President Truong Tan Sang asked for more efforts from both Vietnam and France to raise two-way trade above the current $3 billion while receiving President of the French National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Elisabeth Guigou.

 Meticulous preparations have been made for the 25th Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which is hosted by Vietnam in 2017, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said at a forum held in Hanoi on December 16.

 The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on December 16 opened a trial for violators of regulations on lending in credit organisations’ activity and fraudulence at the branch 7 of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

Banks in the last three years have rushed to provide retail banking services, encouraged by the increased spending of middle-class income earners. Fifty-three percent of the 95 million population are of working age.

 Germany said on Tuesday that Facebook, Google and Twitter have agreed to delete hate speech from their websites within 24 hours, a new step in the fight against rising online racism following the refugee crisis.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Indian Yoga Association (IYA) opened its first Viet Nam office at VYOGA on 59 Nguyen Thai Binh Street in HCM City's Tan Binh District yesterday, Dec 15.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The National Futsal Cup is scheduled to kick off at Rach Mieu Gymnasium in HCM City on December 21.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Do Khanh Binh brought home a gold medal from the first Asian Weiqi (Go) Open Championship 2015-Fulda Cup in Malaysia, which ran last week.

 Vietnamese karate martial artists have recently bagged a total of five gold medals at Malaysian Open karatedo tournament in combat event.

 Missosology on December 14 chose Vietnamese representative Pham Huong in the first place of its top 15 sixth Official Hot Picks for Miss Universe 2015.

Despite not appearing in top 13 of Miss World’s talent contest, Vietnamese representative Lan Khue was still selected to perform at ‘Dances of the world’audition shows in the upcoming final night.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held an award ceremony on December 15 to honour winners of the festival of photos, reportage and documentary films on peoples in the ASEAN Community.

 ArchDaily has cited the 2.5 House (a/k/a Khuon Studio) in the Tan Binh District of Ho Chi Minh City as one of the architectural masterpieces of the world.

  Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Panyarak Poolthup has been awarded the insignia “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations for his dedication to Vietnam-Thailand relations.  

 Asian stocks rose briskly on Wednesday, with sentiment lifting as Wall Street rose before a likely hike in U.S. interest rates, while the dollar held to large gains made as Treasury yields picked up.

 Japan is willing to share experience with Vietnam in training peacekeepers and building up units to perform UN peacekeeping operations.

VietNamNet Bridge - The valuation of Vietnamese companies on the stock market is lower than 40-50 percent than in neighboring markets, according to Dominic Scriven.

 Malaysia has invited Vietnam to participate in the Defence Services Asia Exhibition and Conference, which is scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur in April 2016.

 National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung held talks with visiting President of the Cambodia Senate Samdech Say Chhum in Hanoi on December 16.

The HBSO Symphony Orchestra will perform the Unfinished Symphony by Austrian composer Franz Schubert under the baton of well-known conductor Tran Vuong Thach at the HCM City Opera House on Saturday.