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Social News 26/1
Hospital treats puffer fish patients
Nghe An Province's general hospital yesterday said doctors
were able to save three people suffering from food poisoning after eating
puffer fish.
The victims, from Cua Lo Town, were rushed to the hospital on
Saturday night. According to family members, they ate puffer fish on their
vessel while fishing, and developed nausea and headaches, before slowly
losing consciousness.
Doctors have warned residents in coastal areas not to eat
puffer fish, due to a high risk of food poisoning.
Man arrested for drug, weapons smuggling
Border police in Moc Chau District and relevant law
enforcement agencies detained a person on Saturday carrying weapons and
1.75kg of heroin.
The person was identified as Trang A Cho, born in 1984, a
resident of Dong Sang Commune in Moc Chau District. Police seized a grenade,
seven bullets and a shotgun.
The case is still under investigation.
Petrol stations cheat customers in Dac Lac
An investigation by the Dac Lac Province Market Watch has
discovered that as many as 60 per cent of the privately owned gas pumps are
cheating customers.
According to a report by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, the pumps
are allegedly fixed with a kind of electric device that fraudulently
miscounts the volume of gas pumped into the customers' vehicles.
This was announced on Thursday by Nguyen Dao Chi, deputy
director of the Market Watch Department and head of the Inter-Agency
Inspection Team against Smuggling, Commercial Fraud and Counterfeits in
Chi particularly stressed the craftiness of the wrong-doers
that posed a lot of difficulties for the law enforcers in catching them in
the act. "Usually, a fraudulent gas station will install that electronic
device on one to two gas pumps. When discovered, they use the circuit-breaker
of the gas pump to cut the electricity, thus deleting all data on the
fraudulent device. If the law enforcers guard the gas pump's circuit
breakers, the pump owners use the general circuit-breaker of the whole gas
station. When law enforcers guard all circuit-breakers at the gas station,
the owners use a remote control to lock the fraudulent device and delete all
the data of the pump."
According to Chi, a common method of using this device is to
fix a fraudulent ratio of gas that often shows 0.5 to 10 per cent less volume
on the computer. This means for every 100 litres of gas, the customer will
lose 0.5 litre to 10 litres.
"The customers cannot know that they are being cheated by
looking at the gas pump's indicator," said Chi.
"When the volume required showed up to be different from
what was shown on our meters, our team restrained the sellers, suspended
their operations and measured the pumped-out volume as evidence to make
records of the violations," he said, explaining about how his team dealt
with the wrong-doers.
Chi's team – Team 389 – reported that as of January 21, 2015,
which was more than one month since its establishment on December 17, 2014,
they had handled 15 such cases, had imposed fines totalling more than VND500
million (US$25,000) and seized several objects as evidence.
The latest case was reported on January 19, when the team
suddenly visited and checked the Truc Nghia gas station, which is owned by a
private company of the same name in Cu Kpo commune, Krong Buk district. A
fraudulent electronic device was found attached to the gas pump counter
there. Consequently, the business licence of the gas station was suspended for
three months and the gas pump confiscated.
Smuggling on the increase as Lunar New Year approaches
As Tet draws nearer, smuggling has increased exponentially at
border gates in the
Border guards at the Cha Lo Border Gate in Quang Binh on
Friday stopped a case of 1,000 firecrackers – which are prohibited in
Smuggler Nguyen Quang Thiu, a resident of Ba Don, admitted to
border guards that he bought Chinese firecrackers in the province for Tet.
The Lao Bao Border Gate in Quang Tri's guards found 263
Chinese firecrackers on board a bus. The smuggler, a Quang Binh resident
named Doan Van Son, bought the firecrackers in the adjacent Ha Tinh Province.
The cases are still under investigation.
Police in Quang Tri stopped five motorcyclists on National
Highway 9 on Friday near the local Lao Bao Border Gate, and found smuggled
tobacco and fruit blenders. The motorcyclists left their bikes at the scene
and fled into a nearby forest. Police seized the goods for investigation.
Trading of counterfeit foods is also on the rise, as people
prepare big family meals for Tet, which starts February 19.
Quang Binh's Market Watch Unit found 340kg of fake fried squid
made from tapioca starch being stored in a warehouse in Dong Hoi. The
warehouse's owner, Nguyen Thi Le Nhung, failed to provide food safety
documents for the squid.
In Thua Thien -
Police in Quang Tri's Huong Hoa District, home to the Lao Bao
Border Gate, said that in addition to catching smugglers in the act of
transporting, police have also found a great deal of smuggled items hidden in
locals' homes.
Police Col. Phan Thanh Quang told a local newspaper that
police, customs staff and border guards are doing their best to fight
smuggling at the Lao Bao Border Gate, a regional hotspot.
Electrical faults the most common cause of
Offices, organizations, stores, trade centres and households
should be cautious when using electricity, especially during the upcoming Tet
holiday, the city fire chief warned.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Colonel Le Tan Buu, chief of
Last year, there were 295 fires in the city, 50 per cent fewer
than the previous year, in which 31 people were killed and 34 others were
injured, with total property losses of VND45 billion (US$2 million). There
were also six explosions and 112 rescue missions.
In order to increase efficiency in fire prevention, the
department will strengthen local firefighting forces' abilities, and work
more closely with electricity companies.
"We have worked closed with the city's electricit y
company to check the safety of electrical grids," said Senior Lieutenant
Colonel Huynh Ngoc Quang, head of the department's Fire Prevention Bureau.
"However, there is a lot of electrical equipment, especially illegally
imported from
Billboards have caused a substantial amount of electrical
fires, Quang said. Most billboards violate advertisement laws, which state
how large they can be and how to safely install them.
In related news, hundreds of firefighters were deployed on
Saturday to stop a fire that broke out at a cotton factory on
Also yesterday, there was a traffic jam on
VND4,000 billion for 28 million disadvantaged children
Over the past two decades, the Vietnam Children’s Fund (VCF)
has raised more than VND4,000 billion to support more than 28 million
disadvantaged children across the country.
The figure was released at the 8th “Spring for Children”
Programme held in
Addressing the opening ceremony, Minister of Labour, Invalids
and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Pham Thi Hai Chuyen said the Party and State have
adopted a number of guidelines and policies on child protection and care to
ensure their comprehensive development.
She acknowledged and appreciated businesses, organisations and
individuals’ contribution to the protection and care of children and hoped
that more benefactors will join hands to support disadvantaged children.
She added that MoLISA will strictly guide the implementation
of social welfare policies and ask VCF to effectively use the donations.
Minister Chuyen presented the Prime Minister’s Certificate of
Merit to VCF and MoLISA’s certificates of merit to benefactors for their
contribution to the protection and care of children.
The benefactors were received by State Vice President Nguyen
Thi Doan on the same day,
The Vietnam Children’s Fund reported that last year it raised
more than VND95 billion to support 86,300 disadvantaged children and signed
funding agreements worth VND111 billion for the coming years.
This year the Fund aims to mobilise around VND70 billion for
47,000 children with difficulties.
Currently, there are around 2.6 million children in need,
Ms.Doan said, hoping that benefactors will continue siding with the VCF to
build more schools and help pupils from poor families go to school.
Work begins on new water pipe
After a pipeline bringing water from the Da River to Ha Noi
broke numerous times, most recently leaving around 70,000 people without
clean water, construction on a second pipeline is due to start before Tet.
Residents were without clean water for about three days after
the latest rupture, which took place on January 15 in Quoc Oai District's
Ngoc Liep Commune. This is the tenth time the Da River pipeline has broken in
its two-year lifespan.
Shoddy construction and substandard pipelines caused the breakages.
The issues were compounded by construction work on Thang Long Boulevard,
according to the Ministry of Construction, which investigated the problem
last year.
Phan Dang Long, deputy head of the Ha Noi Committee for
Populalisation and Education, said the ruptures were expected and could
happen again in the future, due to the low quality of the pipeline.
The Viet Nam Construction and Import-Export Corporation
(Vinaconex), the corporation in charge of the first pipe, was chosen to build
the second one. But instead of using the same material as the first pipe,
fiberglass, Vinaconex will use cast iron.
"Though cast iron pipe will be more expensive, its
quality is higher and construction time is shorter, which will help make the
pipe usable sooner," said Nguyen Van Ton, general director of the Viet
Nam Water Supply Corporation under Vinaconex. "We will continue
repairing the first pipeline to ensure that both lines function well and
supply enough water for the residents."
The 21km second pipeline, which will cost VND1.2 trillion
(US$57.1 million), is expected to be finished this summer to meet higher
water demand during the hot months.
Giap Thi Tuy Anh of Tan Binh District raised her annual income
to more than VND16 million (US$762), the cut-off for the city's poverty line,
with loans provided by HCM City's poverty eradication and hunger elimination
fund.
Anh learned about the soft loans at her ward's self-management
group, which exist in each commune and ward in the district.
In 2006, she borrowed VND7 million ($333) to buy a mobile food
stall to sell bread in front of her house.
In 2007, Anh was able to pay off her loan, and use capital she
earned to open a grocery in 2011.
To buy groceries, though, she needed more money.
"Luckily, I was given another loan of VND10 million
($476) from the fund for poverty reduction and hunger eradication," she
said.
In 2013, she paid off that loan, and her family's annual
income is now more than $762.
Anh was one of 1,444 families in the district who moved beyond
the city's poverty threshold of $762 last year.
Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, deputy head of the district's poverty
reduction, said the district had carried out many programmes and that now
there are no families under the poverty line .
For instance, apart from loans for poor families to do
business, the district has introduced jobs to working-age members of poor
families.
"Jobs are the basic method to help poor families have an
income and stable life," said Thu.
She and her colleagues on the board have also provided funds
for poor children to attend vocational training schools.
Tuition exemption and scholarships have also been provided to
children of poor families.
The district has also carried out programmes to build new
houses and upgrade dilapidated houses.
To help them access health care services, the district has
provided them with health insurance cards, Thu said.
This year's task is to reduce the number of families living
near the poverty line, she said, adding that the district would try to reduce
the number to 500 families.
Nguyen Van Xe, deputy head of Department of Labour, Invalids
and Social Affairs, has asked the district to monitor those families that
have risen above the poverty line to ensure that their lives remain stable.
Tan Binh is one of four districts without poor families in the
city. The other districts include 6, 5 and 11.
There are five wards without families near the poverty line,
including one ward in District 2 and four remaining wards in District 5, he
added.
This year the city's remaining districts will aim to have no
poor families, Xe said.
Xe said
From 2009 to 2013, the city's annual fund for poverty
reduction totalled VND2.7trillion ($128 million). Of these, 93.1 per cent
were for loans.
The city has gathered funds for poverty reduction via other
organisations as well.
However, Xe said the city was concerned that poverty rate
would be unstable because the city defines poor families based on their
annual income only.
Even if their income exceeds the poverty threshold, they still
can experience other dimensions of poverty, including health, education and
living conditions.
Because of this concern, the city will launch a pilot
programme to define and classify poor families based on multiple dimensions,
including health, education, living condition, information access and social
insurance, apart from income, Xe said.
"Multiple-dimension poverty reduction is the only way to
prevent an unstable poverty rate," he added.
The four districts of 6, 11, Tan Phu and Binh Chanh will be
the site of the pilot programme.
The programme will then expand to the entire city, Xe said.
"Of course, it will be difficult at first, but the city
will carry out multiple-dimension poverty reduction in order to improve the
life of its residents," he said.
Community supervision helps limit corruption
As many as 96 violations were discovered at 558 construction
projects last year by central Quang Nam Province's community supervision
group, vice chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee Nguyen Phi
Hung revealed at a workshop yesterday in Hoi An.
The community supervision group is made up of elected local
people. Its establishment, part of the World Bank-funded Viet Nam
Anti-Corruption Initiative Programme (VACI), helped prevent corruption and
violations on infrastructure and budget-funded projects nationwide, Hung
said.
According to the official, 102 community supervision groups
(CSG) and Inspectorate boards have been set up at 244 communes and precincts
in Quang Nam Province since 2005. These groups organised 436 inspections at
558 projects in 2014 to uncover violations and limit losses, extravagance and
corruption at public construction projects.
"Warnings from CSGs help local administrations inspect
possible corruption cases and limit losses on intentional poor investment
projects. A CSG in Hoi An discovered violations at two public investment
projects, saving VND136.8 million (US$6,500)," Hung said.
However, he complained that CSGs did not receive enough
financial support from state agencies.
"Almost all members of CSGs are retired and do not know
anything about engineering, making it hard for them to supervise construction
projects," Hung said, adding that each CSG received only VND2 million (US$98)
per year as compensation for its supervision efforts.
Nguyen Xuan Son, an official from the Government Inspectorate
who co-chaired the workshop, said the Government Inspectorate would propose
that the Government and relevant state agencies provide more financial
support for CSGs.
Vigilance urged against animal diseases
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van
Tam yesterday called for increased vigilance this year in preventing disease
outbreaks among livestock and poultry, especially those that can be
transmitted to humans.
He was speaking at a meeting held yesterday to review disease
prevention and control work in the meat industry in 2014 and set the agenda
for this year.
Pham Van Dong, head of the Animal Health Department under the
Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry (MARD), said about 100
disease/epidemic hotspots are identified every year on average, and the
number of fowls that have to be culled after being infected by diseases can
reach 200,000.
Last year, the H5N1 avian influenza strain broke out in 158
communes in 33 provinces. The white spot disease, acute hepatopancreatic
necrosis syndrome, and environmental pollution impacted over 59,500 hectares
of brackish-water shrimp ponds.
So far, 21 cities and provinces nationwide have developed
strategies to control possible epidemic threats and outbreaks, he said.
While avian influenza and blue-ear disease hotbeds have been
brought under control, foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have hit six communes
in the northern mountainous province of Son La.
The agriculture ministry is concerned that the disease can
ravage the northern mountainous area if local authorities fail to exert
greater control on livestock smuggling.
A bird-flu outbreak can happen in the Mekong Delta this year,
especially around breeding areas and wet markets, the meeting heard.
Dong said that as Tet (Lunar New Year) approaches, his
department would continue maintaining epidemic-free breeding zones and
inspecting units at the grassroots level to facilitate early detections of
any violations.
He admitted that the veterinary network capacity and breeding
skills of farmers are yet to meet expectations.
Delegates at the conference agreed on the need to increase
awareness of dangers as well as preventive measures among farmers and local
authorities.
Deputy Minister Tam said all animal health staff at local
levels should be proactive in disease prevention work, and co-ordinate their
activities well with farmers and local authorities.
The animal health sector must also increase efforts to teach
safe practices in raising cattle and poultry, he said.
Online gambling website discovered
The Criminal Police Department searched several places in HCM
City yesterday suspected to be the nerve centre and offices of the online
gambling website 12bet.com.
The police seized seven people, many computers, three
automobiles and a great number of documents.
Initial investigations revealed that the leader of the website
was To Cong Hung, 33, director of Gay Viet magazine (www.attitude.com).
Users of 12bet.com use their bank accounts to purchase virtual
money, which they use to gamble on the website.
Hung, the manager in Viet Nam, sent millions of dollars every
month to the international gambling tycoons who operate the website's host
computer in the Philippines.
Ha Noi seizes tonnes of contraband goods
The Ha Noi Market Watch Bureau yesterday seized three tonnes
of cosmetics and more than four tonnes of milk and food additives from a
truck.
Driver Pham Xuan Ly, 53, admitted to the police that he was
hired to transport the goods from the northern mountainous province of Lang
Son to Ha Noi and sell them. No papers on their origin were enclosed.
The Quang Binh Market Watch also discovered nearly 18 tonnes
of dried cuttlefish with unclear origin in Dong Hoi City's Phu Hai District.
Owner Nguyen Thi Le Nhung said that the cuttlefish were bought
in various places including the southern province of Kien Giang, but she did
not have any certificates related to the goods. She also admitted that 340kg
were made from cassava.
Pigs pumped with pond water
The Dong Nai Police on Thursday seized more than 100 pigs
following suspicions on safety and hygiene.
The pigs were seized from two trucks in Long Binh Ward, Bien
Hoa City when they were being injected with sedatives and water from a nearby
pond pumped into their stomachs.
Truck owner Pham Duc Duy admitted that he had conducted the
work for about three months, injecting water into about 100 pigs to increase
their weight before bringing them to HCM City for sale.
Vietnam pledges to apply nuclear energy for peaceful purposes
National Atomic Energy Agency under Ministry of Science
and Technology and the United Kingdom Trade and Investment Agency co-
organized the third Asian Nuclear Power conference in Hanoi on January 22.
At the conference, international experts shared recent news
about nuclear power projects in Vietnam, and exchanged the experiences for
successful implementation of nuclear projects.
Speaking at the conference, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of
Science and Technology Tran Viet Thanh affirmed that Vietnam pledges to apply
nuclear energy to its socio-economic development for peaceful purposes,
saying that the conference will help the new comers like Vietnam to carry out
the programs safely and effectively, ensuring energy security and reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
Up to now, Vietnam has also signed nine cooperative agreements
on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes with Russia, China, the
Republic of Korea, Japan, the United States, France, India, Argentina and
Canada.
Rising healthcare demand, new diseases set to tax health
sector
The increasing need for health care would be a major challenge
for the health sector this year, as would changes in disease models,
population ageing and newly emerging diseases such as avian influenza types
H5N1 and H7N9 and the Ebola virus, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien
said yesterday at an online conference.
At the local level, the health care system failed to meet
demand in terms of human resources and medical facilities. Moreover, there
were too few beds in many regions and the balance between medical
specialities varied between localities, according to the health minister.
Last year, the health ministry reported that the health sector
had met two targets set by the National Assembly. The number of beds per
10,000 people was 23 – higher than the target of 22.5 – while the
malnutrition rate of children under five was reduced to 15 per cent, below
the goal of 15.5 per cent.
The sector also achieved 16 of 18 targets set by the Prime
Minister. However, they did not meet the goal of reducing the fatality rate
of children under five to 21 out of 1,000 or ensuring that 73 per cent of the
population was covered by health insurance.
By the end of 2014, the country had 7.8 doctors and 1.9
university pharmacists per 10,000 residents. Doctors worked at 78 per cent of
the country's communal health stations while 95 per cent of communes and
hamlets had medical staff.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam gave instructions to the
sector, asking the health ministry to focus on reducing hospital overloading
and improving service quality.
He also told the sector to improve communal health stations
and human resource training; reform administrative procedure and drug bidding
mechanisms; and expand health insurance coverage.
Creative female teachers honored
The Ministry of Education and Training yesterday awarded Most
Creative Femail Teachers to 60 entries of 98 femail teachers at a awarding
ceremony in Hanoi.
The competition “ Most creative teachers in 2014” launched
from April, 2014 received 3,048 entries from female teachers of preschools,
primary, junior and senior high schools from 32 departments of education and
training across the country.
The entries including visual and audio instruments were
created by themselves serving their teaching in most effective way.
The Ministry has granted three first prizes to math teacher Vo
Thi Ngoc Anh of Nguyen Tat Thanh Senior High School for gifted students in
the highlands province of Kon Tum with the moving picture and chart to
support geometry for tenth graders; teacher Le Thi Xuan Loc of Hoa Mai
Preschool in the southern province of Tay Ninh; geography teacher Nguyen Thi
Anh Toan of Hai Dinh Junior School in the central province of Quang Binh with
E-learning lessons of rivers and lakes in Vietnam for sixth grade
students.
Many charitable activities for disadvantaged people nationwide
launched
Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Overseas Vietnamese and Pham
Ngoc Thach University of Medicine offered 500 Tet gifts for Vietnamese people
in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh on January 24.
Pham Ngoc Thach Medicine University’s doctor delegation
organized free-examination and treatment on the occasion.
On behalf of Vietnamese people in Cambodia, Vice of the
General Association of Vietnamese Cambodian People, Chairman Nguyen Van Thong
thanked the delegation.
On the same day, the Vietnam Youth Union and Trung Nguyen
Corporation organized the “Youth Aspiration 2015” program in Dak Lak
Province’s Buon Ma Thuot City. This year’s event themed “The trip of books
that will change your life” brought 1,000 books and 10 scholarships worth
VND1 million each to good students.
Minh Tam Charity Organization and Kon Tum Red Cross
Association also handed over 500 presents to the poor people of ethnic
minorities in Dak Glei District’s Muong Hoong Commune on January 24.
Meanwhile Kon Tum Charity Group and Ho Chi Minh City businesses offered 300
gifts for the poor in Kon Plong District’s Mang But Commune.
The charity delegation of Linh Quang Buddhist Temple from Ho
Chi Minh City gave free medical check-up for disadvantged people in Dai Lao
Commune, Lam Dong Province’s Bao Loc City.
In addition, nearly VND55 billion (US$ 2,572,798) was
contributed to the musical program “ Mua xuan cho em” ( Spring for children)
held by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Vietnam
Children Supporting Fund and Vietnam Television at the Au Co Art Center In
Hanoi on January 24.
Bridge project to connect northern economic triangle
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday broke ground
on the construction of Bach Dang Bridge and its connecting road.
The bridge will link the Ha Long-Hai Phong Highway to the Ha
Noi-Hai Phong Highway.
It will stretch over the Bach Dang River and cost VND7.6
trillion (more than US$357.2 million) under the build-operate-transfer model.
Quang Ninh Province People's Committee is the project's main
investor, and it will be built by Japanese group SE in co-ordination with the
Bach Dang Bridge BOT Joint Stock Company and other local subcontractors.
The bridge will be over three kilometres long and 25 metres
wide, with four lanes allowing speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour.
The bridge links the Ha Long-Hai Phong Highway to the Ha
Noi-Hai Phong Highway.
The bridge is one of the two main components of the Ha
Long-Hai Phong Highway project. The other component, the 19.5km highway,
broke ground in September 2014. The entire project is expected to be complete
in 2016.
Once completed, it will contribute to completing a route
connecting the key northern economic triangle, Ha Noi-Hai Phong-Quang Ninh.
The project is also expected to increase investment in Quang Ninh,
contributing to socio-economic development.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Deputy PM Hai praised
the efforts made by the Party, Government and people of Quang Ninh to clear
hurdles for this project.
He asked investors to co-ordinate closely with Quang Ninh and
Hai Phong authorities to accelerate construction and ensure the quality and
efficiency of the work.
The Ha Long-Hai Phong Highway will reduce the distance from
Quang Ninh to Ha Noi from 180km to about 130km, and make it easier for tours
from the northern region to visit Ha Long Bay.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Hai, 26 tháng 1, 2015
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