Shooting Cup finishes with eight recordsThe National Shooting Cup saw eight records set after 10 days of competitions, which closed in Hanoi yesterday. Tran Chau Tung of Hanoi (centre) breaks the national record in the men’s 10m air pistol with 242.8 points in this year’s National Shooting Cup. — Photo sggp.org.vnAmong the records, seven were new tournament records and one was a national record. Tran Chau Tung of the host team broke the national record in the men’s 10m air pistol with 242.8 points. Seven records for the Cup were in the women’s 10m air pistol individual and team, women’s 10m running target individual and team, women’s 50m rifle 3x20 individual, and women’s 10m air rifle individual and team.

Forestland left fallow as land disputes in Highlands spikeVietNamNet Bridge - Land disputes in the Central Highlands have spread to new areas. Conflicts occurred, including a number of murdersDeforestation and illegal forest trading have become common in Central Highlands’ provinces. In Ea Sup district, thousands of households have appropriated forest and sold land plots. Deforestation and illegal forest trading have become common in Central Highlands’ provinces. People have been flocking there, clearing land, cultivating crops, declaring their ownership over the land, and selling the land for money.

Domestic tours stuck as hotels fully booked by Chinese travelersVietNamNet Bridge - Travel firms complain they cannot book hotel rooms in Nha Trang and Da Nang because most rooms have been reserved for Chinese travelers. Travel firms complain they cannot book hotel rooms in Nha Trang and Da Nang because most rooms have been reserved for Chinese travelers. “Even hotels under two stars are fully occupied because the very high number of Chinese travelers,” he said. A hotel receptionist said travel firms buy hotel rooms in bulk many months or one year in advance. RELATED NEWSMore than 1.1 million Chinese visitors to Nha Trang in 11 monthsThe best attractions in Nha TrangKim Chi

Flowers, women themed paintings honour feminityAn art exhibition by seven female painters work on the theme of feminity is underway in Ha Noi. Titled Flowers and Women, the exhibition focuses on the beauty, inner lives and desires of women. The 42 paintings in the exhibition reflect the aesthetic perception and view of the artists on society, ethics and their desire for gender equality. To Ngoc Thao, student of the Viet Nam Fine Arts University, is the youngest in the group. The exhibition will run until April 22 at VICAS Art Studio, 32 Hao Nam Street, Ha Noi.

Hanoi cracks down on poor fire prevention and safetyHanoi People's Committee has asked the Ministry of Construction to check fire safety threats on 17 apartment buildings in the area. A fire at CT4 La Xa apartment building in 2015Hanoi has about 1,075 apartment buildings and high-rises. According to the municipal authorities, investors had low fire safety awareness, but this had improved since 2011. Hanoi Fire Department and the Department of Construction were asked to find solutions. Hanoi authorities suggested replacing regular doors with automatic fire-resistant doors at corridors and install booster pumps systems.

ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi suspends operations due to Uber and GrabComfortDelgro Savico Taxi, a joint venture between Saigon General Services Corporation (Savico) and Singapore's ComfortDelgro, announced suspending its operations. The movement came after the operations of several traditional taxi firms were impacted by Uber and Grab. According to Savico, the purpose of ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi’s decision is to look for other business opportunities as well as safeguard the capital that Savico and ComfortDelgro contributed to the joint venture. At the time, Savico released that ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi faced difficulties in maintaining its operations due to the competition with Uber and Grab. Along with ComfortDelgro Savico Taxi, the operations of traditional taxi firms have been seriously impacted by the appearance of Uber and Grab.

Vietnam NA does its best for stronger ties with BulgariaThe National Assembly of Vietnam always supports government-to-government cooperation and will do its best to elevate bilateral ties with Bulgaria to the next level for a productive trade partnership, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has said. She noted that although two-way trade reached nearly 110 million USD in 2017, the figure has yet to match economic cooperation potential between the two countries. Ngan also showed her delight at effective coordination of Vietnam and Bulgaria at international forums and organisations. Vietnam hopes that Bulgaria, as EU President from January 2018, will help Vietnam strengthen ties with the EU and hasten the signing of the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement, she said, pledging that Vietnam is willing to help Bulgaria and the EU strengthen ties with other ASEAN member countries. She affirmed that as the EU President, Bulgaria will work harder to support Vietnam to run for a non-permanent membership of the EU Security Council.

Vietnam actively contributes to UNHRC’s 37th sessionThe Vietnamese delegation has actively contributed ideas to various draft resolutions and co-sponsored six resolutions of the 37th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which wrapped up in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 23 after one month of working. On behalf of ASEAN, he also delivered a speech at a debate on the Universal Periodic Review, affirming that this is an important mechanism that helps boost international dialogue and cooperation in human rights issue. ASEAN is willing to cooperate with partners for the success of the mechanism, he confirmed. During the month-long event, the council discussed issues related to the rights of children, people with disabilities, anti-racial discrimination. It also took a look at the human rights situation in Myanmar, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Syria, South Sudan, and Iran, as well as discussing measures to intensify technical assistance to ensure and promote human rights in Libya.

About 500 students join Hanoi mathematics contestNearly 500 students will compete at the 15th Hanoi Open Mathematics Competition (HOMC) from March 26 to 30, with foreign contestants joining for the first time. Contestants of the Hanoi Open Mathematics Competition in 2017 (Photo: hanoi.edu.vn)Participants will be divided into two groups. The first group comprises of 87 international students from 10 countries and territories including Poland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, and Hungary. Meanwhile, 411 contestants of Group B come from 22 localities across Vietnam and will attend the individual competition only. The official language of the competition is English and exam questions in the individual competition of the two groups will be the same.

Warning over dodgy online tradersLe Thi Thu Hang from HCM City’s Go Vap District recently ordered a product displayed on an e-commerce marketplace from a supplier that had no e-commerce website. E-commerce websites play a role in quality control and protect customers’ interests. Many suppliers who trade directly with customers provide low-quality products, an e-commerce expert said. Online trade also helps buyers easily and quickly purchase items that may be unavailable in their local area at cheap prices. However, unreliable online shopping websites exist, sometimes in the form of advertisements.

Da Nang plans ‘urban area in the sea’VietNamNet Bridge – The central city of Da Nang has asked the government to plan part of Da Nang Bay as an ‘urban area in the sea’, in an effort to meet the demands of a rising population and to attract tourism investment. A sea expansion project is planned for Da Nang Bay. The central city aims to build an ’urban area in the sea’ for its growing population. He said the urban area project also needs special policies to offer preferential treatment for strategic investors. “We plan to develop part of Da Nang Bay as a sustainable ‘urban area in the sea’ in combination with an ocean economic zone.

Ly Son Island garlic brand violated by fraudstersVietNamNet Bridge – Something smells funny on Ly Son Island, as the mass trading of fake garlic has hurt the island’s signature trade. Original brand of Ly Son district brand is offered at shopping centres in Da Nang.Photo courtesy Ly Son seafood companyThe fake products have surfaced in shops in Quang Ngai District’s Quang Ngai City. “We found that some farmers transported garlic planted and harvested in a district in Khanh Hoa to sell on Ly Son Island. Tourists could not recognise what original Ly Son garlic is. Ly Son garlic is priced at VND60,000 (US$2.6) for a fresh kilo, and VND150,000 ($6.6) for a dried kilo, according to the district.

Vietnam calls for stronger cooperation to solve migration crisesChairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has emphasised that to solve migration crises, it is necessary to enhance cooperation at global level with the active participation of countries and international organisations. The top Vietnamese legislator said as the world’s biggest inter-parliamentary organisation, the IPU should continue taking the lead in promoting cooperation for development among countries. At international level, Vietnam supports legal migration activities, particularly labour migration and resolutely fights against illegal migration, especially human trafficking and transnational crimes, the ensuring of safe migration and the protection of rights and legitimate interests of migrants during the migration process, she said. The chairwoman called for dialogue and cooperation to prevent violent extremism, terrorism, poverty and social inequality which could lead to migrant crises like in recent years. She also pointed to the need to promote cooperation between nations and regional and international organisations to create resources and support countries affected by illegal migration and to devise sustainable solutions.

Russia fire: Children missing in deadly Kemerovo mall blazeAt least 37 people are confirmed to have died in a fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Siberian coal-mining city of Kemerovo. At least 64 people are missing, including 41 children, and parts of the building are in danger of collapse. The blaze started on an upper floor of the Winter Cherry complex while many of the victims were in cinema halls. Yevgeny Dedyukhin, deputy head of the Kemerovo region emergency department, said the area of the fire was about 1,500 sq m."The shopping centre is a very complex construction," he said. Another source told the agency there was practically no chance of finding survivors.

Uber is selling its South East Asia operations to rival GrabUber is selling its South East Asia ride-share and food delivery businesses to regional rival Grab. Grab is South East Asia's most popular ride-sharing firm with millions of users across eight countries. But it includes the sale of all of Uber's operations in the region, including food delivery service Uber Eats. Uber's chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said this was "a testament to Uber's exceptional growth across South East Asia over the last five years". As a result of the merger, the GrabFood service will expand from two to four South East Asian countries by next quarter, Grab said in statement.