Dollar demand dwindles; Prospects for boosting rice exports in 2012; A foreign fund eyes Vietnam’s real estate; Retail sales decline 2.5 percent in February; Vietnam lender BIDV plans to list June 26 - paper; Automobile market remains sluggish

Hue authorities have decided not to have an actor perform the role of a king for two traditional royal ceremonies that will be re-enacted at this year's Festival Hue, and have decided instead that a commoner would perform the rituals.

Movie critics are tipping one of three documentary films produced by the HCM City Television Film Studio (TFS) for the national Golden Kite award this year.

TV's chat show queen, Oprah Winfrey, has interviewed the late Whitney Houston’s 19 year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown. The result is set to be screened on Sunday, one month after the singer’s death.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukia Amano said Friday in Vienna that nuclear power is safer than it was a year ago but the safety must never be taken for granted.

Information about the Hanoi 2012 International Piano Competition has appeared on www.alink-argerich.org, after it became a member of the Alink Argerich Foundation (AAF).

Top Vietnamese player Nguyen Tien Minh has failed in his quest for a repeat victory over world No.3 Chen Long from China in the second round of the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships on March 9.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed Saturday that his country is ready to make any honest effort a success to solve the recent domestic unrest, state-run SANA news agency reported.

VietNamNet Bridge – The centralized wastewater treatment plant of the Long Thanh Industrial Park in southern Dong Nai Province has been caught polluting a canal for four years, an environmental agency said.

HCM City authorities have come up with a radical proposal to unclog city roads – allowing taxis to pick up passengers only at designated points rather than cruise around looking for them.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approves a strategy to develop public transport from now until 2020. The project is to ease traffic congestion and reduce accidents as well as environmental pollution in cities and provinces across the country.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday that she would advise the Fund to contribute 28 billion euros (about 36.7 billion U.S. dollars) to the second bailout package for Greece.

In 2011, the Dak Lak provincial people’s committee approved the elephant conservation project worth 61 billion dong, and the Artemisia conservation project worth 50 billion dong.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc has earned a a berth at the 2012 London Olympics after snatching a bronze medal at the Asian Race Walking Championships in Japan on March 11.

The announcement on the petrol price increase by 10 percent released on March 7, has been described as the punch which stunned all people. As such, the worry about high inflation, once forgotten for some time, has been raised again.

The spending turnover via cards increased sharply in 2011, which showed that Vietnamese consumers now put cards into their wallets before going shopping instead of cash.

Vietnam’s trade deficit with RoK widens; SMEs have difficulty using e-invoices in transactions; Vietnam earns US$1.1 billion from exporting mobile phones; Embattled seafood firm threatens closure; Help urged for cashew industry

The State Bank of Vietnam has allocated credit growth rate quotas to banks based on its classification – the reform which is believed to help make the market more transparent.

VietNamNet Bridge – Huynh Thi Ngoc Han, who won the Miss Tourism title in the Miss Vietnam Ethnic 2011, has been honored by the Mayor of Brisbane, Australia, as an outstanding International Student Ambassador.

The Government Inspectorate has announced a plan to scrutinise the operations of Việt Nam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the country's largest telecommunication provider.

The practice of “Wife catching” is when the boy supposedly kidnaps the girl of his dreams at sunset with the help of close friends and keeps her at his family home for three days.

VietNamNet Bridge – Developing green works has become a growing tendency in the construction industry, because experts believe that green works will create a better and more economical living standard.

Both countries have agreed to accelerate the border delineation and land border marker planting to boost border trade and facilitate the exchange of goods.

The first Vietnamese doctor working in the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Dr. Vo Ta Duc always remembers his cyclo riding experience in Vietnam, as part of his miracle.

VietNamNet Bridge – General school and university students complain that they have nowhere to play in break time, because school yards have become business premises.