CULTURE AND SPORT

The first International Choir Festival & Competition will be held in the ancient town of Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam from March 16-20.

The European Commission pressed governments to slice deficits and step up tough structural reforms when it kicked off a new era of tighter EU-wide economic governance.

A judge ordered Michael Jackson's personal doctor to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges for allegedly killing the singer with an overdose of powerful sedatives.

The first Vietnam Beer Festival will be held at the Military Zone 7 Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City from January 21.

A Japanese technology firm on Tuesday unveiled a mirror-like thermometer that can identify a person who is feverish.

The Age Publishing House in coordination with the Vietnam Scientific Historical Association introduced two books to welcome the 11th National Party Congress.

Indonesia welcomed a promise by Canadian firm Research in Motion to filter its BlackBerry web services for pornography, after threatening to revoke the smartphone maker's licence.

Australia braced for a rapidly rising death toll Tuesday after flash floods killed eight and left 72 missing, as a quickly spreading flood disaster forced evacuations in central Brisbane.

Britain and China signed trade deals worth 2.6 billion pounds Monday and announced Beijing will loan a pair of giant pandas to Edinburgh Zoo for 10 years.

NASA has spotted a tiny, rocky planet about the size of Earth doing a speedy orbit of a star outside our solar system.

Seventeen singers from ASEAN member countries are participating in the ASEAN Golden Voice Contest 2011 in Ho Chi Minh City from January 5 to 8.

South Korea confirmed three new cases of bird flu as the outbreak that began further hits farmers who are battling the nation's worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

China's famed Shaolin Temple has set up over 40 companies overseas as it hopes to spread Buddhist-inspired martial arts around the globe, state press reported.

Slick touchscreen tablet computers and smarter devices for the home and the car took center stage as the Consumer Electronics Show wrapped up on Sunday.

More than 100 domestic and foreign professors, researchers and scholars gathered at an international seminar on “don ca tai tu” in Ho Chi Minh City from January 9-11.

A Boeing 727 airliner with state-run Iran Air crashed near a northwestern city in bad weather and broke into pieces, killing at least 72 of the 105 people on board.

Global warming may wipe out three-quarters of Europe's alpine glaciers and hike sea levels by four metres.

The "shady individual" showed up at a public gathering for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords asking to see the lawmaker, according to event volunteer Alex Villec. Told he would have to wait his turn, the man left but returned minutes later and gunfire erupted.

“Book Road”, a festival of books to be held in Ho Chi Minh City this Lunar New Year, will be the first of its kind in Vietnam.