The German parliament has approved the country's first minimum wage, in a vote in the Bundestag on Thursday.

VietNamNet Bridge – More than one million candidates sat for the university entrance examinations today, July 4.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Malaysian police on July 1 arrested 39 foreign women, including 18 Vietnamese nationals, believed to be involved in prostitution, Malaysia’s National News Agency Bernama reported.

Analysts have summarized some of the more popular tricks Chinese businessmen play on Vietnamese farmers. They maintain that, in the aggregate, these tricks harm not just individual farmers, but the Vietnamese economy as well.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam is still determined to develop supporting industries to become more attractive to foreign investment, despite past failures.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A regional conference on ASEAN countries’ participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations was co-organised by the foreign ministries of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea in Hanoi on July 3.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Prostitution services and aphrodisiacs, which are banned in Vietnam, are advertised on many Facebook pages and websites, with pictures and cellphone numbers of women and drug traders.

 VietNamNet Bridge – It’s exam time once again in Vietnam. And if students are feeling under the gun, they can take some comfort in knowing that they’re not alone.

 Hurricane Arthur, packing winds of 100mph, has made landfall in the US state of North Carolina, as thousands abandon their 4 July holiday plans.

 A flyover has collapsed on to vehicles in the Brazilian World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte, killing two people.

 VietNamNet Bridge – 1,000 cancer-related deaths have been reported in one district in the last six years. In one small town, 115 out of 562 deaths (21 percent) were due to cancer.

 VietNamNet Bridge - The bamboo house of Vietnam that won the AR House Awards 2014 has been written about in Time magazine’s “intelligent house” page.

Students are flocking to Van Mieu (Temple of Literature) in Hanoi before the university entrance exams to touch the head of stone turtles to wish for good luck. But this year the turtles are being guarded by a dozen volunteers.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese enjoy the lowest electricity rates in the region. But they come at a cost.

 VietNamNet Bridge - All 20 water samples taken from water supply plants and stations in Hanoi have a chlorine and arsenic concentrations higher than the permitted level.

 Argentina, Vietnam foster parliamentary links; Vietnam, Germany boost security cooperation; Vietnam-Singapore political consultation due next week; President comforts law enforcement forces, fishermen

 China on July 3 sent two more military vessels to protect its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 that is parked illegally in Vietnam’s waters, adding up to seven ships of this kind, according to the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance Department.

 Viet Nam is still considering legal options against China, but will continue pursuing its stance that the East Sea conflict should be solved by using peaceful measures.

Vietnam guidebook “Saigon Zoom In” giving information of downtown areas in Ho Chi Minh City as well as well-known tourism cities in Vietnam and its cultural experiences will be sold online.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The General Director of the Vietnam Railway Corporation has admitted that the railway industry is facing difficult challenges, and if the sector does not take prompt action, railway transport could cease.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Coming to these islands, visitors have the opportunity to see bird nests on steep cliffs. Most of these islands are in the central and southern regions of Vietnam.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Although condemned by the world, China has seized Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, turning the territories of other countries into "disputed territory".

 VietNamNet Bridge – On the occasion of the US Independence Day July 4, the United States Ambassador to Vietnam David B. Shear spoke to VIR’s Thanh Tung about the two countries’ trade and investment prospects.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese cartoonists have expressed their views about the Chinese oil rig illegally planted in Viet Nam's territory in the East Sea.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Dutch Government has been closely monitoring the situation in the East Sea and is deeply concerned over the tension caused by China’s illegal placement of Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).