The National Steering Committee for Human Influenza Pandemic Prevention and Control on July 23 held an online conference with the country’s major cities including Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang to take urgent measures to cope with the A/H1N1 epidemic.

The International Cooperation Company has handed over a completed project on border villages in the northern province of Houaphanh, Laos, to the provincial authority.

Construction of a monument in memory of the 10 young female volunteers who sacrificed their lives at the Dong Loc crossroads during the American war in Vietnam began at the site in the central province of Ha Tinh on July 23.

The Nguyen Khuyen private high school in Ho Chi Minh City has been shut down because at least one of its pupils has tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus while about 30 others have high fevers.

Finland will provide EUR3 million in non-refundable aid to implement the initial stage of the Innovation Partnership Programme in Vietnam.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan and a government delegation had a meeting with the Department of Education and Training in central Ha Tinh province on July 22.

The Prime Minister on July 22 signed a decision to halve value added taxes on estate agents involved housing projects for people with low incomes.

A spokesman for Vietnam said on July 22 that the government is paying due attention to ensuring the safety of Vietnamese fishermen and their vessels at sea.

Hanoi, for the first time, on July 22 awarded 24 prizes to organisations and individuals who have applied information technology (IT) products successfully to administrative reforms in the city.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a project to ensure the maritime- and island-related information network.

A seminar on management of persistent organic pollutants (PoPs) and appraisal of POPs effects on health was held in the central city of Da Nang on July 22.

US universities and international organisations provided an eight-year project to help train numerous Vietnamese doctors and university lecturers in reproductive health.

Vietnam and Cambodia hope to sign an 10 - year cooperation agreement on energy by the end of this year.

Officials from the Vietnamese and Indonesian fisheries sectors will discuss maritime-related issues including law enforcement in the fisheries sector and how to monitor and solve illegal fishing at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City scheduled for July 31-August 1.

More skeletons tumbled out of the Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (Vinafood)’s closet as food safety and hygiene inspectors in southern Binh Duong province raided one of its outlets on Monday and found imported meats and other foods being sold without expiry dates.

Vietnam’s preventive health chief has warned against a larger outbreak of A/H1N1 flu in the country.

Vietnamese health authorities on July 22 confirmed 32 new cases of the A/H1N1 influenza.

More than 100 delegates both at home and abroad attended an international forum of the Alliance for Healthy Cities held in the former imperial city of Hue on July 21-22.

The 2009 World Information Technology Forum WITFOR will be held in Hanoi on August 26-28, drawing over 150 leaders of advanced information technology corporations from 70 countries around the world, according to the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA).

A forum on children’s rights was held in the Central Highland province of Kon Tum on July 20-21 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Vietnam in collaboration with the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The Hanoi City’s People’s Committee is preparing to start a project to build two large-scale sewage plants and a drainage system in the city.

The Department of Drug-Related Crime C17B under the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security has uncovered a new international drug-trafficking network operating outside of India, after arresting four Vietnamese allegedly involved in the ring.

Nearly 200 children from HCM City’s clubs and schools posed questions and offered suggestions about protecting children’s rights at a two-day forum that ended in HCM City on July 20.

An additional 35 patients tested positive for the A/H1N1 flu virus on July 21, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Vietnam to 443.

A partial solar eclipse was observed all across Vietnam on July 22, said a local scientist.

Vietnam has finalised legislation relating to databases on land in 54 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide, paving the way for efforts to modernise the country’s land management system supported by the government and the World Bank (WB).

The Department of Drug-Related Crime C17B under the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security has uncovered a new international drug-trafficking network operating outside of India, after arresting four Vietnamese allegedly involved in the ring.

A seminar was held in Hanoi on July 21 to raise the awareness of workers and employers of ways to prevent an influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in the workplace.

The remains of Vietnamese soldiers killed in Cambodia during the war against the US and the South Western border war have been reburied at the Doc Ba Dac cemetery in An Giang province.

The German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) will provide Vietnam with US$1 million between 2009-2011 to create a legal framework and technical support for a national wind power network.