VIETNAM TODAY

An August 15 seminar in Hanoi has warned the 80% reduction in Vietnamese mangrove forest area and 96% of coral reefs seriously damaged over the past five decades pose significant threats to the country’s biodiversity.

A Chinese zoo's supposed "African lion" was exposed as a fraud when the dog used as a substitute started barking.

The 10th National Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology kicked off in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau on August 15 to discuss orientations for the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes in Vietnam.

A bomb weighing more than 200 kilos was successfully defused in Huong Hoa district of the central province of Quang Tri on August 15.

The Vietnam Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) has won the “Best Bank in Vietnam 2013” Award of Euromoney, the world’s leading financial magazine.

The first international theatre schools festival will be held in HCM City from September 5 to 10.

HCM City may be re-organised into one central area that has 13 districts in the inner city as well as four satellite cities and rural areas.

While many industries are suffering from the economic downturn, the beverage industry has continued to grow over the first half of this year.

China's millionaires, a symbol of the country's growing wealth, increased at their slowest rate in five years in 2012 as the economy and stock market stumbled, a survey showed.

As of August 16, northern mountainous provinces will be hit by thunderstorm and heavy rain while Hanoi is expected to have a rainfall of 50-100 mm.

Yesterday saw Le Van Duan win the third stage of the region's premier cycling event. However, Truong Nguyen Thanh Nhan hung on to his yellow jersey as overall leader of the Mekong Delta Cycling Tournament.

Security forces struggled to clamp a lid on Egypt on Thursday after hundreds of people were killed when authorities forcibly broke up camps of supporters protesting the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, in the worst nationwide bloodshed in decades.

Vietnam is being cautious about formally legalising horse and dog racing and international football betting due to their sensitive issues, members of the National Assembly Standing Committee said yesterday.

Various doctors were "competing" to treat Michael Jackson, each offering stronger and stronger painkillers long before his 2009 death, the King of Pop's ex-wife testified.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers Retreat took place in Hua Hin town, more than 200km south of Bangkok , on August 13 and 14.

An official from the HCM City University of Pedagogy answered questions about high-quality public schools which charge high fees.

Vietnam and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have inked a document outlining a national programme on drug and crime prevention for the 2012-2017 period.

The Health Policy Initiative (HPI) project provided support for six legal consultative offices over the past five years to counsel people with HIV who suffered from discrimination in jobs, education and health care.

A state official has just proposed a pilot plan to let Vietnamese people gamble at casinos in Vietnam.