(VOV) - The Vietnamese embassy in Cairo hosted a Lunar New Year (Tet) get-together on January 18 for Vietnamese nationals residing and working in Egypt.

(VOV) -Vietnam jumped three places to rank 28th in the 2013 English Proficiency Index report recently announced by EF Education First – a global language training company.

(VOV) -Hanoi’s young people donated more than 1,000 units of blood in a festival on January 18 to tackle blood shortages at hospitals during the coming Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival.

(VOV) -The northern province of Bac Ninh – a gateway to the capital city of Hanoi – is put on alert after bird flu has spread across a number of its localities.

(VOV) - Vietnam has won a high profile lawsuit in which South Fork Ltd Company of the US sued the Binh Thuan provincial People’s Committee for an indemnity of US$3.75 billion for costs and expenses it spent on its project.

(VOV) -The capital city is intensifying efforts to prevent the deadly A(H7N9) avian flu virus strain entering its territory, especially when the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday is drawing near.

(VOV) - At least three fishermen were killed and one remains missing after a fishing boat overturned off Thuan An beach in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on January 18.

(VOV) -Taiwan’s Vietnamese community held a January 17 get-together in capital Taipei to celebrate the coming Lunar New Year (Tet) Festival.

(VOV) - Russia on January 16 handed over its second Kilo-class submarine to Vietnam, Russia’s news agency Interfax-AVN quoted sources.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a loan of US$22.5 million and a grant of US$500,000 to help Vietnam implement a project on sustainable rural development for the poor. 

By 2020, 100 percent of the new investment projects in energy-intensive industries, potentially causing serious pollution to the environment, must meet the standards and technical regulations on clean technology.

Vietnam is striving to perfect its laws and policies to foster the rights of disabled people and plans to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2014.

(VOV) - A delegation from the Cambodian provinces of Svay Rieng and Prey Veng  has paid a New Year visit to the Mekong Delta province of Long An.

(VOV) -The Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee and representatives of Japan’s Saitama prefecture have signed a January 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding their cooperation and friendship.

(VOV) -Border guards in the central province of Quang Binh have intercepted an attempt to smuggle illegal firecrackers across the Lao border and into Vietnam.

(VOV) - Vietnam and China have shared hosting duties for the third ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) Plus Expert Working Group on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief on January 17.

The Bridge Asia Japan (BAJ) organisation has decided to help farmers in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue develop planting and breeding models for small scale production. 

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) held a seminar on wireless network infrastructure in coordination with Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication on January 16 in Hanoi.

(VOV) - The Vietnamese Embassy in Algeria on January 16 hosted a reception for Vietnamese people living and working there.

(VOV) - Scientists from Hanoi National University (HNU) have announced the initial results of a scientific study of Vietnamese genes (also known as genomes) and how they compare with other races of the world.

(VOV) -Cooperation for sustainable development in the greater Mekong sub-region (GMS) is one of the Vietnamese Government‘s top priorities-a key cooperation area between Vietnam and the US as well as in the framework of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI).

(VOV) -The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on January 16 launched a US$26 million climate change project in Nam Dinh province.

(VOV) - A Hanoi People’s Court on January 16 sentenced a Son La-born resident to death charged with heroin trading.

(VOV) - Saint Petersburg University will host a seminar on January 18 to examine issues relating to Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago.

The people’s Committee of the northern province of Dien Bien has said it will cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize many cultural events this year to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory over the French colonialists.

The Government will tighten management of universities this year following a recent decision by the Prime Minister.

President Truong Tan Sang has praised the procuracy sector for its important contributions to protecting justice as well as the legitimate rights of the State and people.

The Government has issued a resolution to speed up the realisation of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on health care in Vietnam, according to the Government Portal.

(VOV) - Association of Vietnamese Cities (ACVN) General Secretary Vu Thi Vinh has led a delegation to the ASEAN DELGOSEA local governance conference in Bangkok on January 15-16.

(VOV) - Six dead bodies of miners have been pulled out of a coal pit in Quang Ninh province after suffocating in a fire 100m deep underground on January 15.