The fact that consumers are tightening their belt in the year-end shopping season has caused headache to manufacturers.

Vietnam has been developing open source software for the last 10 years, but it has witnessed no considerable progress so far, according to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

VietNamNet Bridge – Despite deciding that information technology (IT) will play a very important role in the development of the knowledge-based economy, Vietnam still looks puzzled in preparing the labour force for the industry.

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Construction has asked the Government to continue to give preferential treatment to enterprises that are implementing housing projects for workers in industrial zones and low-income families in urban areas.

VietNamNet Bridge – An epidemic has killed about 100 buffalo and other cattle in Phong Tho District in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau since September.

VietNamNet Bridge – Fishing nets and fish cages along rivers and canals in the Cuu Long (Mekong) delta have caused waterway accidents, said deputy director of the Southern Inland Waterway Administration Dong Huu Phong.

VietNamNet Bridge – The owner of an iron ore mine in the highlands of northern Cao Bang Province is struggling to remove debris left after a tailings dam was destroyed in a landslide more than a month ago.

VietNamNet Bridge – The lighting system installed on the HCM City – Trung Luong Highway is responsible for damaging rice crops of a special variety, and the project investor should compensate farmers for losses suffered, officials say.

VietNamNet Bridge – Concrete and appropriate policies are needed to ensure ethnic minorities participate fully in the nation's economy, said Be Truong Thanh, vice standing chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs . . .

VietNamNet Bridge – There are far more poor people in HCM City than in Ha Noi when a multi-dimensional poverty approach is adopted, despite higher average incomes in the southern city.

Strengthening Vietnam-Mongolia cooperation; Denmark helps upgrade flood-destroyed road; Vietnam attends Asia-Middle East dialogue forum; Indonesian assembly chairman to visit VN

VietNamNet Bridge – President Nguyen Minh Triet promulgated Viet Nam's first Environmental Tax Law as well as new Insurance Business an and Securities Laws yesterday, Dec 15.

VietNamNet Bridge – A seminar to warm up a project for cleaning up hotspots of dioxin contamination in Vietnam was held in Hanoi on December 15.

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam needs active support from the francophone community in sharing experiences in institutional mechanism, solutions and resources to cope with climate change and to establish a mechanism . . .

VietNamNet Bridge – Many top singers are scrambling to release their traditional year-end album to mark the festive season and are receiving a warm welcome from fans.

VietNamNet Bridge – A playful exhibition by Finnish artist Maritta Nurmi entitled After the End of Art Anything Goes, has opened at Art Viet Nam Gallery in Ha Noi.

Protesters fought with police across Athens on Wednesday during a general strike over the government's latest austerity measures.

At least 27 suspected asylum seekers have died after their boat smashed against rocks on Christmas Island of Australia, according to the latest report from Australian authorities.

A total of 38 people were killed and 50 others were wounded in a suicide attack in southeastern Iran on Wednesday, the local satellite Press TV reported.

A Russian spaceship with three astronauts on board was launched from the Kazakh Baikonur space center on Wednesday night, local TV footage showed.