VIETNAM TODAY

The interest rates on Vietnamese dong credits and deposits slashed by 1.5-2 percent over the previous year, helping remove difficulties for businesses, curb inflation and stabilise the monetary market.

One crewman has died in a pirate attack on a Vietnamese ship on December 7, according to an agency.

Police say an overcrowded bus has plunged off a mountain road in Nepal, killing at least 17 people and injuring 50 more.

Vietnam takes a one goal lead back to Hanoi as they trumped a lacklustre Malaysia.

The newly-built Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway offers a convenient route for travelers, but is also causing a sharp fall in ticket sales for the Hanoi-Lao Cai train route.

The Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Prevention and Control has convened a meeting to discuss measures to cope with super Typhoon Hagupit which is expected to make landfall in the East Sea on the night of December 8.

A powerful, slow-moving typhoon pounded through the central Philippines on Sunday, bringing howling winds that toppled trees and power lines and cut off communications to areas still scarred by a super-storm just over a year ago.

Eighteen year-old Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen from northern Nam Dinh province was crowned Miss Vietnam 2014.

Designers will premiere 1,000 of their latest creations during the Vietnam Fashion Week Spring-Summer for one week.

Typhoon Hagupit roared in from the Pacific Ocean and crashed into remote fishing communities of Samar island on Saturday night with wind gusts of 210 kilometres (130 miles) an hour, local weather agency Pagasa said.

A man in Thanh Hoa Province has raised at least 10 tigers without any proper actions being taken by local authorities.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung joined with hospital officials, community leaders and donors on December 6 to break ground on what will be a new 1000-bed VND4.5 trillion (US$214.2 million) Nhi Dong 1 Pediatric Hospital in the Binh Chanh

The 2014-2015 coffee crop will see output fall by 20 percent due to drought and a large proportion of old trees with low yields, according to Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa) Luong Van Tu.

About half a million Filipinos have been evacuated from their homes as devastating super typhoon Hagupit is forecast to land on the country’s eastern region on December 6.

The Vietnamese team are worried that the hometown crowd would again use flares and laser pointers against them in the AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final match in Malaysia tomorrow.

Tonight, all eyes of Vietnam will be on the tropical paradise of Phu Quoc Island and the crowing of the next Miss Vietnam, but the dazzling, sometimes elegant images, from this year’s illustrious competition are certain to last a lifetime.

Vietnam has taken the first step toward valuing its stores of natural resources – called its natural capital - a Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment representative said.

Vietnam’s top-tier football league, V-League will begin its 2015 season on January 4 with a first-round clash between reigning Becamex Binh Duong and Dong Thap at Binh Duong Stadium.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the US Department of Labour (DoL) held their 11th labour dialogue in Hanoi on December 5.