VIETNAM TODAY

Vietnam will strengthen its effort to crack down the rampant smuggling of poultry along the border with China so as to protect the domestic livestock sector.

Victoria Azarenka secured the year-ending world number one ranking on Friday when she reached the semi-finals of the WTA Championships.

Foreign direct investment in the first 10 months hit $10.5 million, said the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

A ceasefire in Syria was violated when a car bomb exploded outside a mosque in Damascus.

Border guards in central Binh Dinh province have received three Philippine fishermen who were in distress in the waters of Truong Sa archipelago.

The World Bank will lend Vietnam US$50 million to build waste water treatment plants and improve environmental policies in industrial zones in four provinces of Vietnam.

Four Vietnamese records, among 20 recommended by the Vietnam Book of Records, have officially won Asian titles by the Asia Book of Records.

Vietnam may increase the personal income tax threshold to VND9 million from current a VND4 million under a draft law on the issue.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Egyptians to restart their revolution to press for Islamic law and called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, the SITE Intelligence Group said.

The WTO has approved the membership of Laos, ending a 15-year effort by the country to join the global trade body.

The MOET has released a new decision offering school admission preferences to the students from the three difficult areas.

Japan approved a $5.3 billion cash injection to boost the stuttering economy, a move likely to add pressure for more central bank measures with a general election on the horizon.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked central coastal provinces to be well prepared for a storm which is forecast to batter the central coast late on October 27.

Vietnam has met all conditions to host the 18th Asian Games in 2019, says Wei Jizhong from the Olympic Council of Asia.

The Ministry of Education and Training held a ceremony in Hanoi to honour students who won prizes at regional and international Olympiads in 2012.

The State Bank of Vietnam is drafting a plan to set up a national debt trading company.

Out of 2,500 student applications, the Vietnam Circus and Variety Arts College only selected 33 for their 2012-2016 intake. However half of the new students have decided to quit.

Top Vietnamese player Nguyen Tien Minh has climbed one notch up in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings to return to world’s top ten.

The annual year-end spike in demand for foreign currency has set in, but it is unlikely that foreign currency loans by banks will expand sharply as a result.