Apple announced Thursday that over 15 billion applications have been downloaded from its App Store by more than 200 million Apple mobile devices users worldwide.

A public inquiry into the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World, a best selling Sunday newspaper to be closed after this Sunday, would be staged, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Friday.

Obesity rates in the United States climbed over the past year in 16 states, and not a single state reported a decline in the proportion of excessively overweight residents, according to a report released on Thursday.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday apologized for the disarray due to the delay of restarting nuclear power plants in Saga prefecture by the sudden issuance of additional stress tests.

Thailand's elected prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra rejected as groundless reports that she planned to go to Hong Kong to meet her elder brother, the fugitive ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, on Sunday to discuss the cabinet lineup.

U.S. space shuttle Atlantis lifted off on Friday morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on the 135th and final flight in NASA's shuttle program.

Sua trees (Dalbergia cochinchinensis - Alstonia) on Hanoi’s Xuan Thuy Road have been put on with “armours” to be safe from loggers.

Nguyen Tan Dung, Vietnam’s prime minister, warned recently that his country would “resolutely fight activities that infringe our sovereignty”.

VietNamNet Bridge – Chief of the Sea Police Agency of Vietnam, Lieutenant General Pham Duc Linh, said that in early 2012, the sea police force will be equipped with big vessels, which can make long voyages, and aircraft.

VietNamNet Bridge – Pristine beaches and fresh seafood have lured Russian tourists, part of the top-ten travellers to Viet Nam during the past five years, to the coastal cities of Nha Trang and Phan Thiet.

Cassava exports total $590 million; Digital signatures get go-ahead; Regulators draft new securities rules; Industrial output hits record high; HCM City declares victory on inflation; Online bids may help VN suppliers

Bankers say only a few of SOEs have sold foreign currencies to bankers over the last week, since the day the Circular No 13, which asks state owned economic groups and general corporations to sell foreign currencies to banks, took effect on July 1.

VietNamNet Bridge – On the night of July 3, 2011, nearly 200 websites with the domain names “.vn”, “.com” and “.net” on the same server were attacked. The websites included the one of the Binh Duong provincial Finance Department.

VietNamNet Bridge - Smog has filled the air in central Hanoi during the past three days, but experts cannot agree on its origin or cause.

Space shuttle Atlantis will soar into the sky Friday on NASA's 135th and final flight. Its scheduled return to Earth later this month will mark the end of NASA's 30-year space program.

The monetary market has cooled down when the deposit interest rates negotiated between banks and clients have decreased by 1-2 percent. Some banks now even quote the deposit interest rates lower than the ceiling level of 14 percent per annum.

Filipino President Benigno S.C. Aquino III said he had directed Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario to resolve disputes in the East Sea in his upcoming visit to China.

The resettlement plan to relocate thousands of people in Hoan Kiem District's Old Quarter to the Viet Hung New Urban Area will soon be finalised and submitted for official approval of the Ha Noi People's Committee this August

The real estate credit now accounts for 10 percent of the total outstanding loans of the banking system. In the last two years, when banks’ credit grows rapidly, the loans poured into the real estate sector also increase accordingly.

VietNamNet Bridge – Public kindergartens in Ha Noi have been ordered to give priority to five-year-old children as part of a move to universalise pre-school education.

The Labour Code of Viet Nam has been undergoing considerable debate and re-drafting. With the participation of the International Labour Organisation, Vietnamese lawmakers have attempted to standardise certain provisions of domestic law.

"China has officially committed itself to deploying aircraft-carrier task forces, a program that has evidently been under way since 2009".

VietNamNet Bridge - The US, Japanese and Australian navies on July 9 will hold a joint drill in the East Sea - most of which China claims as its maritime territory - Japan's defence ministry said.

VietNamNet Bridge - The tourism industry has earned 62 trillion VND (roughly 3.038 billion USD) from providing services for almost 2.97 million international tourists and 17.5 million local holidaymakers in the first half of 2011.

VietNamNet Bridge - Saigontourist Holdings Co broke ground for a project to expand the 85-year-old Majestic Hotel in HCM City's District 1 yesterday.