Keep yourself updated on Vietnam with these brief news items:

Politics

-- State President Truong Tan Sang burnt joss sticks to commemorate late soldiers who guarded and protected Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago for generations at Am Linh Pagoda in Ly Son District of the central province of Quang Ngai on Monday.

Society

-- Localities from the central province of Thua Thien-Hue up to the north will hit by a cold spell from February 24 to 27, with the average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius.

-- Provinces in the central region and the Mekong Delta have suffered the longest drought in the last 20 years. The current drought started in late 2015 and is projected to last till at least June this year. 

-- Construction of a US$133.3 million hospital in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has been halted over foundation subsidence. Worked started on the 1,200-bed infirmary in April 2015.

-- About 50,000 breeding fish were released to the reservoir of the hydroelectricity plant Song Tranh 2 in Bac Tra My District of the central province of Quang Nam on Monday.

Business

-- According to the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association, the source of capital for the realty market may fall if draft regulations to limit bank loans and thus increase risk factors are enforced.

-- Saigon Co.op will have a new supermarket system to sell high quality goods to compete with foreign retailers in the Vietnamese market.

-- Vietnamese rice is hardly found in supermarkets in China because of its low quality although China imports 50 percent of the Vietnamese shipments.