VIETNAM TODAY

The Government has ordered a halt in licensing titanium ore exploration and exploitation in Binh Thuan Province to protect local environment.

Bank lending interest rates in HCM City have dropped to as low as 17% as banks have begun to cut rates that had reached up to 25%.

A former journalist of Tien Phong Newspaper was sentenced to jail for seven years on August 25 for blackmailing local companies.

The State Bank of Vietnam should complete a system of mechanisms for strengthening banking inspection, said Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday announced his resignation as president of the Democratic Party of Japan.

Shrimp farms in Thua Thien Hue Province have been forced to cease operations after a discharge of contaminated water.

Vietnam welcomed 4 million foreign visitors in the first eight months of this year, said the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Liverpool will set up football training establishments around the globe in the next three years, with priority given to some Asian countries including India, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The Ministry of Information and Communications held a seminar to discuss measures against press errors in the central province of Quang Binh from August 24-25.

The comment made by a US Embassy spokesperson raising concern about the temporary detention of several persons on August 21 in Hanoi is wrong and unsuitable.

This short work, which is one part of a novel by Vinh Quyen chronicles the efforts of one man to find the secret behind the war; a war whose core remains elusive.

Apple's first day without Steve Jobs as CEO looked similar to most other days: its share price beat the broader stock market.

A powerful remote-controlled bicycle bomb exploded at a busy northwestern Pakistan hotel on Thursday, killing at least 11 people, wounding 14 and destroying the building.

Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will buy $5 billion in preferred shares of the Bank of America, the bank said.

The newly-elected minister of Natural Resources & Environment vowed to address land management violations.

Vietnam, despite its modest economic resources, is following in the footsteps of many advanced countries to start investing in basic scientific research.

World governments should do more to help the 12 million stateless people, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.

Vietnamese companies should unite to build and develop industry brands on the world market, experts said.

Vietnamese stars Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son are set to leave for Russia on August 25 to take part in the World Chess Cup.