VIETNAM TODAY

Smart phone shipments to Vietnam reached an all-time high in third quarter of this year, with local vendors grabbing a significant amount of market share.

Hanoi ranks 21 st among the 100 best cities for software outsourcing, according to a report from outsourcing advisory firm Tholons.

A ceremony took place in the Lao province of Luang Prabang on December 22 to hand over Poongkham secondary school, a gift from former Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

The US's largest gun-rights lobby called for the placement of an armed police officer in every school, but parents and educators questioned how safe such a move would keep kids.

It is a bit like selling ice to Eskimos, but that is exactly what flower farmers in the Mekong Delta are managing to do – selling flowers to Da Lat, the country's most important flower-growing place.

Thousands of poor people have risen above the poverty line in the last seven years thanks to sustainable fisheries, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said yesterday.

A Christian community in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, is preparing to spend Christmas mass on the street as sectarian attacks keep them locked out of their church.

Kazakhstan’s national airline Air Astana has officially announced it will open a direct air route to Ho Chi Minh City on January 2, 2013.

The Vietnamese Government and Asian Development Bank signed today three loan agreements totaling US$251 million.

US President Barack Obama has nominated Senator John Kerry as his new secretary of state.

HCM City heads the country in economic growth, but the quality of life of its residents has not developed correspondingly, participants said at a recent seminar.

December consumer price index increased slightly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Italian PM Mario Monti handed in his resignation to the president on Friday shortly after parliament approved the country’s 2013 budget.

A paradox has been existing in the labor market: a lot of university graduates cannot find jobs, while businesses lack workers because the candidates cannot meet their requirements.

The central province of Quang Nam launched a US-backed project worth USD400,000, to increase disaster-prone coastal communities’ resilience to natural hazards.

Nicol David continued to make nonsense of the idea that a bevy of young challengers might be closing the gap on her as she reached her seventh World Open final in eight years.

Investors are abandoning projects in Quang Nam due to concerns over rising building costs and safety in the area, the hub of earthquakes that have plagued the province for over a year.

The State Audit of Vietnam has announced its auditing plan for 2013 which will cover major banks and groups.

Access to information and support services plays an important role in ensuring safe labour migration, Jobst Koehler from the International Organisation for Migration said.