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Social
News Headlines 3/7
Transnational
drug trafficking ring busted in Quang Ninh
Quang Ninh police
officials are expanding their investigation of a transnational drug
trafficking ring illegally smuggling drugs from
Earlier on June 25,
police caught Phong red-handed hiding 231.02g of synthetic drugs.
Searching Phong’s
house at Hai Yen ward,
Information at
Phong’s home led directly to the arrest of 7 other suspects involved in the
ring, including Pham Thi Van (26 years), Tran Quang Huy (27), Pham Thi Thanh
Thuy (30 years), Tuong Duy Huy (22), Le Dai Hoang (18), Hoang Van Hai (20)
and Vu Van Sinh (40).
At Huy and Sinh’s
house, police seized synthetic drugs, marijuana, four detonators, two mines,
1kg of dynamite, 38 bullets and many parts of short guns.
Int’l
community hails
Global leaders
attending a health forum in
In a keynote
address, Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien highlighted
This is the third
such forum that has been held in
The forum attracted
more than 1,000 delegates, including 27 health ministers and leading
professors, who shared experience and discussed measures to help countries
improve reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health as well as
challenges in mobilising social sources and financial support for the work.
On the sidelines,
Minister Tien met with his South African counterpart and health officials
from a number of African countries to examine ways to step up trilateral
cooperation under the South-South cooperation framework between
Hanoi club
of Vietnamese alumni in US
The Vietnam Union
of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) and the Vietnam-USA Society (VUS) on July
1 launched a
Vietnam-USA Society
President Nguyen Tam Chien emphasized that the establishment of the club aims
to strengthen mutual understanding between
Vice President of
US Ambassador to
Vietnam David B. Shear said he hopes that the club will help promote the
friendship and diplomatic ties as well as mutual understanding between the two
peoples.
The VUS’
The
The American
university will also train lecturers and researchers and set up a Centre for
Fundamental Biophysics and Biochemistry Sciences at the
The latter will be
assisted through the Centre for Global Mentoring, a joint entity set up by
the UCLA,
An oncology
research laboratory will also be set up to research into cancers of the
liver, cervix, and stomach.
Labour
report predicts rise in employment
The second Vietnam
Labour Market update, a quarterly bulletin released on July 1, predicted
increasing demand for recruitment in provinces with many industrial and
processing zones.
The bulletin forecasts
demand for about 600,000 new recruits and about 100,000 replacements. The
highest demand was expected in processing and manufacturing industries
(288,000 people), followed by service activities (125,000), construction
(50,000), transportation and storage (12,000) and expertise, science and
technology (7,000).
Total employment in
the first quarter of 2014 was 52.53 million people, a year-on year increase
of 620,000, according to the bulletin. However, 25,000 fewer people were
employed in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2013.
The reason for the
low unemployment rate was that in the first quarter, the employment growth
rate was 1.2%, higher than the labour force growth rate (1.1%).
However, General
Statistics Office (GSO) deputy director Nguyen Van Lieu said that many
challenges remained.
"Despite the
increase in labourer income and job opportunities, many jobs are still
unproductive, risky or unhygienic, and this should be addressed," said
Lieu.
The number of
skilled workers educated via a formal training system dropped from 5.5% in
the first quarter of 2013 to 5% in the first quarter of 2014, added Lieu.
MoLISA statistics
show that the labour force (defined as the economically active population
aged 15 years and above) is currently 53.6 million, a decline of 118,000
people compared to the fourth quarter of 2013 but an increase of 592,000
people in comparison with the same period last year.
Conducted by MoLISA
and the GSO with support from the International Labour Organisation, the
bulletin aimed to analyse new trends in the labour market in order to improve
labour policy-making.
Communications
to be boosted in coastal areas
The Hoang Sa
archipelago area will soon have a coastal communication station as part of a
national project recently approved by the Prime Minister.
New maritime
communication stations will also be built on Phu Quy island (central Binh
Thuan province) and in the provinces of Nam Dinh, Quang Binh, Ben Tre, Tien
Giang, and Bac Lieu.
The project aims to
provide communications services for the marine community and support
search-and-rescue operations, maritime safety and environmental protection as
well as defence and security tasks and sea-based economic development.
Existing stations
in
Standby stations to
improve the quality of information coverage will be set up in four regions:
Quang Ninh to Ha Tinh, Quang Binh to Quy Nhon, Phu Yen to Ninh Thuan, and
Binh Thuan to Kien Giang.
Surveillance
technologies, station-to-station management solutions and cable and
satellite-linked transmission networks will be deployed to enable
ship-to-land, ship-to-ship and land-to-land communications.
Japan vet
to donate war photos
Japanese
photojournalist Bunyo Ishikawa plans to donate to
The director of the
museum, Huynh Ngoc Van, who recently visited Ishikawa in
Ishikawa, who
escaped death seven times after being wounded on the battlefield, spoke to
the museum director about his plan to donate his photos during his visit to
HCM City in March last year.
"He wants the
museum keep his photos for younger generations to learn about the war, even
after he passes away," said Van. "Ishikawa is very different from
other photographers. Looking at his photos, I can see that he has great
feelings toward Vietnamese civilians and the pain they suffered during the
war."
After meeting the
Japanese photographer the first time in 1997, Van followed him to various
provinces and cities in
Following the 1964
In 1998, Ishikawa
donated 260 photos he had taken during the war to the museum.
In
Ishikawa was
stationed in Sai Gon (now
He worked as a
staff photographer for the Asahi Shinbun newspaper from 1969 to 1984. After
1984, Ishikawa continued to photograph in conflict zones around the world.
Nearly
US$30 million disbursed for
The city’s People’s
Committee reported to Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai that of that sum,
about 1.56 billion JPY (US$15.4 million) has been disbursed for the East West
Highway, while the rest went to the first phase of a water environment
improvement project.
Municipal
authorities have ordered the Urban – Civil Works Construction Investment
Management Authority to take drastic measures to accelerate the disbursement
progress before August 31, the expiry of loan agreements’ disbursement.
The 21.89km East
West highway traverses eight districts and includes 11 bridges and 8
overpasses. About 65% of its VND16 trillion (US$760 million) investment was
financed by
Quang Ngai
hosts exhibition on Hoang Sa, Truong Sa
Central Quang Ngai
province on July 1 hosted an exhibition of historical evidence proving
On display were
more than 100 photos, documents and maps, including the “Atlas Universel de
Geographie” (World Atlas of Geography) composed by Philippe Vandermaelen
published in 1827, a Belgium geologist and founder of the Belgium Royal
Geographical Society, which proves Vietnam’s sovereignty over the islands .
Historical
documents demonstrate that
World Atlas of
Geography is only one of the numerous global documents and maps that
unequivocally indicate that
Information and
Communications Deputy Minister Truong Minh Tuan said the exhibition aims to
honour our ancestors’ contributions to protecting sea and island sovereignty
and to educating Vietnamese generations on
Doctors prefer to work in big cities
The health system
in the central
The mountainous
Tuong Duong District has 18 commune medical stations, but most of them have
been downgraded and lack necessary equipment," said Pham Quoc Duong,
director of the Tuong Duong Medical Station. "So there are many
difficulties in carrying out health examinations and treating people."
About 67,000
residents have registered for health checks at medical stations in communes
and towns.
"There are too
many people for the amount of infrastructure," Duong said.
For instance, at Xa
Luong Commune Medical Station, which is five kilometres from the district
centre, buildings are rundown, electricity often does not work and there is
little or no water.
If medical workers
need clean water to wash their hands, they must take it from a stream, said
Duong.
Hun Vi Truong, a
doctor at the Quy Chau District Medical Station, said that medical equipment
was issued so long time ago and it rarely worked.
Some of it was
forgotten and covered with dust, he said.
Nguyen Xuan Phong,
director at the Ky Son District Medical Station, said that in the past, the
station rotated doctors to commune medical stations, especially in remote
communes where they were desperately needed.
But many doctors
and nurses did not like working in villages and quit their jobs to work at
private medical stations and hospitals, he said.
Bui Dinh Long,
director of the Nghe An Department of Health, said that the province lacked
doctors, but attracting good students from medical universities was
difficult.
Although the
provinces offered special policies to attract professional staff, such as an
allowance of VND15-50 million (US$700-2,300) for doctors, but few of them
accepted the offer, preferring to work in big provinces and cities.
Sending doctors to
advanced training courses also left medical stations with a serious shortage
of medical staff, he said.
The department will
now consider rotating doctors from provincial hospitals to work in outlying districts
and communes.
It will also offer
short training courses to doctors at commune medical stations to raise their
professional skills.
"In the long
term, little is expected to change," said Long.
The lives of people
moved out of their lands and resettled to make way for public projects in
Hua Ngoc Thao,
deputy chairman of the District 2 People's Committee, said though apartments
meant for resettlement and infrastructure there are "better than their
old places," the people face more difficulties.
This is because
people lose their livelihoods after being moved far from their workplaces,
and are unable to do business or sell goods at their new place either, he
said.
A study by the HCM
City Research and Development Institute of around 2,000 resettled families in
eight districts last year found that incomes had declined for 29 per cent of
them and remained the same for 57 per cent.
It also found that
14 per cent had worse jobs than before and 77 per cent had similar jobs.
Tran Van Than,
deputy head of the institute, said the survey results are a concern because
the incomes of most people had declined or remained equal after their move.
Many of the
resettled people are not highly educated and often are casual workers, making
it difficult for them to keep their jobs after moving or improve their lives,
he said.
Huynh Cong Hung,
head of the People's Council's Culture and Society Division, said many people
returned to their original dwelling places from resettlement apartments just
to rent houses and do some business.
At some
resettlement projects, 98 per cent of the families sold their apartments and
moved out, he said.
Though technically
the city provides soft loans for resettled people to do business, get
vocational training, find new jobs, and help their children study, Fund 156
meant for that purpose is hardly used, he said.
Many people who are
relocated do not know about this fund, he said.
Participants told
the seminar that to use the fund efficaciously the prerequisite is to
investigate the social needs of people before resettling them.
Hung said the
vocational training that the city provides them is not appropriate for their
needs either.
Ha Noi
pilots car parking service on two wide streets
Ha Noi People's
Committee yesterday green lighted plans to develop on-road car-keeping
services in two streets in Hoan Kiem District.
The move followed a
proposal by the city's Police Department and Transport Department to restore
order to the city's streets and promote an orderly traffic culture.
According to the
two departments, the two streets – Ly Thuong Kiet and Tran Hung Dao – have
been vetted for the on-road parking service due to their 13-15 metre wide
roads and generously sized pavements, ranging between five and seven metres.
Ha Noi's streets
have long been congested by illegal parking, which has threatened road safety
and damaged the city's reputation.
Ha Noi Parking Ltd Co
has been licensed to provide the service.
The company's
director Bui Dang Thang said that there was a high demand for parking on the
two streets, which house State offices and numerous office buildings.
Previously, there
had been a surplus of car-keeping services on the two streets, causing
problems with managing parking fees and parking plots, Thang said.
He said that the
company had also planned to set up a hotline and co-operate with VOV Traffic
Channel aired by national radio station to inform drivers about vacant
parking plots.
Earlier, Ha Noi
Transport Department revoked car-keeping licences from 25 units operating on
the two streets.
District judge arrested for accepting bribes
The Investigation
Department of the People's Supreme Procuracy, on Monday, issued an order to
search and immediately arrest Chief Judge of People's Court in Thanh Liem
District, Ha Nam Province, for bribery.
Nguyen Duy Hiep,
39, was accused of accepting VND235 million (US$11,000) to hand down a wrong
verdict in a case in the district.
He confessed to his
crimes at the investigation office.
Cao Bang
resident killed by lightning
A man died Monday
night after being hit by lightning during torrential rain in Thong Nong
District in the mountainous
The victim, Hoang
Van Huyen, 32, a resident of Binh Lang Commune, was struck while preparing
dinner with an electric cooker at home.
Local authorities
visited the victim's family and gave them VND6 million (US$280) to help
support them.
Huyen was the third
person killed by lightning so far this year in Thong Nong District.
Hai Duong
to supply clean water to all rural residents
The
To achieve the
target, the locality plans to expand the existing water supply systems so
that they can bring hygienic water to more 60,000 people in 20 communes.
The local
authorities have also set to provide hygienic water for 100 percent of local
schools and medical stations by 2015.
They will work to
promote the implementation of the National Target Programme on Clean Water
and Rural Environment Sanitation and the new-style rural building programme
among local people.
Campaigns to raise
public awareness of environmental sanitation will also be organised, while
models of environmental protection involved by the locals will be set up.
Poor households
will be supported in building biogas systems to treat waste from their
breeding activities.
As much as 97.6
percent of rural residents in Hai Duong gained access to hygienic water in
the first half of this year.
Meanwhile, 96.9
percent of schools and 97.4 percent of medical stations used clean water in
the period.-
Vietnam – Cambodia bridge to open to traffic late July
Final touches have
been put on the Tan Nam – Mon Chay bridge, connecting the southwestern
The concrete
bridge, whose construction was started in April last year, is 77.28 metres
long and 8 metres wide. It has an expanded section of some 1km in
The total 2.2
million USD investment is sourced from the province’s budget.
Once operational,
the bridge is hoped to facilitate cross-border trading and socio-economic
development in both localities.
Apart from this,
Tay Ninh is also building two markets bordering
Ministry
inspects int’l quarantine work at Noi Bai airport
A team of the
Ministry of Health on July 1 inspected international quarantine work and the
implementation of health declaration for arrivals at
As a practical
measure to prevent the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome caused
by Corona virus (MERS-CoV), as from July 1, all people flying to Vietnam from
the Middle East are required to fill out health declaration forms before
entering the country following the health ministry’s request.
The regulations are
implemented at three international airports: Tan Son Nhat in
Deputy minister
Nguyen Thanh Long, head of the team, asked Noi Bai airport authorities to
give a clear explanation on the new form to passengers and create favourable
conditions for them to avoid congestion while continuing closely overseeing
arrivals from the nine Middle East countries.
On the first day of
the implementation of the medical procedure, the airport welcomed and guided
over 200 passengers on a
The Hanoi
International Quarantine Centre at Noi Bai airport said it has two desks with
body temperature takers. Any passenger with cough, fever and respiratory
failure syndromes will be isolated for medical checks.
Hygienic
toilets for environmental protection
Five villages in Na
Tau commune of the northwestern
Hong Liu 1, Na Tau
1, Na Luong 2, Na Luong 3 and Co Dua have become the first nationwide to be
acknowledged by the ministry for building toilets for households.
A ceremony was held
on June 29 to mark this event.
Na Tau commune is
one of the first localities in the country to pilot the community-based
construction of clean toilets launched by the ministry in 2009.
The five-year-old
project has helped increase local awareness of personal hygiene and
environmental sanitation.
As of May, more
than 96 percent of households had toilets. The rate of clean toilets surged
to 75 percent from a mere 2.6 percent in 2009.
According to the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over 45 percent of rural families in
Over 200
workers suffer food poisoning in HCMC’s district 12
Over 200 workers at
Shin Dong Company in
The hospital
received the poisoned workers on July 1. According to the victims, after
having dinner with fried eggs, vegetable soup and fried cabbage at the
company on the day, many of them developed belly pains, vomiting, diarrhea,
and headache; even some of female workers fainted.
The company medical
clinic gave first aid and transferred them to the hospital.
Representatives
from the company said Sin Dong Company will cover all hospital charges for
poisoned workers. Tests will be conducted to verify the cause of the
poisoning case.
Government agency
heads must listen to citizens one day per month
The government has
just issued decree ruling that leaders of a government agency of all levels
have to receive citizens every month.
The decree taking
effect on August 15, 2014 regulates that leaders of a public agency have to
spend at least one day in a month for listening to complaints from citizens.
The new decree also
asks public agencies’ heads to arrange an unscheduled meeting to listen to
complicated complaints involving in many people and other agencies or
claiming lives of others and badly affecting social safety order.
The timetable of
public agencies leaders’ meetings should be showed at easy-to-see places .
Transport
Minister issues ultimatum for
Minister of
Transport Dinh La Thang on June 30 instructed investor and contractor of Noi
Bai-Lao Cai Highway Project to speed up progress on the last two bids A4 and A5
to open the route for traffic on schedule.
Thirty percent of
A4 and twenty six percent of A5 have not completed yet.
Vietnam Expressway
Corporation (VEC) should terminate contract with the South Korean Contractor
KeangNam if they do not transfer money to conduct the project, according to
Minister.
The above fund does
not belong to the advance given by VEC for KeangNam to carry out the project.
In case the
contract is ended, Minister Thang ordered VEC to confiscate VND200 billion
(US$9.4 million) which KeangNam has offered as a guarantee of the project.
VEC chairman and
director general will be rotated to other positions if the two bids are not
completed by August 30 to open the whole highway for traffic.
KeangNam is doing
procedures to transfer money for the project, said a VEC representative on
late June 30.
The two bids will
be unable to complete by August 30 as per schedule without specific
solutions, according to Mr. Thang.
Amendment
offers more benefits for health insurance holders
New health insurance
amendment will expand card holders’ additional benefit and enjoyment in order
to increase poor people’s access to medical services and to encourage more
people to get health insurance, said Tong Thi Song Huong, director of the
Department of Health Insurance under the Ministry of Health.
The new law will
take effect on January 1, 2015. It contains quite a lot of important
changes. For instance, health insurance poor patients and people from
the ethnic minority groups in very disadvantaged districts don’t have to pay
5-20 percent of the final cost any more.
Martyrs’ fathers,
mothers, wives, children and those who brought up martyrs don’t need to pay
20 percent of the total cost of treatment.
In addition, other
relatives of martyrs and families named as close to poverty line will pay
just 5 percent of the total hospital cost instead 20 percent like before.
The State budget
will pay 100 percent of expenses on treatment for those who have participated
in health insurance in five concecutive years and their hospital fee is over
basic salaries in six months.
The new law also
gives more benefit to those who have received treatment at public big city
hospitals or at facilities they did not registered with beforehand.
The government and
the Ministry of Health also issued preferential policies for low-income
people especially fishermen and pay for health insurance for residents in
islands.
The amendment also
regulates that medical insurance is set to become compulsory to manifest the
determination of health insurance coverage for the country’s population.
Accordingly, the government will support a group of people to join in health
insurance as well as adjust medical services.
Moreover, the
amendment encourages people to join medical insurance in family group to get
the special treatment. For example, the first family member pays a premium of
6 per cent of their basic salary; but the second, third and fourth will pay
less than this, declining from 70 per cent of the first member’s paid premium
for the second family member to 50 per cent for the fourth, and for the fifth
member, the premium is equal to only be 40 per cent of the first member’s.
Importantly, from
January 1, 2016 card holders can come to any hospital in communes and
districts for examination and treatment. This facilitates health insurance
participants’ access to medical services. Health insurance participants from
poor households and from ethnic minority groups can visit any hospital in the
country.
More drugs are
included in treating insurance card holders. Many of them are new medications
for treating heart disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.
Students go
to
Students from
around the country have been flocking to the
Students come to
the
Moved by the belief
that touching the stone tortoises’ head or stelae would bring them luck,
students ignore the signs telling them not to touch the monuments in hopes
that the contact will end up in good results for them.
The temple was was
the main Confucian school in
It is located to
the south of Thang Long Citadel. The various pavilions, halls, statues and
stelae in respect of old scholars are still venerated as places of respect,
and modern students still want to benefit from this tradition.
Calligraphers also
still congregate around the temple before Tet to write blessings in the old
way. These are much sought-after and often given as gifts during the season.
WB steps up
support to
The World Bank on
July 2 approved a US$200 million loan and a US$70 million credit for
Of the total, a
loan of US$200 million will support the Third Power Sector Reform Development
Policy Operation, which supports six policy areas including full commercial
operation of Vietnam’s competitive generation market, entry of new generation
companies in the market, divestiture of power generation companies, and
implementation of regulations to move into a more transparent and predictable
electricity tariff system.
This operation is
the last in a series of three supporting the Government’s power sector
reforms, which focus on transparency and competition in the power market, and
enhancing efficient use of electricity including through more market-based
tariffs. With this operation, the first phase of the reform program has
been successfully completed.
The third Climate
Change Development Policy Operation (US$70 million) aims to support
Government efforts to address climate change by adopting policies and
strengthening institutional capacity to promote climate resilience and lower
carbon intensity development. It is the third of a series of three operations
of US$70 million each, supporting three pillars, covering policies in better
water management, energy efficiency, and policy and institutional
development.
“These two
operations will contribute to Vietnam’s efforts to move towards more
environmentally sustainable growth as envisaged in the Socioeconomic
Development Plan for 2011–2015, by supporting the emergence of a more modern
and efficient power market and helping Government to put in place policies
across several sectors to enhance the country’s climate resilience”, said
Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank country director for Vietnam.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Năm, 3 tháng 7, 2014
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