By MAI HOANG
AAP contributing writer

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (Jan. 21, 2012) — More than 2,500 people participated in the “Year of Dragon Tet Festival’, the Vietnamese Lunar New celebration last Saturday at Kennedy High School.

The annual event is organized by the Vietnamese Community of Minnesota in conjunction with several other community groups. It is the largest Vietnamese American event in the region.

“I’m very happy because of the success of this event and also the high number of volunteers to help though out in six months of planning,” said Vietnamese Community of Minnesota President Mr. Tu Hieu regarding the overall celebration.

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations will hold its 9th Annual Leadership Conference from July 26-29, 2012 in Minneapolis — one of the nation’s most vibrant and diverse metropolitan communities.

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Nov. 26, 2011) — The 14th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Science and Technology (AMMST-14) was held in Ho Chi Minh City. The Ministers agreed to convene the 7th IAMMST in Brunei Darussalam in the fourth quarter of 2012.

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U.S. Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

HANOI, Vietnam, Nov. 16, 2011—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing in approximately 70 U.S. agricultural organizations to help expand commercial export markets for their goods. Vilsack made the announcement during a conference call with reporters from Vietnam, where he is meeting with officials to help strengthen trade relations in the Asia Pacific region.

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WASHINGTON (Nov. 14, 2011) — A new research report contributes to the increasing evidence that repeated occupational exposure to certain chemical solvents raises the risk for Parkinson’s disease.

Researchers analyzed the occupational histories of twins in which one of the pair developed the neurodegenerative disorder, and assessed that twin’s likelihood of exposure to six chemicals previously linked to Parkinson’s. Of the six chemicals investigated, researchers concluded that two common chemical solvents, trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PERC), are significantly linked to development of this disease.

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By BRYAN THAO WORRA
AAP staff writer

Minh-Giang (Anna) Nguyen is in her third year of teaching as a 5th grade educator in Alum Rock Unified School District in East San Jose.

While working in San Jose, she has also organized with VietUnity, a progressive Vietnamese grassroots collective based in the greater Bay Area. Additionally, she is involved with South Bay First Thursdays, an organization bringing awareness of Asian Pacific Islander issues to the community through dinner and discussion.

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By De Tran
New America Media


DANANG, Vietnam – The famed China Beach where war-weary GIs once went on R&R is now lined with luxury beachfront villas, five-star resorts, and even a golf course designed by the great Greg Norman.

Not far from this sun-drenched, white-sand stretch of paradise, I met a 57-year-old illiterate subsistence farmer and her 19-year-old severely deformed son, who share a one-room shack with a leaky roof and no running water. She was exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, and she believes the defoliant caused her son’s birth defect.

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Ngoc Nguyen
New America Media

SAN FRANCISCO (Oct. 18, 2011) — A few years ago, my father, a former naval officer in the South Vietnamese Army, developed liver cancer. The diagnosis followed decades of struggle with Hepatitis C, a viral infection he contracted through a blood transfusion during the war. A liver transplant saved his life.

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At the Drake Building in St. Paul last Friday, March 25, 2011, from left: U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN); Dai Vinh, Bronze Star recipient; Carol Tran, spouse; Mike Vinh and Phuc Vinh, sons; and granddaughter Kayla in front.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 12, 2011) — U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Thursday met with Dai Vinh, a Vietnamese-American war hero from Richfield to present him with his long-lost Bronze Star Medal.

Dai Vinh served as a Captain in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces. He was awarded the Bronz Star medal for saving several American lives in a mortar attack in 1968. However, his medal was lost in transit when Vinh moved to Minnesota after the United States withdrew from Vietnam in 1975.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (Sept. 23, 2011) — The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) will lead a trade mission to Vietnam this November to provide farm management education to Vietnamese hog producers and increase export opportunities for Minnesota companies that sell feed grains, livestock supplements and genetics.

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