VIETNAM TODAY

The sixth meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) was opened on January 9 in Ha Noi.

A poor woman in the central province of Nghe An who lost both her husband and son in a recent traffic accident is now also facing the death risk.

Public space in Vietnam’s urban areas has failed to meet demand or create typical characteristics to identify each city, Deputy Minister of Construction Phan My Linh said.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs spent VND212bn (USD9.4m) buying training programmes from foreign countries last year.

Thanh Hoa Province Department of Natural Resources and Environment has announced the test results after the mass deaths of farm-raised clams after a local firm dumped waste into the sea.

Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha has signed a decision to inspect 12 large real estate companies in 2017.

Government officials have announced that mineral exploitation will be more tightly controlled under a new regulation coming into effect on January 15.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc yesterday asked authorities in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bằng, and in Trà Lĩnh District in particular, to ensure a happy Tết (Lunar New Year) for everyone, especially the underprivileged.

The United Nations chief expressed concern to the Security Council that Iran may have violated an arms embargo by supplying weapons and missiles to Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, according to a confidential report, seen by Reuters on Sunday.

The Red Sunday blood donation programme was launched across 25 cities and provinces on January 8.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong will pay an official visit to China from January 12-15, according to the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations.

The United States will send some 300 Marines to Afghanistan's southern Helmand province to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces, who have been struggling to drive Taliban insurgents out of the opium-rich region.

More European enterprises are becoming keen on the Vietnamese food and beverage industry in anticipation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich made a fact finding tour of environmental remediation of dioxin contamination project site at Danang airport on January 8.

The Ministry of Education and Training has held a conference gathering heads of higher education institutions in Da Nang to discuss ways to enhance the quality of tertiary education.

The PM has issued Directive No.02/CT-TTg which requires each ministry, agency and locality to reduce the number of civil servants by 1.5-2% annually from now to 2021.

The Ho Chi Minh City Student Association has launched the ninth Spring Volunteer Campaign with the participation of over 37,800 volunteers who have studied and worked in the city.

Authorities of the central province of Thua-Thien Hue have decided to revoke the land of a VND-70 billion (USD3.3 million) water park project which has been left unused for many years.