Hanoi  - As Catholic protests continued Monday over the government's clearance of a plot of land claimed by Hanoi's Archdiocese, non-Catholics' sympathy for the protestors was damaged by a statement by Hanoi Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet that was quoted out of context in the state-controlled press.

Several organs of Vietnam's government-controlled press Monday quoted Kiet as having told Hanoi's People's Committee, the city's governing body, on Saturday that he felt "humiliated to be carrying a Vietnamese passport."

Hanoi - Sixteen people were killed and at least 14 others injured in a traffic accident in central Vietnam, a traffic police official said Monday.

A bus collided head-on with a container truck Sunday morning at around 4 am in Dien Chau District in the province of Nghe An, 270 kilometres south of Hanoi, while traveling North on National Highway 1.

"This is the most serious traffic accident in our province since 2000," said Tran Van Thai, head of traffic police department of Nghe An province.

Hanoi - The Vietnamese government denied Saturday that Associated Press reporter Ben Stocking had been beaten by security forces while photographing a protest by Catholics in downtown Hanoi on Friday.

A statement issued Saturday on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there had been "no beating of Ben Stocking by Vietnamese police."

The statement came one day after AP reported Stocking had been punched, choked, and hit over the head with his camera by a police officer while photographing a rally by Catholics against government efforts to clear a disputed plot of land near Hanoi's cathedral.

Hanoi (Vietnam), Sept. 20 : Arizona Senator John McCain’s decision to run for the post of United States President this year, has evoked mix reactions in Hanoi, Vietnam, the place where he was a prisoner of war in the late 1960s.

For most Vietnamese, the McCain POW story is an obscure artifact of a receding history.

In a week of interviews around Hanoi, neither his imprisonment nor his presidential candidacy seemed to arouse much excitement.

Hanoi  - The Vietnamese stock market rebounded sharply Friday following Thursday's rebound in the US stock market.

The volatile VN-Index ended up 4.7 per cent, to close at 439.06.

Market volume totaled 25.5 million shares, valued at 850 billion dong (51 million dollars), up from 457 billion dong (27 million dollars) on Thursday.

Phan Hong Quan, director of Eurocapital Securities company, credited the rebound of the US and regional stock markets.

The Vietnamese market had fallen in nine of the last ten sessions on US worries, losing 21 per cent of its value, and investors felt it could not fall much further.

Hanoi - Hundreds of Catholics massed Friday in downtown Hanoi, singing and praying, after the government sent construction equipment to clear a disputed property next to the city's cathedral.

Priests said construction crews arrived at 4 am Friday to break down walls and clear structures on the site of Hanoi's former papal nunciature, next to St Joseph's Cathedral in central Hanoi.

Parishioners and priests staged a months-long vigil on the site last winter to demand the land be returned to the church.