Vice Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan said on September 1 that more effort is needed to supervise and detect any cases of A/H1N1 influenza infection at border gates and as well as in 15 cities and provinces nationwide which have not yet been stricken by the pandemic.

The HCM City Students’ Association and Japan’s International Volunteer Centre NIIGATA granted 45 scholarships worth JPY450,000 to poor students from universities and colleges in HCM City on September 1.

Nearly 20,000 prisoners have been granted amnesty in 2009. This figure speaks volumes.  

45,634 workers were sent abroad in the first eight months of this year, according to figure from the Overseas Labour Management Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs (MoLISA), meeting 50 percent of this year’s target.

The Vietnamese community in Slovakia’s capital city Bratislava held a sports and culture day on August 30 to mark Vietnam’s the 64th National Day (September 2).

The government has approved a US$2 million project to build a Vietnam-the Republic of Korea (RoK) Peace Village in the central province of Quang Nam.

Two international exhibitions on construction industry, building materials and interior and exterior decor will be held in Ho Chi Minh City in September. 

The  National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology announced that over the next three months, Vietnam will be severely affected by El Nino.

Forty-nine Vietnamese graduates will receive the European Commission’s Erasmus Mundus scholarships for further overseas studies in the 2009-2010 academic year, the EC delegation to Vietnam announced on August 31.

The Central Highland province of Kon Tun has declared itself free of foot-and-mouth disease one month after an outbreak appeared in Vinh Quang village, Kon Tum City.

The Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations (UFO) held a meeting on August 31 to mark its 20th anniversary and receive the Labour Order, second class.

The Government of Spain has pledged to help Vietnam alleviate poverty, protect the environment and promote sustainable rural development in northern Quang Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces until 2010.

Saigontourist Travel Service Co. on August 30 welcomed Italian cruise ship Costa Allegra which anchored in northern coastal Quang Ninh province for a four-day trans-Vietnam tour. 

Vietnam reported an additional 155 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu on August 30; most of them (116 cases) in the southern region.

A new primary school for overseas Vietnamese children officially opened in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh on August 30 to mark the 64th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day (September 2) and the August Revolution. 

As many as 14 out of 19 samples from a high school in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue have tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus, according to the Hue City Medical Centre.

Around 1,844 people in Ho Chi Minh City booked air tickets for tours of the northern and central regions through a promotion by the Vietnam Airlines in August, up 40 percent compared to July.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Qatar held a meeting on August 28 with Overseas Vietnamese to mark the 64th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day (September 2).

Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) officially launched its East Sea broadcasting project at the VN1 transmitter station in Hanoi’s Son Tay town. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung pressed the button to start the transmitter.

The Vietnamese Ministry of the Interior and the Development Programme under the United Nations in Vietnam have announced a US$4.2 million project to boost the Vietnamese government’s administrative reform and raise the management efficiency of the state apparatus.

Ten Vietnamese women from the public sector have been awarded scholarships and research grants by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Cambridge Overseas Trust foundation to undertake postgraduate training at Cambridge University in England.

The VOV’s transport channel helps reduce traffic jam and accidents in Hanoi, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said during a visit to Radio the Voice of Vietnam on August 29.

A national campaign to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV was launched in Hanoi on August 28 by the Ministry of Health.

Hanoi will build as many as 15,500 flats with a total area of 1.5 million m2 for low-income earners between now and 2015, according to Do Xuan Anh, Director of the Municipal Department of Construction.

The quality of vocational training depends on every step taken, if not, the results will be way off the mark in terms of both teachers and students’ merits.

A seminar on the role of that higher education plays in the country in adapting to climate and ecological changes was held in the northern province of Quang Ninh on August 27.

The number of foreign tourists to Vietnam in August reached 315,000, up 16 percent over the previous month, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The Vietnamese Health Ministry will organise a meeting in mid-September to review the prevention and control of A/H1N1 influenza since the disease hit the country in May.

The second ceremony to honour would-be leaders will be held in Hanoi on August 29.

In response to a “heart for children” programme launched by Vietnam Television and Viettel Company, Vietnamese people in Upha city in Bashkorostan have raised US$12,000 to help children suffering from heart disease in Vietnam.