Hanoi- A senior government official on Tuesday blamed illegal cattle imports and mistakes by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that has so far spread to five provinces.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Diep Kinh Tan said the outbreak had been caused in part by farmers who illegally imported cattle and buffalo infected with the highly contagious virus from Cambodia and Laos.

Hanoi  - Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito met with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet Tuesday as local press reported Japanese aid to Vietnam may resume this spring.

Naruhito met with Triet at Vietnam's Presidential Palace after laying a wreath at the tomb of former Communist leader Ho Chi Minh Tuesday morning. In the afternoon Naruhito visited a school for the blind that has received Japanese aid.

According to Vietnamese press reports, Vietnam-Japan Special Ambassador Sugi Ryotaro told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at a reception for the crown prince Monday that his government wanted to resume official development assistance (ODA) by April.

Hanoi - A man suspected of being infected with the H5N1 avian flu virus is in critical condition at a hospital in northern Vietnam, health officials said Saturday.

Ly Tai Mui, 23, has been hospitalized since February 3 at Quang Ninh general hospital, 150 kilometres west of Hanoi. Mui, a member of the Dao ethnic minority, had eaten the meat of a sick chicken in his village in rural Quang Ninh province some days before falling ill.

Hanoi - Panasonic Corp confirmed Friday that it was shedding jobs at its factories in Vietnam, joining a raft of companies laying off workers there as the economy slows.

Panasonic Vietnam general director Shinya Abe said the company had offered workers at its plant outside Hanoi a "voluntary resignation plan" at the end of January but did not yet know how many would accept the offer.

Hanoi - Vietnam said Thursday that a possible resumption of Japanese official development aid (ODA) showed Hanoi was doing everything possible to cooperate with investigations of corruption in its foreign aid projects.

Japanese press reported Wednesday that the Foreign Ministry was considering resuming ODA to Vietnam. Japan halted all new aid in December, saying Vietnam had not cooperated in investigating a million-dollar kickback scandal involving Vietnamese officials and the Japanese consulting firm Pacific Consultants International (PCI).

Hanoi- Vietnam's stock market Thursday fell to its lowest level since December 2005, after state media reported that ongoing losses had driven several securities firms to the verge of bankruptcy.

The VN-Index ended the day down 2.9 per cent, or 8.3 points, to close at 277.8, the lowest level since December 29, 2005.

Market volume was just 6.8 million shares, valued at 146 billion dong (8.3 million dollars). It was the fourth consecutive drop since trading resumed after Vietnam's lunar New Year.