The President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Vu Xuan Hong met with a delegation from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) of the US in Hanoi on January 12.

About US$270,000 will be spent on fireworks for a 15-minute display from midnight at 23 locations in Hanoi on Lunar New Year’s Eve-February 14, according to the municipal People’s Committee. 

A national conference on traffic safety was held in Hanoi on January 12 to review the traffic safety situation in 2009 and devise tasks for 2010 in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, Minister of Transport and Chairman of the National Committee for Traffic Safety Ho Nghia Dung.

Intel Vietnam announced a scholarship programme for talented Vietnamese technical students on January 11.

A photo exhibition has been jointly held in Beijing by the Vietnam and the Xinhua News Agencies to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic relations.

Hackers attacked as many as 1,037 websites in Vietnam in 2009. The respective figures for 2008 and 2007 were 461 and 342.

An association of youth and overseas Vietnamese students was established in the US capital on January 10.  

The Party and State always create the best possible conditions for Vietnamese nationals abroad to live a stable life, preserve traditional cultural identity and turn their hearts and minds to the homeland.

A “Vietnamese Club” made its debut in Moscow on January 9 with support from the An Dong Corporation and NAVI-96 Company.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) must study the development of a sci-tech market in Vietnam to promote research and high-quality products for production and consumption, says Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung.

An annual get-together for overseas Vietnamese to celebrate the lunar New Year (Tet) festival will be held at the Thang Long Royal Citadel Relic in Hanoi on February 6.

Representatives of commercial banks based in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa arrived in the island district of Truong Sa on January 10 to present their lunar New Year (Tet) gifts to officials, people and soldiers stationed on the islands.

The northern region will brace itself for another strong cold spell which is moving toward Vietnam from China and is expected to affect the region on January 11.

A Humanitarian Blood Donation Day was jointly launched in Hanoi on January 9 by the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group.

A requiem was held at the Kon Tum prison on January 9 for heroic martyrs and citizens who laid down their lives during the two resistance wars for national independence in Kon Tum province.

A meeting to mark the 60th anniversary of Vietnam Students’ Day (January 9) was held in Ben Tre City on January 8 by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee (HCMYUCC), the Vietnam Students’ Association (VSA), and the Ministry of Education and Training.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Blind Association (VBA) has decided to provide VND500 million to 1,700 blind people in 44 provinces and cities to welcome the upcoming traditional Lunar New Year festival (Tet).

Two organisations from the Republic of Korea (RoK) – the Korea Peace 3000 and St.Ha-Sang Jung Parish of Daegu- have been doing charitable work in the southern province of Ben Tre.

Thousands of Hoa Hao Buddhists flocked to An Hoa pagoda in the southern province of An Giang to celebrate the 90th birth anniversary of Huynh Phu So – the founder of their sect.

Construction of a Vietnamese-funded television and radio station has begun recently in the northern Lao province of Luang Prabang.

Radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV) in coordination with the National Committee for ASEAN launched a contest titled” An ASEAN Community of Solidarity and Prosperity” in Hanoi on January 8.

A project to build a radio-television station in the northern Lao province of Louangphabang got underway on January 8.

The committee of Ethnic Minorities is now building a socio-economic development project for four ethnic groups including the Mang, the La Hu, the Cong and the Co Lao in the three northern mountain provinces of Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Ha Giang.  

US academics, scientists and war veterans examined the adverse effects of Agent Orange/dioxin on people’s health and the environment at a workshop in Washington DC on January 7.

The Department of Preventive Medicine and the Environment has forecast that many epidemics will continue to spread far and wide in 2010, especially during winter and spring, Dr Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the agency under the Health Ministry said during an interview granted to VOV.

The German Government on January 7 granted donations worth about US$88,000 to Vietnamese victims of tropical storm Mirinae.

Vietnam strives to achieve the national goal of primary education universalisation for children in all provinces and cities by 2015.

The Prime Minister has approved a rural cultural development plan until 2015 with a view to 2020.

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) and the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation will encourage at least 192,000 people to donate 136,600 units of blood to provide adequate supplies during the upcoming Lunar New Year festival, said VRC Chairman Tran Ngoc Tang at a conference in Hanoi on January 6.