Vietnam is an emerging market economy with 90 million people and exhibits many relevant properties of a transition system.

The General Police Department of Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security has confirmed that Nguyen Duc Kien – Vice President of Asia Commercial Bank (HSX: ACB) was arrested.

During the Soviet period, the Communist Party was domineering over all state institutions: in fact the country was managed by the Communist Party. It ruled with the confidence that this would last forever.

Russia’s invasion of Georgia is always on the agenda. Now at the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, Presidents Putin and Saakashvili have opened new details of the confrontation.

Originally published on FC Novosti.

Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has ratified the agreement on a free trade zone (FTZ) with former Soviet countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) despite weak countermeasures of opposition. Thus, a priori, Kiev almost managed to implement the idea of "keeping a foot in both worlds" simultaneously carrying out duty-free trade with the West and the East. However, the word "almost" means that the country’s EU plans still remain only dreams.

The euro zone countries face unusually turbulent developments. Some of them are suffering financial catastrophes and send SOS signals to their partners. The latter promise some help in response, put forward their own terms, but still are tight with the lifelines.

If the EU plays its cards badly, a "Belarus scenario" in which Russia would regain influence over the former Soviet Republic is possible in Ukraine, Darius Semaška, a chief government advisor for Lithuania, told journalists yesterday (10 July).

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visited Vietnam from 3 to 5 June 2012, right after attending the Shangri-La Conference in Singapore, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, where he explained America’s new defense strategy, detailed how the U.S. military supports that strategy by “rebalancing” toward the region, and articulated the reasoning behind Washington’s commitment to take a “deeper and more enduring partnership role in advancing the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.”

Recently discovered natural gas reserves in Cyprus’ offshore economic zone could become an incentive for unblocking the island’s stalled reunification talks.

Laos has denied it is pushing forward with the controversial Xayaburi hydropower dam in violation of international legal obligations, the country's state media reported on Friday.