Vietnam will spend nearly 2.4 trillion dong (US$145 million) between now and 2010 to build dykes and relocate thousands of rice farmers because of heavy seasonal flooding in its fertile Mekong river delta.

The programme, approved early this week, would help 33,000 families resettle in areas away from landslides and floods, the government said in a statement.

HANOI: Torrential rains and overflowing rivers have brought some of the worst flooding in decades to Vietnam and its neighbors, flooding cities and farmlands in five nations.

At least 130 people were killed, dozens were missing and thousands were driven from their homes in northern Vietnam and hundreds of tourists were evacuated near the hill tribe resort area of Sapa.

Flooding has also hit parts of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos as well as Myanmar, where waters rose in the Irrawaddy Delta, which is still recovering from a cyclone that left 38,000 people dead or missing in May.

US trade arm throws weight behind toxic petrol additive to prevent a ban on it in Europe in what looks like a diplomatic offensive to protect toxic trade, us -based Afton Chemicals has lobbied hard with the American government to mount pressure on European regulators to prevent the proposed ban on its product, Manganese Tricarbonyl Methylcyclopentadienyl (mmt). Afton, producer of fuel

Vaccine from Vietnam found effective in a trial in Kolkata A new reformulated oral cholera vaccine (ocv), earlier tested and found effective in Vietnam, was found to be safe in a cholera endemic region in Kolkata.

The national poverty line of Vietnam is to be raised to 300,000 dong ($18) and 390,000 dong ($23) per capita per month in rural and urban areas respectively to reflect rising inflation. The poverty line is the minimum level of income considered necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living.
The new figures were formulated following consultations between the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the General Statistics Office.

Eight out of ten factories and industrial parks in Vietnam breach environmental regulations, state media reported, citing a government study in the rapidly-industrialising country.

The survey of more than 400 enterprises found many "lacked even the most basic awareness of environmental issues,' said the deputy head of the Environmental Protection Department, Nguyen Hoa Binh, according to the state-run Vietnam News daily.

IN a technology-driven world where new cultivation techniques are being applied in the agriculture sector to maximise output, Bangladesh has not been able to capitalise on such modern technology well within our reach. A Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) study says that while present per annum yield of rice hovers around 3.5crore tonnes, Bangladesh could actually increase production to 7.00crore tonnes through introducing modern irrigation system, proper use of fertilizer and bringing more fallow land under cultivation.