ASSURICH VIET NAM

The capital city of Hanoi's People's Committee has decided to stage five high-range fireworks displays, alongside 25 smaller ones, across the city on the Lunar New Year's Eve. Fireworks light up the Hanoi sky last year. There will be 30 sites of fireworks displays this Lunar New Year's Eve (midnight of February 18).  Major areas earmarked for festivities include Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake, Thong Nhat Park in Hai Ba Trung District, Lac Long Quan Garden in Tay Ho District, Van Quan Lake in Ha Dong District and My Dinh National Stadium in Nam Tu Lien District. The committee also approved a proposal for fireworks to be set off at the Hong (Red) River's alluvial ground under the Long Bien Bridge.

These days, Thanh Ha pottery village in Hoi An city, Quang Nam province is very busy producing terra-cotta statues of the Kitchen God to serve the high demand of the market during the lunar New Year holiday. Thanh Ha pottery village has made these statues for over 400 years. The molds are made of wood and must be cleaned very often, so the motifs of the statues are smooth and clear. Beside traditional dishes and votive paper, the terra-cotta statues have important significance for local people in central region. While residents in each region across the country pay homage to Ong Cong and Ong Tao in slightly different ways, the gods remains an important figure in the rich texture of Vietnamese New Year. In traditional Vietnamese culture, on every 23rd day of the last month in the Lunar Calendar, people from every household bid farewell to Ong Tao, thanking him for watching over their kitchen for another year. Then, the Kitchen God is believed to visit Ngoc Hoang (

Thrillist edition, a leading men's digital lifestyle brand, has listed Ho Coc Beach in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau among top 12 Most Unbelievably Cheap Paradises on earth. Ranked the 8th place, the beach is a very small beach community with tight-knit locals. “You could guide tours through its 11,000-hectare tropical forest or go snorkeling in its tropical reefs or just enjoy being on a beach that's near deserted on weekdays and paying rent that's US$6 a day”, says the magazine.  Thrillist also suggested that tourists should check out the Binh Chau Hot Springs, where several lakes and a mineral-rich aquifer converge into a swim treat that stays near 80 degrees year round. Rounding the list of top 12 include Avarua of Cook Islands, Český Krumlov of the Czech Republic, Koh Tonsay of Cambodia, Guanajuato of Mexico, Pearl Islands of Panama, Agonda Beach in Goa of India, Veliko Tarnovo of Bulgaria, Hainan Island of China, Ksamil Beach of Alban

Vietnamese Math Professor Ngo Bao Chau has just won the Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians 2010 held in Hyderabad, India today, August 19. The prestigious Fields Medal has been long regarded as mathematics\' version of the Nobel Prize. It is the first time it has been bestowed upon a Vietnamese, leading millions throughout the country overjoyed with pride. Ngo, 38, recently made decisive advances in two central areas of modern mathematics: number theory and representation theory. “He proved a basic result, a matching conjecture called ‘the fundamental lemma,’ so named because it represents the central gate for progress in the Langlands program,” said Peter Constantin, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor in Mathematics and Chairman of the Mathematics Department of the University of Chicago. According to Professor Le Tuan Hoa, Vice-Director of the Vietnam Institute of Mathematics, the Fields Medal given to Prof Ngo Bao Chau is not only of

Forbes Vietnam, the Vietnamese edition of renowned American business magazine Forbes, has listed Nguyen Ha Dong, the Flappy Bird game creator, among its top "30 Under 30. Nguyen Ha Dong (centre) at Wired BizCon in the US in May 2014 (Photo: Zimbio) Forbes Vietnam on February 2 released its first-ever list of 30 of Vietnam's brightest stars under the age of 30 in different fields, including business, communications, entertainment and sports. Nguyen Ha Dong and Nguyen Huu Cat Thu, founder and CEO of Mindstep, are among nine talented Vietnamese in the technology and e-commerce fields. Meanwhile, Dinh Nhat Nam, founder and marketing director of Urban Station coffee, and Mai Truong Giang, founder and CEO of the Khuong Viet Joint Stock Company, are among the six achievers named in the business field. Actor and MC Tran Thanh and Le Quang Liem, the world blitz chess champion, are among the achievers listed in the entertainment and sports fields.

Young artisan Nguyen Hong Quang is hoping to revive the once famous traditional craft of Huong Canh Pottery Village in Vinh Phuc Province, which has fallen on hard times as modern manufacturing methods erode its market. Nguyen Hong Quang hopes to revive Huong Canh Pottery Village The 300-year-old Huong Canh Pottery Village was nationally renounced for the quality of its clay jars, pots, bowls and cups, but the craft skills are being lost in the march of modernity. Quang wants to change that. Born in 1980, he recalls that as a child he would visit the village's pottery workshops with his parents and was fascinated by the skill of the local people. His own family were potters, but when the Huong Canh Pottery Cooperative disbanded, they had to focus their time on making roof titles to earn a living. A visiting artist opened Quang's eyes to the potential of pottery. "At first, I don't know what art pottery is," Quang said. "What he made looked like

Russia's International Academy of System Studies (IASS) presented two awards to academician Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan in Ha n oi on Wednesday. Russia's International Academy of System Studies (IASS) presented two awards to academician Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan in Hanoi on Wednesday.  Nhan is president and chief executive officer of the Hanoi-based Advanced International Company. The Vnexpress online newspaper reported that the awards -- one for the academician's outstanding achievements in the 2004-2014 period, and the Vernadski Star – have been given to Nhan in recognition of her efforts, in collaboration with her associates, in applying 32 of the world's most advanced technologies successfully in Vietnam. These modern technologies included the treatment of wastewater, especially from hospitals and urban areas, purification of agricultural soil contaminated with residual pesticides and chemicals, including dioxins, and the improvement of training and application of

Child prodigy Do Nhat Nam has won another accolade, this time a prize for oration in the US where the 14-tear-old is now a student in Texas.     Child prodigy Do Nhat Nam Nam won first prize in the Dallas Diocesan Speech League’s oratory category, representing his school St. Paul The Apostle, where he has been a student since September. Feted as a “Vietnamese child prodigy”, Nam was recognised as the youngest translator in Vietnam at the age of seven. His book How I Learn English cemented his reputation. Nam’s mother, Phan Ho Diep, said he Nam had to go through a number of elimination tests to earn the right to represent his school in the contest, in which he talked about his dream of becoming a superman who can save the world.

China, already home to the world's largest online population, is likely to replace the United States as the biggest e-commerce market by 2015, according to new research.   China, already home to the world's largest online population, is likely to replace the United States as the biggest e-commerce market by 2015, according to new research China's e-commerce market is currently worth $74 billion -- less than half that of the United States at $177 billion, a new report by the Boston Consulting Group said. But it is growing rapidly, spurred by increasing Internet use -- China now has an online population of more than half a billion -- the low cost of shipping and a passion for shopping among China's growing middle class. "Consumerism is already big in China -- people simply love to shop. Beyond this, the Internet is affordable, and thus widely available," said the report, based on surveys of more than 4,000 online shoppers across the country. "Ch

Vietnam is widely known as a country with a hidden tropical charm. With the beautiful S-shaped strip of land closely surrounding the mysterious Indochina, Vietnam can easily fascinate visitors. In Vietnam, visitors will have a chance to not only enjoy numberless beauty spots that the nature has generously granted this country but also find out about both traditional and modern Vietnamese cultural backgrounds that are extremely plentiful. And, one of the most outstanding features of Vietnamese tourism is Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa). When you come to Nha Trang, it is as if you were lost in a wonderland. With the typical tropical climate, Nha Trang is brilliant with blue sea, white sand, beautiful sunlight. The beautiful and poetic sea tourism city is named “Brilliant flower basket on the bank of the East Sea, “Sunny deck”. It is not accidental that 100 years ago, the talented scientist Alexandere Yersin left splendid Paris for Nha Trang, where he stayed until his death. Nha Trang Bay

Two-way trade between Vietnam and India is on an upward trend and likely to reach the target of US$15 billion by 2020, said Vo Tan Thanh, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.     Illustrative photo. At a workshop on the countries’ trade and investment cooperation opportunities on December 23, Thanh further said Vietnam is suffering from a considerable deficit in trade with India, thus the two sides need to devise effective measures to improve the trade balance through supporting businesses, especially Vietnamese ones, in promoting trade and investment. Indian Consul General in HCM City Smita Pant said that once coming into force, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement will be an important bridge linking Vietnam with partner countries, including India. More and more Indian companies have noticed Vietnam as a potential market with a number of major advantages and opportunities of regional and international integration, she n

The deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Le Minh Hung, yesterday attended a media conference to respond to questions regarding which gold bar brand name will be chosen as a state brand.   The official also took questions on how deformed gold bullion will be treated, which was a concern of many consumers who are holding gold bullion of different brand names. Hung said under decree no. 24, which took effect on May 25, the government will be the monopoly in processing gold bullion, and it has assigned the central bank to manage the gold trading market.   Consequently, all of the licenses granted for gold manufacturers, including Saigon Jewelry Co (SJC), have expired since the issuance of the decree.   With SJC holding 95 percent of the gold bar market, and enjoying a high reputation for its quality and prestige, the central bank has decided to choose SJC as the state brand of gold bullion, said Hung.   “The move was intended to save expenses for the government and society, as