Download  In what is being described as a landmark case, a Taiwanese owned manufacturer has made an out of court settlement with thousands of Vietnamese farmers who claim pollution caused by his firm significantly affected their livelihoods.

Vedan Vietnam, which makes food additives including monosodium glutamate (known as MSG), reportedly discharged waste water in such quantities into the local river that it damaged the ecosystem.

Thousands of fish and shrimp farmers claimed the toxic waters killed their catch and ruined farmland along the river's banks.

Vedan has admitted responsibility and offered compensation worth 11.5 million US dollar to farmers in three provinces.

Bo Hill of Radio Australia has the story.

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Hundreds of public health experts gathered last week in Vietnam to talk about how to link public health and human rights.

The right to health is affirmed in numerous United Nations agreements.

But ideas about public health and human rights often come into conflict, particularly when it comes to activities many governments consider criminal, like drug use.

And as Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi, some governments are especially sensitive to the issue of human rights.

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From this month, children over the age of six months in Vietnam are required to wear helmets if traveling with their parents on motorcycles.

It's a move that's been widely welcomed.

But there are concerns that the market is being flooded with sub-standard helmets - that are about five times cheaper - and that either carry fake quality stamps - or none at all.

Radio Australia’s Desmond Ang has more.

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When people worry about carbon emissions causing climate change, they usually blame automobiles and airplanes, or coal-fired power plants.

But one of the world’s biggest sources of carbon emissions is much smaller: crude fires used for cooking.

Scientists say wood and coal-fired stoves used by billions of people in developing countries are a major cause of global warming.

In Hanoi, Matt Steinglass reports on an organization helping poor people make the switch to more efficient and cleaner stoves.