Good day new york cast

children explore the digital library at the Book Festival.2021. Photo dangcongsan.vn

HÀ NỘI  Many activities and programmes to promote reading culture have been organised nationwide for the framework of Book Festival 2021.

The highlight of the event is an exhibition with the theme “Books — Mission to develop reading culture” at the National Library of on Tràng Thi Street, Hà Nội.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Kiều Thúy Nga, director of the National Library of Việt Nam, said that the National Book Festival, which has been held annually at the library since 2006, has helped to arouse passion, excitement in reading, cultivate knowledge and contribute to the development of  the country.

“Via the activities of National Book Festival 2021, we want to convey the message that each book is a wonderful picture of life,” Nga said .

“Books are not just pages but also contain the world that people always crave to explore. Picking up a book and reading, you will see a whole new world open up.”

The exhibition displays 800 books divided into four categories: Books — Path to knowledge; Books — Gifts nourishing the soul; Reading skills and methods; and Enjoying reading passion. It will last until Wednesday.

In addition, a seminar titled Youth with Reading Culture was organised within the exhibition with the participation of many experts and representatives of publishing units on April 16.

Like previous book festivals, a number of activities for children are being held along, such as drawing illustrations for books, parents’ reading books for children and exploring digital library of over 2,000 books in more than 20 different languages.

Meanwhile, Việt Nam Book Day 2021 kicked off in HCM City yesterday on the city’s book street in District 1.

A symposium on the development of a reading culture amid digital transformation was held on yesterday while the launch of book collections on the implementation of the resolution from the 13th National Party Congress, HCM City and digital transformation will take place on the street today at 3pm

Book lovers can also join a fan meeting with prolific and children’s favourite authors like writer Nguyễn Nhật Ánh or poet Thụy Anh, which will be held tomorrow.

To book lovers who cannot attend the festival in person could check in a national online book festival that will run until May 15 at book365.vn . The theme of this year’s festival, which is the second of its kind, is “Books for All Families”.

The national online book festival take place on the website book365.vn. Photo courtesy of the organisers.

Following the success of the first festival in 2020, the national online book festival 2021 will offer tens of thousands of books with 50-70 per cent discount and free shipping with the support of Vietnam Post.

The online book festival allows participants to discuss the development of a reading culture and gain an insight into digital transformation in the publishing industry, as well as how to access books in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Its organisers revealed that they will sponsor readers in remote and disadvantaged areas with a discount of up to 80 per cent to many good books.

Last year, the online book festival gathered 49 publishers and introduced about 10,000 print books and up to 10,000 e-books.

April 21 was designated as Việt Nam Book Day by the then Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on February 24, 2014 with the aim to encourage a reading culture among the public. VNS

A medical worker administrates a dose of a Comirnaty Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine to a woman at a new vaccination hub in Lingotto Fiere Torino Pavilion in Turin, on April 14, 2021. (MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP)

Rival drugmaker AstraZeneca faced a similar setback after Denmark banned its use, also over blood clot links.

Concerns over using the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines have dampen hopes that mass immunizations will lead to a swift exit from the global pandemic that has killed nearly three million people and ravaged the global economy.

Nevertheless there was some good news as BioNTech/Pfizer announced that 50 million doses that were due to arrive in Europe in late 2021 will instead start arriving as early as this month.

More than 820 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have now been administered globally. Demand continues to outstrip supply, and countries are scrambling to secure the much-needed jabs for their people.

The race to secure vaccines has sparked diplomatic rows, notably between Britain and the EU after the bloc accused London of hoarding jabs. Australia has also accused the EU of falling short on promised doses.

– Fear of blood clots –

A panel of US health experts ruled that the pause on using the J&J vaccines would continue for at least another week so they have time to assess the risk of blood clots.

Another case of the clotting disorder was reported Wednesday, bringing the total of US cases to seven — including one death — among the 7.2 million J&J doses administered in the country.

“I don’t want to send the message that there is something fundamentally wrong with this vaccine,” said Beth Bell, chair of the expert group convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“But I want to be able to understand and defend the decision that I’ve made (to continue using the vaccine or not) based on a reasonable amount of data,” she added.

Johnson & Johnson said it would delay its European rollout, again over blood clot fears — a major hit for the continent’s beleaguered immunization campaign.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it would make a recommendation on the safety of the J&J jab next week after evaluating clot links.

AstraZeneca has faced similar setbacks, with many countries now limiting its use to older people following isolated cases blood clots among younger populations, some fatal.

Denmark said Wednesday it would stop using it altogether — a European first — despite assurances from the EMA and the World Health Organization that the benefits far outweigh possible risks.

Russia’s state-run Gamaleya research institute meanwhile said there was no risk of blood clots from its Sputnik V vaccine.

Several countries, from Germany to India to Argentina, are battling a worrying spike in cases.

– River Ganges infections –

In India, more than 1,000 people tested positive for the virus after bathing in the River Ganges for the world’s biggest religious festival.

A huge crowd of worshippers packed the river banks to take a dip as part of a bathing ritual, despite India’s soaring virus cases.

“Our faith is the biggest thing for us,” Siddharth Chakrapani, a member of one of the Kumbh Mela organizing committees, told AFP, explaining why so many people entered the river.

The WHO is concerned that the pandemic could worsen in the Middle East and North Africa during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Confirmed cases in the region last week rose 22 percent and deaths by 17 percent, said Ahmed al-Mandhari, WHO’s chief for the eastern Mediterranean.

In Turkey officials imposed new restrictions including a tougher overnight curfew, while in Bangladesh police patrolled the capital as a strict nationwide lockdown was rolled out.

Most European countries still face virus restrictions due to stubbornly high caseloads, but cafes and restaurants in Belgium were allowed to open their terraces starting May 8, and bars and restaurants in Switzerland can reopen starting Monday.

In Argentina however Covid-19 cases have risen fivefold compared to one month ago. President Alberto Fernandez announced that clampdown measures that include closing schools in the greater Buenos Aires area, limiting business hours, and an 8 pm to 6 am curfew.

In hard-hit Brazil, where the vaccine rollout has been chaotic and the virus is out of control, authorities said that some 1.5 million vaccinated people vaccinated have not shown up for their second jab.

Covid deaths averaged 3,000 a day in Brazil over the past week, forcing cities and states to reimpose lockdown measures.

In Japan, a spike in Covid cases forced a section of the Tokyo Olympics torch relay to be pulled from public roads.

But with just 100 days to go before the scheduled opening, International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates said that cancellation was “certainly not” on the table.

AFP

In early 2020, Pham Thanh Bien, who works in Bac Thang Long Industrial Zone (IZ) in Hanoi, sought to buy land in Hai Boi commune of Dong Anh district. The landlord had set the price of VND25 million per square meter, which Bien rejected. At that moment, apartments at Kien Hung project in Ha Dong district were priced at VND16 million per square meter.

In January 2021, when he returned to meet the landlord, the land plot was still available, but the price had surged to VND50 million per square meter. The price of Kien Hung apartments moved up to VND19 million.

Bien then made a decision to buy an apartment as he thought the prices would rise further.

The land price hike in Hanoi broke out after the news about the Red River subdivision planning. A real estate broker in Dong Anh district said there were transactions in which the prices of the same land plots increased by VND5 million per square meter within days.

According to the Vietnam Association of Realtors, the land price has increased by 10 percent in the last month on average. In some areas, the prices have doubled or tripled in the last 1-2 months.

The land fever is not only seen in Hanoi, but in many other cities and provinces as well because of information about infrastructure project development.

The land prices increase when the stock market is hot. Real estate stocks are the most hunted, acting as the ‘pillar’ of VN Index.

Together with industrial zone stocks which have been on the rise over the last two years, real estate stocks are also rising quietly. Some of them have reached the historic peak area.

PDR shares of Phat Dat Real Estate Development JSC, for example, reached a new peak of VND68,000 per share on April 13. The price of the shares has been increasing for the last nine months and is now at the highest level since it began listing.

DIG of the DIC Corporation and the shares belonging to Becamex family, including TDC and IJC, have also been increasing for a long time.

IJC, which has seen big benefits from the real estate wave, was traded at over VND27,000 per share on April 13.

Major realtors are all quietly accumulating land in their long-term development plans for the next decade. The six real estate firms with large land banks reportedly own 27,673 hectares of land for project development, an increase of 15 percent over 2019.

Analysts say that the price increases of real estate shares have close relations with the land bank realtors have. The companies with large land banks have long-term advantages amid the land scarcity. The business results of the firms in 2020 were highly satisfactory because of bright prospects in the long term.

‘Kings of land’

BHS Group President Nguyen Tho Tuyen believes that the land price will keep rising. When the supply drops, foreign investors will flock to the market with deals worth up to billions of dollars in Hanoi and HCM City. Meanwhile, the number of F0 investors is believed to be much higher than the 30 percent announced by some analysis firms.

According to JLL, the firms with large clean-land banks will have better advantages. The projects with good legal status will be pricier than others.

Vinhomes’ land bank (HOSE, VHM) reached 16,200 hectares as of the end of 2020. The land bank of the enterprise is believed to be the largest in the market. Of the 16,200 hectares, 60 percent is ready for concentrated development in Hanoi and HCM City.

The other firms which have large land funds include Novaland, Hung Thinh Land, LDG Investment, Nam Long and Phat Dat.

Becamex IJC (HOSE, IJC), with 215 hectares in Binh Duong alone, and C.E.O (HNX, CEO), with hundreds of hectares of clean land, especially in Phu Quoc and Van Don, and DIC Corp (HOSE, DIG) with large land area in the south are also very rich in land.

Of real estate stocks, CEO of C.E.O Group is one of a few shares which still have not seen a price hike, which is attributed to Covid-19. However, with the large clean-land bank of hundreds of hectares in hot areas such as Ha Nam, Phu Quoc and Van Don, price increases are expected.

Major realtors are all quietly accumulating land in their long-term development plans for the next decade. The six real estate firms with large land banks reportedly own 27,673 hectares of land for project development, an increase of 15 percent over 2019.

Vinaconex is planning an additional 5,000 hectares of land for 2021-2025. Khang Dien has increased capital for its two subsidiaries in a plan to expand the land bank in district 2 in HCM City. Meanwhile, Novaland continues to seek land in provinces, and Vinhomes is considering developing new projects in a number of cities and provinces.

BVSC and VNDirect Securities both predict that the real estate M&A market will be bustling in 2021.

Do Thanh