VIETNAM TODAY

A lorry carrying tractors burst into flames just 1.1km inside the Hai Van Tunnel at 6:50am in the central city this morning, closing the tunnel for 20 minutes.

Party Politburo member Dinh The Huynh visited the Academy of Journalism and Communication, Hanoi Radio and Television, the Communist Review and the Radio Voice of Vietnam on June 19.

The third International Choir Competition opened in central Hoi An town on June 19, gathering 15 choirs from the US, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam.

A Chinese astronaut orbiting more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) above the Earth's surface delivered a video class to children across the country on Thursday, state television showed in a live broadcast.

The construction of high-rise buildings in HCM City will be limited from next month if proposed sweeping changes to planning management and urban architecture regulations are approved.

Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and India reached US$2.246 billion in the first five months of this year, up 47.1 percent against the same period last year.

Roofies, also known as the date-rape drug, have been widely available on HCM City streets for some time.

National Assembly deputies yesterday adopted four laws, one of them will regulate a lower corporate income tax from next year.

President Barack Obama is planning a major push using executive powers to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming in an effort to make good on promises he made at the start of his second term.

The Vietnam Competition Authority has given warnings about the explosion in fake and exaggerated TV shopping adverts.

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang on June 19 started a three-day state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

A seminar on current and future Vietnam-Japan scientific and technological cooperation was held in Hanoi on June 19 to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Four divers died while recovering a Malaysian sunken ship off the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on June 18.

The Taliban claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a deadly overnight attack on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, just hours after the US announced plans to enter into peace talks with the insurgent group.

Scientists and managers from leading institutes and development organisations in France, the UK, US, Australia, Japan, China and Vietnam have gathered at the 6th Vietnam Economist Annual Meeting in the central city of Hue on June 18-19.

Wastefulness is as serious as corruption but it seems to be not easy to deal with it, several NA deputies have said.

The 15th Vietnam Fisheries International Exhibition will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in HCM City from June 25-27.

Asia News Network has set up an advertising office in Singapore to represent the 22 members from 19 Asian countries.

More than 32,000 Vietnamese were recruited as guest workers, mostly for Taiwan (China), Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Libya, Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates in the first five months of this year.