The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will help Ho Chi Minh City strengthen its capacity for improving the exercise of woman and child rights.

Vietnam’s Ha Tinh province and its Lao neighbouring province of Bolikhamsay agreed on May 11 to invest in upgrading infrastructure at the Cau Treo and Nam Pao border gates.

Some 1,600 world obstetricians gathered in Ho Chi Minh City on May 12 for the 10th Vietnam-France-Asia Pacific Obstetrics and Gynaecology Conference.

Vietnam Airlines and Air France have signed a code sharing contract that will allow passengers to have six more flights a week from Vietnam to Paris.

The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) has donated 332 tonnes of rice as relief aid to victims of last year’s storm in the central province of Quang Binh.

A meeting of the senior officials of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for drug control in the sub-Mekong region opened in Da Nang on May 12.

The 17th International Exhibition on Vietnam’s Medicine and Pharmacy 2010 opened at the Friendship Cultural Palace in Hanoi on May 12.

In response to a programme to provide free eye surgery to poor people in Vietnam and Laos, the Viettel Group has presented VND400 million to the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) to carry out the programme.

Hanoi will offer additional 4,000 high-quality hotel rooms this year to serve the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and National Tourism Year 2010. 

Sixteen paintings on illegally-hunted and trafficked species of animals including tigers, bears, elephants, turtles and rhinos are being displayed at Hanoi’s Noi Bai international airport. 

A grand requiem for Vietnamese soldiers who fell in the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu was held on May 11at the A1 cemetery in Dien Bien province, involving many Buddhists, Vietnamese veterans, and local people.

The Vietnamese province of Quang Tri and the Lao province of Savannakhet have completed planting 12 borders markers and are currently building 5 others along their common border.

The final round of Vietnam Robot Contest (Robocon) 2010 began in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak on May 11. 

More than 800 delegates from 84 countries across the world, scientific organisations and UN agencies, attended the fifth Global Oceans Conference which was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

The Laurence S.Ting Community Assistance Fund and the Phu My Hung Joint Stock Company on May 11 presented 251 wheelchairs, worth VND298 million, to disabled people in the central province of Nghe An.

The Ministry Education and Training (MoET) in coordination with the Vietnam Cultural Centre in France opened a Vietnamese language training course on May 10 in Paris.

A new Vietnamese technology of using rice husks to replace fossil fuels has won the 2009 Energy Globe Awards (EGW)-sponsored by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP).

A reburial service for 136 sets of the remains of Vietnamese martyrs who had fought as volunteers in Laos during the war, was held at Ham Rong cemetery in the central province of Thanh Hoa on May 10.

Four Vietnamese pupils will participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), scheduled to take place in San Jose, California (the US ) in mid May.

The Vietnam Gas Association (VGA) will work with the Department of Economic Police under the Ministry of Public Security to prevent and combat the illegal production and trading of gas.

Asian member countries, the ASEAN secretariat and representatives from the World Meteorological Organization and Japanese and Korean department of meteorology are attending the 32nd meeting of the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Meteorology and Geophysics, which opened in Danang on May 10.

The longest trans-mountain tunnel in Vietnam with a total length of nearly 10km at the Nam Chien 1 Hydro-electric power Plant in Son La province has been completed.

The Tu An Hieu Nghia or “Four debts of gratitude” religion held its first congress for the 2010-2015 term at Tam Buu – Phi Lai pagoda, Tri Ton district of An Giang province from May 8-9.

Blue-ear pig disease has spread to 13 provinces and cities nationwide, announced the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on May 9.

An exhibition on ethnic communities in Vietnam opened in Hanoi on May 9 as part of activities to welcome the first National Congress of Representatives of Minority Nationalities in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked provinces to ensure the reservoirs before storm and flood season this year.

A delegation from the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment led by Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen took part in the 5th Global Oceans Conference in Paris from May 3-7. 

Thai universities have pledged to provide more than 200 BA, MA and PhD scholarships for Vietnamese students at an education exhibition opening in Hanoi on May 8. 

The Vietnam Red Cross and its chapter in Ho Chi Minh City observed World Red Cross/Red Crescent Day on May 8 and sponsored a walk to support efforts to minimize the negative impacts of rapid urbanization.

A month of action was launched in Ninh Binh province on May 8 to create equal opportunities for the development of all children.