A new study by Grant Thornton reveals the countries where companies expect to see profit growth in 2010.

Women get only around 87 percent of the wages men are paid in Vietnam, the United Nations Development Program has said in a report.

The 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report that was released in Hanoi Tuesday also shows that most women, who make up 46.6 percent of the country’s workforce, work in the informal sector which is not covered by social protection.

At a time when Buddhist pilgrims and tourists are flocking to the Huong (Perfume) Pagoda for the country’s most elaborate spiritual festival, Lao Dong newspaper has exposed a shocking truth: Several restaurants in the pagoda complex are openly slaughtering wild animals.

Traffic accidents killed nearly three people a day in Ho Chi Minh City last year, with 940 people counted dead in the city’s 1,123 road wrecks, along with another 495 injured.

Hanoi will impose fines of up to VND15 million (US$806) for dumping waste in the wrong places, according to a new decision that took effect Wednesday, the local newswire Vnexpress reported.

A film crew from the US’ National Geographic Society will arrive in central Vietnam March 11 to shoot a documentary on the Son Doong Cave, which is believed to be the world’s largest.

Expected rice demand from nations hit by adverse weather could stem a forecasted fall in Vietnamese rice exports of as much as 41 percent in the first quarter of 2010, industry officials and media reports said on Friday.

The Health Ministry on Friday confirmed the country’s first human death from bird flu this year – a 38-year-old woman from the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.

Hanoi is seeking to enlarge its green space by designating 70 percent of its area as “green” corridors.

Five firework teams from the US, Japan, Portugal, France and Vietnam will compete in the third Danang International Fireworks Competition to be held March 27-28.