VIETNAM TODAY

Mister Vietnam 2010 Le Khoi Nguyen beat out several contestants to finish fourth at Mister International 2011 pageant in Thailand.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Hanoi on December 19 for a three-day visit to Myanmar where he will attend the 4th Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit.

The Electricity Group of Vietnam has announced that it will raise power prices by 5% from December 20.

While carbon capture and storage is a new concept in Vietnam, the country offers good opportunities for the technology, especially in the energy sector.

News of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il hit South Koreans like a bolt from the blue with fears of conflict.

Managers of companies stated that it will be difficult for them to maintain employee Tet bonuses at the same level as last year.

Gardeners in Hanoi’s famous flower and apricot village of Nhat Tan are in a hurry to cultivate trees to prepare for the lunar New Year.

The Vietnamese team bagged 31 gold medals on the fourth day of the 6th ASEAN Para Games in Indonesia on December 18.

Beginning Feb. 1, 2012, the minimum assets required to form a new bank will jump to VND100 trillion.

The Philippines prepared for mass burials of flash-flood victims after a disaster that has left many hundreds dead or missing.

Police in Bien Hoa City proposed the prosecution of nine people involved in a traffic accident on Ghenh Bridge that left two dead and 26 injured.

The National Assembly Standing Committee called for a freeze on the building of new economic zones at a meeting on their operations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has died aged 69 of a heart attack, state media announced.

Vietnam's Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2010-11 report revealed persisting disparity in the lives and well-being of local women and children.

The domestic cement market will remain sluggish in 2012 because of continuing difficulties in production and business this year, according to experts.

Construction of Vinh Thinh bridge, the longest to date spanning Red River, began in Hanoi’s outlying town of Son Tay on Dec. 18.

Eurozone finance ministers will hold talks on the debt crisis on Monday to flesh out plans made at a Brussels summit this month to save the European currency.

The Minister of Health led a team of officials to survey food hygiene conditions in Kim Bien market in District 5 as well as in canteens of departments of the HCM City People’s Committee.

More than 200 people were feared dead after a heavily overloaded boat packed mostly with Afghan and Iranian asylum-seekers sank off Indonesia en route to Australia, rescuers said.