DA NANG (UCAN): Officials and police in central Vietnam intervened to stop an annual gathering of more than 260 of veterans of the Vietnam War with disabilities on January 23. 
 
The former soldiers, who fought for South Vietnam over four decades ago, came from five central provinces with many taking buses and arriving hours after midnight.
 

HO CHI MINH CITY (UCAN): More than 112 homes, demolished by state officials from Tan Binh district in Lộc Hưng, near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on January 4 and 8. Residents said they were given little or no warning. Overseas media reports stated that some 300 police took part in the operation that included the use of bulldozers.
 

HANOI (UCAN): Vatican and Vietnamese officials have agreed to upgrade relations through the appointment in the near future of a permanent papal representative to Hanoi. The agreement was reached during an 18 to 20 December 2018 visit by a Vatican delegation led by Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations with States. 
 
The delegation included Archbishop Marek Zalewski, non-resident pontifical representative to Vietnam, as well as senior Vietnamese bishops.
 

HANOI (UCAN): Fifty-eight-year-old Archbishop Joseph Vu Van Thien, was installed as the sixth archbishop of Hanoi at St. Joseph’s Cathedral on December 18.
 
In attendance at the installation Mass were Archbishop Marek Zalewski, non-resident representative of the Vatican to Vietnam, and Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States, who was also visiting for official talks with the government.
 

HANOI (UCAN): Pope Francis named 58-year-old Bishop Joseph Vu Van Thien of Hai Phong, to lead the Archdiocese of Hanoi on November 17.
 
Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam, said in a November 18 announcement that Archbishop-elect Thien would succeed 80-year-old Peter Cardinal Nguyen Van Nhon, whose resignation has been accepted by the pope. He was also named apostolic administrator of Hai Phong. 
 

HANOI (UCAN): Vietnam has freed Mary Magdelene Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a well-known Catholic blogger and rights advocate, who was jailed two years ago for posting anti-government material on social media and forced her into exile in the United States of America (US).
 
Nguyen, also known as Mother Mushroom, was driven from Prison Camp No.5 in Vietnam’s northern province of Thanh Hoa to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on October 17, the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers group reported.
 

HANOI (UCAN): Some 20,000 Catholics from the Archdiocese of Hanoi, along with nine dioceses in northern Vietnam, braved the scorching heat to attend a special Mass on June 19 in Ha Nam province to open a jubilee year to mark the 30th anniversary of the canonisation of 117 Vietnamese martyrs.
 
The opening ceremony was held at the Martyrs Pilgrimage Centre of So Kien, which includes the 135-year-old Minor Basilica of Immaculate Conception of Mary in Ha Nam province.
 

HANOI (UCAN): In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, around 200 protesters were detained, beaten and interrogated by police on June 17, in a crackdown aimed at suppressing opposition to a proposed special economic development plan and the approval of a controversial cyber security law.
 
Eyewitnesses said the police action was aimed at stopping any demonstration talking place. 
 

HANOI (UCAN): Prominent rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, and fellow jailed Brotherhood for Democracy group member, Le Thu Ha, were released from prison in Hanoi late on June 7 and, together with Nguyen’s wife, Vu Minh Khanh, were taken to the airport and put on a flight bound for Frankfurt, Germany, according to a pro-democracy group.
 

HO CHI MINH CITY (UCAN): On May 14, Redemptorist Father Joseph Dinh Huu Thoai was stopped by army officers at a land border with Laos when he intended to travel onward to the United States to visit relatives and friends.
 
In an audio recording posted on Facebook, Father Dinh asked officers to explain why he was banned from leaving. Officials maintained that they were acting under orders from their superiors.