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Social News 23/12
Farmer turns down VND30m offers for giant chicken
A farmer in
Han Minh, from Dong Tao Commune, Khoai Chau Distrist, wants to
enter the chicken in the annual chicken fair later this month.
The commune is renowned for its breed of giant chickens, which
can have legs bigger than a man's arm.
Han Minh said, "Some people offered me over VND 30
million for my seven kilogram chicken, but I want to sign it up for the
upcoming fair."
Dong Tao's chickens, which take up to two years to grow to
full size, are much sought after for their unique appearance, and as a luxury
status symbol for the Tet holiday. The chickens usually fetch prices of VND
300,000 to VND 400,000 per kilogram.
Expressway
crack repairs completed
The Viet Nam Expressway Corporation has finished fixing a 73m
crack that appeared between Km82 and 83 of the Noi Bai – Lao Cai Expressway
in September, just three days after the road opened.
Soft ground was initially blamed for the crack.
Construction to deal with the crack started on December 5,
according to Le Kim Thanh, deputy general director of the corporation. Staff
were on duty 24 hours per day to ensure smooth traffic and safety for road
users.
They completed their work last Friday, one day sooner than
Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang's order.
The cracked section was part of Package A4 won by the Keangnam
corporation. Director General Hae
The US$1.5 billion expressway is the longest in the country,
stretching 245km. It opened on September 21, halving the seven-hour drive
from Ha Noi to
Two men caught drug trafficking in Laos
Two men were arrested for alleged drug trafficking on Sunday
in
Na Sinh Cha, 25, and Giong Hau, 52, both from Phon Thoong
District, were found with 14,000 synthetic drug pills, four cakes of heroin
and three million Laotian Kip (US$371) at the district's Sinh Kham
guesthouse.
After being arrested by local police and Vietnamese border
gate officers, the two admitted that they had planned to smuggle the drugs to
Laotian police are investigating the case.
Agent Orange victims receive free milk
The Viet Nam Rising Milk Fund donated 54,000 glasses of milk
worth VND500 million (US$23,400) to children affected by Agent Orange in
northern Thai Binh province on December 21.
The Fund was initiated by the Viet Nam Children Sponsor Fund
(VCSF) and Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk).
Founded in 2008, the Milk Fund has provided more than 310,000
children nationwide from disadvantaged backgrounds with 23 million glasses of
milk at a cost of VND84 billion ($3.9 million).
Bodies retrieved after boat crash
Police in the
The Ha Noi-bound ship, owned by Nguyen The Hoi, 45, and his
wife Dang Thi Tuan, 44, was hit by another ship running in the opposite
direction on the
The bodies of the couple were returned to relatives in their
hometown of Bac Giang.
Investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Ha Noi inspections aim to prevent market fires
After several fires broke out in Ha Noi markets, deputy
chairman of the city People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc Tuan asked districts and
towns to ensure that local markets conformed to fire regulations.
Districts and towns were told to set up teams to conduct
surprise inspections and report violators to the city authorities. Markets
that failed to meet regulations could be suspended until completing the
necessary upgrades and repairs.
A fire killed one woman and injured four others in Long Bien
District's Thuong Thanh Market in November.
Several days later, fires in Bac Tu Liem District's Cau Dien
Market and Tay Ho District's Nhat Tan Market destroyed billions of dong worth
of goods.
Deputy director of the Ha Noi Department of Fire Fighting To
Xuan Thieu told the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that the fires were
caused by dry weather.
Moreover, residents lacked awareness about fire prevention
measures and when fires occurred, they informed the department too late, he
said.
Another factor was the huge amount of goods that vendors
stocked up before Tet, which will fall in February.
"Some market management boards organised training for
local firemen, but they only worked for form's sake and did not pay enough
attention," said Thieu.
Thieu said that from now until Tet, the city faced a high risk
of fire due to the dry weather, especially in places with a large number of
goods and people.
"We asked markets to improve the spread of information
via loudspeakers and will hold more market inspections," he said.
Youth urge access to sex education
A workshop on the sexual and reproductive health rights of
young people as stipulated in the draft revised Law on Young People took
place in Ha Noi on Sunday, focusing on the rights of disadvantaged groups.
Officials from Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Home Affairs,
the UN Population Fund and experts in the field joined 60 young people
representing students, the disabled, migrant workers, homosexuals, bisexuals
and transsexuals living and working in the capital city.
Participants urged improving sex education at school to
counter limited access to sexual and reproductive health information.
They also voiced concerns about discrimination in family and
schools, calling for more specific regulations in sub-law documents to
prevent discrimination.
Representatives also underscored that while accounting for
60-70 percent of the workforce, migrant labourers usually had unstable jobs
with low income. As a result, most of them lacked basic knowledge of sexual
and reproductive health, putting them at high risk of violence, unsafe
abortions and sexually transmitted diseases.
Organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs' Youth Affairs
Department, the forum aimed to connect young people directly with policy makers
and give them an opportunity to contribute ideas to the Youth Law.
Customs officials crack down on smuggling
Smuggling and counterfeiting often rise as the holiday
approaches, buoyed by the increase in demand for goods, particularly clothes,
food and household products.
Local customs departments were told to increase inspections of
import and export activities and transport of goods, particularly in border
areas.
They were also instructed to increase staff working in customs
clearance to prevent goods from being stuck at border areas, in addition to
managing customs officials strictly in order to prevent corruption.
Cao Bang, Quang Ninh, Lang Son and Lao Cai are hot spots of
smuggling and trading of counterfeit products. Deputy director of the
northern mountainous province of Lao Cai's Department of Industry and Trade
Nguyen Ba Binh said smuggling at the border gate and along the border between
Viet Nam and China started to boom at the beginning of this month.
Over the past few days, authorities in Lao Cai arrested
several people for illegally transporting counterfeit or low-quality products
or products without clear origin into
On Saturday, border guards caught two men illegally
transporting 126kg of sausage and fried fish from
Binh said the department instructed provincial market watch
forces to work closely with relevant agencies to prevent smuggling,
particularly at border areas and coach stations.
Information dissemination would also be increased to encourage
residents to denounce cases of smuggling and trade fraud and refuse to store
smuggled goods, he said.
Regulatory authorities have handled nearly 80,000 cases of
smuggling, counterfeit product trading and commercial fraud in the first ten
months of this year, leading to the imposition of more than VND350 billion
($16.4 million) in fines.
Christmas greetings conveyed to parishioners
Officials from Ha Noi,
Secretary of the Ha Noi Municipal Party Committee Pham Quang
Nghi, Vice Permanent Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee Vo Van Thuong
and Vice Chairman of the Central Highlands Committee Tran Viet Hung headed
the delegations.
The officials thanked the Catholic and Protestant dignitaries
and followers for contributing to their localities' socio-economic progress.
The Vietnamese Party and State always created favourable
conditions for religious organisations to practise and hoped they would work
closely with local authorities to take better care of parishioners, Hung
said.
Catholicism and Protestantism are the two major branches of
Christianity in
Ensuring security for Tet
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called on ministries and
other Government agencies to tighten market controls and take steps to ensure
social safety and security during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays in 2015.
In a directive sent last week, he asked the Ministry of
Industry and Trade to closely monitor the market demand and supply situation
and see that prices are stable nation-wide.
The ministry should also work to have products and services of
good quality at reasonable prices are delivered to consumers, especially
those living in disadvantaged areas.
He said the ministry should prevent counterfeit and
low-quality goods without clear origins from being sold in the market, and
strictly punish those who speculate on products and cheat customers to earn illegal
profits.
The Ministry of Finance, meanwhile, has to control market
prices so that they remain stabile before and after Tet. It should also exert
pressure on transportation companies to bring their prices in line with the
decrease in fuel rates, the directive said.
The Prime Minister has aslo requested the State Bank of Viet
Nam to ensure that cash supply is sufficient for the economy before and after
Tet; ATM machines work properly; and workers get paid before the festival.
The central bank should also stabilise the foreign exchange
and gold rates, increase inspections of currency and gold trading businesses,
and punish individuals and organisations violating the law, he said.
The directive requires the Ministry of Transport to ensure
that there are sufficient vehicles for people to travel and enjoy Tet
holidays with their families, especially those in remote and disadvantaged
areas, including those inhabited by ethnic minority communities.
It should also implement plans to keep unsafe and substandard
vehicles off the roads, ask transport companies to publicize their rates and
deliver tickets directly to passengers.
It asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to
ensure that the agriculture sector continues production to meet the market demand
during the Tet holidays, and to help farmers protect plants and livestock
during cold weather conditions.
The Ministry of Public Security and its local agencies should
increase patrols at important sites including including bus stations and
crackdown on crime and criminal groups to ensure security and safety during
Tet, the directive said.
The ministry should find and punish those who produce, trade
and use illegal weapons and explosives, warn people about fire and explosion
hazards around important and crowded places such as factories, apartment
buildings, and be prepared to rescue people from disasters, it said.
The Prime Minister has also requested cities and provinces in
the central region to encourage enterprises to support poor residents, policy
beneficiaries, and residents of remote and disadvantaged areas with food and
goods during the festival.
Project raises minority people's resilience against natural
disaster
Ethnic minority people in the
The project will focus on gender-sensitive disaster risk
management and disaster preparedness activities.
Participatory planning and actions will help raise the
communities' awareness and understanding about minimizing risks.
Schools will also learn to be better prepared to respond to
disasters. The 42-month project was funded by the French Development Fund,
the French Red Cross and the American Red Cross.
Hoa Sen offers funds to workers trapped in tunnel
The Hoa Sen Group, a steel manufacturer, on Sunday donated a
total of more than VND600 million (US$2,900) to a local rescue team and to 12
workers who had been trapped in a collapsed tunnel in the Central Highlands
of Lam Dong.
The group gave each male worker VND30 million ($1,400), while
the females received VND50 million ($2,400) each. In addition, the company
paid for return air tickets for the 12 workers to travel to their hometown
during Lunar New Year.
Of the money, the company gave VND100 million ($4,800) to the
provincial police's rescue team and VND100 million to army engineers.
While working on a hydropower plant, the workers became
trapped about 50mm from the entrance of the 700m-long tunnel, which runs
through a mountain and brings water to the plant. They were rescued after 81
hours of work from the rescue teams.
Blaze destroys interior design firm's workshop
A blaze destroyed nearly 2,000sq.m of a workshop of the Loi
Phat Home Decoration Company in Binh Chanh District,
The company's security guards could not extinguish the blaze
after they found that it had started in the company's bureau. No fatality was
reported as all workers were evacuated from the site.
Eighteen fire engines and 108 firemen, who were sent to the
spot, put out the blaze after two hours.
The authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.
Don Sahong dam would block river
A national consultation meeting was held in Ha Noi yesterday
to examine the potential impacts of the 260mW Don Sahong hydropower plant on
the
Nguyen Hong Phuong, Deputy Chief Secretariat of the Standing
Office of the Viet Nam National Mekong Committee, said the proposed
hydropower project was located on the Hou Sahong channel of the
The Don Sahong dam would block the flow of Hou Sahong,
disrupting the passage of migratory fish, damaging the biological environment
and affecting the livelihood of locals who depended on the river,
participants said. The dam would also have potential negative effects on
fisheries in the area due to changes in fish migration.
In June,
The Don Sahong hydropower plant is expected to be built on the
The
Vietnamese woman killed in traffic accident in Thailand
A Vietnamese woman was killed in a road accident in Ratchapuk
Charoen 35 Street,
The dead victim was identified as Le Thi Chau, born in 1988 in
the central
Chau’s friends then reported to local police for investigation
and assistance to the victim’s family which is currently completing necessary
procedures to bring her body back home.
The same day, Free Malaysia Today online newspaper reported
that the naked body of a Vietnamese woman, believed to have been murdered,
was found in the bathroom of a hotel at the Wholesale Complex, Jalan Ipoh,
Bandar Utara.
Sentul district police chief ACP R Munusamy said the victim,
in her 30s, was found lying on her face, with both hands and legs tied with
towels, and with strangle marks on her neck at 6.30pm.
He said preliminary investigations revealed that the hotel
room was booked by a 38-year-old man whom police are looking for.
Munusamy said the body was sent to the
Can Tho marks 706th anniversary of King-Monk’s attainment of
Nirvana
The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Board in the Mekong
Delta city of
The event took place at Truc Lam Phuong Nam Zen Monastery in
Phong Dien district.
Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), the third king of the Tran
dynasty, ascended the throne when he was just 21. He is famed for defeating
Mongol invaders twice during his 15-year reign.
The King abdicated the throne when he was 35 and spent the
rest of his life on Yen Tu Mountain practising and propagating Buddhism. He
founded the Truc Lam School of Zen and worked to unify different Vietnamese
Buddhism sects into Vietnamese Zen Buddhism.
The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha Central Committee has long
observed the day King Tran Nhan Tong attained Nirvana (the first day of the
11th lunar month) as the national anniversary of Vietnamese Buddhism.
The committee has also coordinated with ministries and
branches to compile a dossier to be submitted to UNESCO for its recognition
of the Monk-King as a World Cultural Celebrity and the historical and
cultural site of the Tran dynasty in Dong Trieu district and the sacred
Buddhist historical site of Yen Tu as part of the World Cultural Heritage.
The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) and the National Council of
Solidarity Front for the Development of Cambodia’s Motherland (SFDCM)
convened in Kien Giang province on December 22 for the fourth conference on
building a borderline of peace, friendship and comprehensive cooperation
between the two countries.
The event was to review two years of implementing a joint
statement reached at the 2012 conference in Ratanakiri province,
Vice President and General Secretary of VFF Central Committee
Vu Trong Kim, in his speech, was satisfied with the improvement of mutual
understanding between locals living in border areas via cultural, music and
sports events, since the joint statement on building a borderline of peace,
friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries was signed
two years ago.
Both sides have joined in efforts to reduce poverty while
combating cross-border smuggling and crushing plots to undermine their
friendship, he said.
Min Khin, SFDCM Vice President and General Secretary, said the
improving border issues are helpful to the maintenance of peace, stability
and economic development between the two nations.
Seminar focuses on
A seminar was held in Can Tho city on December 22 to gather
ideas from both domestic and foreign experts to adjust the Mekong Delta
construction plan by 2020 with a vision to 2050.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Construction Phan
Thi My Linh said that the planning adjustment will help define and promote
the position of the region, better connect with national development
strategies and well adapt to climate change.
Nguyen Viet Thang from the Southern Institute for Construction
Planning stressed the necessity to develop the Mekong Delta in line with the
country’s green growth strategies and adaptable to climate change, rising sea
level and flooding.
By 2030 with a vision to 2050, it should become the nation’s
key zone specialising in agricultural production and aquatic farming with
rapid growth, strong maritime economy and attractive eco-tourism, he stated.
Meanwhile, Prof. Bruno De Meulder from
For success, he suggested zoning out the whole region, not a
particular locality to avoid the regional ecosystem disorder.
The region should also pay attention to both ecological and
social environment elements, and maintain coastal mangrove forests along West
and
Workshop on youth’s sexual-reproductive health rights
A workshop on sexual and reproductive health rights of young
people as stipulated in the draft revised Law on Young People took place on
December 21 in
Officials from Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Home Affairs,
the UN Population Fund and experts in the field joined 60 young people
representing students, the disabled, migrant workers, homosexuals, bisexuals
and transsexuals who are living and working in the capital city.
At the event, representatives from homosexual, bi-sexual and
transsexual groups said these groups have limited access to sexual and
reproductive health information and urged improving sex education at school.
They also voiced their concerns about discrimination even in family and
schools, calling for more specific regulations in sub-law documents to
prevent discrimination against those groups.
Representatives from the group of migrant labourers
underscored the fact that while accounting for about 60-70 percent of the
workforce, these labourers usually have unstable jobs with low income. As a
result, most of them lack basic knowledge on sexual and reproductive health,
putting them at high risks of violence, unsafe abortions and sexually
transmitted diseases.
Participants to the event discussed ways to ensure the
inclusion of all groups of young people in policies on sexual and
reproductive health care.
Organized by the Ministry of Home Affair’s Youth Affairs
Department, the forum aimed to connect young people directly with policy
makers and give them an opportunity to contribute ideas to the Youth Law
(reviewed).
Binh Duong puts water supply plant into operation
The southern
The plant, which has a daily capacity of 30,000 cu.m, was
built at a total cost of 519 billion VND ( 24.7 million USD), of which 464
billion VND (21.8 million USD) came from the World Bank.
General Director of the Binh Duong Water Supply and
Environment Co. Ltd Nguyen Van Thien said, the station supplies clean water
for residential areas outside and businesses inside the My Phuoc Industrial
Zone, the Viet Huong Industrial Zone No. 2, and the Ascendas – Protrade
Singapore High-tech Zone.
Water taken from the Dong Nai river is treated with advanced
technologies at the facility before sending to pipelines, the company said.
Up to 97.5 percent of the province’s population in rural areas
had access to water supply meeting clean water standards.
The province, located in
Ben Tre children get free cleft palate surgery
More than 40 doctors from the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation
led by Prof. Nagato Natsume have worked on a programme to offer free surgery
to 60 children born with harelip and cleft palate in the Mekong Delta
On December 22, the first day of the five-day programme, the
doctors gave operations to 11 child patients, including one with hematoma on
the tongue.
The annual programme, which has been conducted in Ben Tre over
the past 20 years, also covers northern Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh provinces,
and
Since April 1993, the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation has
conducted free surgery for over 1,300 children with harelip and cleft palate
in Ben Tre, while providing the locality with 75,000 USD to build a new
surgery centre at the
Ho Chi Minh City to bring beggars, homeless to social centers
Along with the ongoing campaign to send drug addicts to
compulsory detoxification centers, this annual campaign will start on
December 28, said Vo Thanh Quang, deputy director of the
The campaign targets subjects who are beggars and homeless
people living in public places such as the bottom of bridges, sidewalks,
parks, bus stations and squares.
All beggars who beg for money in public places in any manner
will be gathered and sent to social centers for care and management, Quang
said.
If beggars are mendicant monks, they will be required to
obtain a certificate from a relevant agency under the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha
so that they can be excluded from the campaign.
Those who are suffering from mental diseases or show signs of
mental disorders will be sent to the
After being sent to this center and the city
These files will then be sent to the municipal Department of
Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, which will consider their cases and
issue decisions for each group, as the
Annually, the center receives more than 2,000 beggars and
homeless people who live in public places, the official said.
Currently, the facility is caring for 200 people at a cost of
VND30,000 (US$ 1.4) per person per day, Quang said.
Regarding the ongoing campaign to collect drug addicts that
began on December 5, more than 1,220 subjects were sent to the
Japanese doctors offer free surgery to children with cleft
lips, palates
A delegation of more than 40 professors and doctors from the
Japanese Cleft Lip and Palate Association is offering free surgeries to 60
children with cleft lip and palate deformities in the
The programme runs from December 22 to 26 at the Nguyen Dinh
Chieu hospital in the province.
On the first day, 10 children with cleft lip and palate
deformities, including a child with a tongue hematoma, were successfully
operated on.
This is the 20th time the Japanese Cleft Lip and Palate
Association has provided free medical checks-up and surgical operations to
children and adults with cleft lip and palate deformities, in Ben Tre
province, to help them integrate into the society. Around 50–60 people have
benefited from the programme each year.
The Japanese Cleft Lip and Palate Association is a
non-governmental organisation. The cost of the association’s operations is
funded by the government (one-third), its members (one-third) and donations
from Japanese people and students (one-third).
In addition to Ben Tre, the Association has also carried out
free surgeries for people with cleft lips and palates in other provinces
including Quang
A test of ability and endurance
More young local men have come to parks with exercise
facilities around HCMC in the morning and afternoon to practice street
workout to improve fitness and test their ability and endurance.
Street workout is a combination of athletics and calisthenics,
and is regarded as a new form of physical exercise in this city.
Tien Chau, a senior student of Pham Ngoc Thach University of
Medicine, said he immediately fell in love with the sport for the first time
when he watched it and surfing videos on YouTube.
“Practicing this sport is totally free as I do not have to
spend money using workout equipment at the gymnasium but take advantage of
outdoor public facilities for my practice. On top of that, it helps me
develop an attractive body with firm muscles,” Chau said.
Chau pointed out another benefit of street workout as an
effective way for him to enhance health and prevent diseases because the
strenuous exercise helps boost metabolism and burn surplus calories inside
the body.
Another workout enthusiast named Tan Loc said a street workout
session often consists of basic and advanced exercises. With equipment
available at parks, practitioners can perform movements of different levels,
from normal pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and squats to static holds such as the
human flag, front lever and back lever, among others.
Saigon Calisthenics is one of the most popular groups in HCMC.
Members of the group often gather at stadiums and parks here in the city such
as Le Van Tam, Hoang Van Thu, September 23 and Phu Tho Stadium to practice
the sport as well as topics of interest.
According to Saigon Calisthenics, it is very difficult to
practice the sport on one’s own as it requires teamwork. Therefore, it helps
bring people closer together and that is the significance of being members of
the group.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Ba, 23 tháng 12, 2014
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