VIETNAM TODAY

As part of the twelfth Pink Holiday campaign, some young professionals have traveled beyond the country’s border, going to some isolated provinces in Laos to help out the friendly neighbours.

Various problems have slowed the development of an urban railway system to ease Hanoi's traffic.

The United States House of Representatives approved $606 billion in defense spending for next year after two days of debate.

Customs officials at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City have seized a large haul of ivory worth an estimated $218,000 from two Vietnamese passengers.

Saigon Post and Telecommunications Services Corporation, will pay former S-Fone employees their severance packages.

Primary, secondary, and junior school teachers work 60 to 70 hours a week, but half of them get paid below the national average, a workshop heard in HCM City on Wednesday.

Bulgarian authorities released images of the suspected suicide bomber behind a deadly attack on Israeli tourists.

Many enterprises have incurred losses and unfair treatment due to mismanagement of the petrol price stabilisation fund.

Pollution was spreading in the Dong Nai River Basin, the main source of water for 16 million people living in the area, said an official from the Vietnam Institute for Tropical Technology and Environmental Protection.

The young man, who has been suspected of uploading photos showing the brutal killing of two rare monkeys, is a serviceman, police sources said.

Cambodia and Indonesia have agreed in principle on a number of issues over the East Sea , said the two countries’ to diplomats.

Cities and provinces in Vietnam have imposed different registration fees for the same models of pick-up vehicles, said the VAMA.

Rebels seized control of sections of Syria's international borders and torched the main police headquarters in the heart of old Damascus.

Every Vietnamese person discharges one kilo of electronic waste every year. The waste could be a “mountain of gold” if Vietnam can exploit it.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung has asked relevant ministries and sectors to pay more attention to housing projects for the poor.

Japan's Honda Motor said Thursday it is recalling more than 320,000 vehicles worldwide because of a door lock defect.

The Goethe Institute has launched the Southeast Asian Student Documentary Award, a documentary-making competition for the best works about social and environmental issues focusing on water.

China's President Hu Jintao said Beijing would offer $20 billion in new loans to Africa, underscoring the Asian powerhouse's growing links with the resource-rich continent.

Kazakhstan’s flag carrier Air Astania has decided to open a new air route between Ho Chi Minh city and Kazakhstan in December.