The third meeting of the track II network of ASEAN Defence and Security Institutions (NADI) opened in HCM City on April 20.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem on April 20 pressed a button opening a portal on consular affairs at http://www.lanhsuvietnam.mofa.gov.vn/.

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines successfully operated two flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Moscow, Russia, and vice versa, on the night of April 19.

A delegation of the Ministry of National Defence is attending the 12th Defence Services Asia Exhibition and Conference in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur from April 19-22.

The organisation Medical Committee Netherlands Vietnam (MCNV) has committed VND420 million to carry out an education project for disabled children in the central highland province of Dak Lak in 2010.

Vietnamese journalism should do more to fulfil its role as a sharp weapon of the mind in uniting people from all walks of life under the banner of national modernisation and industrialisation.

Four disadvantaged Vietnamese children born with heart disease on April 20 flew to the Republic of Korea for free heart surgery with assistance from the RoK’s Sunny Korea.

The Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) held a seminar in Hanoi on April 20 to discuss with the relevant agencies about measures to carry out a pilot project to enhance the teaching of the Vietnamese language abroad.

On April 20 Nguyen Dinh Xuan, Director of the Lo Go Xa Mat National Park in the southern province of Tay Ninh, was honoured by the visiting Mayor of Bern, Alexander Tschaeppaet, for his efforts to protect bears in Vietnam.

The 7th International Ministers' Conference on Animal and Pandemic Influenza opened in Hanoi on April 20.

Two footballers from the national squad, Van Thi Thanh and Pham Thanh Luong will play a friendly with pupils from Lieu Giai school in Hanoi on April 20.

Vietnam has joined India and China in a health programme for pregnant mothers (HESVIC), which was launched at a workshop in Hanoi on April 19.

Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu on April 19 cut the ribbon to a new dormitory for the relatives of poor patients being treated at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi.

A large number of social activists and US war veterans joined others in an April 18 demonstration demanding the Dow Chemical Company to take responsibility for Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims in Vietnam.

Hanoi municipal authorities have called on businesses and the community to invest in renovating urban lakes for Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary.

Last year’s natural disasters left 426 dead, 28 missing and 1,390 injured and cause a total loss of more than VND23 trillion in property damage.

Pa Uon bridge, a key bridge spanning the Da river in the northwestern province of Son La, got its final link on April 18.

State President Nguyen Minh Triet has signed a decision to grant the Labour Order, third class to the Russian National  Gupkin University of  Oil and Gas for its active contributions to training Vietnamese staff over the years.  

In the 2004-2009 period, the Vietnam Youth Union has lent nearly VND6 trillion, to 1.3 million young people.  

Many French people, especially those interested in Vietnam, and overseas Vietnamese have frequently visited Vietnam House in District 5, Paris, to get books on Vietnam in both Vietnamese and French.

The Vietnamese Party and State always pay due attention to people with disabilities, showing their determination to adopt policies for the disabled in line with their approval of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The International Ministerial Conference on Animal and Pandemic Influenza (IMCAPI Hanoi 2010) will be held in Hanoi on April 19-21.

The Hanoi University of Agriculture (HUA) in coordination with Belgium’s University of Liege on April 16 announced a training project called International Master in Rural Economics and Sociology (IMARES).  

An ‘Action Month for Food Hygiene and Safety’ was jointly launched in Hanoi on April 16 by the Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee and the Ministry of Health.

Vietnam will host the International Biology Olympiad in 2016.

An exhibition on food safety and hygiene opened in Ho Chi Minh City for the first time on April 15.

Foreign workers staying in Vietnam for longer than three months will be denied visas or even forced to leave the country if they do not have work permit or if their permit expires.

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are found in more than a third of processed and unprocessed agricultural products sold in HCM City markets and supermarkets, a report by the Department of Science and Technology has revealed.

It is necessary to complete a legal framework for media and communications in Vietnam to create favourable conditions for the development of the media under law, stressed an official from the Ministry of Justice at a seminar held in Hanoi on April 15.

Heartbeat Vietnam and the Vietnam Artist Agency Fund will hold a photo exhibition on the daily lives of 14 top celebrities to raise money for heart surgeries for poor children.