The Vietnamese Embassy in China organized an art performance programme on the night of May 30 for Vietnamese children living in Beijing for International Children’s Day (June 1).

An exhibition will be held at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City to show the lingering pains and difficult living conditions of Agent Orange/dioxin victims in Vietnam.

  Along with socio-economic development, the number of women smokers in the world is rising and are the tobacco industry’s new target group.

The central province of Quang Binh has been chosen as the venue for a national meeting in response to World Environment Day (June 5) entitled “Many Species - One Planet - One Future”.

Vietnamese Students’ Associations in the western part of France have jointly organised a contest titled “I Love Vietnam”.

The US Navy hospital ship, the USNS Mercy, with a crew of 800 and the Japanese ship, the Kunisaki, with 200 aboard, docked at Quy Nhon port on May 31 to begin a humanitarian mission in the central province of Binh Dinh.

In 2009, almost 1 million poor and disabled children received support from the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC).

China, Laos and Vietnam have variable sources of medicinal plants, said specialists at a conference that focused on developing the nation’s medicinal plants and medicines, held by the Ministry of Health on May 30.

Hanoi has approved a financial plan for 2010 to improve the competitiveness of its animal husbandry industry and food safety.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Nghe An provincial People’s Committee held a ground breaking ceremony for the Ban Mong reservoir in Yen Hop village, Quy Hop district on May 30.

Two Indian navy ships – INS RANJIT and INS KULISH have docked at Hai Phong Port.

Vietnam has appointed the General Director of the LS Cable Company, Koo Cha-yol, as Honorary General Consul to the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Kyonggi-Incheon region.

The Thailand-based Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) has granted degrees to 119 Vietnamese students, (three PhD degrees and 116 MA degrees).

A meeting was held in Hanoi on May 29 by the University of Public Health in coordination with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam to launch National No-Smoking Week.

The Hanoi municipal People’s Committee has allocated more than VND2 billion to prevent the spread of blue-ear disease in pigs.

The National University of Laos has organised the final round of a contest on eloquence in the Vietnamese and Lao language in Vientiane on May 28.

Ho Chi Minh City on May 28 kicked off a contest on knowledge about ASEAN among municipal students under the theme of “Integration and Development.”

Five outstanding students, including disadvantaged pupils at Thai Thinh junior secondary school were granted scholarships each worth US$120 by the Japan-Vietnam Culture Friendship Exchange Centre of Hachiouji city on May 28.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium and Luxemburg Nguyen Manh Dung has visited Belgium’s famous Catholic University of Leuven and inaugurated an exhibition on the scenery of the Mekong delta city of Can Tho.

International experiences in regulatory and institutional reforms and their application in Vietnam were topics of discussion at a seminar in Hanoi on May 28.

Japan will provide US$78,000 in non-refundable aid to the mountainous northern province of Dien Bien to build a primary school in Ta Te commune, Dien Bien Dong district.

Nearly 600 disabled children from 17 centres and schools will take part in a sports and culture festival at the Labour Culture Palace in Ho Chi Minh City on May 31.

The seventh annual anti-corruption dialogue opened on May 28 in Hanoi, drawing the participation of representatives of government agencies, the international donor community and development partners.

Buddha’s birthday has been celebrated all week in most pagodas of Hanoi, but many Buddhist followers made a point of admonishing themselves to do good things by visiting pagodas again on May 28 (April 15 on the lunar calendar).

The Institute of Hydrometeorology, Science and Environment, in coordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Science Journalists Club, organised a seminar on climate change in Hai Phong City on May 28.  

A forum on applying science and technology to poverty reduction was held in Hanoi on May 28 by the Centre for Marine-life Conservation and Community Development (MCD) and the iBoP project in Asia.

The number of foreign tourists arriving in Vietnam this May increased by 50.3 percent year on year to 440,000, bringing the total number of foreign arrivals this year to 2.2 million. 

The Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Huynh Thi Nhan, led a delegation to the municipal Buddhist Sangha on May 27 on the occasion of Lord Buddha’s 2554th birthday.

More than 30 scientists from various departments, institutes, and Can Tho University on May 27 attended a seminar on strengthening cooperation to promote Science and Technology activities for socio-economic development in the Mekong Delta region.

The Vietnam Association for Occupational Safety and Health Science and Technology, which was set up seven years ago, has proved effective in the struggle against occupational accidents, declared Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Bui Hong Linh at the Association’s second national congress held in Hanoi on May 28.