VIETNAM TODAY

Vietship 2012 offers a good opportunity for local businesses to seek opportunities to develop the domestic shipbuilding industry, said Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai.

Land management along riversides and the coastline will be inspected following the recent Haiphong land conflict.

To date 36 art troupes from 26 countries and territories have registered to participate in Hue Festival 2012, according to organisers.

For generations, Vietnamese elders have had few alternatives when no longer capable of caring for themselves, traditionally staying with their families.

A music show featuring 3 foreigners singing songs of the late legendary musician Trinh Cong Son to mark his 73th birthday will be held in Ho Chi Minh City in 3 nights from tonight.

More than one billion children now live in crowded cities but too many are stuck among the poorest of the poor, a UN report said.

BP and lawyers for individuals and companies claiming damages from the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are discussing a possible $14 billion settlement, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Traffic Police Bureau of the central city of Danang is going to correct traffic police officers’ style of work, at the instruction of the city’s Party Secretary, said a senior traffic police officer.

Hong Kong's pandas Le Le and Ying Ying have been given some privacy away from the prying eyes of tourists this week in a bid to encourage them to mate, their handlers said.

A music association named “Dioxin Country Mascaret “has been set up in Bordeaux, France to raise funds for Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange/dioxin.

Vietnam is expected to deliver a speech tomorrow at the 19th meeting of the United Nations' Human Rights Council, which opened yesterday in Geneva.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has requested a review of fire response facilities following several violent fires.

Ratings firm Standard & Poor's declared Greece in "selective default" after banks agreed to write off more than half of their Greek debt holdings in a second EU bailout of the country.

Quang Nam Province has declared an epidemic of the H5N1 avian flu in two communes after serious spread of the disease has led to the culling of more than 12,000 birds.

Small and medium-sized banks are tending to set expectations low for profits this year.

While world gas prices continue to rise, Vietnamese traders have actually increased their imports.

A communication campaign to promote the use of safe water and environmental sanitation was reviewed at a seminar in Hanoi.

A new strain of influenza A has been found in fruit bats, according to US health authorities.

Vietnam and Colombia have expressed a desire to promote cooperation in politics, diplomacy, trade, oil and gas, culture, education, tourism and poverty reduction in the near future.