In the long term, real estate developers should seek investment from various capital sources instead of depending on banks for funds, Hieu said.

Nguyen Van Duc, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Dat Lanh Real Estate Company, agreed that developers have to accept low prices, and even losses. At the same time, they should review their business strategies to cut construction costs, he added.

According to Vietnamnet, home prices went down in 2011 but the cuts were not enough to drive buyers back to the market. In some cases, the very small price cuts were merely marketing ploys, it said.

In Hanoi, only about 3,600 real estate purchases were made during the first three quarters of last year, Vietnamnet reported.

Nguyen Quoc Hiep, chairman of GP Invest, said many real estate companies have already gone bankrupt, though official announcements have yet to be made.

As sales dropped and bank loans were due, those companies could not afford to stay in the market, he said.

Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has said the market could continue to slump in the first half of this year. He said the bright spot of the market in 2012 will be the low-income housing segment.
source form: thanhniennews

National Cinema Centre has regularly seen full houses for the Vietnamese blockbuster “Thien Menh Anh Hung” (Destiny Hero).

Tickets for the movie continue to be sold on the black market for up to VND 350,000 for a pair, more than double the normal rate.

Megastar Vincom Hanoi, which used to screen a maximum of 14 shows a day, has increased that to 18.

source form: thanhniennews

One of the countries that knows how to exploit their tourism potential through film studios is Korea. Tourists visiting the country are taken to sites they have seen on television: Dae Jang Geum’s Jeju island or Winter Sonata’s Nami island.

The two examples above are TV series and not as famous as classic movies like The Lovers, Indochine or The Quiet American set in Vietnam. However, the Koreans have done a good job in attracting movie fans to those sites. At each studio, there are billboards with images of main actors, actresses and interesting captions, drawing throngs of tourists, as they queue up to take pictures with their idols.

In Vietnam, we have yet to exploit interesting destinations that have appeared in famous movies. From the movie The Lovers, there are places like the Dragon House Wharf, Le Hong Phong high school or Chinatownin Ho Chi Minh City. In Indochine, there is the Hue citadel, Tu Duc tomb and Ha Long Bay. Scenes in The Quiet American were shot in front of Ho Chi Minh City’s Opera House, in Hoi An’sAncient Town and Hanoi’sOld Quarter.

It does not cost much to promote these sites. A caption, and some captures from a movie can touch tourists’ hearts as they are standing where a classic film took place.
Many foreigners visiting Vietnam have to find a way to these sites by themselves without any instruction from the tourism sector. At times, they arrive to find nothing left to see.

For example, U Bridge in Ho Chi Minh City’s district 5, where two main characters in The Lovers crossed, has recently been demolished. This strange-shaped bridge carried the soul of old Saigon and had been there for years. I feel pity for the bridge when I see the bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand, the main setting in a classic movie, always packed with tourists coming to take photos.

One bridge lays golden eggs to national tourism while the other was aborted and “driven to suicide” in the end. Isn’t the difference caused by the choices of directors in the tourism industry?

source form: tuoitrenews

President Truong Tan Sang held a working session with the leaders of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City Law Universities in Hanoi on Jan. 30, on measures to improve the quality of human resource training and achieve judicial reform.

Sang, who is Head of the Central Steering Committee on Judicial Reform, urged the two universities to promptly complete projects on building themselves into key schools for training legal officials.

“The two universities should improve the quality of student enrolment and adjust salary policies for cadres and lecturers in conformity with the specific nature of legal research and teaching work,” he said.

According to the State leader, 2011-2016 is the first stage for comprehensively speeding up the modernisation process, laying foundations for turning the country into an industrialised country in 2020, as well as building and perfecting the institutions of a law-governed socialist state.

Therefore, the teaching staff of the two universities need to upgrade their teaching methods and update existing curricula with modern knowledge of international legal standards, he said.

President Sang reminded the two universities to make their research more practical and useful, meeting the demands of the judicial reform process, the building of a law-governed socialist state and international integration.

He expressed his belief that the two universities will continue promoting their traditions to become prestigious law research centres, not only in Vietnam , but also in the Southeast Asian region.

Hanoi Law University has so far trained more than 80,000 law officers, accounting for 60 percent of the country’s total. The university has joined 17 state-level legal projects and composed 122 sets of university curricula as well as expanded cooperation with 20 foreign law-training establishments.

Meanwhile, the 15-year-old HCM City Law University has provided bachelor degrees for 12,000 students.

The two universities are leaders in both terms of scales and training quality among 22 legal training establishments in the country

source form: tuoitrenews

In addition to showcasing Vietnam’s rich food culture with food and beverages, the festival will house 89 pavilions representing such countries and territories as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Russia and the Philippines.

Eleven chefs of five-star hotels in Vietnam will gather in a “rare opportunity” for the Five-star Hotel Chefs Festival, an activity within the food festival, according to Bui Thi Suong, vice chairman of the Saigon Association of Profession Cooks.

Bartending skill, fruit carving, and fruit and vegetable salad making contests also will entertain attendees.
source form: thanhniennews

Eyewitnesses said that a woman named Ly Thu Nga had refused to leave her coat in a wardrobe at the shop door as requested. She argued with a shop worker for a while before calling Tri on the phone.

Tri attacked five workers with his knife and one of them, 21-year-old Huynh Chi Thang, succumbed to multiple stabs to his belly and one to the chest.

The shop, owned by Bui Ngoc Tuan, 55, was crowded at the time and many customers fled in panic.

Tri was arrested at a hospital where he received treatment for his injuries. He had been previously convicted and given an 18-month probationary sentence for deliberately causing injuries.

In related news, a 23-year-old man named Vo Van Dieu was stabbed to death during a fight in front of a dance club in the southern beach town of Vung Tau early Tuesday morning.

The death followed a fight that broke out between guards of the club and those of a karaoke shop nearby.

Dieu, a worker of the karaoke shop, received a fatal slash from Le Phuoc Dong, a guard with the club, after he threatened to stab one of Dong’s colleagues.

source form: thanhniennews

Gang leaders Huynh Ngoc Quang, 29, and Huynh Van Tien, his 33-year-old brother, received sentences of 10 years each, according to the verdict handed out by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.

Their accomplices were sentenced to between two and seven years imprisonment.

According to the indictment, in 2009, Quang established the Vietnam-France Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Co. majoring in drug trade to cover his gang’s illegal activities.

Quang and Tien bought cheap medicine and hired workers to wrap the medicines in packages labeled as expensive imported brands.

In January 2010, the gang was busted after HCMC police raided warehouses where the company stored fake medicine.

Police said the gang had sold 41 types of fake medicine for billions of Vietnamese dong.

source form: thanhniennews

The Investigation Security Force celebrated the 60th anniversary of its Traditional Day (1951 – 2011) and received the Ho Chi Minh Order in Hanoi on December 28.

Over the past 60 years, the Investigation Security Force has consistently been one of the core forces combating and controlling crimes against national security and always fulfilling all tasks entrusted to it by the Party, the State and the public security sector.

In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc praised the force’s positive contributions to the process of national construction and defence, while asking it to be fully aware of the challenges and dangers facing national security in the new situation and renew its work practices to meet higher requirements for ensuring national security.

Mr Phuc also called on the force to build a powerful Party organization, constantly improve itself and study and follow President Ho Chi Minh’s moral example.

It is imperative to closely coordinate with other forces in the public security sector, the People’s Procuracy, the People’s Courts at all levels and relevant agencies in order to increase operational efficiency, Phuc emphasized.

On the New Year Festival, Mr Phuc wished the force still greater achievements worthy of the Party and people’s trust.

source form: vov

Having established itself as one of Hanoi’s most popular restaurants since the opening of its flagship eatery in 2003, Highway4 has expanded into a successful franchise with five outlets now scattered across the capital, one in Ho Chi Minh City, and another due to open soon in Hoi An.

And though the Ho Chi Minh City restaurant may have opened only five months ago, its menu of northern traditional and contemporary Vietnamese cuisine already appears to be proving a hit with the southern city’s foodies.

This seems to be the case when we rock up on a non-descript Monday evening only to discover that the top two levels of the three-storey building are completely full with customers, leaving us to grab a table on the ground floor.

Having heard all about the communal sushi-style dining quarters, where diners sit sunken into the ground, I feel pangs of regret while sat at my regular four-legged table for having not made a reservation in advance.

Still, it’s the food we’re here for, not the seating arrangements, and the amount of choice the menu presents is staggering. From salads, tapas and numerous spring rolls, to hot pots (or steamboats as they’re called here), and multiple rice, noodle, seafood, vegetarian and meat dishes, it’s hard to know where to begin.

On the recommendation of a fellow food writer up north, we order one of Highway4’s most loved specialities, nem ca xa lo4 (catfish spring rolls) and a selection of the restaurant’s award-winning Son Tinh rice wine. Beyond that, we’re left open to the suggestions of our ao dai-clad waitress. Not being the most adventurous of eaters, we sheepishly decline such delicacies as crickets roasted in pig fat and locusts roasted with lemon leaves in favour of chim cau rang muoi (pigeon roasted in salt) and bo nuong la chuoi (strips of beef grilled in banana leaves).

First out is the liquor, specifically four small sampler glasses of tao meo (rose apple), man do (red plum), mo vang (apricot) and chanh leo (passion fruit) and two ominously named Devil’s Fart shooters. Each of the former is smooth, sweet and easy on the tongue, while the latter packs a spicier wallop. Made from minh mang liquor and chilli syrup, the Devil’s Fart is surprisingly palatable, with hints of celery found between the initial sugary burst and hellishly hot after burn. For those looking for an alternative to beer or wine, the Son Tinh liquor selection is a winner.

Brought out in a large bowl garnished with lettuce and several colourful vegetables and edible flowers, the pigeon comes in winged form, and in a light, floury batter among roasted lemongrass strands, deep fried onion bits and large slices of chilli. It smells and tastes great; the fragrance of the lemongrass is subtle but long lasting while the saltiness of the batter and gamey texture of the dark and slightly chewy meat combine wonderfully. Dipped into the obligatory side bowl of lime, chilli, salt and pepper, this dish becomes utterly addictive. Best of all, there’s lots of it, too.

As soon as the bo nuong la chuoi is placed on our table a sweetly perfumed aroma emits from the large, unfolded banana leaf parcel, filling the nostrils instantly. The strips of grilled beef are tender and plentiful, and come swimming in their own juices among a dozen or so soft banana flowers.

About half way through, the famous catfish spring rolls arrive. Simply put, they’re phenomenal, and really do steal the show. Without meaning to lessen this dish’s reputation, these six heavenly rolls taste like the best fish finger sandwiches ever. Wrapped in semi-transparent crispy rice paper, the fluffy catfish fillet comes encased in a light batter that’s simply topped off with mayonnaise and dill. Personally, I’m not overly fond of the dark brown wasabi side sauce and am more than happy to devour the spring rolls on their own.

The food tastes great and authentically Vietnamese without alienating foreign taste buds. The portions are huge and the prices are surprisingly affordable, even when tax and service is heaped on. Get down there before the entire restaurant fills out.

source form: tuoitrenews

Vietnam has huge oportunities to export agricultural products to the US. (Photo: KK)

Vietnam is one of the top 15  countries exporting largest agricultural products to the US, and at fifth position for exporting aqua products.

According to the commercial policy and tropical fruit expert, Matthew Lantz, the new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) 2011 aims to strengthen the quality of agricultural products and community health.

Hence, Vietnamese enterprises must seize the opportunity and comply by international standards set by FSMA to increase exports.

source from: saigon-gpdaily