VIETNAM TODAY

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.

The centre aims to develop a network of international cooperation in the world’s scientific research community and serve as a place for Vietnam’s leading scientists to share experience through seminars.

Europeans are tightening their belts and spending less on Christmas gifts as they struggle with incomes hit by austerity measures.

The Da Nang city People’s Committee will spend over VND 19 billion for gifts to social beneficiaries in the city during the upcoming lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

The central and Central Highland provinces of Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Kontum have agreed to support each other in tourism development to attract foreign visitors from Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

The State Bank will focus on restructuring weak banks in the next year to ensure the liquidity in the entire banking system.

More than 600 people were feared killed when tropical storm Washi whipped the southern Philippines.

A workshop was held in Da Nang to discuss measures to raise people’s awareness on the importance of having children wear helmets when riding motorcycles.

After many days of excavation, an old temple buried in sand in Ky Khang commune, Ky Anh district in the central province of Ha Tinh has been unveiled.