Key Events * Vietnam Centralizes Power with New Party Ministries and Leadership Changes * Ex-Police Colonel Quits Thich Minh Tue’s Spiritual Journey, Citing Disagreements * Human Rights Groups File Complaint Against Vietnam Over Workers’ Rights * Proposed Traffic Penalty Hike in Hanoi Sparks Debate * Vietnam Expands Spratly Island Bases, Raising Concerns Among Neighbors| The Vietnamese Magazine
Key Events * Lawyers Raise Concerns over Alleged Torture of Buddhist Practitioner Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen * International Organizations Condemn Vietnam’s Sentencing of Duong Van Thai * Bui Van Thuan and Trinh Ba Tu Cease Hunger Strikes After Prison Authorities Agree to Improve Living Conditions * Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Urges Beijing to Release| The Vietnamese Magazine
Key Events * Vietnam Sentences Blogger Duong Van Thai to 12 Years in Prison Following Abduction from Thailand * Political Prisoner Nguyen Thi Tam Accuses Prison Guards of Prison Camp No. 5 for Discrimination * U.S. Embassy Honors Religious Freedom Activists * UN Working Group Declares Vietnamese Journalist Pham Chi Dung’s Detention| The Vietnamese Magazine
Key Events * Tran Long Phi, a Protester Against the Law on Special Economic Zone, Released Early from Príson * Facebook is Suspected of Deleting a Popular Group on its Social Media Platform * Democracy Activists Petition for Political Reforms and Honoring of Human Rights * Human Rights Watch Urges Thailand to Reject Extradition| The Vietnamese Magazine
Key Events * Freedom House: Vietnam’s Internet is ‘Not Free’ * Foreign Affairs Spokesperson: Hanoi Will Coordinate with Thai Authorities to Extradite Y Quynh Bdap * Trinh Ba Tu and Bui Van Thuan, Prisoners of Conscience, Continue Hunger Strikes for Nearly Three Consecutive Weeks Freedom House: Vietnam’s Internet is ‘Not Free’| The Vietnamese Magazine
Key events: * Central Party Committee Appoints To Lam as Communist Party Secretary * Vietnam Fails ‘Market Economy’ Status Assessment, U.S. Department of Commerce Announces * Thai Court Begins First Teleconference Hearing on Y Quynh Bdap’s Extradition * Long An Police Department Arrests a Member of a U.S.-based Organization on| The Vietnamese Magazine