VIETNAM TODAY

The State Bank of Vietnam has issued a circular allowing commercial banks an additional year before applying new, strict debt classification standards.

Although Vietnam has not yet reported any cases of A/H7N9 avian influenza, it is facing a substantial risk of contracting the two deadly bird flu strains A/H9N9 and A/H5N1.

Hundreds of people in Quang Nam Province have taken out bank loans for work broad only to return in debts for not meeting requirements.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Hanoi on March 23 for the Hague, the Netherlands, to attend the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit at the invitation of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

China has new satellite images of the floating objects that may be related to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference on Saturday.

Travel companies from 22 countries and territories, including Japan, China, Russia and France, have registered to participate in the second Vietnam International Travel Mart slated for April 3-6 in Hanoi.

The 2014 ASEAN People’s Forum (APF) opened on March 21 in Yangon, Myanmar, under the theme “Advancing ASEAN People’s Solidarity towards Sustainable Peace, Development, Justice and Democratisation”.

Twenty Vietnamese artists have been cooperating to increase consciousness about the Earth Hour Campaign 2014.

Five tiger cubs were born to a 10-year-old Indochinese tigress at the Saigon Zoo in District 1 last month after a 104 day pregnancy.

Dozens of singers and musicians will perform the works of late songwriter Trinh Cong Son at a free outdoor concert in praise of love and friendship in HCM City on April 5.

As many as 450 businesses have registered to join VIETBUILD 2014 – an international exhibition on real estate, interior and exterior design, and construction materials – to be held in Hanoi on March 26-30.

China's President Xi Jinping touches down in the Netherlands on Saturday for his first-ever Europe tour, with the continent in a diplomatic frenzy after Russia's absorbtion of the Crimea.

The Ministry of Education and Training has approved a pilot programme for teaching of foreign language at nursery schools following demand from many parents.

Vietnam’s fourth Russian built Kilo-class submarine will be floated out at St. Petersburg –based Admiralty Verfi shipyard on March 28, according to RIA Novosti.

Three foreign visitors have denounced a taxi driver in Hanoi for overcharging them for a short-distance in the city.

The Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (VietJet Air) has announced that it will launch a new international route – between Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore - from May 23 to meet the increasing travel demand.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has suspended the activities of 14 Vietnamese and 11 Taiwanese employment companies involved in sending Vietnamese workers to Taiwan for regulation violations.

Australia resumed the search Friday for possible wreckage from a missing Malaysian jetliner in a remote, storm-swept stretch of the Indian Ocean, hoping for better weather as spotters seek to identify the objects shown on grainy satellite images.

The Ministry of Transportation has decided to build a suspension bridge in Dien Bien Province to save people from crossing streams in plastic bags.