VIETNAM TODAY

The old Dong Van Market in the Dong Van Karst Plateau of Ha Giang Province has reopened for tourism after a new market was built for locals 500m away.

An Australian researcher who discovered a new species of flying frog near HCM City in Vietnam and named it after her mother said it was a rare find so close to such a big city.

Hanoi will host the fifth blood donation day on January 20 in an effort to support hospitals in saving patients during the upcoming lunar New Year festival.

Lance Armstrong confessed to talk show host Oprah Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France.

Vietnam will continue the circulation of coins after a period of discontinuation, one official said.

Hanoi began operating an incinerator, capable of burning 48 tonnes of industrial waste a day, in Nam Son waste treatment complex in Soc Son outlying district.

Starbucks Corp. will have to convince architect Tran Cao Tho and his friends to switch from stronger and cheaper coffee at their neighborhood cafe when it enters Vietnam next month.

At least 19 people died when two railroad passenger cars derailed in Egypt after midnight Monday, officials said.

Authorities are trying to contain cigarette smuggling activities which have been on the rise as Tet nears.

HCM City saw only two traffic jams lasting over 30 minutes in 2012, according to one report which bewildered the public.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong will make a trip to Belgium, the European Union, Italy and the United Kingdom from January 17 to 24.

Agencies will set up eight inspection teams to check food safety in 24 cities and provinces from now to the Tet Holiday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will appear before lawmakers on January 23 to be quizzed about the deadly attack on a US mission in Libya.

Managers of the Hanoi Zoo have asked their workers to help protect the animals from the winter cold.

With impending charges due on ATM services, consumers are looking for free of charge outlets.

Recent activities by the Chinese side have violated Vietnam’s sovereignty, sovereign right and jurisdiction in the East Sea.

Vietnam wants to further develop the strategic cooperation partnership with the Republic of Korea, NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung told his RoK counterpart Kang Chang Hee.

An air strike Monday on several houses in the rebel-held town of Moadamiyat al-Sham southwest of Damascus killed at least eight children and five women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

HCM City's Department of Transport has blacklisted 443 contractors who have violated the construction regulations.