Long lines formed as Los Angeles gun owners turned in weapons for up to $200 worth of groceries, in a gun buyback event brought forward after the Connecticut school shooting.
When Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designed a new cathedral in earthquake-devastated Christchurch, he chose the most unlikely of materials-cardboard-for the landmark project.
Vietnam has this year welcomed more than 6.84 million foreign visitors, a year-on-year rise of 9.5%, with arrivals from traditional markets remaining high.
More and more Vietnamese parents believe that their children need to go to school soon before the school age, so as to have the best conditions to develop into child prodigies.
Over the last two years, Vietnamese enterprises invested USD3.8 billion into 222 projects in Laos, making Vietnam the third largest investor in that country.
Vietnam Food Administration has announced its new regulation on formula for babies less than 12 months and from six to 36 months of age, which will take effect from June 1, 2013.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman recently to discuss violence in Syria and the country's chemical weapons stock, Israeli media said.
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.
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.
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.