VIETNAM TODAY

Russian punk band Pussy Riot missed out on a prize at the inaugural Prudential Eye Awards in Singapore on Saturday for a video featuring a protest inside a Moscow cathedral that landed members in jail.

Transport Minister Dinh La Thang has asked concerned agencies to expedite work on a major project to improve operational efficiency of the No 5 Seaport System to make it a regional entrepot in the near future.

Many Vietnamese tourists have been defecting while on outbound tours to stay in foreign countries.

Nearly 150 maps, publications, and artifacts are on display in Da Nang city at an exhibition titled “Hoang Sa, Truong Sa archipelagos are of Vietnam’s sovereignty – historical evidence”.

Vietnam has won a high profile lawsuit in which South Fork Ltd Company of the US sued the Binh Thuan provincial People’s Committee for an indemnity of US$3.75 billion for costs and expenses it spent on its project.

The Vietnamese Permanent Representative Mission to the United Nations and the Vietnamese Consulate in New York hosted a reception on January 18 (local time) to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Horse.

Construction on the first nuclear power plant will be delayed for a couple of years instead of the 2014 schedule to ensure optimum safety and security, Science and Technology Minister Nguyen Quan has said.

An injury-hit Serena Williams crashed out of the Australian Open against Ana Ivanovic Sunday, denying her an 18th major title and the chance to win a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.

A Hanoi spring fair is displaying a variety of specialty farm produce as part of the lead-up to 2014 Lunar New Year celebrations.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung cut the ribbon to open the new Highway No. 3, linking Hanoi and the northern mountainous province of Thai Nguyen, for safety testing at a ceremony in the capital on January 18.

PetroVietnam earned revenues of more than USD37 billion in 2013, topping domestic companies for the year.

Thai Nguyen Province’s police have arrested four workers accused of causing violence and damage at a local Samsung factory on January 9.

Dak Nong provincial authorities are now investigating a case where 32 primary school students were hospitalised after an explosion involving Chinese-made toys.

Vietnam and the European Union conducted the sixth round of free trade agreement negotiations in Brussels from January 13-17 and they planned to end bilateral talks this September.

Russia on January 16 handed over its second Kilo-class submarine to Vietnam, Russia’s news agency Interfax-AVN quoted sources.

The third meeting of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) working group on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief was held yesterday in Vietnam's coastal central province of Khanh Hoa.

Thailand has begun to allow people to cross Chong Sa-ngam border checkpoint after a temporary closure following a recent dispute with Cambodia.

Vietnam is striving to perfect its laws and policies to foster the rights of disabled people and plans to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2014.

The approach of Tet brings with it many students in search of part-time jobs, but these jobs sometimes come with a price.