The US on Friday called for the release of two Vietnamese activists jailed for distributing anti-government leaflets, saying their case highlights a "disturbing trend" of authorities muzzling dissent. University student Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, was jailed for six years, while computer technician Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, was imprisoned for eight years by a court in southern Long An province on Thursday. The pair will serve three more years under house arrest once they are released, their lawyer told AFP Thursday.

Vietnam put two young activists on trial Thursday for spreading anti-state propaganda, in a case rights groups criticised as part of the regime's efforts to silence its critics. University student Nguyen Phuong Uyen, in her early 20s, and computer technician Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, are accused of distributing anti-government leaflets, their lawyer Ha Huy Son said. A verdict was expected later in the day, he told AFP from the court in the southern province of Long An.

The two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Britain reached US$ 4.37 billion in 2012, rising 35.5 per cent from 2011. According to statistics from the Trade Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK and Northern Ireland, Vietnam received a total $ 3.9 billion from exporting goods to the UK, up 44.3 percent from 2011. The country's key exports included tea, coffee, mechanical equipment, plastic and leather products.

At least 11 people died and dozens more were injured when two passenger buses crashed early Friday in central Vietnam, a policeman said. The collision happened after midnight in coastal Khanh Hoa province, leaving 49 people injured, a local traffic police official told AFP. "The accident has killed 11 people so far. We don't know yet how many were in the buses when the accident happened. Investigators are working on the case," he said, requesting anonymity, before adding the two drivers were among the dead. No foreigners were believed to be involved, he said.