VIETNAM TODAY

Israel has approved plans for the construction of more than 500 homes in the southern West Bank in the first step towards creating a new settlement city, a local settler council said Thursday.

Nine Vietnamese people died and six were injured when their bus was upturned in Laos on December 19.

Vietnam Post has now officially separated from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication company to be run by the Ministry of Information and Communication.

Complex rules and procedures have been preventing locally grown products from getting their place on supermarket shelves.

Hundreds of people have stayed overnight at Saigon Station, waiting to buy tickets in order to visit their hometowns for Tet.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung on December 20 leaves Hanoi for New Delhi to attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit marking the 20 th anniversary of the two sides’ dialogue relations.

American Olivia Culpo was crowned Miss Universe 2012 Wednesday, the eighth time an American has won the pageant .

Three hotels in Vietnam have been named in the 2012 T+L 500 list following the selection of readers of the Travel + Leisure magazine, the biggest tourism publication published globally.

Despite financial difficulties, many enterprises are trying to find ways to pay Tet bonuses for their employees and buy bus tickets for them to return home for the holidays.

Vietnam attaches importance to fostering the friendship and cooperation with the US on the basis of respecting each other’s independence and sovereignty.

Weapons including knives, swords, scimitars and even K59 guns are being publicly sold at several markets in HCM City.

Park Geun-hye became South Korea's first female leader when she was elected president on Wednesday. Park, a conservative, is due to take office in February.

The Celebrity Millennium cruise ship carrying more than 2,000 foreign tourists docked at Chan May port in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

Thirty-seven paintings by the late Buu Chi are on display at the Hue Exhibition Centre in Hue City, marking the 10th death anniversary of the renowned artist.

Gunmen in Pakistan mounted fresh attacks on health workers carrying out polio vaccinations, prompting UNICEF and WHO to suspend work on a campaign opposed by the Taliban.

Vietnam’s business environment is still good for investors to consider long-term investment projects despite the current economic hardships, an expert said.

The MoET will halt the opening of faculties such as finance and banking due to the lack of employment opportunities in the sector.

The Hanoi ca tru singing festival 2012 will take place at the Temple of Literature o­n December 20 and 21.

Scientists have discovered 36 new species in Vietnam, the Worldwide Fund for Nature has announced in its report.