VIETNAM TODAY

President Barack Obama made a dramatic intervention in a budget row that could paralyze the US government.

Police charged the owners of Len Co quarry with "labour safety violations" following the deaths of 18 people in a rockfall last week.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is selecting 3,000 boats for free installation of satellite equipment.

Local travel firms will likely raise tour prices for foreign tourists to the country in the next high season by 5% to 10% to offset the rising costs.

Vietnam may have to deal with cement shortage of 30% in the local market this year due to lower supply.

World anger over bloodshed in Yemen and pressure on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down mounted after at least 24 people were killed.

In the dry wording of prosecution documents, sex parties at Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi's villa followed a well scripted routine drawing in erotic dancers and underage prostitutes.

Hanoi may soon witness a redundancy in high-end offices for rents due to the oversupply coupled with low demand.

Vietnam has actively implemented MIA activities, said Vice Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh at a meeting with the US's defence official.

Vietnam National Petroleum Corporation announced a loss of VND2.6 trillion in the first quarter mainly due to exchange rate risks.

Japan imposed a legal limit for radioactive iodine in fish, as the operator of Fukushima nuclear plant pumped toxic water into the Pacific Ocean for a second day.

Michel Martelly, a carnival singer with a colorful past, is Haiti's new president after storming to a landslide victory, preliminary results showed.

Vietnam has submitted documents on the worship rituals dedicated to Hung Kings to the UNESCO to seek its Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity recognition.

The electricity consumption in Vietnam is still higher than other countries in the region, said Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang.

The 8th “One Heart, One World” programme will take place at the Friendship Palace in Hanoi on April 9.

In the Barry Bonds trial, prosecutors said they had a recording of Bonds' surgeon discussing Bonds and steroids with the slugger's ex-business manager.

Retail prices of both locally-made and imported medicines have sharply increased over the past few weeks.

Economists and other experts have urged the government to open up the gold market rather than restrict it as it has been doing for the last few months.

About 250 children from 15 provinces nationwide took part in the National Traffic Safety Contest for Primary School Pupils in HCM City on April 2-3.