Society

Illegal money lending syndicates in Singapore are hiring more foreign thugs, most of them from Taiwan and Vietnam, to harass delinquent borrowers into paying up, police said.

As of Jan. 25, nearly 26,500 farm animals in Vietnam, equivalent to USD6.5 million, have died from the severe cold.

Vietnam introduced to the public for the first time a book detailing its land border with China in Hanoi on Jan. 25.

More than half of some 57,000 foreign laborers in Vietnam are working illegally without permits, announced a ministry report at a Monday conference on employment and job trend in Vietnam in 2010.

Hezbollah-backed billionaire Najib Mikati has been named Lebanon's prime minister-designate, giving the Shiite militant group increased clout in the deeply divided nation and sparking angry protests.

After being ranked as the most optimistic nation in the world by a Gallup poll, Vietnam is now rated the world’s 61st happiest nation according to the latest Prosperity Index recently released by a UK think tank.

The launching of the National Tourism Year in Phu Yen and a special art performance to celebrate the province’s 400th anniversary will be held on April 1.

Vietnam’s Tra fish has not yet been removed from the WWF’s Red List of the Guidance Manual for Seafood Consumers in 2010-2011, said VASEP.

Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations Vu Xuan Hong on January 25 signed agreements and handed over permits for establishing representative offices in Vietnam to two foreign non-government organisations.

President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to hunt down Islamist militants and lashed out at "anarchic" security lapses.

Ho Chi Minh City has reported 89,000 abortion cases in 2010, raising concerns about loose management on reproductive health, an official has said.

From Kandan, Cambodia, cattle have been smuggled to the southern An Giang province through Binh Di border, after which they will be miraculously turned into domestic cattle for consumption across Vietnam.

2010 was one of the worst years on record for natural disasters over the past two decades, leaving nearly 297,000 people dead, research for the United Nations showed on Monday.

With vast oil reserves that are far from exhausted, Saudi Arabia has decided to explore nuclear and renewable energy, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi has said.

Rung Sa road, a new road linking HCMC with the East Sea through coastal district Can Gio, was inaugurated, feeding eco-tourism potential in the district.

The International Labour Organisation warned that the global economic recovery was not translating into jobs as world unemployment remained at a record 205 million for 2010.

Thousands of people are flocking to and from bus and rail stations to return to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year.

Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh was ranked seventh in the world in January according to the Badminton World Federation.

Tunisia braced for a major cabinet shake-up Tuesday following days of protests to topple the interim government, in charge after a mass uprising ended president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year rule.