The Emir of the State of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, will pay an official visit to Vietnam on January 16-17, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Vietnam is not experiencing a banking crisis, despite a quick increase in non-performing loans recently and plans to restructure the troubled sector, the central bank governor, Nguyen Van Binh, said on Thursday.

VietNamNet Bridge – This year HCM City will need nearly VND47 trillion ($2.3 billion) to implement key projects, such as the urban rail route No. 1, the Saigon 2 bridge, ten bridges on Provincial Road 9, etc.

Ten Vietnamese crewmembers who are in the custody of Thai authorities after their ship sank due to a collision with a royal Thai Navy boat will be tried for allegedly violating Thailand’s territorial waters, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said.

The year 2012 is believed to be one more difficult year of the national economy. Therefore, where to inject money in proves to be an inextricable question for many investors.

VietNamNet Bridge – Since domestic tours are getting more and more expensive, Vietnamese travelers now tend to go abroad on Tet holiday.

VietNamNet Bridge – The plan on turning Vietnam into an information technology (IT) power was kicked off last year. However, nothing important has been done so far.

VietNamNet Bridge – It is not the ‘fashion’ but it is no longer unusual for rich men on the Vietnamese stock market to own a football club.

A five-kilometre long illegal road has been constructed in order to facilitate the destruction of a protected forest in Quang Ngai Province’s Bac Tra My District.

Scientists announced the discovery of the most distant galaxy cluster ever seen in the early universe at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society held in Austin, Texas.

VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to rapidly settle the TV right dispute between VFF, AVG Group and VPF to quickly serve football fans of the Super League 2012.

It’s now the time for universities to sprint to look for more lecturers to meet the new requirements of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).

Protection of citizens will continue to be one of the important tasks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in 2012, said MoFA spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi at the ministry’s regular meeting in Hanoi on Thursday.

VietNamNet Bridge – The high tax rate of 40,000 dong per kilo on nylon bags has prompted seafood export processing companies to think of importing bags.

VietNamNet Bridge – An advanced electronic customs clearance procedure system has been experimentally implemented for inbound and outbound cargo ships at the HCM City Port from Wednesday,

A lot of the US brands have appeared on the Vietnamese market recently. Meanwhile, experts believe that the US franchised food chains would be much bigger than now.

HCMC authorities have urged the city police to launch a hotline connecting to emergency services to gather information about robberies as well as establish a tourist police unit to provide security for tourists.

Casual marijuana smoking can cause no long-term damage to lungs, according to a new study in Tuesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

VietNamNet Bridge – Flowers are arranged on the 2km bank and on boats at the flower market along Tau Hu canal in District 8, HCM City.

The National Assembly (NA) Law Committee has proposed applying different maximum administrative fines for individuals and organisations.

Airliners increase flights for Tet; 3 scenarios for Vietnam’s 2012 economic growth; Increasing withdrawal makes banks short of cash; Stiff competition awaits local rice exporters; Motorbike market gloomy as customers tighten spending

“Sit and wait to see the inflation going down in 2012, even if we do nothing to force the inflation down,” said Deputy Chair of the National Finance Supervision Council Le Xuan Nghia.

Both the traffic toll fee for motorcycles and automobiles and peak hour fee on automobiles plying within city limits are aimed at easing traffic congestion and constraining use of private-owned vehicles, explained the Ministry of Transport.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will erect a bronze statue of late leader Kim Jong Il, the latest in a series of measures to commemorate him, the official news agency KCNA reported Thursday.

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is expected to be about 100 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2012, five dollars per barrel higher than the average price in 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday.