Society

Indonesia has delayed a plan to create a single time zone for the sprawling archipelago this month because of slow-moving bureaucracy.

The Department of Planning and Architecture in HCMC is gathering opinion of residents for a plan to broaden the city center area.

Although the authorities have offered preferential loans to people to renovate seriously degraded houses in the ancient town of Hoi An, many homeowners deny the soft loans.

Vietnamese referees are becoming popular internationally. Tomorrow, Hoang Anh Tuan from Hanoi will conduct a semi-final match for the Thai Football Association Cup.

Khanh Hoa Province has attracted an increasing numbers of foreign people with tourist visas working illegally for various local firms.

The Arab League has urged nations of the Middle East and Latin America to work together toward resolving the Syria crisis.

A tropical depression that appeared in the East Sea has gained strength and is now classed as a storm. Wind strengths of about 62-88 kilometres per hour have been recorded.

A judge lifted a ban on US sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computers as legal brawling continued between the South Korean electronics titan and Apple.

China inaugurated its Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta , Indonesia to strengthen its ties with the bloc, the ASEAN Secretariat said.

Experts from Germany, ASEAN and international organizations will gather in Hanoi earlier this month for a regional conference on vocational training.

Hanoi People's Committee Vice Chairman Tran Xuan Viet has urged the city's Agriculture and Rural Development Department to finalise a plan to protect and develop forests in the expanded city.

TripAdvisor - the world's largest travel website, has named the Vietnam Women’s Museum as Hanoi’s most attractive tourist destination in 2012.

A boat packed with holiday revelers collided with a ferry and sank off Hong Kong, killing 25 people, authorities said.

The world's top platinum miner ordered 26,000 striking workers in South Africa to report for disciplinary hearings or risk the sack.

Hailed by health officials as the catalyst for improved medical services, it seems August's health fees increase hasn't proved popular with everyone.

Spain may seek a sovereign bailout within days, financial analysts predicted Monday, after the eurozone's fourth-largest economy revealed a soaring debt outlook.

Land and land clearance made up 75 percent of all complaints and denunciations received by Hanoi's People's Committee in the first nine month of the year, said a local official.

With nearly 2.6 billion litres of beer consumed in 2011, Vietnam ranks first in Southeast Asia for beer drinking, followed by Thailand and the Philippines.

The sixth meeting of the 11th Communist Party of Vietnam’s Central Committee opened in Hanoi on October 1.