A renowned professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has been in a coma in a Hanoi hospital since December 5, after being struck by a motorbike. Seymour Papert is a computer education pioneer who was working on a computer model of Hanoi traffic before the accident. The tragedy has brought attention to the high death tolls on Vietnam's roads. In Hanoi, Matt Steinglass has more.

U.S. lawmakers have focused on two situations in Africa as they wind down their business in the 109th Congress .

The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced that it will provide $100,000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in support of the Vietnam Red Cross, for emergency relief supplies to the areas most affected by Typhoon Durian (also known as Typhoon Reming).

Vietnam's new Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) represents a credible and financially-sustainable strategy to promote growth and poverty reduction over the next five years, the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors said at its meeting today.