The organising board of the First Vietnam Seafood Festival announced 20 major events of the year on its websites http://lehoithuysan.vn and http://festivalthuysan.vn and inaugurated its new press centre on March 24.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) on March 25 unveiled a newly improved version of its website http://www.most.gov.vn, which disseminates information.

Goodwill ambassadors of the Earth Hour, launched by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), presented awards of the “For a Green Earth” contest to students in seven secondary schools in Hanoi on March 24.

A stele in commemoration of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers who had been sent to help Laos during the war, was inaugurated the central province of Quang Ngai on March 24.

An action month for food hygiene and safety will be launched on April 15 with the aim of encouraging businesses to take responsibility to for ensuring the quality of food and foodstuffs.

The General Hospital of Can Tho City in southern Vietnam officially launched in vitro fertilization services on March 24 to assist couples with reproductive problems.

A three-day exhibition opened in Hanoi on March 24 to feature the photos, masks and stories of 24 women who have experienced domestic violence.

Vietnam plans to build a national space centre to maximize the application of space technology and boost the nation’s socio-economic development.

A delegation from the Vietnam Writers Association led by its chairman, poet Huu Thinh, attended the third Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Writers Conference in Vientiane on March 24.

A Japan-funded project was launched in the central highland province of Lam Dong on March 24 to improve local people’s livelihoods through tourism.

A seminar was held in Can Tho city on March 24 to discuss the construction of waste water treatment plants for industrial zones in Vietnam.

Nguyen Thao Nguyen, a UK Southampton University final year student, has won the first prize in the chemistry category and the Roscoe Medal in the 13th Set for Britain 2010 programme.

Vietnam’s first Golden Cashew Festival closed on March 23 in the southern province of Binh Phuoc.

Polluted water resources are the cause of 80 percent of diseases in Vietnam, said the Department of Water Resources Management at a ceremony to mark the World Water Day (March 22) and the World Meteorological Organisation’s 60th birthday (March 23).

Some US$2.6 million from the “Greater Mekong Subregion Sustainable Tourism Development” project will be injected into the central province of Quang Binh to preserve and upgrade ecological tourism in the locality.

Construction of an environmental-friendly urban area called ParkCity Hanoi got underway in the outlying district of Ha Dong on March 23.

The Association for the Support of the Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO) officially launched its website on March 23 at www.asvho.org.vn.

The Australian bank, Standard Chartered, has officially granted US$630,000 to help Vietnam implement a charitable programme for the blind.

Twenty-one Vietnamese logistics officials on March 23 completed an MA training course on Logistics and Transport conducted by the Belgian Liege University and the Da Nang University.

Popular singers including Dinh Manh Ninh, Duong Hoang Yen, and Thuy Chi will perform at the “Earth Song” concert on March 25 in response to the “Earth Hour 2010” campaign.

It’s urgent to prevent the widespread consumption and trafficking of wild products, which is seriously threatening Vietnam’s ecosystem, said experts at a recent conference in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Transport has recommended to the Prime Minister that fines for pedestrians violating traffic laws in Hanoi and HCM City should be raised as a measure to reduce traffic jams and accidents.

Since almost half the drug users treated in HCM City are from elsewhere, the Government should strengthen co-operation between the city and other provinces to enable discharged former addicts to reintegrate into society, a city official said.

An international workshop themed “Managing the Risk of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” opened in Hanoi on March 22.

A new urban area and a science and entertainment park will be built with a total investment of US$410 million in eastern Hanoi.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development presented its insignia to Yasuhiro Tojo, Deputy Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Vietnam on March 22.

The US government will provide Vietnam with more than 11,000 sets of personal protective equipment and four sets of laboratory tools to help Vietnamese medical staff handle possible outbreaks of avian flu.

A delegation from the US Veterans of Foreign Wars (VWF) organization, led by Vice Commander-in-Chief, Richard Eubank, held a working session with the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) on March 22.

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) Committee organised a meeting to commemorate its 79th anniversary at the International Club at Moscow Friendship University in Russia on March 21.

Additional regulations concerning the recruitment and management of foreign employees will take effect in July.