Ho Chi Minh City plans to spend US$4.23 million helping 13,000 local poor households have a joyful Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, which is the country’s biggest holiday. 

Police in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem district said they started legal proceedings against three defendants involved in trafficking 19 cakes of heroin (equivalent to around 6.2kg) and 431 tablets of meth.

The Mekong Delta province of TraVinh on January 13 launched a project worth US$24.7 million to improve locals’ resilience to climate change. 

Dong Van and MeoVac border districts in the northernmost province of Ha Giang reportedly saw widespread snowfall on the night of January 12, with temperatures dropping to minus one degree Celsius.

The Prime Minister has approved a master plan on biodiversity conservation through 2020 with a vision towards 2030. 

(VOV) -Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) and Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) signed an agreement on January 13 to increase information and cultural exchange.

(VOV) - Jean-Baptiste Ricco – the president of the European Society for Vascular Surgery - has successfully implanted a stent to cure a patient in Long An who suffers from arterial occlusion of the lower extremities.

(VOV) - The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) has disbursed VND4.8 billion from its budget to support families in special difficulty in 37 provinces to enjoy a happy lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

(VOV) -As many as 3,500 overseas Vietnamese in Moscow recently attended a musical performance featuring a host of famous Vietnamese artists to usher in the upcoming lunar New Year of the Horse.

(VOV) -Vietnamese nationals studying at Singaporean universities on January 11 competed in the final round of Music Revolution 2014 – an annual music contest for Vietnamese students in the island nation.

(VOV) - Despite cold weather, thousands of students took part in “Red Sunday” to donate blood at the University of Commerce in Hanoi on January 12. 

(VOV) - Nearly VND150 billion was raised by various organisations and individuals at the seventh “Spring for Children” program held in Hanoi on January 11.

(VOV) - On January 11, four students from the Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnic University were tragically killed in a fire which broke out in ward 14, district 10, HCM City.

(VOV) - Thanh Hoa province offered two cannons and a bronze drum at the grave of late General Vo Nguyen Giap, on January 11, at Tho Mountain, Vung Chua, Quang Trach district, central Quang Binh province.

(VOV) - A Vietnamese Liaison Committee representing the Vietnamese community in Malaysia has made its debut at the Kuala Lumpur-based Vietnamese Embassy.

(VOV) - A January 10 Ho Chi Minh City Association of Farmers initiative has raised more than VND26 billion on behalf of poor farmers.

(VOV) - Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has led a Vietnam Red Cross Society delegation’s visit to Thua Thien-Hue province, presenting Tet gifts to disadvantaged local families on January 11.

(VOV) - Phnom Penh held a January 11 ceremony breaking ground on the Daun Penh Primary School, a special gift from Hanoi. 

(VOV) - Central Nghe An Province’s Military Zone 4 High Command, and the provincial Military Command have held a solemn ceremony laying to rest the remains of 57 voluntary Vietnamese soldiers recovered from battlefields in Laos.

(VOV) - Hanoi has hosted its Start-Up Festival on January 11, a celebration aimed at promoting initiative and an entrepreneurial spirit in Vietnamese youth and students.

(VOV) - The Government Inspectorate will focus on improving the quality of its work in 2014, ensuring the accuracy and objectivity of its investigations.

A worrying rise in drug crime was recorded in 2013 with a growth in the number of cases, arrested suspects and seized drug hauls, Deputy Minister of Public Security Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong reported on January 10. 

Hanoi will pour US$5.7 million into upgrading its medical facilities in 2014 in order to become the country’s healthcare hub by 2020.

Various activities took place around the country on January 10 to mark the 10th founding anniversary of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin. 

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano hailed Vietnam’s consideration and determination to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes, ensuring security and nuclear safety.

The Canadian fund Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) on January 10 announced a primary 7.7 million CAD (US$7.2 million) aid to 22 mental healthcare projects worldwide, including one in Vietnam.

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation has funded a project to help Vietnam better develop legal regulations that ensure sustainable employment and gender equality for labourers.

(VOV) - Russia is scheduled to hand over its second Kilo-class submarine named Ho Chi Minh City to Vietnam later this month.

(VOV) - The Indian Government has decided to grant 150 scholarships to Vietnamese students under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) as of 2012-2013.

(VOV) - Vietnamese mathematicians Professor Phan Quoc Khanh and Professor Hoang Xuan Phu have been elected to the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).