Vietnam U16 second in Japan-ASEAN friendly football tourneyVietnam’s U16 team finished second in the Japan-ASEAN friendly football tournament after losing 0-1 to Indonesia in the final on March 12. Vietnam's national U16 team. [Vietnam enters final of Japan-ASEAN youth football event]After the tournament, the Vietnamese team will stay in Japan for two more days to attend cultural exchange programmes. They will return home on March 14 to continue preparations for the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U16 Championship. Among the 18 members of the Vietnam U16 team, there are some players of the U15 squad, who won the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U15 Championship last year.

Division in banking sector sharpensVietNamNet Bridge - While some commercial banks report increased mobilized capital, other banks have had to raise deposit interest rates, demonstrating the divide in the banking sector, analysts say. However, some banks have still set deposit interest rates at high levels of 7.9-8 percent. In addition, they have run promotion campaigns in which depositors can enjoy additional interest rates of 0.5-0.7 percent per annum. They accept low interest rates and refuse high interest rates offered by banks they believe are ‘less prestigious’. RELATED NEWSThe hallmarks of the banking sector in 2017State-owned bank also hires foreign CEOsNam Mai

Female PhD pursues her passion in nano silver researchVietNamNet Bridge - Visitors to TechDemo 2017, an important event of sci-tech firms held in Da Nang City in late 2017, were invited to try a special mouthwash made of nano silver. Dung is head of the Environment Friendly Technology division of the Institute of Environmental Technology, an arm of the Vietnam Academy of Science & Technology. Today, with the development of science and technology, many countries have developed products from silver nano for health care. Dung vowed to find a Vietnamese method to prepare silver nano. Diapers, filtration units, protection masks and medical bandages with nano silver have appeared on the market.

AUCKLAND – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has urged New Zealand ’s Auckland City to expand its co-operation with Việt Nam , especially in economy and trade, contributing to doubling two-way trade between the countries in the time ahead. He made the suggestion at a meeting with Auckland ’s mayor Phil Goff on Monday as part of his on-going official visit to the country. After touring the AUT facilities, the PM talked to Vietnamese students in the university and representatives of the Vietnamese community. Phúc praised the Vietnamese embassy’s efforts to promote the two countries’ co-operation and support Vietnamese people in New Zealand. Phúc asked the embassy to bolster connections in education and training, expand tourism co-operation and further assist the Vietnamese community.

Ban Flower Festival 2018 to open in Dien BienThe Ban Flower Festival 2018 will take place in Dien Bien from March 17-19, with many new activities to attract visitors to the northern mountainous province, said the organising board. An art performance at Ban Flower Festival 2017. This activity aims to illustrate the Dien Bien Phu Operation of the Vietnamese people and army in 1954. The annual Ban Flower Festival aims to honour and promote the natural beauty, cultural heritage and ethnic groups of the province. It also helps affirm the tourism trademark of Dien Bien and promote ban flower, which has become a symbol of the land and people of Dien Bien and the northwest region in general.

Hoi An hosts third int’l food festivalThe third Hoi An International Food Festival 2018 - “Taste the World” is taking place in Hoi An city, the central province of Quang Nam, from March 11-17. Tourists visit Hoi An city - Illustrative image (Source: news.zing.vn)The festival, organised by the Hoi An Culinary Events and the Hoi An People’s Committee, drew 12 renowned international chefs who bring their food and culture to Hoi An. Hoi An’s traditional foods rank sixth on TripAdvisor and, according to Lonely Planet, Hoi An’s market is known as the “food capital of Vietnam” amongst both domestic and foreign tourists. In 2016 and 2017, Hoi An hosted the first and second International Food Festivals. At the opening ceremony of second festival on March 14, 2017, Thomas Gugler, president of the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS), officially awarded a certificate of honour to recognise Hoi An as the Food Capital of Vietnam.

What happens when AI meets robotics? Although we have had robots in factories for decades, getting them to leave the shop-floor has been no easy task. This can only be achieved using AI techniques, which involve the robot asking questions to help it understand what words mean. The robots play on a mini indoor football pitch, working together as a team and learning from each match. But with rapid strides in artificial intelligence, it won't be long before they become part of our every day lives.

Social housing projects halted by capital shortageVietNamNet Bridge – People with low-incomes are now confronting a crisis as the preferential loan package of VND30 trillion (US$1.3 billion) for affordable home purchases ended in 2016, with no workable alternative currently on offer. People visit an exhibition on social housing in HCM City. Truong Anh Tuan, chairman of Hoang Quan Cooperation, said that the lack of preferential loan packages for social home purchases halted their 22 projects of constructing affordable homes. Dao Anh Tuan, head of the Student Credit Department under VBSP, said that the Governmental decree issued in 2015 assigned the bank to implement the social housing policy. Nguyen Trong Ninh, head of the Department of Housing and Realty Market Management under the Ministry of Construction, suggested that the SBV fund commercial banks with the preferential capital for social housing as enterprises cannot access loans offered by SBV.

HCM City seeks to develop system to prevent accidents, injuries in communityVietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City Department of Health has instructed health divisions in districts to soon create a comprehensive system to prevent accidents and related injuries even as the city reported 45 people died in accidents last year. The HCM City Department of Health has instructed health divisions in districts to soon create a comprehensive system to prevent accidents and related injuries even as the city reported 45 people died in accidents last year.— Photo thanhnien.vnA total of 86,885 people had faced all kinds of accidents, according to the department which heads a programme for the prevention of injuries and accidents. Traffic accidents topped the list of accidents with 29,789 cases followed by falls with 28,802, and workplace accidents with 9,973. Speaking at a meeting to review the programme to prevent accidents in HCM City last week, Dr Nguyen Huu Hung, the department’s deputy head, ordered all hospitals and clinics in the city to work with media to publish the exact number of accidents as a warning to the public. The programme on prevention of accidents is part of a national community plan for prevention of accidents, which educates people in preventive methods, reports accidents, and is developing a prevention network.

Fish festival brings fortune in Nghe AnVietNamNet Bridge – A series of cultural festivities are being held across the central coastal province of Nghe An during the first month of the lunar new year, of which the fish-worshipping festival at Con Temple in Quynh Luu District is one of the highlights. One by one: Marching along beach is one of the events at the Con Temple fish-worshipping festival. The ritual praying ended after a group of young fishermen tried to plunder the worship items and distribute them to others. Nothing fishy: As part of the Con Temple fish-worshipping festival, young people carry a palanquin towards the sea. They offered incense and admired the traditional fishing culture of the people of coastal Hoang Mai Town, he added.

50 years after Ha My Village massacre: S.Korean-VN Peace Foundation says ’sorry’VietNamNet Bridge – “We convey our apology to the Vietnamese people. Thanh was invited by the Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation to talk as a victim of the massacre in Korea this April. They (Korean soldiers) said they had killed many Vietnamese, but were not sure if they were Vietnamese soldiers or civilians,” An Geon-mo said. The Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation, which was established in 1999, aimed to begin a ‘Sorry to Vietnamese people’ campaign among Koreans, and ask for an official apology. In 2015, the Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation donated 52 items and the ‘Viet Nam Pieta’ statue to Da Nang City’s museum.

Artisans try to preserve stone carving in An GiangVietNamNet Bridge – Despite ups and downs throughout history, many artisans in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang’s Thoai Son District have spared no effort in promoting the arts of stone carving, which has been handed down over many generations. Foreign tourists visit a workshop carving stone items in Thoai Son District, Mekong Delta’s An Giang Province. — Photo dulichthoaison.comThe district’s craft of carving stone into ornate figures and shapes dates back hundreds of years, stemming from the exploitation of stone for construction and making household goods. “I have visited many craft villages in different localities to learn from other stone carving artisans,” he added. “Stone carving is hard but I still try to keep the craft alive,” Son said.

Pichot Alan tops Masters category of Int’l open chessVietNamNet Bridge – Argentine grandmaster Alan Pichot topped the Masters category of the eighth HDBank Cup International Open Chess 2018 in Hanoi yesterday. Argentine grandmaster Pichot Alan. Vietnamese Tran Tuan Minh and Karthikeyan Murali of India re second and third, both with three points. Other Vietnamese representatives Lu Chan Hung and No 1 seed Le Quang Liem earned 2.5 points but Hung ranked eighth on a tie-breaker, while HCM City-born player Liem stands in 12th place. Today, Liem, world No 22, will face Pandian Karthikeyan of India in the fourth round.

USD appreciation feared to rouse inflationVietNamNet Bridge - The silence of the forex market in 2017 has been broken as the dollar appreciated right after the Tet holiday. Regarding internal factors, Hieu believes the zero percent deposit interest rate policy puts pressure on the dong/dollar exchange rate. In principle, any exchange rate adjustments would affect the inflation rate because the two indicators are closely related. Hieu said the higher dollar price would make imports more expensive, which would affect the average price level of goods and increase the CPI. The government has vowed to control the inflation rate at around 4 percent this year.

Floodgates could open as Honda imports carsAfter stopping car exports to Viet Nam for more than a month, Japanese auto giant Honda Motor suddenly decided to import around 2,000 vehicles from Thailand in early March. It requires all models of imported vehicles to obtain a Vehicle Type Approval certificate from authorities in the exporting countries. This was because after Honda, other companies would also be able to receive similar certificates like Honda to bring their cars back to Viet Nam. Because of this, car imports from other countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia are also expected to soon come to Viet Nam. Analysts said overseas remittances would continue to provide a vital impetus to the economy, especially to the property sector.