Eighth National Patriotic Emulation Congress to open on Dec 27; Book on Vietnam-Laos special relations appraised; Cambodian, Vietnamese parliamentarians boost cooperation

VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam News Agency has selected ten highlights of Vietnam in 2010 which record the country’s development over the year.

A hotpot restaurant in China's northern Shandong province has unveiled its new staff - a team of robots. Automated waiters and female robot dancers move between tables, offering trays of food and drinks.

Universal Studio's comedy " Little Fockers" has notched a win over the Academy Award favorite "True Grit" over the Christmas weekend, taking in 34 million dollars in ticket stub sales in North America box office,

With the United States’ debt now slightly higher than GDP, long-term market view is getting riskier.

South Korea on Sunday reported two more foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks as the high contagious appears to be spreading faster in the country.

1,500 delegates from around the country are about to be honored at the 8th National Patriotic Emulation Congress, which opened in Hanoi on Monday.

New York City airports canceled more than 1,000 flights on Sunday as a snow blizzard made its way through the east coast.

VietNamNet Bridge – Walker Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc from Da Nang finished first in the women's 20km walk at the sixth National Sport Games, which kicked off in Da Nang city on Saturday.

City opens New Year Greeting Festival; US writers’ books on Vietnam war hit shelves; Japanese Animated films to be screened in Hanoi; HCMC fest a feast of cuisines; Son La tourism-cultural week 2010 to be held

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday it would provide a technical assistance grant to support the establishment of a railway coordination office in the five Mekong nations where railways have developed independently.

VietNamNet Bridge – Supermarkets mostly sell domestic goods for Tet, while counterfeit goods are flooding traditional markets.

Vietnam Airlines Corp. has estimated its 2010 revenue will surpass VND36.2 trillion (US$1.86 billion), a whopping increase of 47.3% from last year, and pre-tax profit will exceed VND350 billion (US$18 million), up 130% year-on-year.

Many years ago, Vietnam kicked off the 1-million ton sugar programme, deciding that it needs to produce one million tons of sugar by 2000. However, the target remains out of reach, while Vietnam expects to import one million tons of sugar by 2020.

VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City officials and thousands of people on December 25 saw Prof. Tran Van Giau to the last resting place.

VietNamNet Bridge – It is expected that the Tet bonuses to be offered by foreign invested enterprises to their staff will be half as much or double that of the previous year.

VietNamNet Bridge – “Vietnamese mobile service providers have fallen into the trap set by the ‘bitten apple’” is the conclusion which has become a hot topic on information and communication technology (ICT) forum.

VietNamNet Bridge – The project to teach English to secondary school students has been described as “setting many ambitious goals”.

VietNamNet Bridge – The car market, which had been gloomy for many months, has suddenly heated up as people are rushing to buy cars to avoid higher ownership registration tax.

VietNamNet Bridge – Streets were stuck. Restaurants were fully booked. Kids laughed with Santa Clauses. Couples showed their love at churches. Below are pictures of the Christmas celebrations in Vietnam’s two biggest cities.