Former Vietnamese teachers nationwide gathered in Hanoi on November 12 for a congress to review their activities and set forth new orientations for the operation of Vietnam’s Association of Former Teachers during the 2009-2014 term.

Around 100 journalists and management of the media industry from Europe and Asia-Pacific met in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on November 9-10 for a conference to promote understanding of media issues and enhance world cooperation.

Some 500 professors, doctors and medical staff from Denmark, China, the US and Vietnam are attending a conference on paediatrics at Children’s Hospital No 1 in Ho Chi Minh City from November 12 to 13.

On November 12, the Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC) received VND900 million as an emergency relief package from the Philip Morris Vietnam Company for victims of tropical storm Ketsana, which hit Vietnam’s central highlands provinces early last month.

A seminar entitled “To ensure food and agricultural products hygiene” was held in Hanoi on November 12 by the Ministry of Rural and Agricultural Development (MARD).  

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) Society is launching various activities to assist local communities in the run-up to its 63rd anniversary celebrations.

The National Assembly (NA) Vice chairwoman, Tong Thi Phong led a delegation of deputies on a visit to Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) on November 11.

The National Vaccination Steering Committee will give the nation’s first 1.2 million doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine to women more than three months pregnant in all 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

The conference dubbed “Sharing world experiences in the fight against alcohol abuse” was attended by representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Health Policy Programme of Thailand and the University of Massey, New Zealand.

The second-generation children of Vietnamese people overseas are exceptionally good at their studies and no other immigrant group in Germany has been more successful at school than the Vietnamese. 

About 1,500 delegates, including nearly 900 overseas Vietnamese, who represent Vietnamese communities in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide will attend the first conference of overseas Vietnamese to be held in Hanoi from November 21-23.

A Vietnamese delegation together with over 200 representatives from Asia-Pacific countries took part in a conference on drugs held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from November 9-12.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will continue to help the Vietnamese Government get to grips with issues on population, including population growth and the imbalance of the genders, and to supply scientific data to develop its population policy for the country.  

Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Do Hoa Binh on November 8 met with representatives of the Vietnamese community who are going to attend the first conference of overseas Vietnamese (OVs) in their home country.

The US-based Chevron Company will provide US$300,000 for the Save the Children Foundation to implement a project which aims to help 500,000 poor women in the Mekong Delta to develop small businesses at home.

A Republic of Korea national, wanted for acts of violence by RoK police, has been arrested in Vietnam and extradited to stand trial, said the Ministry of Public Security on November 9.

The 22nd conference of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA) has taken place in Ho Chi Minh City , with the participation of around 480 delegates both at home and abroad.

The Secretary of the Thanh Hoa provincial Party Committee, Nguyen Van Loi, has led a delegation from the Steering Committee for the Northwest on a working visit to China.

A nine-day training course for Lao trade unionists was wrapped up in Hanoi on November 10.

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) on November 9 sent more relief aid to flood victims in the central provinces of Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.

Foot-and-mouth disease is spreading in the two districts of Ky Anh and Thach Ha in the central province of Ha Tinh, said Pham Thanh Binh, head of the provincial Department of Animal Health.

Nearly 80 chief justices, judges, and specialists of courts from 29 countries and territories gathered at the 13th Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and the Pacific (CCJAP13) which opened in Ho Chi Minh City on November 9.

About 2,000 people participated in the day for cleaning environment and growing mangrove trees at the Biosphere Reserve in the southern province of Kien Giang on November 8.

A workshop to present various techniques of facial reflexology was held in Paris on November 7.  

By the end of October this year, around 58,260 Vietnamese workers was sent to work abroad on time-limit contracts, meeting 64 percent of the set target, according the Overseas Labour Management Department from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Utrecht University in the Netherlands has organised a seminar on Vietnam’s history as part of a plan to introduce a training course on the subject.

A ceremony to launch an action month for HIV/AIDS prevention in 2009 was held on November 8 in Bac Ninh city, in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

The US Naval ships USS Blue Ridge and USS Lassen docked at Da Nang port on November 7.

As of November 7, the Mirinae storm has killed 116 people and injured 125 others. Initial total losses are estimated to reach nearly VND5,000 billion.

The Police General Department under the Ministry of Public Security and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) liaison office in Ho Chi Minh City have jointly held a training course on drug crime prevention for police forces in southern provinces.