Many regions in Vietnam will face severe water shortages, especially in the dry season, as the country needs 130 billion cu.m of water in 2010, said a symposium held in Hanoi on March 22.

The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$50 million interest-free credit to help Vietnam reduce poverty among its ethnic minorities and communities in remote and mountainous areas.

Truong Tan Sang, member of the Party Central Committee’s Political Bureau and Secretariat, worked with the Presidium of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour in Hanoi on March 22 to hear its report on the situation of State employees and labourers.

A senior health official said on March 21 the bird flu epidemic has temporarily subsided but warned of the risk of recurrence unless disease control and prevention are intensified.

The US Agency for International Development (USAIDS) is providing facilities worth US$125,000 to the fight against bird flu in 10 provinces of Vietnam, according the US Consulate General in HCM City.

The Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Bill Tweddell, has emphasized the vibrancy of media reporting in the country over the last few years.

The Canadian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City on March 21 presented VND434 million (roughly US$27,000) to the municipal Tumour Centre to support cancer patients and cancer research in Vietnam.

Vietnam is the only nation in the Southeast Asia that has raised its women’s progress indicator to 72.18 percent in 2007 from 70.57 percent in 2006, according to the results of a survey on women’s advancement released by MasterCard Worldwide.

Surveys on the working hours of rural women show that they have to work 12 hours per day on average. Up to 83.4 percent of 504 respondents said that they have to work 10-15 extra hours per week and 14 percent of them work 10 hours per shift.

France is willing to help Vietnam with water resources protection and waste water treatment, said President of the Supreme Council for France-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Development, Jacques Oudin, at a press conference in Hanoi on March 20.

Young people and juvenile will be given priority in a national information and education programme that aims to change the public's attitudes and behaviours in preventing HIV/AIDS by 2010.

Measures to reduce the vulnerability of poor communities and proposal for a risk fund were major themes of a workshop co-sponsored by the German GTZ organisation in Hanoi on March 20.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the World Bank signed an important Development Credit Agreement (DCA) worth US$125 million and a Policy and Human Resources Development (PHRD) Grant worth US$4.6 million for the Coastal Cities Environmental Sanitation Project in Hanoi on March 19.

The United Nations Development Programme has described Vietnam’s hunger and poverty reduction achievements as very impressive to compare with other countries’ efforts. Currently, about 18 percent of households are living under the poverty line, with 340,000 new households escaping poverty annually.

Considering Russia as a potential market for tourism development, Vietnam’s tourism industry has attended many tourism fairs and exhibitions in Russia over the past years. A Vietnamese delegation led by Hoang Anh Tuan, Director of the Vietnam Administration of Tourism, is currently in the country to take part in the second International Tourism Fair and Exhibition, which opened in Moscow on March 18.

Vietnam reduced the number of poor households by 38.6 percent in 10 years between 1993 and 2003.

Vietnam’s northern Hai Duong province and the French city of Montreuil have inked a supplement to their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed on October 25, 2001.

A Buddhist service was held in Ho Chi Minh City's Vinh Nghiem Pagoda on March 16 to pray for peace, prosperity and happiness for the nation and for all ancestors to rest in peace.

Hanoi will be recognised as one of the four Asian cities this month to apply the 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) rubbish treatment method with the aim of building a healthy living environment for its residents.

As many as 153 outstanding ethnic minority students who are studying in Hanoi and Ha Tay province received Vu A Dinh scholarships on March 16.

The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Vietnam Red Cross Society and the World Health Organisation, held a national conference on the second campaign for voluntary blood donation in the Central Highlands resort city of Da Lat on March 16.

His workshop now produces more than 500 export items made from coconuts, bringing an annual turnover of over VND3 billion. Moreover, he helps generate regular jobs with good salaries for 200 local people. He is artisan Pham Van Thanh living in district 1, Ben Tre town in southern Ben Tre province.

A group of doctors and nurses from the Republic of Korea will perform free surgery for 62 Vietnamese hare lip and cleft palate children under a humanitarian programme of the Global Care organisation.

The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) on March 15 held an exchange between Vietnamese and American students to screen a documentary “Hearts and Minds”, by the US director Peter David.

The Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union announced a list of ten outstanding young Vietnamese people in 2006 in Hanoi on March 15.

The 2nd conference of rectors of ASEAN and Chinese universities, themed "Towards the enhancement of ASEAN-China academic cooperation," opened in Hanoi on March 15 with the participation of 80 rectors and managers of well-known universities.

Vietnam aims to reduce the rate of HIV-infection to less than 0.27 percent in 2007 and minimize the spread and impacts caused by HIV/AIDS on socio-economic development.

In response to World Consumer Rights Day, the Competition Management Department under the Ministry of Trade held a seminar in Hanoi on March 15 to discuss the implementation of activities to protect consumers’ interests in future.

Many people in mountainous and remote areas still do not have access to medical check-ups due to a shortage of doctors. In the meantime, Di Linh – a mountainous district in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong - not only has enough doctors for itself but also “exports” doctors to neighbouring areas.

A Lao press delegation led by Professor Bosengkham Vongdala, Lao deputy Minister of Information and Culture visited Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) on March 14.