The continent, and not just the EU, prizes rules and co-operation, but the US and China favour a bullying approach that benefits themselves alone, says Ana Palacio.

The Overwatch World Cup looks to determine who is best at turning a fun game into something far too serious, writes Ronan Jennings

A Vietnamese blogger has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of distorting government policies.

Vietnamese authorities have destroyed more than two tonnes of seized elephant ivory and rhino horns ahead of a key international conference on wildlife trafficking.

A welcome and positive development in the best interest of children: that’s the Children’s Rights Alliance response to Ireland’s agreement on inter-country adoption with the Philippines.

US President Barack Obama lifted a decades-old arms export embargo for Vietnam during his first visit to the communist country today, looking to bolster a government seen as a crucial, though flawed partner even as he pushes for better human rights from the one-party state.

Brahma Chellaney looks to China to demonstrate that Cuba’s economic opening does not necessarily indicate a move towards democracy    

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill.

Vietnam is dropping visa requirements for tourists from five European countries to boost its slumping tourism industry.

Robert Higgins reflects on the fall of Saigon 40 years ago today to communist North Vietnam. While views are divided, for most in Vietnam, reunification of the country has been a good thing

Judy Chicurel

China’s shift away from muscle-flexing and a confluence of interests with a US-led order offer hope it will not continue to engender large-scale regional instability next year, says Yoon Young-kwan

The unfolding debacle in Iraq has set off a furious — and drearily predictable — partisan dispute in Washington over who was more to blame: George W Bush or Barack Obama, writes Bill Powell

Ireland has been crowned the best country in the world in a new survey which ranks nations according to their contribution to humanity and the planet.

People in Vietnam have been urged to stop protesting against China’s deployment of an oil rig in a disputed section of the South China Sea following deadly riots earlier this week.

It is not the job of any Adoption Authority to “scout around” for and develop foreign adoptions from other countries in order to satisfy demand from adoptive parents.

Vietnam says it has downgraded its search for the missing airliner in the South China Sea and has been asked by Malaysian authorities to consider sending planes and ships to the Strait to Malacca.

It is being reported that a Minister has said that Vietnam is sending helicopters to check a "floating yellow object" in the South China Sea which could be a life raft from the Malaysian Airways passenger jet that has gone missing.

Vo Nguyen Giap, the brilliant and ruthless self-taught general who drove the French out of Vietnam to free it from colonial rule and later forced the Americans to abandon their effort to save the country from communism, has died.

It won’t matter what Syria does. The West has set its sights and nothing will stop the war.

Pope Francis today recruited a veteran Vatican diplomat to be his top aide, replacing the Holy See’s secretary of state who in recent years increasingly became a divisive figure in a church hierarchy mired in embarrassing scandal and financial probes.

China’s government says it is ready to discuss strengthening cyber security at a top-level forum with US officials next week and wants Washington to help settle territorial disputes in east Asia.

A former American military doctor has returned the bones of an arm he amputated in 1966 to their Vietnamese owner.

When the Bush administration decided to go to war in 2003, David Frum found himself at the centre of a daunting messaging effort. He looks back on the fraught times that followed Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ speech

The impact of Ireland’s role in clearing landmines from parts of Vietnam scarred from the war is being seen first hand this week by junior minister Joe Costello.

Vietnam’s embattled prime minister has apologised to the nation for mismanaging the economy and is pledging to step up reforms.

A new adoption agreement with Vietnam has been signed.

The Irish Adoption Authority is due to sign a historic agreement with Vietnam tomorrow to pave the way for the resumption of adoptions between our two countries.

South-east Asian diplomats have failed to reach common ground on how to resolve a territorial dispute involving China, as a regional conference ended without a joint statement for the first time in the bloc’s history.

A new agreement to allow Irish couples to resume adopting children from Vietnam is due to be concluded this week.

In the picture, the girl will always be nine years old and wailing “Too hot! Too hot!” as she runs down the road away from her burning Vietnamese village.

The discovery of a Mexican child trafficking ring brought questions about inter-country adoption to the fore. However, this should have happened long ago, writes Conall Ó Fátharta

None of the almost 200 couples approved to adopt under the new Adoption Act have managed to bring a child back to Ireland.

Irish people will be able to adopt children from Vietnam again from next month.

The Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald travels to Vietnam today for talks aimed at re-opening adoption links between Ireland and the South East Asian country.

FRANCE leads the world as the most pessimistic country in terms of the economic outlook, with the lowest recorded score in over 30 years, according to a global poll — the Irish had the second gloomiest outlook.