VietNamNet Bridge – A report by Media Tenor 2011, an international media company, on Vietnam’s image on international television channels, shows that Vietnam has to exert effort to be mentioned by the international media.

Three people were confirmed dead and 40 were injured after a luxury cruise liner carrying over 4,200 passengers ran aground off the Italian coast on Friday night, local media reported on Saturday.

The dragon has been a long time symbol of loyalty and power in Vietnamese culture and spiritual life. The sacred creature deeply influences people's activities, particularly royalty of the past.

Experts say economy vulnerable this year; Local businesses allowed to import 2,100 tonnes of gold; Cbank to evaluate local banks credit rating; Ministry initiates securities companies restructuring; Government bans mineral ores exports

A Visa survey on world travel in 2011 indicates 24% of international tourists who plan to visit Vietnam in the coming time come from Singapore and Thailand.

This is the major goal set by more than 200 chief executive officials (CEOs) from governmental agencies, ministries, local and foreign businesses and investment funds at an ongoing international forum in Hanoi.

The cost of a seat for watching fireworks on the Lunar New Year’s Eve is 500,000 dong, which is twice as expensive the last year’s level. However, a lot of people are still rich enough to book the seats at the restaurants around the Hoan Kiem Lake.

Inspectors in 2011 discovered economic violations worth more than VND8.5 trillion (US$408 million) through 75,600 inspections in State and socio-economic management.

VietNamNet Bridge – On January 7 of 33 years ago, Vietnamese volunteer army and Cambodian revolutionary armed forces together liberated Cambodia, saving this country from genocide.

The United States, Japan and South Korea will hold a trilateral dialogue in Washington next Tuesday on the recent developments in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the U.S. State Department announced on Thursday.

National excellent students are the best students of the nations who deserve to be gloried. However, in many cases, students have to pay a too “heavy price” for their achievements.

VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung confirmed that Vietnam is determined to build nuclear power plants, otherwise the country will be in serious shortage of power.

In 2011, the Electricity of Vietnam EVN incurred the loss of 3500 billion dong instead of 11 trillion dong as previously forecast. Analysts said that the low cost electricity from hydropower plants really have “rescued EVN.”

The virus surveillance system of BKAV, a well known network security solution provider in Vietnam, said that about 64.2 million computers in Vietnam were infected with viruses in 2011, which meant that 175,000 computers got viruses every day.

An Israeli company has developed a system that scans the brain and provides a three dimensional image of the nerve cell connectivity to treat brain diseases like Alzheimer's or HDHD.

Veteran writer Nguyen Xuan Khanh won the Viet Nam Writers Association Book of the Year prize for his novel Doi Gao Len Chua (Bring Rice to the Pagoda).

The Vietnam Environment Administration officially launched the largest ever biodiversity conservation project on January 12, aiming to establish a biodiversity corridor in three central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.

The number of enterprises which pay industrial wastewater charge for environmental protection has been shrinking, a recent survey has found.

With its distinctive culture, beautiful natural landscapes and affordability, Vietnam has emerged as one of the top destinations for travellers from Singapore, Thailand, Australia and South Korea.

VietNamNet Bridge – Tranh Khuc village in Thanh Tri district, Hanoi, is specialized in making banh chung (square glutinous rice cake). Villagers are hastily producing banh chung for the lunar New Year, which is coming in two weeks.