VIETNAM TODAY

The State Bank of Vietnam has requested commercial banks to strictly conform to regulations on VND deposit interest rates.

The United States Agency for International Development has helped refurbished 25 pre-schools in Kon Tum Province.

Teachers face enormous pressure to give their students a good record of academic achievements, a teacher, has written to Tuoi Tre to complain.

Vinacomin’s recent import of coal is to ensure national energy security, an official from the company said.

Harry Potter fans were excited after creator JK Rowling launched a mysterious website counting down to the announcement of a new project.

HCM City attracted more than 1.65 million international visitors in the first half of this year, up 10 percent against the same period last year.

85 percent of urban and 40 to 50 percent of rural solid waste is set to be processed, in accordance with environmental standards, by late 2015.

The Ministry of Transport has proposed a ban on consumption of alcohol in public offices during working hours as well as lunch and other breaks.

Al-Qaeda named Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri to succeed Osama bin Laden and the US promptly vowed to kill him just like his predecessor.

Sea and island tourism development was top priority of Vietnam’s tourism sector, said an official from Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Cha Lum Village in Nghe An Province is notorious for its large number of drug addicts.

BBC is planning to make a documentary about Son Doong, the world’s largest cave, in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Binh.

Two Greek government lawmakers quit over their party's austerity policies as Prime Minister George Papandreou was to name a new government.

Al-Qaeda named its second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri to succeed Osama bin Laden and vowed to pursue its "jihad' against the U.S.and Israel.

A city in central Taiwan has made July 3 "Lady Gaga Day" to mark the pop diva's highly anticipated first concert on the island, said officials.

A group of pupils at a high school in the central city of Danang have helped create an electronic sex education curriculum.

China will begin testing a massive deepwater oil platform this week to prepare for its deployment to the East Sea in July, said Chinese state media.

Though ostensibly well guarded, Ho Chi Minh City apartments are regularly burgled, leaving residents anxious and scared.

Over 100,000 visitors flocked to the fifth Sea Festival 2011 themed “Nha Trang – The Sea Rendezvous”, which wrapped up on June 15.