VIETNAM TODAY

DiscoRobo, a new-generation hi-tech toy made in Vietnam, will be sold on the domestic market at a cost of VND499,000/unit as of August 25.

A possible change in the regulations that would replace the traditional mark-based system with teachers simply giving their remarks for first-graders have stirred up public concern.

Many travel firms have kept tour prices unchanged while others are offering big discounts of 30-35 per cent for the upcoming National Holiday early next month (September 2).

Violin students Tran My Dung and Nguyen Duc Hung from Vietnam National Academy of Music won first and second prize at the fifth ASEAN Intentional Concerto Competition in Jakarta recently.

Many FDI companies, forced to cease operations after the investors abandon the projects, have left unpaid wages, bureaucratic problems and anger in their wake.

Local shrimp exporters are facing the risk of being imposed double taxation on the US market.

Weather forecasters have warned there is a strong possibility that typhoon Utor will affect Vietnam after pounding China’s Leizhou Peninsula and Guangdong province.

Hanoi will provide VND318 billion (roughly US$15 million) in zero-interest loans between July 2013 and April 2014 in a bid to stabilise the price of essential goods.

The two Koreas held fresh talks Wednesday on reopening a joint industrial park, ahead of South Korea-US military exercises next week that the North says are a rehearsal for war.

The nation's Roads Directorate is planning a new 78km road to take in My Dinh, Ba Sao and Bai Dinh. It will pass through the northern cities and provinces of Hanoi, Ha Nam, Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh.

The Mekong Delta Region is currently seeking ways to increase the number and quality of doctors, especially neurologists, psychiatrists and forensic pathologists.

ASEAN officials on August 13 held high- and expert-level meetings as part of the two-day ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Hua Hin, more than 200 kilometres south of Bangkok, Thailand.

Vietnam and Japan have signed a memorandum of understanding on human resources training as part of the fifth phase of the Vietnam-Japan joint initiative running from July 2013 to December 2014.

Both small and big banks have continued slashing salaries and bonuses for their staff in the context of the current economic difficulties.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon waded into the controversy surrounding US drone strikes during a visit to Pakistan Tuesday, insisting they must operate within international law.

Vietnam will launch a new attack on white-collar crime under a new joint circular on securities markets, effective from August 15.

Lawmakers discussed draft amendments to the laws on Inland Waterway Traffic and Mobile Police on the first day of the NA Standing Committee's 12th session yesterday.

A seminar was held in Hanoi on August 12 to discuss mergers and acquisitions strategy.

The valuable cultural heritage of the Central Highlands will be the centerpiece of the 2014 National Tourism Year which is scheduled to kick off from late December 2013.