Celebrating National Day: grateful to the past, lead-up to the future

66^th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day celebrated

Vietnamese Party, State, Government and National Assembly leaders received congratulatory messages from their counterparts all over the world on the country’s 66th National Day and the joyful atmosphere spread across the country. 

September 2, 1945 was one of the most important milestones in Vietnamese history when President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence to establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Ready for new school year

Localities have been preparing to welcome the 2011-2012 school year which promises many renovations to raise the quality of teaching and learning at all levels.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) estimates that more than 22.1 million pupils and students will attend schools and universities this academic year.

This is also the first year for the 11^th National Party Congress Resolution's basic comprehensive education reforms so the education and training sector is implementing many specific measures to achieve its set targets.

Amnesty completed as scheduled

To mark the occasion of Vietnam's National Day (September 2), 10,244 prisoners have been granted amnesty and 291 others have been allowed to delay their prison sentences.

Under the guidelines of the Amnesty Advisory Council, localities directed detention centres over the country to announce the State President's amnesty decision to eligible inmates.

Detention centres completed all necessary procedures quickly according to the  law so prisoners could be reunited with their families.

Libya still insecure

Events in Libya over the past week continued to draw the attention of the international community and it is evident that the situation in the country remains unstable.

The fight hasn't ended, however, there is great competition among EU countries for limited contracts to import Libyan oil.

Libya has the second biggest oil reserves in Africa and many European countries depend on this source of high quality oil.

Conflicts in Syria remain tense

More than 2,200 people have been killed since the start of mass protests in Syria in mid-March, reported the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on August 22.

On September 2, the European Union decided to impose sanctions on Syrian oil exports, saying President Bashar al-Assad was massacring his own countrymen.

"The sanctions have been agreed," an official said in the Polish resort of Sopot where EU foreign ministers met to determine their response to Assad's military crackdown on five months of protests against his 11-year rule.

Japan appoints new Prime Minister

On August 30, Japan's parliament backed Yoshihiko Noda as the country's sixth prime minister in five years.

The vote came after the 54-year-old former finance minister secured the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party in an election on August 29.

Japan's new Prime Minister will name a cabinet in several days with which he hopes to drive the fragile post-quake recovery forward and build party unity.

Both Eastern and Western hemisphere suffer major storms

The death toll from hurricane and tropical Storm Irene in the USA rose to 50. The storm also caused losses totaling tens of billions of US dollars for both the US and Canada.

Washington D.C. and the Eastern Seaboard from the Carolinas through Maine declared states of emergency as a result of Irene.

President Barack Obama said the impact of the storm, which was unusually large, could be "extremely dangerous and costly" for a nation that still remembers destructive Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"All indications point to this being a historic hurricane," Obama said.

Meanwhile, tropical storm Nannomal spread to the Philippines, Taiwan and eastern China, affecting tens of millions of people.