More than 30 years after he was picked up by a U.S. warship as he fled Vietnam, Le Ba Hung has returned to his homeland as commander of a destroyer in a sign of warming ties between the former foes.

The death toll from Tropical Storm Mirinae rose to 91 in Vietnam on Wednesday as authorities stepped up rescue and relief operations in the country's central region.

The death toll from Tropical Storm Mirinae rose to 87 in Vietnam on Wednesday as authorities stepped up rescue and relief operations in affected areas of the central region.

Tropical Storm Mirinae unleashed severe flooding in parts of central Vietnam, killing 23 people, leaving two missing and stranding families on rooftops, disaster officials said Tuesday.

Tropical Storm Mirinae slammed Vietnam's central coast Monday, unleashing heavy rains and winds and forcing more than 80,000 people to evacuate.

Two senior U.S. envoys traveling to military-ruled Myanmar this week will meet detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi but are unlikely to see the reclusive junta chief, an official said Sunday.

Environmental authorities have seized two frozen tigers in Vietnam, where only a few dozen of the animals remain in the wild, state-linked media said Saturday.

The United States has condemned Vietnam's recent conviction of nine democracy activists, the arrest of a writer and the expulsion of Buddhist monks from a monastery where they practiced the teachings of a renowned Zen master.

Vietnam evacuated some 30,000 people along its northern coast as Tropical Storm Parma approached after leaving more than 300 people dead in the Philippines and China.

Six dissidents went on trial in Vietnam on Thursday charged with hanging pro-democracy banners, distributing leaflets and spreading their views on the Internet.