LUXEMBOURG -- Germany forward Nick Woltemade scored twice in the second half to give the four-time world champions a hard-earned 2-0 win over Luxembourg in their penultimate 2026 World Cup qualifier on Friday, leaving them on the brink of automatic qualification.

Da Nang City, central Vietnam is forecast to face a prolonged period of heavy rainfall beginning Saturday night, with some areas receiving over 700 mm of rain, due to a strengthened cold front combined with an active easterly wind band, according to the central weather center.

RIYADH - Cristiano Ronaldo. Naomi Campbell. Sofia Vergara.

LOS ANGELES -- The popular Labubu dolls that have ignited a global frenzy may light up movie screens in the future, the Hollywood Reporter said on Friday.

VinMetal Joint Stock Company, a newly-established subsidiary of billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong’s Vingroup, has increased its charter capital from VND10 trillion (US$380 million) to VND15 trillion ($570 million), according to its business registration update released on Thursday.

TOKYO -- An international nongovernmental organization tackling environment issues has picked Japan for its Fossil of the Day award, suggesting that the country's efforts to combat climate change are inadequate.

A pair of swivelling, human-like robotic arms, built for physical artificial intelligence research, mirror the motions of an operator in a VR headset twirling his hands like a magician.

A Swiss Gruyere was crowned the 2025 World Cheese Champion on Thursday, seeing off competition from more than 5,000 rivals from 46 countries.

The European Union and Australia have announced more than US$755,000 in new humanitarian assistance for Vietnam to support communities in the central and Central Highlands regions affected by storms Fengshen and Kalmaegi, the 12th and 13th storms to hit the East Vietnam Sea in 2025.

A delegation of Dutch and Vietnamese aquaculture experts on Thursday visited the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve in Ho Chi Minh City to gain deeper insight into the importance of preserving the area’s natural ecosystems.

Extended periods of rain triggered by recent storms in northern and central Vietnam have pushed vegetable and fruit prices up sharply across many traditional markets in Ho Chi Minh City.

Nguyen Van Duoc, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, and German Consul General Andrea Maria Suhl discussed strengthening cooperation in education and training, infrastructure development, and the city’s international financial center plan during a reception for the diplomat on Wednesday.

Jordan expressed its readiness to support Vietnam in developing its halal industry and to open its market to Vietnamese halal products during a high-level meeting between Vietnam’s State President Luong Cuong and Jordan’s King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Motorola has officially announced its return to Vietnam’s smartphone market, with the launch of five innovative phone models after nearly a decade away.

SEOUL -- Flights are temporarily halted, the stock market will trade an hour later and parents are packing shrines for prayers -- it can only be college entry exam day for South Korean students.

BRUSSELS -- Europe's telecoms operators are set to gain access to the bulk of key spectrum coveted also by internet providers, with the backing of an advisory body to the European Commission, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

TOKYO -- The Japanese government and the ruling coalition are considering a plan to raise the so-called departure tax from the current 1,000 yen per person to 3,000 yen or more to fund measures against overtourism, informed sources said Thursday.

The Ho Chi Minh City administration has announced that the city’s metro line No. 2, which runs from Ben Thanh Station in the city center to Tham Luong Station in the northwest, will officially get off the ground on January 15 next year, with construction set to start the following day.

A high school chemistry teacher in Vietnam’s Gia Lai Province has been fired after a video showed her hitting students on the hands with a plastic ruler for failing to complete assignments, provincial education authorities said on Wednesday.

OpenAI asked a federal judge in New York on Wednesday to reverse an order that required it to turn over 20 million anonymized ChatGPT chat logs amid a copyright infringement lawsuit by the New York Times and other news outlets, saying it would expose users' private conversations.

Vietnam’s top chess grandmaster Le Quang Liem has advanced to the round of 16 at the 2025 FIDE World Cup after defeating India’s Karthik Venkataraman on Wednesday, logging the best result by a Vietnamese player in the tournament’s history.

A magnitude-4.8 earthquake struck Houaphanh Province in Laos, bordering Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa Province, late on Wednesday night, with tremors felt across several northern and north-central localities, including Hanoi.

Good morning from Vietnam!

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Wednesday that a proposed supplementary budget will include spending to help local governments address attacks by bears.

TOKYO -- The Japanese government plans to raise its visa issuance fees in fiscal 2026, which starts next April.

Vietnam’s Minister of Public Security General Luong Tam Quang provided explanations regarding a proposal to grant prisoners the right to donate organs and tissues, and to preserve their eggs or sperm, at a National Assembly (NA) sitting on Wednesday morning.

Nutifood has announced a bold global expansion plan, partnering with Australia’s ViPlus Dairy to bring its premium Nutifood GippsNature products to international markets.

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of US$19.56 billion in January-October, driven by the foreign-invested sector, according to data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Finance.

Every weekend, a group of young volunteers in Buon Ma Thuot, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam gathers to collect trash from public spaces, hoping to make their hometown cleaner and greener.

Vietnam’s tourism authorities said on Wednesday that about 72,000 tourists from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will visit Da Nang on charter flights next year, as the central coastal city seeks to revive one of its key international markets.

Fifty workers developed food poisoning symptoms after eating lunch at a company on National Highway 1A in Dong Hung Thuan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, local authorities said on Tuesday.

Global demand for air conditioning could more than triple by 2050, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, calling for more sustainable cooling solutions.

A Chinese woman who masterminded a multibillion-dollar bitcoin scam and evaded authorities for years was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in jail by a UK court Tuesday.

One or two storms or tropical depressions could form over the East Vietnam Sea between now and December 10, possibly affecting Vietnam's mainland, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said on Tuesday.

TOKYO -- A team of researchers from entities such as the Institute of Science Tokyo said Tuesday they have developed an artificial intelligence model that can detect a high risk of diabetes using only electrocardiogram (ECG) data.