China and South Africa have joined Japan in suspending imports of Brazilian beef over an atypical case of mad cow disease, an official from the agriculture ministry said.

Because of family honor, their own face or the fear of being beaten to death ..., many wives do not dare to denounce, but stand up for their husband when the authorities conduct an investigation against their husbands.

 U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he won't nominate Susan Rice, the current American ambassador to the United Nations, as his next secretary of state.

The Department of Education and Training, the Bureau of Population and Family Planning and the Department of Health in HCM City will jointly organize a sex education program in 16 junior high schools in Ho Chi Minh City

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s Government has promulgated a decree regulating the operation of foreign military ships arriving and departing from visits in the Southeast Asia country.

  PM to head for ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit; Central Military Commission convenes year-end meeting; Haiti PM to visit Vietnam; Vietnam regrets DPRK satellite launch

VietNamNet Bridge - In the marathon program "Pole To Pole: Vietnam", Australian athlete Pat Farmer completed the trip from Mong Cai to Hanoi on December 13.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many commercial housing projects are about to be transferred into social housing projects for low income earners.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Prime Minister has approved a target plan to preserve and promote the value of relics in the ancient capital city of Hue from 2013 to 2020, with an investment capital of VND800 billion ($40 million).

The research team of the Vietnam Education Science Institute has suggested the integrated and individualized teaching methods for the general school curriculums, which would be applied after 2015.

Though the year 2012 would come to an end in a couple of weeks, a lot of people have been hunting for cheap air tickets for their tourism plans in 2013. In order to obtain low cost tickets, they have to book tickets many months in advance.

The big hostile takeover deals and the huge transactions to increase the ownership ratios in companies prove to be the main reasons behind the appearance of many new faces in the 2012 stock millionaires’ list.

While other governments in the world reconsider hydropower plant development strategies and the world’s big organizations do not fund hydropower projects any more, Vietnam still cherishes a keen desire to develop hydropower.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), some small telcos have been driven into lamentable positions.

Big cities, which once fed whole families of immigrant workers, have turned out to be the severe land for them in the current economic crisis. Returning to home villages and working on rice fields proves to be the only choice for them now.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Two contemporary art exhibitions, titled “Measuring the World” by artists Nguyen Huy An, Yuichiro Tamura and Kumpei Miyata, and “Utopia” by Tuan Mami, is taking place at the Japan Foundation Centre

Formosa Plastics has just started the construction of the first blast furnace of the steel mill in Vung Ang economic zone. However, industry experts say they feel worry instead of joy about the project which may bring unforeseen consequences.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A 285-page book titled the Corpus of Inscriptions of Champa which has been translated from the ancient Cham language (Sanskrit) into English and Vietnamese, was launched at the Cham Sculpture Museum yesterday.

Vietnam, Mongolia recognise market economy status; Small businesses face distribution problems in HCMC; Economists outline Vietnam’s economy for 2013; Real estate market set to bottom out next year

 VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi has been ranked 21st among 100 cities in the world that are most attractive in software outsourcing by the latest report of outsourcing advisory firm Tholons.