domain names in the Vietnamese market is offering more choices to local companies and opening up new opportunities for domain name registrars. The penetration of many new domain names into Viet Nam offers many domain name options to local businesses and co-operation opportunities for domain names registrars. Foreign domain registrars have sought to collaborate with local domain name suppliers to expand their presence and improve their competitive edge. If issues emerge such as domain name disputes, usurped domain names, stolen and illegally transferred domain names, the Vietnamese providers would take responsibility to settle them and enterprises do not have to contact foreign registrars. Besides competing on prices, foreign domain registrars and domestic domain name providers also join hands to promote their brands and improve Vietnamese businesses’ awareness of the importance and benefits of using new domain names.

HCM City to have first human milk bank of int’l standardsA breast milk bank of international standards will be established at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tu Du Hospital, announced Assoc. As one of the leading obstetrics and gynaecology hospitals of the city, Tu Du Hospital handles about 66,000 birth cases annually. Among those, there are hundreds of premature babies who are fed on infant formula due to a shortage of breast milk. In face of this, the hospital put forward its plan to set up a breast milk bank in 2016, hoping to provide safe and nutritious human milk to save at-risk infants. Thuong noted that the human milk bank must closely follow strict requirements on equipment and operation, in accordance with international standards.

National Council on Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Improvement is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam. Third, the sector should take strong action in economic diplomacy to serve national development. Elaborating on the notion of diplomacy serving development, the Deputy FM said the diplomatic sector has been doing several tasks since the 29th conference. He asked the province to improve state management of the building, management and protection of national sovereignty and border security. In his closing remarks, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said the conference was a resounding success, helping improve the role of Vietnam’s diplomatic sector.