The Department for Preventive Medicine and Environment under the Ministry of Health on November 3 confirmed one more victim of the A/H1N1 influenza in Hanoi, raising the total death toll from the disease in the country to 37 so far.

A 29-member Vietnamese delegation attended the Japan-ASEAN Youth Leaders’ Summit which opened in Tokyo on November 2, as part of the 36th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme (SSEAYP).

A delegation from Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) was among 136 others attending the first international festival for radio outfits broadcasting opened in Moscow on November 2. 

A team of surgeons from the University of New York on November 2 presented endoscopic equipment, worth more than VND2 billion, to the General Hospital of Central Highland Dak Nong province. 

Vietnamese cities and towns will focus on increasing cooperation for sustainable development in the near future, according to the Association of Cities of Vietnam (ACVN).

Tropical storm Mirinae ripped through the south-central coast at 13.00 on November 2 with winds gusting at 110km/h. Ly Son island district in Quang Ngai province was the first locality to bear the brunt of the storm.

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) Central Committee has launched a writing contest on the theme “Vietnamese students and their homeland’s Sea and Islands”.  

French professor Odon Vallet has presented 14 scholarships worth EUR5,000 each to outstanding Vietnamese students in France.

The second Congress of the Vietnamese Association in Russia has taken place at the Vietnamese Embassy in Moscow on the theme “for an united, stable and developed community looking towards the fatherland”.  

228,000 foreign tourists visited Vietnam last month, down 25.1 percent against the previous month, according to the National Administration of Tourism. 

Luxury hotels nationwide are still struggling to shift their focus with a view to increasing their occupancy rates in the remaining months of the year. 

The Vietnamese Association in Belgium held a charitable party on October 31 and collected €1,400 to help the victims of storm Ketsana in the Central and Central Highland regions of Vietnam.  

Although the tropical storm is forecast to be downgraded into a depression, it is moving very fast towards the south-central coast and will dump heavy rains on the region, starting on November 2.

After pounding the Philippines on October 31, typhoon Mirinae weakened into a tropical storm and entered the East Sea, becoming the 11th storm in the region.

The Prime Minister has decided to allocate an additional VND98 billion and 3,500 tonnes of rice to the central and Central Highland provinces that were seriously affected by storm Ketsana in late September and early October.

The south-central coast is bracing itself for tropical storm Mirinae which is moving towards the East Sea and is forecast to hit south-central provinces in a couple of days.

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) of Thailand will increase cooperation with Vietnam in the research of sustainable development in the context of climate change, said an AIT representative.

The Department for Preventive Medicine and Environment under the Ministry of Health on October 29 confirmed one more death from the A/H1N1 influenza, raising the total death toll from the disease in the country to 36 so far.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak on October 29 handed over US$500,000 to the Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) to support victims of storm Ketsana in the four provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Gia Lai and Kon Tum.

A total 1.17 million euros will be spent fighting corruption in Vietnam under a cooperative project signed on October 29 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Commission and the Vietnamese Inspectorate.

Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Sakaba Mitsuo and Vietnamese Minister of Finance Vu Van Nam on October 29 exchanged diplomatic notes on a project to ensure food security for poor Vietnamese farmers.

Vietnam will lose 2 million hectares of rice fields unless timely protective measures are taken, said deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dao Xuan Hoc at a meeting in Hanoi on October 28.

Violence against a Vietnamese student named Ho Phuong by the police in San Jose city was an unacceptable act, said Le Quoc Hung, Vietnamese Consul General in California. 

The World Bank has promised US$150 million to an infrastructure project that will be carried out across five southern coastal provinces.

Two non-governmental organisations, the Save the Children of the UK and the US-based World Vision, on October 28 provided money and relief goods totaling over VND1 billion for the victims of storm Ketsana in Hai Lang district in the central province of Quang Tri. 

A pilot course to train teachers in automobile repair at international standards has been launched in the Mechanical College of the northern province of Vinh Phuc. 

Nguyen Duc, one of the Siamese twins affected by Agent Orange and separated by Japanese and Vietnamese doctors 21 years ago, is the new father of fraternal twins.

About 2,000 children with facial deformities across the country will receive free-of-charge surgeries during a week-long campaign from November 6-13 held by Operation Smile Vietnam (OSV).

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has emphasised that the labour export promotion programme for poor districts should be implemented in a rapid and sustainable manner. However, despite efforts by businesses and management agencies, the programme is still far behind schedule.

The Norway Red Cross on October 27 handed over US$400,000 to the Vietnam Red Cross to help Vietnamese victims of storm Ketsana to overcome its aftermath.