The annual Southeast Asian conference on open and distance learning, the ninth of its kind, opened in Hanoi recently.

Overseas Vietnamese in Belgium have made great contributions to developing the economic, scientific and technical cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium through aid and cooperative programmes on education, training and health, said Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen.

Vietnam has made very good progress in developing a compensation strategy for farmers during avian influenza outbreaks, said Anni McLeod, a livestock policy senior officer of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Vietnamese contestants secured first place after winning six gold and two silver medals at the sixth ASEAN skills competition held in Brunei between September 3-12, according to the Vocational Training General Department.

Pham Thi Thanh Nhung, a former student of Da Nang University and head of the “For the Blue Sea” group will represent Vietnamese youth at a United Nations Youth Leadership Summit to be held in New York from 29-31.

Islamic dignitaries and thousands of followers in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang have recently begun the Ramadan Month of Fasting.

Vietnam continues to control bird flu with no outbreaks reported in the past nine months. As many as 22 provinces across the country are finished with the second drive of vaccination for approximately 13 million birds in 2006.

Seven main railway stations on the trans-Vietnam railway line, including Tuy Hoa, Dieu Tri, Nha Trang, Thap Cham, Muong Man, Song Than and Sai Gon, will be equipped with lighting systems.

The 15th annual conference of the South East Asian Zoos Association (SEAZA) opened in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11.

The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) must be a genuine supplier of official information, acting as a major directing source of information and a vanguard pioneer in the ideological struggle against hostile viewpoints and in protecting the Party's and the State's interests.

The "Meeting Vietnam" organisation has granted 350 scholarships worth US$55,000 in total to outstanding disadvantaged students from 21 northern provinces and cities.

Boasting 366 islands, a temperate climate, a diverse range of fauna and flora species, and nearly 100 seaside resorts surrounded by mountains, the Cat Ba Archipelago in Cat Hai district, northern Hai Phong city, has become an appealing destination for both domestic and international holidaymakers.

The Cambodia police have arrested a Vietnamese man accused of illegally bringing ethnic minority people from Vietnam's Central Highlands to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Control launched a month-long campaign to prevent the possible recurrence of avian influenza on September 8.

At least 17 people including children have died from recent floods in Mekong Delta, said the An Giang provincial Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control, Search and Rescue.

A conference was held in Hanoi on September 8 to launch a US$26.7 million anti-HIV/AIDS project for young people during the 2006-2011 period.

Doctors from HCM City conducted free cataract operations on some 700 poor eye patients in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from September 5-8, and left for Siem Reap province on September 9 to continue their charitable mission.

Two experts at the Francophone University Agency (AUF) in Vietnam, Serge Cao and Herve Fayet, were presented Vietnam's insignia "For the Cause of Education" in Hanoi recently by the Ministry of Education and Training.

The gender ratio of different age groups, particularly the new-born baby group remains normal and safe under demographic regulations, said Dr Nguyen Quoc Anh, Director of the Information Centre of the National Committee for Population, Family and Children.

While attending the trade union forum as part of the sixth Asia-Europe Summit Meeting (ASEM 6) in Helsinki, Finland, Head of International Department under the Vietnam's General Federation of Labour Tran Van Ly held a working session with leaders from the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK).

An estimated US$750 million will be injected into the second phase of the National Programme on Socio-economic Development in Especially Poor Communes (Programme 135) from 2006-2010.

Japan has donated US$81,398 as non-refundable aid to help mountainous Bac Kan province build a primary school in Cao Tri, a poor commune with an annual per capita GDP income of US$140.

“This is the voice of Vietnam, broadcasting from Hanoi, capital city of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”. The voice of the nation rising from the revolutionary Autumn 60 years ago has continued echoing far and wide until today. General Vo Nguyen Giap looks back on the role of Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV).

The Ministry of Health on September 6 asked healthcare services and Pasteur Institutes nationwide to cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to consolidate efforts against bird flu and avian influenza infection in humans.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat has asked localities to isolate areas suspected of bird flu and foot-and mouth infections to control and limit the epidemics from spreading.

The US Ambassador’s Fund, through BirdLife International in Indochina, has granted US$20,000 for Xuan Thuy National Park in Nam Dinh province to implement a new campaign to strengthen community support for conservation in Xuan Thuy Important Bird Area.

Vietnam sent more than 50,000 workers abroad in the past eight months of the year, according to the Overseas Workers Management Division, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

The minimum monthly salary for State employees will increase to VND450,000 from VND350,000 as of October 1, 2006, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan has confirmed his ministry’s determination to stop exam fraud and the pursuit of exaggerated achievements in the national education system on the occasion of the new school year, starting September 5.

Vietnam’s estimated 22 million pupils and students began the new school year on September 5. This year’s primary tasks of the education sector will be to focus on better quality of teaching and combating negative phenomena and achievement problems.