VIETNAM TODAY

German leader Angela Merkel was due to hold talks on her visit to China, with Europe's debt crisis taking centre stage.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith in Hanoi.

Six people were plucked alive from the water by a cargo ship after an asylum-seeker boat went missing off the Indonesian coast, but there was no sign of up to 144 others on board.

Hanoi’s metro route No. 2 will have a total length of 11.5km, of which, 8.5km will run underground along the Old Quarter.

A proposed dam that would flood part of a national park in western Thailand represents a "significant new threat" to the kingdom's tigers, wildlife group WWF warned.

The Venice film festival kicks off on Wednesday with the arrival of stars on water taxis for an art-house dominated line-up dealing with issues from religious extremism to economic crisis.

The Cook Islands has announced the creation of the world's largest marine park, as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) opened with a spectacular Polynesian welcoming ceremony.

Land owned by agencies and former ministry headquarters must not be used for housing projects, an expert said.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has denied rumors of a disease with AIDS-like symptoms appearing in Vietnam.

Retail petrol prices yesterday increased by VND650 (US$0.033) per litre to VND23,650 while diesel rose by VND300 per litter to VND21,850.

To celebrate the Vu Lan and the Amnesty of Unquiet Spirits, Hanoians flock to buy all kinds of votive offerings from paper villas to Ipads to burn for the dead.

The Vietnam football team has employed a physical strength coach in their preparation for the Southeast Asian Football Federation Cup later this year.

A rare black-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix nigripes) was found dead in a bag thrown onto the road by a driver in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum.

The United Nations Development Programme and Vietnam Lawyers' Association yesterday launched a three-year project to promote legal empowerment for poor and vulnerable groups in Vietnam.

Vietnamese exporters' lack of attention to quality could harm their long-term strategy in the US market, said an official.

South Korean rescuers Wednesday resumed a search for 10 missing crewmen from two Chinese fishing boats as the confirmed death toll from a strong typhoon rose to 15.

The world's biggest air-conditioner maker Daikin Industries of Japan will acquire Goodman Global of the United States for 300 billion yen ($3.8 billion), a report said.

Republicans formally nominated Mitt Romney for president, minting him as the party's official opponent versus President Obama.

Vietnamese parents do not attend the lessons at the schools, but in fact, they also have to learn hard to become the fellow-travelers of their children, who go to the first grade.