VIETNAM TODAY

The 4th sitting session of the 13th National Assembly is opened today, with an agenda focusing on many important issues.

At least 13 people were killed after a car bomb exploded in Damascus, as UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met with President Bashar al-Assad to discuss a ceasefire.

As consumers doubted the quality of sea fish, fresh and dried bamboo shoot, dried squid and beef products in the market, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had asked related agencies to conduct checks.

A 9-km overpass which halves travel time between the west and the south of Hanoi opened to traffic on the morning of October 21.

The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran's reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there's no agreement now to meet.

A high-ranking military delegation from the Vietnam People’s Army left Hanoi on October 20 for an official visit to Russia.

The ways in which Vietnamese parents name their children have changed.

The consumer price index rose in Hanoi by just 0.37% in October, according to the municipal Statistics Office.

The Italian embassy in Hanoi on October 19 awarded the author Pham Hoai Diep the first prize in a contest for women.

Argentina's president on Saturday ordered 326 sailors to evacuate a Navy frigate that was seized in Ghana to help bondholders try to recoup debts from the South American country's 2002 default.

Soil has been excavated everywhere in Phu Tho province, causing serious environment pollution and landslide, thus harming local people’s lives.

The Government has approved VND3.7 trillion in funds for a programme to prevent HIV/AIDS through 2015.

VietJet Aviation Joint-Stock Co. is set to begin flights to Bangkok in December, becoming the first privately owned Vietnamese carrier to fly abroad.

Vietnam has been ranked 81st in the ICT Development Index for 2011, a jump of five places from the previous year's index.

More than 150 martial artists are participating in the 2012 Southeast Asian Judo Championships, which opened in Bac Lieu Province on October 19.

More and more foreigners come to Vietnam over the last five years in medical tours. However, Vietnam still does not think of developing medical tourism in a professional way.

Twitter, a day after saying it blocked a neo-Nazi account in Germany in a global first, made another major concession by agreeing to remove anti-Semitic posts in France.

Quang Nam provincial authorities proposed that further work on the management of Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant was needed.

The General Department of Customs has imposed new tariff rates on new and secondhand luxury automobiles imported on or after October 18.