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Social News 3/3
Passengers get refunds for long flight delays
Airlines will have to refund fares and other charges to
passengers of those flights at least five hours later than scheduled if
requested, according to a new circular of the Ministry of Transport.
Circular 81/2014/TT-BGTVT with effect from on March 1 regulates
that airlines are responsible for providing passengers with full and updated
information about their long-delayed flights, along with food and
accommodation for the affected passengers.
For flights postponed for two hours or longer, airlines must
arrange appropriate flights for the affected passengers to travel to their
destinations. In case of flights delayed for more than five hours, airlines
shall refund fares and related fees to passengers.
The circular also specifies that if flights are canceled, operators
must announce the reasons and provide the affected passengers with
accommodation and food.
The number of delayed flights soared at this year’s Tet (Lunar
New Year) holiday compared last Tet. From February 15 to 22 (the 27th of the
twelfth lunar month to the 4th of the first lunar month), 928 flights
departed later than scheduled, three times higher than the number at Tet last
year, while 35 flights were canceled.
The flight delays and cancellations were attributable to
overloads at airports during the biggest holiday in
The Ha Noi People's Committee has approved a list of
land-using projects for drawing investors in 2015. The projects are scheduled
to use a non-municipal budget during the first phase.
Accordingly, the Hoan Kiem District will seek investors for
the construction of a vocational training centre; the Hoang Mai District will
invite investors to construct a public market in the Hoang Liet Ward, and complexes
of supermarkets, housing, offices and parking lots for rent; while the Tay Ho
District will ask investors to build conduits from the Ho Tay (West Lake)
sluice gate to the Xuan La Road, and two parking lots.
The Dong Anh District is inviting investors for its parking
lot construction, while the Gia Lam District will develop projects for
housing and public works, such as a stadium, a swimming pool, a kindergarten,
a primary school and a secondary school.
The Quoc Oai District plans to build a trade centre in
Investment is also being solicited for projects to build
kindergartens, housing, offices, and trade centres, among others in the Thanh
Tri District; and for the construction of an industrial complex in the
outlying Thuong Tin District.
Also, the city has assigned the municipal Department of
Planning and Investment to publish soon land-using projects to select
investors; and to conduct the process of inviting contractors in line with
the current regulations of the State and the city.
1 killed, 13 injured in Phu Yen accident
At least one person was killed and 13 others injured after two
passenger buses collided yesterday night on National Highway 1, near Hoa Kien
Commune in Tuy Hoa city.
According to the police, a passenger bus with the license
plate 53S-4736 was transporting 48 persons from north to south. Driver Dinh
Ngoc Dung, who resides in the Tan Binh District of HCM City, suddenly had to
switch gears to avoid a person crossing the road and as a result crashed into
another passenger bus coming from the opposite direction.
The person who had been trying to cross the road was killed on
the spot and 13 others were injured.
The Deputy Director of Phu Yen Transport Department, Vo Ngoc
Kha, said other passengers on the bus driven by Dung, had received assistance
in boarding another vehicle to reach
Phu Yen gets new seaport
The Tuy Hoa City People's Committee is expected to complete a
new port today, about 80m from the present Da Dien Seaport.
The new port has been constructed to help local seamen prevent
large ships from running aground.
Nearly 600 fishing ships enter and leave the Da Dien Seaport
every day. The tuna-fishing ships are from Phu Dong Ward and Ward 6. However,
there is a serious problem of the Da Dien Seaport being clogged with silt,
which prevented nearly 350 ships from going out to sea during the past two
weeks and caused huge losses to local seamen.
At the urging of the seamen, the local authorities decided to
set up the new port, so that the fishing boats can go out to sea.
The new port is 40m long, 30m wide and 2m deep.
Animal health department destroys 8,000 eggs
The Lang Son Department of Animal Health yesterday destroyed
more than 8,000 eggs that were of unclear origin and were not accompanied by
any valid papers.
The eggs were handed over to the department by the Lang Son
City Market Watch Team No 1.
The owner of the goods, 35 year-old Chu Van Truong who lives
in the
Vietnamese French nabbed for using fake credit cards
Police in the south central
Nicolas Nguyen, 31, is being detained while local police are
working with the French consulate in
Police said Nguyen entered
Motorcycle escort dies while on duty in sport event in Vietnam
A member of
The dead victim was Lin Ma Sang, 53, and the escort who had a
broken leg was Tran Ngoc Thach.
The accident occurred when Sang, Thach and other members of
their team were escorting the racers of the Binh Duong International Women’s
Bicycle Race Open Championship from the southern province of Binh Duong to
Dong Nai's Dinh Quan District for the race’s second section, which stretches
from the district to Bao Loc District in the Central Highlands province of
Lam Dong, on March 1.
When the cyclists and their escorts were about one kilometer
from the starting line in Dinh Quan, a group of tourists on about seven
motorcycles tried to overtake the escorts at very high speed, causing
collisions between the motorcycles of both sides, a Tuoi Tre (Youth)
correspondent reported from the scene.
During the collision, Sang fell to the ground and was run over
by one of the motorcycles, while Thach dropped to the ground and broke one of
his legs.
Some other members of the escort team were slightly wounded.
The race’s health workers gave Sang first aid and took him to
a hospital for emergency treatment but he died later.
When the accident occurred, the motorbike escorts were running
at about 40 kph while members of the tourist group passed them at higher
speeds and encroached on the wrong lane, new website VnExpress quoted deputy
chairman of the Vietnam Motorcycle Federation Ngo Quang Vinh, who is a member
of the race’s organizing board, as saying.
Members of the motorcycle tourist group were on their way from
the Mekong Delta to the
Sang’s relatives took his body to Ho Chi Minh City and the
race later finished safely in Bao Loc, the newswire said.
Police are probing the accident.
Bac Lieu seafood firms disobey law on workers
The seafood industry in the Mekong Delta's
More than ten thousand workers, two thirds of them women, at
35 seafood factories in the province were being victimised despite
authorities' efforts to reinforce labour regulations.
Factories often avoided paying fees and other obligations by
only giving workers short-term labour contracts – up to three months.
"The majority of them started working for those factories
as seasonal workers without ever entering in a contract," said Vo Duy
Khanh, secretary of Tan Phong Ward's Youth Organisation. "It made
protecting their rights and benefits very difficult."
A dozen seafood factories operate in Tan Phong Ward, and
employ a total of 6,000.
Local authorities' recent investigation revealed that most
factories were found with Labour Law violations during the hiring process.
As more and more young workers leave their hometowns to seek
jobs in cities, local businesses have had to come up with new ways to keep
them around.
Youth associations often held job fairs in collaboration with
local businesses, but equipping them with legal knowledge to help them
protect themselves had never been a top priority.
Also, youth associations have not made efforts to follow
through and ensure businesses fulfilled their contractual duties.
"Once local businesses and workers reached an agreement, many
youth associations considered their responsibility over," said Truong
Hong Trang, the provincial youth association's secretary. "Because of
this way of thinking, they didn't try to see if agreed terms were fulfilled
after."
The province and the local department of Labour, Invalids and
Social Affairs were preparing to open information seminars on workers'
rights, she said.
Youth associations will also be charged with the task of
overseeing and reinforcing regulations set out in the country's Labour Law.
North to experience cold spells in March
The
The cold spells will result in a cold weather conditions at
night and during pre-dawn.
The average rainfall and temperature in the northern and
central provinces will be similar to those seen in previous years.
Meanwhile, the
The city has become safer for international tourists, with
fewer robberies reported in the first month of the year than previously.
The HCMC Department of Tourism last month reported 12 robbery
and theft cases in which foreign visitors were victims, down by five cases
compared to the same period last year. The police have successfully handled
half of these cases.
The city police have busted a ring that stole assets from
foreign tourists in Pham Ngu Lao backpackers area.
The number of foreign tourists harassed by stubborn street
vendors is down with 227 cases thwarted. The overcharging cases involving
cheating taxi drivers were also down.
The city government has beefed up security in HCMC while the
tourism department is looking into four locations for a tourist information
center.
In January, more than 412,000 international tourists came to
HCMC, up 8% year-on-year. The city expects to welcome some 4.7 million
foreign visitors this year.
Vehicles may be banned on pedestrian street in certain hours
The HCMC Department of Transport has suggested vehicles be
prohibited from the forthcoming pedestrian-only street of Nguyen Hue in the
downtown area between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
To prepare for the opening of the revamped
The department also wants all trucks to be kept away from the
street around the clock. For special cases, truck drivers should get permission
from the transport department.
Urban Traffic Management Unit No. 1 has been urged to find
suitable areas near the pedestrian street for cars to park. The agency has
suggested using the streets with wide sidewalks for motorbike parking.
After the upgrade project is finished, the entire
The project costs VND428 billion (over US$20 million).
Cross-border drug trafficking ring to
Customs officers at Cha Lo international border gate in
central Quang Binh province have detected a large drug trafficking ring from
The information was revealed by senior lieutenant colonel Ha
Ngoc Viet, head of border guard station at Cha Lo international border gate.
Customs officers and local police arrested Dau Xuan Cuong,
born in 1991 in central Nghe An province, and seized 495 pills of synthetic
drug.
Cuong admitted that he packaged the pills of synthetic drug in
his luggage and took a car from
Relevant agencies are broadening the scope of investigation
into the case.
98 percent of Kien Giang households to access power
The Mekong Delta
To achieve the target, a project worth 90 billion VND (4.28
million USD) will be implemented to supply power to targeted households, including
a substantial number of Khmer ethnic minority families. Kien Giang will
install power facilities in nine communes expected to fulfil all 19 criteria
in the Government’s new-style rural area building programme this year, he
said.
It will also work with the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN)
and its Southern Power Corporation to provide the Lai Son island commune in
Kien Hai district with power from the mainland An Bien district. Once
completed, this project will lay the foundations to link the An Son and Nam
Du island communes with the grid.
The province will also survey other offshore communes this
year to prepare for the connection of these islands with the national grid,
Ganh added.
The official said tens of thousands of households in 13
communes of rural U Minh Thuong district, the border area of Giang Thanh, and
Kien Hai’s
All but one of 22 power facilities built in 2014 have become
operational, he noted, adding that about 3.03 trillion VND (144.28 million
USD) was spent on developing local power networks including 116 kilometres of
110 kV transmission lines, the 110 kV undersea power cable to Phu Quoc
island, 115.9 kilometres of medium voltage lines, and 120 kilometres of low
voltage lines.
The EVN targets access to electricity for nearly all rural
households in
Exports in February saw a 28.4 percent drop from the previous
month hitting 9.6 billion USD, according to the General Statistics Office
(GSO).
The domestic sector generated 3 billion USD and
foreign-invested enterprises earned 6.6 billion USD, representing respective
declines of 25.3 percent and 29.7 percent from January.
However, exports in the first two months of this year still
saw a rise of 8.6 percent over the same period last year and reached 23
billion USD, reported the GSO.
Of the figure, domestic firms contributed 7 billion USD, up
0.7 percent, while FDI projects added 16 billion USD, an increase of 12.4
percent.
February imports were estimated at 9.3 billion USD, a 32.4
percent fall from January’s figure.
Notably, during the month, automobile imports surged by nearly
62 percent, with assembled car imports rising by 169.4 percent.
As a result, there was a 300 million USD trade surplus in
February.
Primary hard currency earners in February were telephones
& accessories, garments & textiles, computers, electronics &
spare parts, and crude oil.
Team LH – Gold Energy of Lac Hong University, Vietnam has
became the winner of Shell Eco Marathon 2015 in Urban Concept Alternative
Fuel category with 164 kilometer per liter on ethanol E 100.
Two Indonesian teams won the second prizes with achievements
of 102, 6 and 85, 7 kilometer per liter on ethanol E100.
Team LH – Gold Energy of Lac Hong University named aslo the
best video in the contest.
Shell Eco Marathon was established in
This year’s contest was organized in
Three student teams from
HCMC builds more hospital in Binh Chanh District
The hospital covers an area of 3 hectare with total investment
capital of VND490 billion (US$22,983,071) for the first phase.
The main section of the hospital includes one basement, one
ground floor, five upper storeys, a top floor, a special section for patients
with infectious diseases, the morgue and the campus covering nearly 13,000
meter square.
It is expected to be built 300 beds and is scheduled to put
into operation in December, 2016.
Stressing the ground-breaking ceremony, Deputy Chairman of
People’s Committee Hua Ngoc Thuan said that though the city's budget has
limited, the city always gives priority attention to the essential services.
Locating in the city gate,
Exchange honoring Cu Chi female guerrilla fighters to be held
An exchange with Cu Chi female guerrilla fighters celebrating
International Women’s Day (March 8) and the 40th anniversary of the South's
Liberation Day (April 30th) will be held on March 1.
Heroines Vo Thi Mo, Tran Thi Gung, Nguyen Thi Thuoc and Cao
Thi Huong who were guerrilla fighters will join the event and review
the glorious victories during the country's struggle for national liberation
and sovereignty.
Writer Ma Thien Dong, author of the book titled “Cu Chi female
guerrilla fighters- underground legend” will also meet readers.
The event called “Cu Chi female guerrilla fighters-
underground legend” is organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Culture
Palace.
Sea gives up bumper Tet harvest for happy fishermen
Fishermen in the central provinces of Quang Ngai and Quang Nam
are happy, bringing in their best catches in years and getting high prices,
raising hopes of a bumper Year of the Goat ahead as profit grows.
Dozens of fishing boats riding low in the water from their
overnight trips jostle for space at Ly Son Wharf in Ly Son District, Quang
Ngai Province, to unload their catch.
One fishing boat owner, Nguyen Van Tri, said he was delighted
to have had a big catch on his first trip on the Lunar New Year, netting five
tonnes of scad, and at a price of VND25,000/kg, he could be looking at a
profit of VND80m (USD3,800).
“This is the first time in 20years I have had such a big catch
after Tet," Tri said. "I hope it will be a good year for us."
Another fisherman Pham Tien Thanh, said his boat caught three
tonnes of a variety of fish on his first trip out on Wednesday (February 25),
earning a profit of VND80m. He said he had sold most of his catch before even
returning to the wharf, with traders calling him at sea offering high prices.
Many other boats in Ly Son Island District reported large
catches on their first voyage of the year.
Even small-scale fishermen are doing well, with Thanh Nien
Road lined with fences and poles heavy with drying ribbonfish.
Pham Minh Duc, of Tinh Thuy Village in Tam Ky City, said dried
ribbon fish was attracting good prices, far higher than the VND50,000/kg
being paid for the fresh fish. Many villagers can been seen carting first
back to the village early in the morning to be cleaned and dried.
Quang Binh cuts poverty rate
Poverty alleviation efforts by the central province of Quang
Binh have lifted approximately 10,000 households (3.5-4 percent) out of
poverty annually.
The achievement can be attributed to the development of
specific programmes for provincial departments and grassroots agencies to
jointly implement based on surveys of poor households and their resulting
effective solution recommendations.
The province has also provided land, agriculture development,
and production stimulation assistance to poor households.
Rural infrastructure for remote mountainous or disadvantaged
areas has been improved.
Quang Binh currently has around 18,000 poor households, 7.93
percent of the province’s entire population, and 41,500 nearly-poor
households, accounting for 18.24 percent.
HCM City: Additional 27 communes recognised as new-style rural
area
An additional 27 communes in five districts in Ho Chi Minh
City have been recognised as new rural development communes.
The declaration was made at a conference reviewing the
implementation of the National Target Programme on New Rural Development in
2014 by the city’s Steering Committee on March 2.
At the event, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party
Committee Le Thanh Hai requested authorised bodies to focus on and prioritise
manufacturing development and socio-technological infrastructural projects.
The city targets to have all 56 communes meeting all 19
criteria for new-style rural development by May 2015.
According to Director of the city’s Department of Agricultural
and Rural Development Nguyen Phuoc Trung, all 56 communes are very near
accomplishing the criteria set forth in the New Rural Development Plan.
After six years of programme implementation, the city has seen
significant achievements in over 1,100 transportation projects and 321
constructed or upgraded irrigation works.
The city improved and repaired 133 schools and 445 cultural
material facility units, Trung added.
The living standard of farmers has improved considerably, with
household incomes rivalling those of urban areas.
Income per capita of individuals in rural areas was only 1.3
million VND (62 USD) a month in 2008, and nearly tripled to 3.3 million VND
(157 USD) a month in 2014.
The National Target Programme on New Rural Development,
launched in 2010, sets 19 criteria for new-style rural areas, covering
infrastructure, production, living standards, income and culture, among
others.
60 years of Air Forces founding marked
The Air Defence – Air Force Service held a ceremony in Hanoi
on March 2 to mark the force’s 60 th founding anniversary (March 3, 1955).
Vietnam ’s Air Forces have rapidly expanded and contributed to
a number of glorious victories during its 60-year history.
Highlights are the “Hanoi – Dien Bien Phu in the air” victory,
the historic battle against US B-52 bomber-led air strikes in December 1972
which forced the US to sign the Paris Peace Accord ending the war.
During the US war, the air force shot down 320 US jet
fighters.
The force has been bestowed the medal of Gold Star Order and
the title “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” by the Party, State and Army.
Speaking at the ceremony, Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty,
Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Defence
Minister, stressed the need for the Air Defence – Air Force Service to
increase its vigilance and military readiness in the context of complicated
and unpredictable situations in the region and the world.
The ceremony was to honour three soldiers who was posthumously
conferred with the title “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” for their
dedication to the US war.-
30-ton precious rock 'detained' in central Vietnam
Police in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong are
holding a huge precious piece of rock weighing up to 30 tons recently
excavated by a farmer in Dak Mil District while gardening, local authorities
reported.
The value of the piece of rock is estimated at dozens of
billions of dong (VND1 billion is equivalent to roughly US$47,000), Hoang
Xuan Vinh, a senior official at the district People’s Committee, told Tuoi
Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday.
“The committee has yet to receive a specific report on the
finding, so we do not know details about it. Locals accidentally found the
piece of rock. Competent agencies have made a document to temporarily retain
it,” Vinh said.
Truong Xuan Anh, deputy head of the district Natural Resources
and Environment Office, said the huge piece of rock was discovered inside a
mountain field owned by Nguyen Chi Thanh, a resident of Dak Gan commune.
The volume of the piece of rock is about 18 cubic meters and
its weight is between 27 and 30 tons, Anh said.
Regarding the value of the rock, Nguyen Huu Trung, head of the
Mineral Office under the provincial Department of Natural Resources and
Environment, said it belongs to the Canxedon species, which has been formed
in the process of geological weathering.
“Naturally, a piece of rock of this kind is as small as a
fist. People often exploit it and sell it for VND20,000-50,000 ($0.93-2.34)
per kilogram. It is used to make art stones or feng shui stones,” Trung said.
Canxedon rock varies in color, including pink and slight
yellow, and the bigger the piece of such rock is, the higher value it has,
Trung added.
A senior official from the Dak Nong Province Police Department
said on Friday afternoon that a unit of the department has issued a decision
to hold the rock pending resolution.
Further details related to the piece of rock and how it will
be handled will be announced next Monday, the official said.
Northern province suggests building $122mn road linking
expressway to Sa Pa
Over $120 million may be earmarked for the construction of a
road which would link the longest expressway in Vietnam to Sa Pa, a famous
resort town in the northern region.
According to a proposal put forward by the People’s Committee
of Lao Cai Province, Provincial Highway 155 will be built under a project
which costs a total of 2.6 trillion (US$122.1 million), the Vietnam National
Administration of Tourism cited Dau Tu (Investment), a local newswire, as
saying.
The proposed new road will link Sa Pa with the Noi Bai-Lao Cai
Expressway, which is the country’s longest of its kind, and the neighboring
province of Lai Chau and run along with the existing National Highway 4D.
Most of the road will have two traffic lanes, while the
sections shared by National Highway 4D and Provincial Highway 155 will have
four lanes.
The construction of the road is expected to ease traffic in
the area as the section of National Highway 4D spanning Lao Cai and Lai Chau
Provinces and Sa Pa will be overloaded by 2016.
The provincial People’s Committee proposed the project adopt
the BOT (build-operate-transfer) model with state assistance.
Under this plan the government will spend VND1.2 trillion
($56.86 million) on building Provincial Highway 155, while the investor will
put aside a BOT investment sum of VND1.4 trillion ($65.24 million) for
renovating the existing National Highway 4D.
Sa Pa is expected to receive around five million tourist
visits each year by 2020, with the traffic volume estimated to reach roughly
5,000 vehicles each day by 2016, which is beyond the existing National
Highway 4D’s capacity.
The 245-km Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway was opened to traffic in
September 2014, halving the travel time between Hanoi and Lao Cai.
The expressway runs from Hanoi’s Noi Bai through the provinces
of Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, and Yen Bai before reaching Lao Cai, the Vietnam
Expressway Corporation (VEC), the road’s investor, said in September last
year.
The expressway features 120 bridges, including two large ones
that span the Hong (Red) and Lo Rivers. It also has a 530-meter long tunnel,
13 toll collection stations, and five rest stops.
The expressway helps shorten the travel time from Hanoi to Lao
Cai from the current seven hours to 3.5 hours, the VEC said.
In addition, vehicles using the expressway can now use less
fuel, as they will not have to stop so frequently.
The road also helps relieve traffic density, as well as
traffic accidents, on National Highways 2, 2B, 32C, and 70.
The expressway is part of the Kunming-Hai Phong Transport
Corridor and belongs to the Greater Mekong Subregion cooperative program
linking Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and China.
New Zealand supports Vietnamese students
The New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam recently announced 30 New
Zealand-ASEAN scholarships for full-time postgraduate-level study available
for Vietnamese students.
The scholarships will cover all expenses for studying in New
Zealand, including flight tickets, tuition fees and living expenses.
The academic award responds to Vietnam’s priority needs in
agricultural development, renewable energy, disaster risk management, public
sector management, private sector development and education.
Ambassador Haike Manning said his country has welcomed a
number of Vietnamese students over the last 50 years, gradually becoming a
popular academic destination for the Southeast Asian nation.
The scholarships are part of
The New Zealand-ASEAN Scholar Programme has offered up to 180
scholarships to ten ASEAN member states each year in a bid to empower
individuals with knowledge, skills and qualifications to contribute to the
socio-economic and political development across the region.
Bac Lieu focuses on traffic
infrastructure
The Mekong Delta
The works include the construction of inter-commune and
inter-ward roads, bridges and upgrades valued at over 134 billion VND (6.2
million USD).
The construction of other large-scale projects will also be
boosted to serve the local transportation system.
In 2014, Bac Lieu made as economic growth of 12 percent and
its economic structure has been transformed with higher proportions of
industry and service sector.
Currently, industry-construction contributes 24.71 percent to
the province’s total GDP, while services make up 25.59 percent and
agriculture, 49.70 percent.
Per capita GDP was raised to 39.33 million VND per year, while
97 percent of local households have access to the electricity grid.
Four communes in Bac Lieu completed all 19 criteria of the
new-style rural area building programme, while six others fulfilled 15-18
criteria.
Tourism has been set a key economic sector of the locality in
the time to come.
Source :
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Ba, 3 tháng 3, 2015
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