VIETNAM TODAY

Increasing numbers of young women in HCM City are paying to get nude photo collections taken.

Employees are tugging their forelocks and greasing the palms of their bosses with traditional rural specialities for the Tet Holiday.

Chinese surveillance vessels conducted 58 East Sea patrols in 2012, according to the State Oceanic Administration of China.

Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s national flag carrier, on January 2 officially launched a direct route linking Almaty, the country’s largest city, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, with two flights a week.

People’s artist Dang Thai Son will come back to the fatherland for a performance titled “all Beethoven’s piano concerto” at the Hanoi Opera House on January 15 and 18.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co will soon start making microchips for Apple as the US tech giant reduces manufacturing contracts with its South Korean rival Samsung, reports said.

The lower house of the US Congress approved a deal late Tuesday on raising taxes on the wealthy and delaying $109 billion in automatic budget cuts for two months, thereby avoiding the "fiscal cliff".

The draft revisions to the 1992 Constitution are made public on January 2 for public feedback, in line with Resolution 38/2012/QH13 adopted by the National Assembly on November 23, 2012.

British PM David Cameron called on his fellow G8 leaders to start work now on agreeing "bold steps" to help boost global economic growth, ahead of a summit he will host in June.

The local people on Phu Quoc Island took the new year into an opportunity to rent out their motorbikes to earn some extra money.

The government plans to tighten food safety requirements for manufacturers before Tet, a time when the demand surges.

Many people in big cities rushed into major streets to welcome New Year.

Top Vietnamese badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will compete at the 2013 Malaysia Open from January 15-20.

Waste from the mainland may be at fault for 70 per cent of marine pollution, according to the Sea and Islands General Administration of Vietnam.

The Ivory Coast on Wednesday began three days of national mourning after a stampede among crowds gathered for celebratory New Year's Eve fireworks in Abidjan left at least 60 dead.

The bad business environment has forced several large Vietnamese firms into bankruptcy this year, while others have had to merge.

On January 1, Cai Lan Port in the northern province of Quang Ninh received the first cargo vessel of 2013, the CHUETSU SPIRIT from the Philippines .

Vietnam was forced to hire a Chinese film production company to produce a film promoting tourism due to domestic failures.

An international sea tourism fair entitled “Seas, islands, and tourism development” will take place in Nha Trang city this June.