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Social
News 21/10
Authorities
crack down on street ads
Restrictions
against placing brand logos or pictures of products on advertisements for
shops have just been put in place for store in
Under the new
regulation issued on September 16, which is still under review, the citywide
ban on advertisements for shop signboards designates that any ad featuring
such images must be taken down by March, 2015.
Currently, a wide
range of shops include brand logos and pictures of products on their advertisements.
Logos and photos of products sold by retailers are often used on signs and
billboards in the city.
The decision has
stirred up concern among shop-owners, many of whom have been given the signs
for free as promotional material by the companies whose products they sell.
Nguyen Quy Cap, deputy chair of the HCM City Advertisement Association, said
companies that wish to use public streets for promotion will have to wait for
a comprehensive plan on outdoor advertisements and signs. He said, "We don't
know when this plan will be completed, but we must continue our businesses.
How long will we have to wait?"
Many people claimed
that the ban is illegal because it is outside the jurisdiction of
The legal framework
issued in 2009 does not state clear rules on acceptable measurements of
signboards. But this issue was remedied in 2012 with another code adjustment
that stated signboards should have a maximum height of 2 metres and should
not include advertisements of products. Another circular issued in 2013 by
the Ministry of Construction only allows for one signboard per floor. If the
shop owners wants to place an advertisement, they would have to file
documents with the authorities, and violators could be fined VND10-15
million.
Three die
in fertiliser factory blast
A fertiliser
factory explosion killed three and injured four Friday in
Dozens of houses
near the explosion at Dang Huynh Company in Thoi An Ward of District 12 were
destroyed or damaged.
The victims were
identified as Dang Huynh Company employees Nguyen Thi Cam Tu, 19, Nguyen Thi
Ngoc Thanh, 30 and Huynh Thi Tam, 36.
The three injured
were Nguyen Thi Thuy Van, 30, Pham Thi Thuy Duong, 14, Doan Phung, 46 and
Nguyen Van Xuc.
Pham Van Hung, vice
head of the HCM City Fire Prevention Department's rescue office, said traces
smells of chemicals were found in the rubble. The office also found a
2-metre-by-3-metre hole at the scene.
Police are still
investigating the cause of the incident.
A fire destroyed
over 10,000 square metres of a Woodsland Company workshop and damaged Nippon
Express Company's building on Saturday evening in the Ha Noi-based Quang Minh
Industrial Zone.
After five hours of
work, a team of 1,000 firefighters was able to control the blaze.
An initial
investigation found that the fire started at 8:30pm at Nippon Express Viet
Nam Company and spread to Woodsland Company.
The cause of the
fire and the total damage wreaked remain unknown.
On the same day,
another fire burnt down a wood workshop, a garage and three kiosks at about
9:45pm in Nam Trung Yen Urban Area in Ha Noi's Cau Giay District.
Authorities found
the fire started at the wood workshop and spread to the garage and kiosks.
They suspected an electric circuit caused the fire. It was extinguished at
11:40pm.
The two cases are
under investigation.
Crew
members saved after sea collision
Border soldiers
discovered seven crew members yesterday who fell into the sea when their
fishing vessel collided with another and sank on Saturday morning in
territorial waters of southern Ca Mau Province.
The seven crew
members have recovered. A team of 20 border soldiers and 15 fishermen have
begun a search for the other crew members.
Driver
caught illegally transporting wood
Police in central
Border officials
stopped a bus on route from Savannakhet in
The driver failed
to prove he procured the wood legally.
Three die
in road accident
Three people died
in a road accident yesterday in central Nghe An Province.
Cao Ba Trang, 30,
was driving his motorbike with his wife and two-year-old son on Highway 1A
when a truck running the same direction hit them from behind.
Trang and his son
were thrown down to the road and hit by the truck. They died on the spot,
while his wife died on the way to the hospital.
Sharp
decline in mangrove forests in Vietnam
The report was
released on October 16 at a seminar on the exchange of international
experience on the implementation of policies on climate change adaptation and
the situation in
According to the
report,
Hoang Van Thang,
deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the situation
is a result of human activity. The forests are threatened by a combination of
elements, including climate change, the rising sea levels, stronger winds,
hydropower dams and deforestation stemming from shrimp farms and resorts.
In order to improve
the situation, the ministry has proposed that the government enforce its
policies related to deforestation and forest protection.
Experts on the
issue agree that efforts should be made to increase people’s awareness of
forest protection, along with a speedier application of advanced technologies
for growing mangrove forests.
Illegal
road project in Ha
An illegal road
project near Ha Long Bay has gone on for some years as local authorities
seemed to turn a blind eye.
A mountain near the
beach in Ha Phong Ward of Ha Long City belongs to the Ha Long Bay natural
heritage site, but has been destroyed for the construction of a road leading
to the bay.
Minh Anh JSC has
been using a 30-hectare plot of land near the resettlement area of the
fishing
Since 2013, the
company has been illegally chopping down trees and destroying the mountain to
construct a one-kilometre road to the bay.
The Ha Long Bay
management board has confirmed that the road project is inside the buffer
zone. Dao Van Thanh, director of Minh Anh JSC, admitted that they do not yet
have approval from local authorities.
“We are just
enlarging the old small path to facilitate transportation, not for the
transport of coal as it is rumoured,” Thanh said.
Vu Duc Hoan, vice
chairman of Hoa Phong ward People’s Committee, said, “We've been aware of the
road construction since they started. We’ve reported it, requested suspension
to the construction and fined them over VND1 million.”
According to Hoan,
they have also reported the case to the Ha Long city government, but they
have yet to take any action to stop the construction. The company continued
and the road has been completed.
Pham Hong Ha,
chairman of Ha Long City People’s Committee, refused to comment except for
saying that they are not responsible for the area.
Pham Thuy Duong,
head of the Ha Long Bay’s management board, said she was shocked when she
heard of the road, and promised to assign staff to inspect the site.
As the land belongs
to the heritage site, the investor is required conduct an environmental
assessment report and send it to the board before construction.
She added that she
would propose that the provincial government take measures to deal with the
situation if the construction was in fact illegal.
Thanh made the
statement at an international seminar and exhibition on water resource
monitoring and forecast technology held by the Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment (MONRE) in
He said that the
frequent monitoring of water resource networks is carried out to collect data
to serve the management, investigation, planning, exploitation and
sustainable use of water sources for the future.
The event, the
third of its kind in response to the World Water Monitoring Day (October 18),
attracted the participation of delegates from nearly 20 countries including
the US, the Republic of Korea, Germany, the Philippines, Australia, and the
Netherlands who will present nearly 100 scientific reports and researches on
the field.
MONRE Deputy
Minister Nguyen Thai Lai emphasised the great importance of water resources
in all activities, second only to human resources. However, water resources
are facing many challenges including excessive usage, resulting in severe
shortages.
Statistics show
that the total amount of water usage around the world has increased by 1% per
year since 1980, creating a growing pressure on many countries and
territories. About 780 million people still lack access to safe water while
both surface and groundwater resources are being polluted and depleted.
As a country with a
tropical climate and long coastline severely affected by climate change and
sea level rise,
Thanh said that the
monitoring and forecasting of water resources is vital in order to manage,
exploit and use water in a long-term sustainable way.. The seminar is
expected to create a forum for relevant units to meet, share experience and
co-operate with
About 50 posters of
models and technology on water resources monitoring and forecast by domestic
and foreign firms are being displayed during the seminar.
70% of
Vietnamese population estimated to face threats from climate change
An estimated 70% of
the Vietnamese population faces threats of more serious natural disasters
caused by climate change, making it one of the most disaster-affected
countries in the world.
The statement was
made by Chairman of the Vietnam Red Cross Society Nguyen Hai Duong while speaking
at the launching ceremony of World Disasters Report 2014 and International
Disaster Risk Reduction Day, held in
The Vietnamese
Government has taken measures to increase the country’s capacity to prevent
and cope with natural calamities, including a nationwide programme on
‘Community-based disaster risk management’, already deployed in nearly half
of all communes across the country, Duong said.
He stressed that
the launching was held to provide agencies, organisations and the press with
a deep and comprehensive view on challenges and risks facing the world, thus
boosting co-ordination among the relevant ministries and agencies in adapting
climate change.
Themed “Culture and
risks”, the World Disasters Report 2014 studies the impacts of culture on
disaster risk reduction and climate change adaption and vice versa, and how
communities respond and adapt to climate change.
According to the
report, the world faces huge challenges caused by disasters and calamities.
In 2013, about 100 million people around the world were affected by natural
disasters, 87% of whom come from
Over the past two
decades, catastrophes have killed 1.3 million people, affecting 4.4 billion
others, and causing economic losses of over EUR1.5 trillion EUR. By 2030, the
world is likely to lose an estimated EUR 328 billion, up by 300% in nearly
two decades, said the report.
Central
river basin in danger
A host of problems
are threatening to destroy the Vu Gia-Thu Bon River basin, which provides
invaluable resources to the 2.5-million population of Quang
According to Nguyen
Chu Hoi, a researcher of environment and coastal resources at
Hoi made these
remarks at a consultation workshop held here yesterday on "Integrated
watershed and coastal management – ‘from ridge to reef' approach: application
in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon River Basin."
"Water, a
natural resource, has multiple uses for various agencies seeking different
benefits, but a responsible and integrated agency that will resolve conflicts
in the use of river basin water and conduct a thorough pollution assessment
has yet to be formed," Hoi said.
"The
inappropriate construction of hydropower plants, over-exploitation of mineral
resources and inordinate use of water from riverhead areas have changed the
ecological balance and created a negative environmental impact on the
population and habitat of fish and aquatic species," he added.
Le Van Giang,
chairman of the Hoi An City People's Committee, blamed the development of
irrigation and hydropower plants for limiting water flow from the river basin
and causing the serious erosion of beaches in Hoi An city.
He said a vast
beach in Cua Dai, near the UNESCO heritage town of Hoi An, has disappeared in
recent years even as erosion on the river banks of Thu Bon was threatening
the existence of the heritage town.
Dao Trong Tu, an
expert on natural water resources and river basins, suggested that the
management of Vu Gia-Thu Bon River basin be revived with a better solution.
"There is a
need to resolve conflicts of interest among agencies using water in the Vu
Gia-Thu Bon River basin. A total of 42 hydropower plant projects have been
approved while 10 more will be built by 2020. More than 820 irrigation projects
with 72 reservoirs were built in the river basin, but these projects just
operate at 51 per cent of designated capacity," Tu noted.
Bui Thu Hien of the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
(IUCN) said the workshop aims at identify the reality of water development
and management in the river basin and barriers to its sustainable development
in connection with the Da Nang and Quang Nam coastal zones.
Farmers
profit from improved salt yields
Farmers in
The use of the
sheets has increased both quality and yield, with farmers earning about VND38.2
million (US$1,800) per hectare per year, double the profit made from
traditional methods, according to local authorities. Most farmers harvest two
hectares of salt fields.
In 2007, the
district initiated the canvas-sheet programme over an area of 2,000sq.m.
Fields lined with
canvas sheets protect the salt from soil contamination, improving quality.
Today, there are
909ha of fields that use canvas sheets, or 54.6 per cent of the district's
total salt area, according to the city's Department of Agriculture and Rural
Development.
The district's salt
fields are located mostly in Ly Nhon, Thanh An and Long Hoa communes and
Nguyen Thi Bich,
who owns 3ha of salt fields in Thanh An Commune's Thieng Lieng Hamlet, began
using the sheets this year.
She said they had
helped reduce the production time from 10-15 days to seven days per harvest.
Early this year,
the Thieng Lieng Women Union in co-operation with the Thieng Lieng Salt
Co-operative showed farmers in Thieng Lieng Hamlet how to use canvas sheets
to increase their profits.
This year, traders
have offered an average price of VND1,300 a kilo of salt harvested on canvas
sheets, VND100 higher than salt produced in fields without the sheets.
In 2012, Can Gio
authorities began to offer funds to help farmers build cellars to store
condensed salt water from fields after rains.
In the 2013-14 salt
harvesting season, district authorities and the city's Sub-department of
Rural Development and Department of Science and Technology gave financial
support to 17 households who harvested a total of 34 ha of salt in Ly Nhon
and Thanh An communes.
Hoang Thi Mai,
deputy head of the city's Sub-department of Rural Development, said the city
would expand the area of salt fields lined with canvas sheets.
With a 23-km long
coastline, Can Gio, one of the country's top salt producers, has produced
1,666ha of salt this year, up 150ha over the same period last year, according
to the city's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Caregiver
recruiting ads illegal
Students attending
medical schools in
OSC HP not only
contacted students at schools but also put up their advertisements on
websites like raovat.net and vatgia.com.
However, many
students who hope to go work in
"Until now, no
license has been granted to any company for sending caregivers to
Quynh said the only
authorised agency to send caregivers to
The Embassy of
Japan in
Tran Thi Van Ha of
the DOLAB Communication Department said it had received many inquiries
recently about the caregivers program with
The programme is
attracting a lot of attention because the remuneration for caregivers is high
in countries like
"The
programme, carried out by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs
(MOLISA), is in its trial phase, with just 100-150 caregivers recruited at a
time, so any company claiming to be a part of the programme is possibly
trying to confuse potential candidates," said Ha.
Local newspapers
have reported that OSC HP even organised an event to promote the caregivers
program at the Ha Noi International Convention Centre.
During the event,
the company claimed to be in partnership with 1, 200 hospitals in
When contacted by
Viet Nam News yesterday, the OSC HP Representative Office in Ha Noi denied
promoting the programme.
A woman said she
was a new employee and her supervisors were all out of the office. She
maintained that her office had not advertised such a programme.
However, at around
5pm yesterday, Viet Nam News found an advertisement about the caregivers
programme in
The website even
instructed candidates to send their CVs, pictures in medical uniform as well
as their medical details to OSC HP.
Potential
candidates have to pay a fee of US$47 to join the recruitment drive and
submit other original school certificates, the website said.
Last Wednesday,
DOLAB sent an official letter to the Police Department for Investigation of
Social Order and the Internal Security Department to investigate a total of
nine companies involved in marketing and advertising the caregivers programme
in
Vietnamese Prime
Minister has approved the investment project to set up
According to approval,
the Ministry of Education and Training; the Ministry of Planning and
Investment and People’s Committee in
The ministries and
People’s Committee will have to send reports to the Prime Minister
afterwards.
The medicine school
is scheduled to teach nurses for physiotherapy and orthopedics in four
year training and nurses for medical tests in three year training.
In addition to
teaching, the school also conducts researches, medical technology and supply
education services.
Heavy
1st-grade curricula stress students, teachers and parents in
Elementary school
teachers and parents in
Heavy 1st-grade
curricula stress students, teachers and parents in
Heavy 1st-grade
curricula stress students, teachers and parents in
Thanh Huy, a
reader, wrote to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that he was surprised to learn a
set of textbooks for first-grade students includes 16 books, which he
believes is a lot.
“Subjects like
math, literature, nature, and society have two sets each. The math book has
184 pages, while the literature has 171 pages,” Huy said.
“Every night I get
dizzy seeing how hard my kid prepares books for his class tomorrow morning,”
he expressed.
“I don’t know why
first-graders have to be stuffed with so many books containing a large amount
of knowledge,” he stressed, adding that he found numerous tables, charts,
drawings, and definitions in his child’s books which could cause problems
even for adults.
In his letter to
Tuoi Tre, Huy also pointed out some definitions that he had to look up in the
dictionary when his kid asked him what they meant.
Huy is just one of
many parents who have encountered problems when sending their kids to first
grade in the Southeast Asian country.
Another reader, Vo
Huong, said her child – who is also a first-grader – is getting quieter when
she gets home after school.
“It’s because the
curriculum for first-grade students is too heavy,” she underlined. “When I
was a first-grader, all I had to learn was just a few simple letters, but now
my kid is required to be able read and write.”
Huong also added
she and her husband have to ‘study’ with their child until 9:00 pm, or even
later, every day to finish homework and prepare for the next day’s lessons.
M. from Gia Lam
District in
She said that she
has had to spent time ‘studying’ with her kid every day since the beginning
of this school year, and even she has been stressed by the amount of homework
teachers give her child.
In
N.B.B., the parent
of a first-grade student in
B. elaborated that
she and her husband have tried their best to force their child to study at
home, while their daughter also tried her utmost to avoid studying by saying
she does not feel well or is tired.
“We get tired every
day of pushing her to study. I don’t know whether our first-grader gets
stressed, but her mother almost goes nuts,” she added.
Teachers have also
faced difficulties when they have to train students to be able to hold pens
the right way, and learn 24 letters of the Vietnamese alphabet well.
According to the
principal of an elementary school in the city’s District 9, first-graders
have just transferred from preschools, where they mainly played games and
studied just a little.
“When they move on
to the elementary level, they are forced to remember a bigger amount of
knowledge per day,” he said. “My nephew cannot remember all the things he
studied at school.”
Another teacher in
District 3 said that he does not want to compel his students to study, but
has no choice.
“The Ho Chi Minh
City Department of Education and Training has allowed teachers to be flexible
in arranging curriculums to suit students’ ability,” he said.
“However, if we
make it slow at the beginning of the academic year, we have to rush at the
end of the year to catch up with the exams,” he added.
To deal with the
problem, many parents choose to send their children to after-hours classes to
learn math and literature before they enter elementary school, in an effort
to help them avoid being overwhelmed by the massive curriculum when the
official school year begins.
However, in recent
years, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued a regulation banning
after-school classes for children before they enter first grade in the hope
of bringing them a completely relaxing environment before they take the first
step of their study life at school.
Parents are
currently divided into two sides on the issue. One group still sends their
kids to the extra classes before enrolling them in elementary school, while
the other follows the regulation.
This also makes a
number of children “the black sheep of their family.”
Nguyen Vo Bao Ngoc,
a teacher from Van Tuong Elementary School in
In
“Students who
already know letters usually finish exercises in class more quickly than
students who haven’t studied before,” Ngoc said.
“That makes them
lose their confidence and become frustrated with school on seeing their
classmates do the tasks better than them,” she added.
Le Thi Ngoc Hanh,
the principal of
“In reality, many
teachers have taught lessons very slowly, but some students still could not
follow it,” Hanh said.
As a result, many
kids returning home from school whined that they do not want to go to school
because they are scared of learning.
A principal from an
elementary school in
“In fact, many
teachers are also hurried to force students to be good and put pressure on
them,” he said. “Some teachers are not careful about commenting on students
and so tend to discourage children and their parents.”
“Parents should
talk directly to their children’s teachers to ease the pressure,” he
suggested.
Vietnamese police
on Friday arrested the director of a Hanoi-based investment consulting
company for his involvement in a swindling case, in which over US$22 million
were misappropriated, at another company whose Taiwanese general director was
nabbed earlier this month.
Phan Kien Trung,
30, director of 24 Gold Due Bac Investment Consulting Co. Ltd., was detained
for his role in the swindling case earlier uncovered at Khai Thai Investment
Consulting Company Limited, headquartered in Cau Giay District.
During the
investigation of the $22.5-million cheating by Khai Thai, investigators
identified Trung as one of the accomplices of Hsu Minh Jung, also known as
Saga, the Taiwanese general director of Khai
Hsu and his five
other Vietnamese accessories were captured on October 2 after they were found
setting up an illegal gold trading floor to cheat investors, police said.
All these six
people and Trung have been charged with “appropriating property through
swindling” pursuant to Article 139 of the Penal Code.
Before establishing
his own company (24 Gold Due Bac Investment Consulting Co. Ltd.), Trung acted
as the managing director of Khai Thai until 2004 and took part in the scam at
this company, investigators said.
Hsu and his
accomplices had mobilized nearly VND478 billion (US$22.53 million) and
promised high interest rates to the investors, police said, adding that the
con artists then appropriated most of the fund.
Thousands of people
around the country deposited their money with Khai Thai, expecting to reap a
profit in return, investigators said.
After receiving
deposits from the investors, the company’s management did not use them for
business operations but pocketed them instead.
The firm offered
lofty salaries and attractive bonuses to its employees in charge of capital
mobilization to encourage them to seek investors.
Police have already
frozen VND4 billion ($188,560) in the company’s accounts and seized three
deluxe cars from it as well.
Searching Khai
Thai’s offices on October 1, police also confiscated VND57 billion ($2.69
million) in cash and a large amount of foreign currency.
Hanoi to
host European Languages Day
The fourth European
Languages Day, aiming to introduce the diversity of European languages, will
take place at the Goethe Institute,
The event, which is
co-organised by
A conference on
effective ways to teach and learn foreign languages will be held from 9am to
1pm, with the participation of linguists and experts in foreign language
training from
A festival of
European languages is the second part of the event, to be held from 2 pm to 7
pm.
Representatives of
the participating institutions will introduce their respective languages,
countries and cultures. 30-minute model lessons in English, French, German,
Italian, Spanish and Polish will be offered to anyone who is interested.
Additionally,
posters, books and brochures will excite curiosity not only for European
languages, but also for the various countries and cultures.
City to
host int'l conference on stoma
The 8th Congress of
the Asia Society of Stoma Rehabilitation and Asia South Pacific Ostomy
Association will be held in
The biennial
conference, titled "Enhancing the quality of life of ostomates,"
will discuss the various aspects of stoma rehabilitation and discuss the
problems facing ostomates, or people who have undergone ostomy, a surgery to
create a stoma.
A stoma is a
surgically constructed opening, especially one in the abdominal wall, that
permits the passage of faeces and urine.
Experts from
First-ever
Clean Tech Bootcamp yields first graduates
Around 24
innovative clean-tech startups have graduated from
The Clean Tech
Bootcamp aims to help small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) develop and
bring to market innovative clean-energy and energy-efficiency solutions and
adaptation technologies in the areas of transportation, agribusiness, and
water management.
The initiative was
developed by infoDev/World Bank’s Climate Technology Program (CTP), in
partnership with the Asian Devolvement Bank (ADB), to accelerate the growth of
new green businesses in the region and helps reduce the significant threats
posed by climate change.
“
The 4-day program
of lectures and hands-on workshops gives these innovative entrepreneurs an
opportunity to refine their product strategies, business models and marketing
pitches; sharpen their negotiating skills; and network with clean-tech
entrepreneurs, investors and peers.
"To tackle
climate change, we need to help train innovative and successful climate
technology entrepreneurs," said Dr. Aiming Zhou, Senior Energy
Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, one of the co-organizers of the
training. "A bootcamp like this, which provides intense hands-on support
to the most promising emerging climate technology businesses in
With the successful
conclusion of the bootcamp, the program will continue to nurture and mentor
these and other climate technology SMEs and startups through the
Through this
support, the center is expected to reduce or avoid the equivalent of the
annual emissions of 47,000 passenger vehicles (225,000 metric tons of CO2
emissions), improve access to clean water, increase agricultural efficiency,
and provide access to renewable or more efficient sources of energy. Overall,
the Vietnam CIC will contribute to make one million people less vulnerable to
climate change.
SBV
proposes to bring more people under home credit package
The State Bank of
Vietnam (SBV) has announced a draft circular allowing another three groups of
people to access low interest loans from the VND30 trillion (US$1.41 billion)
home credit package.
The first group
includes officials, civil servants, army forces, workers, and low income
laborers who have not had houses and expect to buy houses from housing
development and urban area projects. Each contract value including land and
house must not exceed VND1.05 billion (US$49,000).
In case they have
land, are unaffordable for building houses, and have not received any
assistance from the Government, they belong to the second group.
The third group is
households and individuals repairing or rebuilding social houses for lease or
re-sale to workers, students and laborers and those under the social housing
policy.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Ba, 21 tháng 10, 2014
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