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).

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.

State management agencies have reported a sharp increase in the number of businesses which went bankrupted or halted operation in the first two months of the year, warning that the situation would only be improved after the second quarter of 2012.

Can a person's DNA be changed by something, such as exercise? The answer is absolutely yes.

The vice chief inspector of the Government Inspectorate Tran Duc Luong said in an interview with an online newswire, that it is the best for officials to refuse presents.

Coca-Cola Co. announced Thursday that it will lower the levels of the 4-methylimidazole (4-MI) chemical in sodas to meet requirements of California law that may have mandated a cancer warning label on bottles and cans.

It now seems to be the most difficult period for cashew exporters. The export prices have plummeted, while the export markets have been narrowed, and enterprises do not have money to collect materials in the harvesting season.

VietNamNet Bridge – "You can relax on a sand bank, swim or row out to nearby islands, or even climb up to discover wild caves. It sounds good, doesn't it?"