VIETNAM TODAY

The 26 th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 26) wrapped up in Indonesia on Nov. 22 with Vietnam finishing third in the medal tally, after host Indonesia and Thailand .

Promoters and performers alike are attempting to avoid paying copyright fees, an official said.

The Vietnam-Kansai economic dialogue forum was held in central coastal Da Nang city on Nov. 22 to discuss ways to attract more investment to the East-West Economic Corridor and adjacent areas in central Vietnam.

Changing the way to use and improve public awareness were among the long-term solutions to combat desertification in Vietnam, one official said.

The Ministry of Transport has suspended the operations of two taxi firms during spot-checks on four companies in Hanoi.

Twelve art troupes will attend the 5th Southern Khmer Ethnic Minority Cultural Festival from December 1-5.

Two years after the introduction of Government Decree 88, HCM City has not managed to meet its targeted amount of collection fees for environmental hygiene and protection.

Seventeen films will compete for the Golden Lotus award at the 17th National Film Festival to be held in Phu Yen Province next month.

Children in the Mekong Delta are missing out on a proper education because of a shortage of kindergartens.

Major retailers and manufacturers are not doing enough to honour commitments to use sustainable palm oil to help protect virgin rainforests from destruction, WWF said.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has announced that state-owned Electricity of Vietnam Group lost VND10.162 trillion in 2010.

The Italian Embassy in Vietnam will present “Dialektos,” a jazz concert performed by the famous duo Maria Pia De Vito and Huw Warren, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City next month.

A US Congress "supercommittee" has failed to reach a deal to rein in the government's galloping deficits due to angry partisan battles over how best to revive the nation's sluggish economy.

Speaking to international donors, PM Nguyen Tan Dung on Thursday emphasised that ODA is an essential resource which will be further effectively used by Vietnam.

The Australian Government in the Asia-Pacific region has helped give cataract surgery and screening for refractive errors to Vietnamese patients.

Hanoi's CPI in November increased by 0.29% against last month and 18.49% over the same period last year, the Hanoi Statistics Office announced.

Vietnam completed competitions at the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia on November 22 with 96 gold, 90 silver and 101 bronze medals.

Transport Minister Dinh La Thang suspended the director of the HCM City-Trung Luong Expressway on November 21.

Deputy PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a plan to amend both office and school hours in Hanoi beginning on Jan. 1, 2012.