Work began on the construction of a high school, a gift from General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, in Laos’ Bolykhamxay province on December 13. 

VOV.VN - Border guards in the central province of Quang Tri arrested two men on December 12 who were found in possession of 2,369 tablets of synthetic drugs which they were attempting to smuggle from Laos to Vietnam.

VOV.VN - The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting issued an advisory on December 13 regarding a tropical depression which has formed in the south-eastern waters of the central Philippines. 

 An investment promotion conference to improve the food value chain in the Mekong Delta was held in Can Tho city on December 12, attracting more than 150 experts, businesses and investors from Vietnam and abroad. 

The Ministry of Public Security’s Police Investigation Agency on December 12 issued a decision launching criminal proceedings against five former officials of the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) accused of deliberately violating State rules on economic management.

A cold spell continued strengthening in the northern region on December 12, according to the National Hydrology Meteorology Forecast Centre.

The People’s Procuracy in the Central Highland province of Dak Nong approved an arrest warrant against Chairman of the People’s Committee of Truong Xuan commune, Pham Quoc Thuy.

VOV.VN - Vietnamese student Le Huynh Duc from Nguyen Hue High School for Gifted Student in Hanoi won a silver medal at the 15th International Russian Language Olympiad, according to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training. 

Vietnam presented a printing factory for the Lao book publishing and distribution house to Laos in Vientiane on December 12.

 The AEON 1% Club Foundation, a member of Japanese retail and financial services corporation AEON, granted 60 scholarships to Vietnamese university students at a ceremony held in Hanoi on December 12.

A ceremony was held in Hanoi on December 12 to  celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association.

VOV.VN - A get-together with Cambodian alumni was held in HCM City on December 12 by the Ministry of Education and Training to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic relations. 

Authorities in Da Lat, a popular tourist destination in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, are gathering feedback from residents on plans for the new face of the city’s center.

Night after night, thousands of cubic metres of sand and gravel have been illegally mined from a portion of the Cau River, causing erosion and affecting the dyke system for 200ha of agricultural land, online newspaper phapluatplus.vn reported.

Asia-Middle East-Western Europe (SMW-3) submarine cable troubles are expected to be fixed between December 21-26, 2017 instead of December 10 as planned, according to a representative from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group (VNPT).

Relevant organisations and agencies should join hands to create a safe internet environment for children, said Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Hong Lan.

 The number of e-visa issues for foreigners entering Vietnam has seen dramatic growth month on month, said Major General Le Xuan Vien, head of the Immigration Management Department in a press conference on December 12.

Vietnamese and Danish experts and architects gathered at a seminar themed “Danish Week-Sustainable City Solutions” in Hanoi on December 12, to share experience in urban planning policies and solutions to the development of green and sustainable cities.

Hanoi should finalise regulations on construction management to eliminate overlapping responsibilities between agencies, and also to clarify inspection duties to better deter construction violations, experts have said.

Vietnam’s development and cultural issues and the world’s experiences were discussed at a seminar jointly held by the Party Central Committee’s Theory Council and the Vietnam National Academy of Social Sciences in Hanoi on December 12. 

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide nearly US$800,000 for the continuation of a project to raise the capacity of the Vietnam Red Cross and its chapters to manage disaster risks, conduct first aid, and care for people’s health in emergency situation.

VOV.VN - The HCMUS-NyanCat team of Ho Chi Minh City University of Science have successfully won the championship of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) of Asia held in Yangon, Myanmar on December 10.

Organisations, enterprises and individuals who wish to use environmental data provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment many have to pay up to 2.8 million VND (123 USD) in the future.

VOV.VN - The young Vietnamese team bagged three gold, 11 silver, and 24 bronze medals at the Challenge for Future Mathematicians held in Malaysia from December 8-11.

The aid package of nearly US$1 million committed by the Government of the Republic of Korea (RoK) in early November will be used to assist poor and near-poor Vietnamese families affected by typhoon Damrey to rebuild their houses. 

Ho Chi Minh City wants to increase government workers’ salaries so that they match at least the minimum wage in the industrial sector.

Hanoi’s Culture and Sports Department has sent a letter urging the municipal People’s Committee to preserve an archaeological site dating back to 1,000 BC in the city’s western outskirts.

Hoping to turn an idea into reality, six people with the same drive and passion devoted their time to finding the optimal solution to daily rubbish problem.

A conference was opened in Hanoi on December 11 to make a mid-term review on the implementation of the Vietnam Green Growth Strategy in the northern region.

The Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts and the Hanoi-based Goethe Institute on December 11 launched a training programme on preserving and restoring documents and items made of paper with the assistance of German conservator Monika Schneidereit-Gast.