Un Refugee Agency Officials Visit Vietnam Province

A UN refugee agency delegation has completed a three-day trip to a Vietnamese province to meet illegal immigrants who returned from Cambodia a few years ago.

A Gia Lai province official said Thursday that the Deputy Head of Representative to Thailand of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Giuseppe De Vincentis, thanked the local administration for enabling his delegation carry out the visit.

The delegation met with ethnic minority returnees in Ia Grai, Duc Co, and Chu Se districts and with the province people's committee Chairman Pham The Dung.

President Bush Congratulates Vietnam on Her National Day

On September 2, 2006, President George W. Bush sent a message of congratulations to Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet on the 61th Anniversary of Vietnam's National Day. bush.jpg

"On behalf of the American people, I extend congratulations to you and the people of Vietnam on your National Day," President Bush wrote. "I am pleased that relations between our countries are strong and growing."

Vietnamese National Day Celebrated in Washington DC

A reception was held Thursday at the Embassy of Vietnam in Washington to mark the 61th Anniversary of the Vietnamese National Day September 2nd 1945 - 2006.

Congressman Carnahan, Congressman Moran, Ambassador Karan Bhatia, USTR Deputy Representative, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John Hanford, Ambassadors of ASEAN countries and hundreds of others from US Congress, Government, American business and media community and Vietnamese living in the US attended the event which also featured Vietnamese traditional music and food.

Vietnam’s Achievements in Human Development Impressive

Vietnam’s achievements in human development are impressive, Agnes van Ardenne, Minister for Development Co-operation of the Netherlands, said in Hanoi on September 6 before concluding her two-day working visit to Vietnam.

UN official praises Vietnam’s child healthcare achievements

Vietnam has made many laudable achievements in improving children’s health and living quality, especially in reducing the under-five child mortality rate, a United Nations official said Thursday. luat_giaoduc_055.jpg

Vietnam Amnesty empties U.S. “list of religious prisoners”, said diplomats

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet has decided to grant amnesty to more than 5,000 prisoners on the occasion of the National Day, local and foreign media reported.

Among the pardoneds are Pham Hong Son and Ma Van Bay, both in the list of "prisoner of concern" by the United States. Bay, a protestant ethnic Hmong from northern Ha Giang province, considered by the United States as detained for religious reasons.

Draft law on rights of association, draft resolution on anti-corruption body accepted

Most of the National Assembly "full time" deputies have accepted the 11-time re-written draft law to ensure citizens the right of association.

The right was written into Viet Nam's 1992 Constitution, the deputies reminded themselves when they debated the proposed law on Aug. 23.

"The citizens shall enjoy freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of the press, the right to be informed and the right to assemble, form associations and hold demonstrations in accordance with the law," Article 69 of the Constitution says.

Symbol of fight against Agent Orange dies

Michael Ryan says his daughter Kerry is a Vietnam veteran, just like him.

"She belongs on the wall in Washington, D.C.," he said yesterday. "She is a casualty of Vietnam the same as any man on there."

Kerry Ryan, 35, died Monday morning in her home in Boca Raton, Fla., of kidney failure after a life spent dealing with 22 major birth defects her family attributes to Agent Orange, a chemical used to defoliate the jungles of South Vietnam and Cambodia during the war. Kerry stood as an example of the herbicide's alleged harm to veterans' children.

Vietnam radio broadcasts first M'Nong ethnic language

Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) launched its first broadcast in the M'Nong ethnic language on 19 August. The M'Nong-language broadcast, the eleventh service of the VOV for ethnic minority groups, will be aired six times a day at 6020KHz SW (short wave), AM and FM. The 30 minute-broadcast will discuss local social-economic development and provide cultural programmes for M'Nong ethnic people.

Gov’t to accept complaints against bureaucracy online

Complaints about red tape can be made through the government’s website at www.chinhphu.vn, the Vietnamese Government Office announced on Friday.
It said the website would receive complaints about hurdles in carrying out administrative formalities and harassment by government officials or administrative agencies.

The website management will transfer these complaints to the Government Office’s Administrative Reform Division or to the Prime Minster’s office for consideration.

Source: Thanh Nien News

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