VIETNAM TODAY

A full VND8.8 trillion (US$419 million) was spent this year on social welfare, hunger elimination and poverty reduction, according to a report from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a project to prevent and control the import of alien species of flora and fauna into the country.

The United Nations has ordered more than 200 non-essential staff and families of other workers to leave Central African Republic because of a rebel offensive against the government.

Two members of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, in Sweden and Finland, have put Vietnamese tra fish on their “green” list.

The minimum wage increase set to be in effect starting January 1 will add burdens to companies that have faced difficulties.

Vietnam’s population is forecast to reach around 90 million in 2013, said the General Department of Population and Family Planning.

The 16th conference of the nine provinces through which Highways 8 and 12 run in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand got underway in central Nghe An Province on December 26.

Mai Linh Group may have to sell its assets to settle outstanding debts, threatening 6,000 staff with unemployment.

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has urged all political parties to take part in a national dialogue to heal rifts in the country.

Dalat Hasfarm exported the first two shipments of flowers to Russia, each batch containing 7,000 to 8,000 branches, one official said.

Japan has agreed to send experts to Vietnam to help improve the quality of vocational training.

Russia's upper house of parliament was due to vote for a bill barring Americans from adopting the country's children.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism can't produce as much good clips as expected to advertise in major markets due to limited funding, one official said.

The value of seafood exports this year are expected to inch up by about 1% over last year to USD6.12 billion, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development estimates.

As much as 99% of fishing ships owned by local fishermen have wooden hulls, posing high risk of accidents, one official said.

A commemorative ceremony for the victims of US bombings in December 1972 during the Vietnam war took place solemnly on December 26 at Kham Thien Memorial Site in Hanoi’s Dong Da district.

Ten laws that clarify the responsibilities of State agencies and the rights of both enterprises and individuals will go into effect in January.

Vietnam recorded a Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 5.03 percent in 2012, announced the General Statistics Office in a press briefing in Hanoi.

A Taliban suicide car bombing hit a US-run base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least three Afghans and wounding seven others, officials said.