Russia and Vietnam have successfully completed bilateral talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the economics ministry said Friday.

On July 3, 2007 the World Bank Board of Directors approved US$155.21 million for the Hanoi Urban Transport Development Project to promote environmentally sustainable transport modes and urban development plans, and to replicate the model country and region-wide.

For the first time, scientists have used satellite images to demonstrate a link between rapid city growth and rainfall patterns, as well as to assess compliance with an international treaty to protect wetlands.

Japanese oil firm Nippon Oil Corp. said on Thursday, May 24th that it has begun development of an oil field offshore Vietnam.

Vietnamese authorities say the H5N1 strain of bird flu has struck farms in four provinces in Vietnam, killing almost 2,000 unvaccinated ducks. Authorities said Tuesday the virus has been found in the three northern provinces of Son La, Quang Ninh, Nam Dinh and in the country's southern Mekong Delta province of Can Tho.

Executives from eighteen major U.S. corporations are in Vietnam, meeting with senior government officials at a conference sponsored by the US-ASEAN Business Council. As Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi, they are looking for ways to take advantage of Vietnam's recent entry into the World Trade Organization.