- The Government Office and the Ministry of Interior on August 28 introduced the content of the Ordinance on Grassroots Democracy to representatives of ministries, ministerial agencies, governmental agencies and civic organisations.

- Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Phu Binh yesterday called on overseas Vietnamese to encourage their children to continue contributing to the development of the homeland of Vietnam at a meeting with a delegation of overseas Vietnamese from Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

- Ukraine’s Government held a function in HCM City on Monday night to officially announce its honorary consulate office and celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Eastern European country’s Independence Day – August 24.

- Vietnam placed a high value on the role and position held by Turkey in the region as well as the world at large, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem said at his meeting with Turkish Minister of Interior Abdulkadir Aksu in Hanoi on August 28.

- The National Assembly Standing Committee on August 28 affirmed the necessity of enacting a law on infectious disease prevention so as to increase the quality of the nation's healthcare service.

- The National Assembly Standing Committee ratified a resolution on the organisation, missions, power and operations of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-corruption on Monday.

- On August 28, the Boeing 737 ZH 9781 carrying 127 passengers landed at Tan Son Nhat airport in HCM City, officially opening the direct route from HCM City to Shenzhen, China. In the immediate time, Shenzhen Airlines plans to provide three flights a week from HCM City to Shenzhen and two flights a week from Shenzhen to HCM City.

- Vietnam is considering setting up a fresh vegetable and fruit trading centre at the Thu Duc wholesale market in HCM City. Fresh vegetables and fruits will be gathered at the centre and then exported to different countries in the world.

- At least 15 special aircraft will carry chief executive officers of leading US companies and groups to Vietnam to attend the APEC CEO Summit 2006, a business forum for 21 APEC economies that will take place in Hanoi from November 17-19.

- The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association has warned about possible coffee shortages and consequent higher prices. Vietnam’s coffee output has been 11.5mil bags so far this year, down by 14% over the same period last year. The inventory level is also short, at 40,000 tonnes.

- Twenty one leading textile exporters and producers will attend the exhibition on Indian textile and garment products to be held in HCM City on August 30-31.

- The Taskforce on Domestic Market Control yesterday announced that rice exporters have so far this year signed contracts to export 4.5mil tonnes of rice. The price of Vietnamese rice has increased by $4-6/tonne to reach $268-270/tonne due to higher import demand in the world.

- The Vietnam Import – Export Joint Stock Bank has forecast that gold prices may bounce back. Gold is now selling at VND12,270,000 per tael, down by 1.84% over the beginning of the month, and up by 25.2% over the beginning of the year.

- The Bien Hoa Confectionary Company will export a container of 5 tonnes of banh trung thu (Moon Cake) to the US. The company is also planning to export cakes to Hong Kong and Cambodia.

- The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) is planning to set up the Post Joint Stock Bank once the corporation shifts to operate as an economic group. The bank will be established based on the operational Post Savings Services Company. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has approved the VNPT restructuring plan.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment late last week licensed the Viet So Investment Joint Stock Company to establish the Vietnam Trade Centre in Moscow, Russia.

- The VN Index yesterday closed at 483.06 points, up by 5.63 points over the previous transaction. Shares have become more attractive in the eyes of investors with VND91bil worth of shares transacted. STB issued by Sacombank remains the most wanted share item.

- The Vietnam Electronics and Informatics Corporation directly under the Ministry of Industry said it will offer share sales to investors in September. The public offering will be conducted at the Hanoi Securities Trading Center and the HCM City Securities Trading Center.

- Over 200 representatives from businesses in HCM City and its adjacent provinces met at a workshop held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in HCM City yesterday to discuss preparations for coming business opportunities following Vietnam's accession to the WTO.

- Some 240 Vietnamese librarians attended a conference on library development and global integration at the University of Natural Sciences in HCM City on August 28. At the four-day conference, Vietnamese librarians will learn about the latest standards and technologies in library science and discuss issues such as international copyright regulations and intellectual property law, according to the US Consulate.

- A distant training centre will be built in HCM City with a non-refundable official development assistance fund of VND12.8 billion ($800,000). The training centre, which will be built at 178 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Str. District 3, will be run by the HCM City Exhibition Information Centre.

- The People's Committee of central Thanh Hoa province has decided to spend VND3.5 billion to complete an upgrade of the Na Meo international border gate, which will then be the main border gate in the province.

- A resettlement village built with help from the German non-governmental organisation Solidarity Service International (SODI) was inaugurated in the central province of Quang Tri, on August 27.

- Vietnamese and Chinese children have expressed their desire to play a role in programmes to counter the trafficking of children and women at a forum to highlight coordination to prevent and combat the trade in children and women that took place in Hanoi on August 28. The forum, co-organised by the Vietnam Women's Union Central Committee, the All-China Women Federation, and the UNICEF, brought together 120 children from Hanoi and six northern provinces, and Guangxi and Yunnan provinces of China.

- The police has issued a special warrant for Kim Hun, a national of the Republic of Korea, in connection with allegations of "undertaking sex brokerage".

- A Vietnamese designer, Lien Huong, has been selected to provide the ao dai for the Miss Vietnam USA 2006 pageant. Huong worked for four months to prepare 60 different ao dai. She used mostly Vietnamese silk for the collection.

- Internationally-renowned American singer and pianist Vanessa Feltner will play a blend of pop, blues and jazz melodies at her September 2 performance in HCM City. She will perform recent favourites by Mariah Carey, Dido, and Celine Dion, as well as classics ranging from Beatles hits to popular 80s songs by the Carpenters.

- A book on Vietnamese hero De Tham, who led Northern Vietnamese people to fight against the French Army, will be published in French. The book, titled “Le De Tham”, written by French author Claude Gendre, will be introduced to readers this October.

- “New Rhythm of Life” will be the theme of the 24th National Artistic Photo Exhibition, which will be held in Hanoi from September 2-13 to honour the country. Photos at the exhibition will depict changes in social lives and the country’s achievements in the fields of economics, culture and society as well as feature beautiful Vietnamese landscapes and the country’s people during renewal.

- Tourism and the cuisine of Vietnam were the subjects of a show at an exhibition on Asian, African and Latin American countries held in Germany on August 27-28.

- ‘Outstanding People and Country’s Flowers’ is a photo exhibition of Vietnam News Agency’s photographer Van Tho, which was opened on August 27 at HCM City Youth Cultural House.

- Unique art performances representing solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia by Vietnamese artists opened Vietnamese Culture Week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Monday.

- EMHI Licensing Inc., the exclusive partner of The Walt Disney Co. in Indochina, will sign a contract with Vietnam's Saigon Culture Corporation next week to distribute Disney's magazines, books and school equipment in the country.

- Cathay Pacific has announced a new promotion programme to give discounts to passengers who wish to travel from HCM City to Hong Kong as well as to destinations in Europe. Accordingly, an economy class return ticket on the HCM City – Hong Kong route will be US$185, while the price for a ticket without promotion is US$326. An economy class return ticket from HCM City to Amsterdam, Rome, London, Paris or Frankfurt will cost only US$747, while the current price from HCM City to one of the above- mentioned destinations is US$800.

- Hanoi received more than 780,700 international tourists in the first eight months of this year, representing a year-on-year increase of 8 percent.

- The HCM City Tourism Department wants city authorities to allow entertainment places to remain open later. All bars, restaurants, dancing clubs have to close at midnight now, but the department wants the establishments, especially those serving foreign tourists in places like districts one, three and five, to remain open until 2 am or even overnight.

- The host artists triumphed at the Vietnam Open Samsung Cup, with a total of 21 gold, 23 silver and bronze medals at Sunday's conclusion to the competition in HCM City's Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium.

- Doctors from the Hanoi-based National Hospital of Paediatrics said on August 28 that their first bone marrow transplant on a seven-year-old boy was successful. The patient's body has created new marrow and his white blood cells have increased, reaching 1,300 cells per microlitre of blood.

- The Department of Animal Health has established six teams to give this year’s second round of bird flu vaccinations to Vietnam’s domestic poultry.

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