Vietnam’s tennis ace achieves career-best ATP rankingVietnam’s no. 1 tennis player, Ly Hoang Nam, leapt 29 notches to 433rd position in the latest men’s world rankings as announced by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) on May 14. Ly Hoang Nam (left) and Nguyen Van Phuong win the doubles title at the recent Vietnam F2 Futures tournament. It is a career-best ATP rating for Nam, and also the highest world ranking ever reached by a Vietnamese player. By qualifying for the final match of the recent Vietnam F1 Futures tournament, 21-year-old Nam added ten points to his ATP accumulation.

Classes preserve Cong ethnic minority’s folk artThe Cong ethnic group in Muong Te district, the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau, is one of the most disadvantaged ethnic minorities in Vietnam, but the group boasts a diverse cultural life with traditional values. Ly Thi Giong, among six artisans in Nam Khao commune, is considered a living treasure in helping preserve the traditional folk art of the Cong ethnic minority, especially for younger generations. “Every day, I call young girls to practice dances in a hope to stop Cong cultural identity from falling into oblivion,” said Giong. The traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities are precious heritages, contributing to a diverse but united Vietnamese culture. Given that, upholding and promoting traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities is an urgent mission.

British historian to deliver talk on Hue CityVietNamNet Bridge – British historian Tim Doling will deliver a talk on Nguyen Dynasty and its architectural heritage in HCM City on May 17. — Photo traveltimes.vnThe talk will mark the release of Doling’s book, Exploring Hue. Doling will explain why Hue City was chosen as the imperial citadel four times among nine succeeding imperial moves throughout the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945). He will also talk about the Chinese community in Hue and the Buddhist institutions here as well as the various kinds of architecture in the city and its vicinity. The talk will begin at 6pm at Salon Saigon, 6D, Ngo Thoi Nhiem Street, District 3, HCM City.

Film on Mother Goddesses open for public viewingVietNamNet Bridge – A 108-episode film on the worship of Mother Goddesses will be showcased to the public this month. An art performance presented at the debut of the film Vietnamese Mothers on Saturday. — Photo courtesy of the organiserTitled Me Viet (Vietnamese Mothers), the first film about the traditional practice of goddess worship made its debut in Hanoi on Saturday. The worship of the Mother Goddess is a traditional practice in Vietnam with a long history and has stood the test of social changes. The belief in the worship of the Mother Goddesses by the Vietnamese was recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2016.

The railway route which starts from Hang Co Station in Hanoi was built by the French more than 100 years ago to transport passengers and goods to the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai. The life of households alongside the railway has appeared many times in foreign newspapers, so, many foreigners come there when they visit Hanoi. The railway area has attracted dozens of foreign travellers every day. Local households are just two metres from the railway. Water and vegetable stalls also operate along the two sides of the railway sectionVisitors wear traditional Ao Dai outfits to take photos with the railwayThe section belongs to Hanoi-Lao Cai railway route which serves four trains daily at night and early morning.

Online tourism businesses thrive in VietnamVietNamNet Bridge - Many travel firms, after making heavy investments in online tourism, are earning increasingly high revenue. Online tourism has made a great contribution to the revenue growth of Saigontourist. The statistics shown at the 2018 Vietnam Online Tourism Forum (VOTF) showed that some tourism companies were gaining high growth rates even among stiff competition in the market because they can attract high numbers of tourists through online sales. Of this, Vietnam’s online tourism accounted for 10 percent, or $9 billion. RELATED NEWSForeign firms have biggest share of online tourism marketOnline tourism market called ‘new gold mine’, worth $9 billionMai Chi

Vietnam to host Asia Pacific IT Alliance Awards 2019Vietnam will host the Asia Pacific IT Alliance (APICTA) Awards in 2019, said Minister of Information and Communication Truong Minh Tuan on May 14. At the working session between the Ministry of Information and Communication and a delegation from the APICTA. APICTA’s 16 member-economies include Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Macao (China), Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan (China) and Vietnam. The VINASA brought the best Vietnamese IT products and services to the APICTA awards two years ago. The APICTA 2018 awards will be held in China’s Guangzhou province in October.-VNA

Fitch raises sovereign rating for VietnamFitch Ratings has upgraded Vietnam's sovereign rating based on rising foreign-exchange reserves and strong economic growth. Most economic forecasts since early April said Vietnam’s GDP growth will be 6.5 percent or higher in 2018. Meanwhile, the World Bank (WB) on April 12 forecast Vietnam’s economic growth to stabilise around 6.5 percent in 2018. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected Vietnam’s economy to grow by 6.6 percent this year and 6.5 percent the following year in its report namely “World Economic Outlook, April 2018”. Vietnam’s economy enjoyed a strong economic expansion of 7.38 percent in the first quarter of this year, the best first-quarter performance in the last decade, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.-VNA

Vietnam invests in 34 overseas projects till AprilVietnamese businesses invested US$129 million in 34 new overseas projects in the first four months of this year, statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment revealed. — Photo baodautu.vnDuring the reviewed period, the firms also added $24.6 million into existing projects abroad, according to the data. Finance and banking topped Viet Nam’s overseas investments with the total new and additional capital reaching $105 million, accounting for 68.3 per cent of total investment capital abroad. The flow of Vietnamese overseas investment is likely to increase more significantly in the time to come, said Dang Phuong Linh from the Viet Nam University of Commerce. Promoting investment and providing domestic firms with effective information about overseas investment should also be included, she said.

Present at the ceremony included Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam Umeda Kunio and representatives of the city local authorities. Commercial arbitration in Vietnam has been increasingly developed to become a useful tool for foreign investors in the country. Commercial arbitration and investment arbitration have been mostly preferred. Commercial arbitration is an effective tool in preserving capital inflows from legal risks in business investments. “Thus, more opportunities to enhance co-operation between Viet Nam and UAE are available.”When doing business with the region, enterprises must always keep a close eye on its unstable political situation, Hoa warned.

To achieve this "position", social insurance policy itself and the implementation of social insurance policies must make appropriate adjustments to adapt to the real situation. First, it derives from the challenges facing each country, including the increasing pressure on the budget and the social insurance fund, as well as an aging population, and low social insurance coverage, among others. In particular, after the country's Doi Moi (reform) policy, Vietnam implemented important reforms in its social insurance policy in 1995, such as establishing a system of agencies specialising in implementing social insurance policy at three levels; establishing a social insurance fund independent from the state budget which is formed on the contributions of both employers and employees; in addition to expanding the scope of subjects participating in compulsory social insurance and implementing voluntary social insurance; among others. Thanks to these important reforms, the social insurance fund has become the largest welfare fund; the organisational model of the social insurance system has promoted its effectiveness in policy implementation; and the number of employees participating in compulsory and voluntary social insurance has continuously increased (reaching 13.9 million people by the end of 2017, an increase of seven times compared to 1995). However, besides these important achievements, the implementation of social insurance in Vietnam also shows inadequacies, including the low coverage of social insurance; the social insurance system being designed in a single-stage manner with loose connections to other social policies; and compulsory social insurance also omits some groups of people with the demand and ability to participate in it.

Banks warn customers over online scammingThe Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) have issued official warnings to customers over online phishing scams. — Photo thebank.vnBoth banks have reported information theft through e-banking counterfeiting, with cardholders’ negligence taken advantage of to steal their personal information, card data and passwords by asking them to input these on a fake website programmed to resemble the banks’ authentic online platform. These fraud sites used forged interfaces mimicking the two banks’ real online banking services domains. To protect personal information, Vietcombank said their customers should only use the website provided above and carefully read their safety transaction guide. The majority of bank account thefts occur due to disclosure of personal information, said Ho Duc Dung, an expert in banking security.

Torres Strait masks to be introduced in Vietnam for first timeAn exhibition on Torres Strait masks will be introduced in Vietnam for the first time by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam together with the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. An exhibition on Torres Strait masks will be introduced in Vietnam for the first time by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam. (Photo: Australian Embassy)The two-month-long exhibition at Hanoi’s Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is part of activities celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Representatives from the Embassy, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and other cultural institutions will attend the opening ceremony which will take place on May 18, according to the Australian Embassy. One kind of Torres Strait masks (Photo: nma.gov.au)Torres Strait is a network of islands located between Northern Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Vietnam' online tourism seeks to compete with foreign viralsOnline tourism has been developing strongly globally as part of e-commerce, especially in the context of the 4th industrial revolution. However, the trend is causing difficulties for Vietnam’s tourism sector where online tourism is less developed. According to a report on Vietnam’s e-commerce index in 2017, online tourism posted a growth rate of 50 percent, double that of e-commerce in general. A 2017 survey showed that 71 percent of foreign tourists search for information online and 64% booked tours to Vietnam online. With a strong ICT workforce and booming mobile and social networks, Vietnam’s tourism sector is expected to grow stronger in the digital age.-VNA

Chinese tourists made to take off illicit map T-shirtsA group of Chinese tourists were asked to change their T-shirts after authorities in the central coastal city of Nha Trang complained they displayed the illicit ‘nine-dash line’ map that suggests Chinese territorial claims in the East Vietnam Sea on them. A group of Chinese tourists wear T-shirts with the illicit ‘nine-dash line’ map. "After completing immigration procedures, the tourists went out to wait for buses to Nha Trang," Quan said. The Chinese tourists were travelling to Vietnam on a tour operated by Aladdin Co. Ltd.A representative from the tour company said it was not until the Chinese tourists had passed immigration that the company’s tour guide realised their clothes featured the map. “We asked them to get changed and confiscated all the T-shirts at the airport to be handed over to the authorities,” Aladdin's representative said.