VIETNAM TODAY

The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will keep a check on public order, tidiness, hygiene and overcharging at 21 festival venues during the Tet festival, starting on January 22.

The SBV is aware of rising flout of the capped deposit interest rate and more measures will be applied in 2012, said its Governor.

President Truong Tan Sang has urged the Vietnam Fatherland Front to further its involvement in Party-building work.

The European auto industry needs to cut its capacity by 10 to 20% in response to slack demand, Fiat chief Marchionne said.

Three Vietnamese sailors were reported missing from a ship of the Republic of Korea that suffered a fire in waters southeast of New Zealand on the night of January 10.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday chaired the first working session of the National Committee on Climate Change, two days after its official establishment.

Railway authorities have alerted the public about the risks of buying fake railway tickets after dozens of counterfeits have been found.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received visiting member of US House of Representatives Robert Filner in Hanoi on January 11.

An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in a bomb attack, weaving through Tehran traffic after what Iran calls the latest strike in an escalating covert war.

Le Van Luyen, who killed 3 people at a gold shop, has received an 18-year prison sentence, the maximum for his age range.

A five-kilometre long illegal road has been constructed in order to facilitate the destruction of a protected forest in Quang Ngai.

China released six young captive pandas into semi-wild enclosures as part of a project aimed at helping the endangered bears adapt to the wild.

Five to eight more banks will be involved in merger in 2012, said Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Binh.

The NA Law Committee recommended the highest fine for administrative violations by individuals at VND1 billion.

Martial arts, promoted by 51-year-old instructor Dang Van Sung, have gained ground in France where a lot of people like to get fit.

A forest development programme aiming to make one-third of the nation’s forests meet sustainable development standards by 2020 is considered too ambitious.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism set up an inspection team to look into the football broadcasting contract signed by the Vietnam Football Federation and a local company.

The value of retail sales and services enjoyed a year-on-year increase of 24.2% to VND2,004 trillion ($95.5 billion) in 2011, announced the General Statistics Office.

The ocean's deepest volcanic vents, kilometres below the surface, are teeming with life forms never before seen that thrive near super-hot underwater geysers, according to a new study.