The German Solidaritactsdients International Organisation (SODI) will rally further support for mine clearing activities in central Quang Tri province, said Hans-Juergen Ebert, SODI Managing Director.

Several primary schools and bridges built in Vietnam's northern provinces with non-refundable aid from the Japanese Government for the 2003 and 2005 fiscal years were inaugurated on September 29.

More than 10,000 primary pupils in northern Lai Chau province will benefit from a project entitled "Education on school hygiene and nutrition".

Central coastal provinces are evacuating approximately 180,000 people from areas venerable to landslides and flash floods ahead of the arrival of powerful Typhoon Xangsane around midnight on Saturday.

Up to 50 percent of middle-aged people in cities are overweight, according to a recent survey on weight and obesity in Vietnam, conducted by the Healthcare Sector on 14,245 people aged 25 or older in 7,600 families.

The Vietnam Lawyers Association (VLA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a project in Hanoi on September 29 to strengthen the former’s capacity to play an active role in the current legal and judicial reform in Vietnam.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung on September 29 went to the central region to direct local preparations for storm No. 6 – internationally named Xangsane. Typhoon Xangsane brought fierce winds and rains after hitting central provinces on the night of September 28.

Vietnam-German Friendship Hospital held a ceremony on September 28 to receive a batch of medical equipment worth US$150,000 from East-West Meet.

The National Committee for Flood and Storm Control has asked its provincial chapters and relevant ministries and sectors to closely follow and brace themselves for powerful typhoon Xangsane which appeared to be moving into the East Sea on September 28.

According to a report released by ActionAid International Vietnam (AAV), many women have become slaves in marriages, household helpers and prostitutes. Despite being aware of risks caused by their emigration, they still have to run away from home to become vulnerable to human trafficking.

To solve the issues on the exhaustion and pollution of water resources in Vietnam, it is important to co-ordinate efforts of the whole community. Research institutions are asked to find appropriate scientific and technological solutions for Vietnam.

An exhibition on ten years of Vietnam-Germany scientific and technological cooperation opened in Hanoi on September 27.

A report on the trafficking of Vietnamese women and children by ActionAid International Vietnam (AAV) has laid great emphasis on the provision of on-site interventions as a major preventive measure against the crime.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh co-signed the Financing Agreement of the European Commission’s “Support to Vietnam’s Poverty Reduction and Support Strategy in the framework of 4th Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC 4).

The use of average technology is still popular in Vietnam as the proportion of hi-tech industries in the country represents only 20 percent, much lower than in Thailand (31 percent), Singapore (73 percent) and Malaysia (51 percent).

"It is necessary to put warning images on cigarette packets to protect the community's health," participants agreed at a seminar held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance in Hanoi on September 26.

Establishing guidelines to achieve a safe and healthy working environment for Vietnamese workers is the focus of an agreement signed in Hanoi on September 25.

State President Nguyen Minh Triet has urged the elderly people to continue to be a reliable mainstay for Party organisations and administrations at all levels, and a nucleus in building and developing the national great unity bloc.

Laos on September 25 presented 17 Freedom Orders, 19 Labour Orders and 21 medals to specialists of Radio the Voice of Vietnam in recognition of their contributions to Laos’ broadcasting industry.

A national seminar on implementing the project VIE/05/01/LUX was held in Hanoi on September 25 to improve the capacity for training in labour safety and hygiene.

Vietnam held a dialogue with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva last week regarding the country’s implementation of optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has signed a document promulgating a decree to regulate and direct the execution of a number of articles in the Civil Code, and the Intellectual Property Law on copyright and related rights.

The Lawrence S. Ting Memorial Fund presented 190 scholarships, worth more than VND1 billion in total, to outstanding students in Ho Chi Minh City on September 23.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on September 22 launched a national campaign in the coastal town of Sam Son, central Thanh Hoa province, to raise public awareness about environmental protection.

Two tortoises and a dolphin were released into the sea on September 22 by the Fisheries Resource Protection Department of central Ninh Thuan province, said Nguyen Trung Kien, Head of the department.

Vietnamese and foreign experts underscored the need to improve community-based communications in stamping out the bird flu epidemic and human avian influenza at a workshop in Hanoi on September 22.

The conference aims to honour 150 outstanding farmers with religious beliefs including Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hoa Hao and Caodai sects and Islam, said Head of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union (VFU) Ideology and Culture Commission Hoang Van Ngoan.

Germany will provide over 3 million euros for Vietnam to implement a project to improve healthcare and reproductive healthcare services in Son La and Cao Bang provinces, Vietnam's two poorest northern provinces.

Doan Van Thai, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee shared his experiences in launching youth movements with a delegation of the Australian Political Council in Hanoi on September 21.

Agricultural experts from Vietnam and Thailand shared experiences in boosting poverty reduction efforts and increasing the living conditions of ethnic people in rural areas at a workshop in Hanoi on September 21.