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Social Headlines January 11
Expatistan.com,
a website that provides the cost of living in various cities around the
world, has ranked
Except
Compared
to other cities in the ASEAN region, the cost of living in
Free
bus travel offered to
The
HCM City Centre for Public Transport Management has announced that it will
begin offering free bus rides to senior citizens.
The
free rides will be available to senior citizens 80 years and older through
2015, and beginning in 2016, bus rides will also be free for those 75 years
or older.
The
elderly will also have prioritised seating at the front of buses, and will
receive assistance from bus drivers and conductors.
The
free rides are called for in the national target plan for the welfare of
elderly people living in
Previously,
the city's People's Committee had implemented free bus programmes for
disabled riders and children under 12 years old. — VNS
Cold
weather covers
Cold
weather has covered the Northern and North Central provinces, causing dark
sky, dull weather and rain in the some places, announced by the
Current
weather in Northern and
Thus,
the
Particularly,
the daily temperature in
According
to forecast weather, a new cold spell will enter the
Overseas
Vietnamese gather for Tet Meeting
The
annual meeting to greet overseas Vietnamese will be held on January 21,
according to Mr.Tran Hoa Phuong, Vice director of the
Around
700 overseas businesses, experts and intellectuals will gather at the event
to celebrate the Lunar New Year - Tet.
As
plan, at the meeting, the local authorities will inform to overseas
Vietnamese the city’s achivements in 2013, and award individuals and
organizations for contributing to social and economic development of the
country.
Besides,
the city’s authorities will also offer Tet gifts, free treatment and medicine
for over 500 poor overseas Vietnamese in
As the
year ends, the amount of overseas national currency exchange transferred to
The
amount of overseas national currency exchange transferred to HCMC hit US$4.1
billion in 2012.
2
kilos of drugs confiscated at airport
Two
kilos of Pseudoephedrine – a main ingredient used to make methamphetamine –
have been confiscated by customs officials at
The
substance, worth about VND2 billion (US$95,000), was hidden in food packages
being transported by a Vietnamese national who was checking in to fly abroad.
This
is a new method used for transporting illegal drugs via the airport, said a
customs department official on January 7.
The
case has been transferred to the police for further investigation.
Two
arrested for looting beer in Dong Nai
Police
in
The
two local residents, Tran Van Cuong, 30, and Dinh Van Vinh, 47, used a
rickshaw to steal more than ten of the beer cases reported missing, according
to the police. On Monday, the city's People's Procuracy had also decided to
prosecute the two men.
According
to officials, the incident occurred on December 4 when a lorry carrying about
1,500 boxes of beer, each with 24 cans, from
Some
1,000 boxes of Tiger beer fell from the truck and onto the road. Dozens of
local residents swarmed the area, ignored the driver's desperate cries and
tears and stole the cases of beer.
The
police are investigating the involvement of more people in the case.—
Secretary
of the Hanoi Party Committee Pham Quang Nghi along with municipal officials
visited officers and sailors of Brigade 189 and those on the
Nghi
congratulated the crew of the HQ 182-Hanoi submarine, the first attack
submarine of
He
voiced his belief that the crew members will stay strong to make
contributions to safeguarding the country’s territorial waters, ensuring
peace and successfully fulfilling the marine strategy.
The
same day, the delegation called at the Zone 4 Naval High Command, which is in
charge of protecting Truong Sa (Paracel) Archipelago and the country’s
territorial sea.
Nghi
took the opportunity to wish them a happy Lunar New Year and presented
Brigade 189 and crew members with a gift worth more thanUS$61,000.
The
Hanoi-named Kilo-636 submarine is currently anchored at the Cam Ranh port
since its arrival on January 3 after a six-week voyage from
Online
criminals arrested in crackdown
Do Ha
Duy Thanh, 32, who is living in
Thanh
was identified by police buying and selling stolen foreign credit card
information to criminals and appropriating money in their accounts.
The
same day, police searched Thanh’s house, seizing many laptops, wifi adapters,
and routers and other related equipment.
The
police also identified seven other people involved in the case.
Unauthorised
Tet shipment seized
Ten
40-foot containers of commodities destined to local retailers in
After
inspecting the containers, local police officials and market watchdogs
discovered that several commodity categories in the shipment did not have
customs certificates.
All of
the containers were imported to
However,
Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that no company has admitted ownership of the
shipment. Even the company that transported the shipment claims not to know
who the owner of the containers is.
Invitation
letters have been sent to the two export companies, however as yet, the
representatives of the companies have not come forward to talk with
officials.
After
inspection, authourities reported that the shipment includes speakers, LED
lights, ornamental products for Tet, canvas, bras, medicated oils and
equipment for the textile and garment industry.
Local
officials took five days to inspect the smuggled goods and almost 90 per cent
of the imported commodities had not been declared to customs officials,
according to a market watchdog.
It is
estimated that the shipment is worth billions of dong. However, the initial
declaration to customs officials says that each container is worth VND10
million (US$476).
Beside
the ten containers, another four containers have also been detained by
officials at the Viet Nam International Container Terminals.
Tuoi
Tre newspaper quoted a police official as saying he was shocked to see such a
huge volume of commodities waiting to be sold in
“Fairy
Moon” programme brings Tet joy to children
The
charitable “Fairy Moon” programme, the sixth of its kind, is expected to
raise over US$569 million to help orphans and disadvantaged children experience
a joyful Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.
The
event has been organised by a media consortium including Family and Children
Magazine from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam
Television (VTV), Journalists and Public Opinion newspaper, and the Media
Joint Stock Companies of Thu Do and Thien Son.
The
proceeds are to be spent on presenting 1,000 gifts, 150 deposit books and
supporting the building of two houses for underprivileged children, Agent
Orange (AO)/dioxin victims and those affected with HIV nationwide, according
to general director of the programme Nguyen Van A.
TV
viewers will have a chance to enjoy special art performances and television
reports telling moving stories about children living in difficult
circumstances during the programme, which will be held in Hanoi Opera House
on January 12, and broadcast on VTV2 at 8:30 pm.
PM Dung:
transport ministry must improve infrastructure
The
transport sector must invest more in infrastructure in order to boost the
quality of key national road, seaway, airway and railway projects.
Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the request at a conference hosted by the
Ministry of Transport in
PM
Dung hailed the sector for its efforts to fulfill all of its assigned tasks
last year and asked for more focus on rural transport as part of efforts to
enforce a resolution on agriculture, farmers and rural areas adopted by the
Party Central Committee’s seventh tenure.
He
requested the sector work harder to keep traffic under control, minimize
traffic accidents and closely check the loading capacity of vehicles.
He
suggested that the ministry should restructure its State-owned enterprises,
divest themselves from non-core areas, strengthen State management and
improve corporate governance.
With a
slogan calling for more drastic acts to forge innovation, quality, efficiency
and faster development, the sector aims for an average year-on-year increase
of 6 percent in the volume of goods and 7% in the number of passengers it
handles.
It
will act quickly on the upgrade and extension of National Highway 1 and a
section of the
A
range of comprehensive solutions designed for the foreseeable and far future
will be launched to ease the accident rate.
Last
year, the sector performed well in law-making with more legal regulations
coming into force. On top of this, the entire political system and transport
sector paid special attention to transport, resulting in a reduced number of
accidents, fatalities and injuries for the second consecutive year. The
number of accident-related deaths dropped to below 10,000.
RoK-funded
project improves training in Central Highlands
Experts
from the
The
project, funded by the RoK government, was also launched during a January 9
conference jointly held by the Dak Lak province People’s Committee and the
Korean International Cooperation Agency. It will be carried out until 2015.
Established
in 1978, the college offers training in three levels. Currently, the college
is hosting 1,852 students from 30 different ethnic minority groups in Central
Highlands provinces.
The
college also gives training for vocational teachers for regional and
neighbouring localities.
The
Central Highlands covers the five provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai,
Kon Tum and Lam Dong with a total area of 5.4 million hectares, home to 47
ethnic groups.
According
to the region’s master plan on socio-economic development, which was ratified
by the Government on July 18, 2012, per capita income is expected to hit 24
million VND per year until 2020.
The
plan also defines that priorities will be given to the industry, farm and
forestry product processing, mining and machinery sectors.
Minister
of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan has called for further assistance from
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to
He
held a working session with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano in
At a
press conference following the event, Amano and Deputy Minister of Science
and Technology Le Dinh Tien presented the IAEA’s role in promoting nuclear
application, security and safety and ensuring non proliferation of nuclear
weapons.
They
also gave an insight into the agency’s support to countries which have just
started developing nuclear electricity, including
This
is the second visit by the IAEA Director General to
A
member of the IAEA since 1978,
It was
elected as a member of the board for the 1991 - 1993, 1997 - 1999 and 2003 -
2005 terms.-
Over
VND518 billion for
HCMC
will expand a road section and upgrade parallel roads on the
HCMC
Financial Investment Company (HFIC) and HNHC on Wednesday signed credit
contract for the sub-project no. 2 of the build-operate-transfer (BOT)
project expanding the
The
sub-project includes expansion of a three-kilometer stretch starting from the
Thu Duc Crossroad and upgrade of parallel roads from
The
sub-project has the total investment of over VND518 billion, of which over
VND289.7 billion will be borrowed from LDIF in 14 years.
The
sub-project no. 1, stretching from the
To use
LDIF capital, HFIC has assessed the project and assisted the investor to
follow steps in WB capital usage process. The project is expected to finish
early next year.
River
landslides threaten Cu Chi Tunnels
Landslides
along the
According
to the authority, landslides along the 3.5-kilometer section from
According
to the city government, the embankment project is urgent and will be
implemented this year.
The
authority hired a firm in 2008 to prepare a plan to construct an embankment
to fight landslides and protect the section from
The
2014 traditional Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, is approaching but just a
few banks in HCMC have reported new banknote demands to serve their clients,
said Le Thi Thanh Hang, deputy director of the central bank’s HCMC branch.
Banks
have yet to contact the agency for new banknotes but the branch has already
allocated new banknotes to the lenders in recent weeks as it does not want to
keep banknotes in its storehouse. Maybe, credit institutions now have got
enough new banknotes to be used as lucky money, or tien li xi, to serve
customers during the first days of Tet, Hang said.
The
central bank is allocating new banknotes available in its warehouse to credit
institutions. However, there are no new banknotes with the face value of
VND2,000 or lower as the central bank’s governor has decided to stop printing
banknotes with low face values this year.
This
year, banknote circulation rate in the city has slowed down compared to
previous years. Only in recent days has the circulation rate increased owing
to the central bank’s HCMC branch allocating new banknotes to banks and more
lenders registering to receive new banknotes, Hang said.
The
central bank’s HCMC branch will secure banknote supplies with various face
values for local credit institutions. However, the agency does not make sure
that it can meet new banknote demands of local banks.
Source: VNA/VOV/VNS/SGGP/SGT
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