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Social News 17/8
Vietnam rescued
fishing boat attacked by Malaysians off Paracel Islands
Vietnamese
authorities rescued on August 15 a local fishing boat allegedly attacked by
Malaysian pirates off
The
fishing boat, hailing from the central
Four
Malaysian men carrying riffles and short guns jumped into the fishing boat.
They
controlled the crew members of the boat, threatening to rob them.
The
crew members managed to send SOS signals calling for help to Binh Dinh
provincial authorities at 6:35 a.m. on August 15.
Two
and a half hours later, a rescue boat came to the scene. Binh Dinh
authorities rescued all crew members of the boat and arrested the four
pirates.
They
found there was no food and water on the high-speed canoe and decided to
release the pirates.
NA’s
Standing Board relic site handed over to Tuyen Quang authorities
The
National Assembly (NA) Office handed over a relic site of the NA Standing
Board in Trung Yen commune, Son Duong district of the
The
site was built in 2006 on the occasion of the 60 th anniversary of the first
general election. Later in 2010, a memorial complex inside the relic was
built and inaugurated, covering more than 2,000 square metres and
encompassing a memorial and a commemorative house.
The
house sprawls over 300 square metres and showcases 66 artefacts, 255 photos
and materials depicting the history of the Vietnamese NA and its Standing
Board in the Viet Bac military zone during the first days of the resistance
war.
In
mid-1952, the NA’s Standing Board chose Dong Ma village, Trung Yen commune,
Son Duong district as its headquarters during the anti-French resistance war,
in which a number of key meetings were held and presided over by President
Ton Duc Thang.
The
handover ceremony was to celebrate the 70 th anniversary of National People’s
Congress and the 70 th anniversary of the August Revolution (August 19) and
National Day (September 2).-
Conference
on latest treatments for epilepsy
The
first national conference on epilepsy was held in
Reports
submitted at the event focused on epilepsy classification in children and
adult, causes of the disease, epilepsy treatment without side effects, and
advanced methods applying in treating the disease.
How to
ensure the right to study for children suffering from epilepsy and the
importance of raising public awareness of the disease was also on the table.
Associate
Professor Dr Vu Anh Nhi, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Neuroscience
Association said epilepsy is the second most common neurological diseases in
However,
understanding about the disease is low among the population, participants
said, calling for more educational campaigns on epilepsy.
According
to Deputy Minister of Health Le Quang Cuong, Vietnam is home to about 450,000
epileptic patients, and proper treatment and care can keep the disease under
control for around 70 percent of the patients, allowing them to lead a normal
life.
The
Ministry is outlining diagnosing and treatment programmes for patients with
epilepsy. The agenda during the conference will contribute to help the
ministry build action plans to support epileptic patients in the future.
Drastic
measures needed to contain dengue in HCM City
The Ho
Chi Minh City People’s Committee has asked the city’s departments and
localities to intensify efforts to prevent dengue, which is developing
complicatedly in the city and the southern region.
The
health sector was requested to increase the efficiency of operations of the
municipal steering board for disease prevention, while hospitals and medical
clinics were urged to prepare enough medicine and treatment equipment, and
closely monitor cases to swiftly deal with small outbreaks within 48 hours.
At the
localities where the disease is risky to spread out, the health sector and
local authorities need spray chemicals to kill mosquitoes and mosquito
larvae, while speeding up communications to raise public awareness of dengue
fever and its impact.
According
to the People’s Committee, as of mid-July, the southern region recorded
14,514 dengue cases, up 33 percent against the same period last year, of
which 5,311 cases were reported in
Meanwhile,
as of August 13, a dengue outbreak in Dak Glei district in the Central Highlands
province of Kon Tum was controlled, with 38 out of the 39 patients discharged
from hospital.
Head
of the district’s medical centre Dinh Thi Ai Nhung said that the most
important thing to do to prevent dengue fever is to raise public awareness of
complying with hygienic regulations and going for check-ups when seeing
abnormal symptoms.
Vinh
Phuc promotes green tourism in Dai Lai
The
People’s Committee of the
The
plan targets to make the 2,088-hectare zone around the 500 ha Dai Lai lake a
high-end eco-tourism complex with a variety of recreational spaces such as
villas; spaces for boat racing, skateboarding, fishing and mountain climbing;
and golf courses, among others.
The
province has called for investment in developing infrastructure facilities in
the area, said Nguyen Van Cuong, Head of the Management Board of the Dai Lai
Tourism Zone.
Focus
has been on improving the quality of hotel and restaurant services and sport
spaces.
Endowed
with natural resources, a mild climate all year round and an artificial lake
with a surface water area exceeding 500 hectares surrounded by endlessly
green hills, Dai Lai is a green paradise just 50 km away from
Tourists
can row boats on the lake, hike the Than Lan Mountain and visit the relic of
Than Lan post, the site of a major battle during the anti-French resistance
war.
The
highlight of the Dai Lai tourism zone also includes the high-end Flamingo Dai
Lai Resort in Ngoc Thanh commune, Phuc Yen town, covering 123 hectares in the
middle of the forests between
It is
hailed as a residential retreat for city dwellers to enjoy their weekends in
a more natural environment with cultural and sports events as well as high
class service.
Ethnic
people given residential land to settle on
More
than 2,000 poor ethnic minority households in Tra Vinh province have
benefited from a government support policy that allocates residential land,
production land, houses, and water.
The
government support has enabled many disadvantaged ethnic people in the Mekong
River Delta to escape poverty.
Kim
Thi Sa Ren is one of several poor residents of Hieu Tu village in Tieu Can
district. She doesn’t own any residential or production land and her husband
has been bedridden for about a decade. Ren’s family finds life extremely
difficult and never has enough money to buy land and build a house. They have
been staying on a neighbor’s land. In May, Ren’s family were overjoyed to be
given 250 square meters of land to build a house.
Around
80% of the 2,000 households who have received free residential land in Tra
Vinh live in thatched huts. Thach Mai of Hieu Trung village who received land
and enough money to build a house expressed feeling that “even when I got
married, I never received a piece of land from my parents. I’m grateful to
the government for giving me residential land. I’ll try harder now to escape
poverty.”
Under
the policy, each household receives more than US$1,500 from central
government and provincial budgets.
Son So
Phon, head of the Ethnic Minority Affairs Section of Tieu Can district, said
“the US$1,500 per household is relatively little. But the support reflects
the determination of the Steering Committee and local authorities and the
involvement of social organizations who have persuaded land owners to help
their fellow villagers. The policy shows that the Party and state care about
ethnic minority people.”
To
date, Tra Vinh has provided more than 728,000 square meters of land worth
almost US$3 million to some 2,000 landless households. Nearly one fifth of
the households have been issued residential land use certificates.
A
return to the cemetery of unknown victims in
A
cemetery near the Bau Ca railway station in the southern Vietnamese
The
catastrophic accident happened at dawn on March 17, 1982 in the commune
previously known as Tay Hoa but now called Hung Thinh, in Dong Nai’s Trang
Bom District, around 100km from Ho Chi Minh City.
The
12-car train was traveling from
Decades
later, many tombs in the cemetery remain unknown, and few relatives visit to
give the dead burning incense, as is the tradition of Vietnamese people.
They
boarded the train, which was carrying both cargo and passengers, to smuggle
small goods, including daily necessities that were rare during the
state-subsidized economic period.
Tuoi
Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters followed a woman whose older brother and
sister in law died in the accident.
She is
Tran Thi Cam.
She
said her family was informed of the accident a month after it happened, and
had no choice but let her brother and his wife lie in the strange land near
the Bau Ca railway station as the unknown because they even had no money for
daily food then.
The
woman was only told that her brother and his wife were among 80 unknown
people buried in the cemetery.
Nguyen
Thanh Son, a guard of the railway section where the accident happened,
recalled, “Me and five or six other guards were at the Bau Ca station and
heard the big sound of a crash.
“Twelve
wagons were thrown dozens of meters away from the railway. The locomotive was
lying upside down halfway a hill.”
He
said the accident occurred at about 5:00 am, when it was still dark, and all
the bodies were carried to an empty piece of land some three kilometers away
for burial.
Now,
over 80 small tombstones which say ‘unknown’ lie the cemetery, which was only
‘upgraded’ last year with whitewashing and cut grass thanks to the support of
Tran Kim Hoat, the owner of a fruit garden next to the cemetery.
Hoat
mobilized villagers to contribute labor and money to upgrade the site last
year.
He
recalled that he was praying in the local
He
said he joined local authorities in digging 200 tombs in the afternoon of the
fatal day.
The
cemetery has only one named tomb of Nguyen Thi Minh Vo, since the victim,
born in 1945, had her personal papers with her.
Nguyen
Thi Dao, a witness and survivor of the accident who was five months pregnant
at the time, said she, her husband and a three-year-old child were in the
same wagon carrying bags of bran.
The
product cushioned her entire family from injuries in the crash, Dao said.
“Nine
out of every ten passengers aboard the train were smugglers who earned some
rice for their families. All residents living near the Hoa Hung railway
station in
She
and her husband were too.
People
often smuggled items such as bran, coal, fire-sticks, white potatoes, fish,
fish sauce, pork and chicken.
To
force a train to stop where passengers wanted, they unplugged an air tube
installed at the joint between wagons.
All
smugglers on the trains knew this, Dao said.
When
the train stopped and mechanics came down to repair it, this gave smugglers
enough time to load and unload their cargo.
“On
the fatal day, an air tube was unplugged, but the train driver tried to
continue driving instead of stopping, and I knew that there would be
trouble,” Dao said.
The
train cars began rushing down a hill and swerving, Dao said. People cried and
screamed loudly.
All
the wagons were thrown into the air and rolled. Passengers were both hit by
the crash and crushed by cargo inside.
Dao
said she and her family quit the job after that.
The
General Department of Vietnam Customs unveiled at a recent conference in
Hanoi that it is continuing to upgrade its entire information technology (IT)
infrastructure, including software management systems, in order to facilitate
trade.
Vietnam
Customs said the explosion in international trade is forcing it to replace
its outdated automated systems to better harness technology to facilitate the
application of IT to trade.
Improved
technology can be beneficial in improving electronic customs supervision,
issuing electronic licenses, preparing certificates of origin and
coordinating with functional agencies to carry out the ASEAN one-door
mechanism.
In
2014, Vietnam Customs successfully used IT applications to better manage
import duty calculations and border gate trade, which helped reduce by two
thirds the time to complete procedures at border crossings.
According
to a World Bank (WB) report, the average time to complete import procedures
at border crossings is still excessively high at 21 days, much higher than
Vu
Ngoc Anh, Vietnam Customs deputy general director said this is an important
step forward in providing Vietnam Customs with "state-of-the-art
technology essential to expediting movement of commerce" through every
international airport, trade zone and potential border crossing.
"We
can now begin the process of bringing 21st century business practices to
Anh
said the upgrades will run the gamut from desktops to mainframes,
"replacing outdated systems with best practice, off-the-shelf
systems."
Anh
said Vietnam Customs wants to move to a more automated "knowledge-based
system" and away from "laborious keyboard entry" currently
used to catalogue the serial number and country of origin of all products
coming through
"It's
a very complicated system," he said. "We're looking to use new
commercially available products that have the ability to create intelligent
systems to manage and automate databases and speed imports and exports while
maintaining the control expected for safety of trade and our citizens."
Economic
exports suggested that the customs sector should push information technology
application in electronic customs supervision, reduce congestion at border
gates, shorten time of storage, grant electronic license, declare electronic
certificate of origin (C/O) and connect to the ASEAN one-door mechanism.
Not
only government agencies but also businesses should take part in
administrative reform in customs policy and procedures. They should seek ways
to improve business environment and increase competitiveness.
He
also added that the agency recently put an automatic customs clearance system
in place.
Utilizing
the new system titled – Vietnam Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated
System/Vietnam Customs Intelligence Information System (VNACC/VCIS) –
businesses can pay their import duties directly via any of 22 participating
commercial banks.
“The
technology overhaul helps to substantially reduce time for businesses,” said
Anh.
A
recent study showed that if
For
his part, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Central Institute for Economic Management
(CIEM) Director said that streamlining customs procedures increase
Lastly,
Nguyen Van Than, Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Business Association
vice president noted that simplifying customs procedures helps reduce cost
for business, resulting in lower prices and bolsters price competitiveness.
JICA
helps
On
August 15, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held a
commencement ceremony for a US$190 million new water and sewage
infrastructure project in
The
city will implement the environmental improvement project in two phases.
The
first phase starting now through 2018 includes the construction of a
modernized waste water treatment plant and pumping stations along with
earthwork and trenching for lying of new sewage pipes in 10 wards of the
city.
This
goal of the project is to enhance
The
second phase, which is still in the feasibility stage, will address
improvements to water infrastructure.
Singing
the glory of the cicada
For
people in the southern
Deep-fried
cicada is a delicacy in Binh Phuoc. Locals usually catch them when they have
just finished molting but are still relatively soft, like a newly molted
soft-shelled crab.
The
molting is usually very quick and done after it starts to get dark. In Binh
Phuoc, the cicadas mostly live on rambutan and cashew trees. Locals take home
the soft and vulnerable cicadas, mainly pinkish in color, to make into
different dishes.
Before
cooking, they wash the cicadas in dilute saltwater, dip them in boiled water
and wash once again in cold water. The elaborate washing process is to avoid
possible poisoning risks.
Cicada
can be cooked with porridge, covered with flour before being deep-fried, stir
fried with onions, or just deep-fried.
The
deep-fried cicadas are served with herbs and dipping fish sauce mixed with
garlic and chili.
The
crunchy, buttery taste and the fragrance of the cicadas can be addicting.
Deep-dried
cicadas are sold at Dong Xoai Market in Dong Xoai Town, the capital of Binh
Phuoc, for around VND150,000 (US$6.8) a kilogram.
Craft
beer explodes in
Bia
Craft has recently launched its soft-opening in Thao Dien in District 2,
A
group of about twenty young brewers, passers-by and venue owners packed into
the open bar on
Mark
Gustafson, the man behind the meat at Quán Ụt Ụt (the wildly successful
American-style barbecue emporium), said the place will offer a destination
for
Eventually,
they plan to feature a rotating imported keg.
“Every
craft beer in the country is gonna be on tap here,” said Gustafson, gesturing
to a row of eight steel spouts dripping with condensation.
On
Friday, the system held only six, but Gustafson planned to soon add his own
double-IPA and blonde ale to the mix.
In the
meantime, he showcased a powerful 7%
Gustafson
had brewed the beer in eight different containers starting in June; each
batch followed the same three-hop recipe.
“They
all fermented at different times so some batches were peachier, some were
funkier,” he said over the bar. Perhaps for that reason, the drink seemed to
shift constantly on the tongue without ever feeling bitter.
His
offering was closely rivaled by the pale ale from Fuzzy Logic—a brewing
company founded in a District 3 kitchen by two long-stay expats: Max Crawford
and Colin O'Keefe. For the past two years, the pair have juggled teaching
jobs and developed the bright, floral ale on a series of small systems.
This
summer, they quit their day jobs and inked a deal to brew 4,000 liters at an
established brewery on the edge of the city.
Joining
them on the taps was Phat Rooster, an amber ale brewed by Mike Sakkers, a
former Pham Ngu Lao bar owner who slowly began building himself a small
brewery last year.
The
city's already thriving small brewers also had beer on tap.
The
Australian-owned Platinum brewery commissioned an exclusive golden ale for
sale at Bia Craft and the well-established Pasteur Street Brewing Company has
hooked up a keg of their Saigon Saison — a farmhouse ale with clean, spicy
finish.
The
cozy bar actually represents a partnership with Zebrafish, a micro-brew
importer based in Thao Dien. So beyond all the offerings on draft, Bia Craft
boasts a beer fridge stocked with Swedish fruit ciders and four beers from
the legendary Lost Coast Brewing Company of
A
German brewer, not present on the evening in question, had sent over bottles
of his new pilsner that afternoon.
The
spirit of the evening, however, seemed most captured in a series of green
pop-tops emblazoned with a label featuring a cartoon pangolin—a native
armadillo-like creature that closely resembles a hop with four legs.
Reuben
Martinez, a graphic designer, created the label for his brother Luis, whom
he'd beckoned to
Luis,
a trained biochemistry, says he's been brewing for about seven years but
struggled to find work in the industry in
“We
didn't have any particular plan, we were just like 'let's make good beer,’”
said Reuben, who admitted that they weren't sure where or how they would sell
their product after they'd finished it three months ago.
They
called the beer Tê Tê — the name of the animal that graces its label and a
word that describes the rush one gets just as they begin drinking.
“It's
a beautiful word, no?” said Luis as he drank deeply from his own creation.
The
mild, subtly buttery beer seemed a perfect antidote for
Everything
during the soft opening represented a work in progress.
Instead
of sausages and hot dogs, the small food cart in front held a bouquet of
flowers. The sound of two men sawing a new cold room door out of scrap metal
outside ground high over the chatter of the small but boisterous crowd
inside.
But no
one really seemed to care given the sudden explosion of good beer.
ustafson
and his two partners Tim Scott and Albin Deforges were operating the taps for
the crowd of mostly friends. The food menu will get going this upcoming
weekend.
And,
as they poured, they spoke excitedly about the opening of their next location
which they guessed was six to eight weeks away.
“We
geared up for going big,” Scott said. “At our first restaurant we can squeeze
in 140. The second will sit 350 comfortably.”
The
restaurant's 40-foot bar will overlook a canal. The hundreds of customers
will be fed by a smoker that looks as though it could double as a cement
mixer.
Beer
will flow from a dozen taps.
Where
will they get a dozen different beers?
“We
have the beer,” said Deforges without bit of hesitation.
Walk
raises $500,000 for education
A walk
in
Proceeds
from the event, which gathered 6,000 participants, went to the Study
Encouragement Fund started by Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper. The walk was
organised by the city's youth union and student association.
Some
27 scholarships were given out at the event. Participants also donated 5,000
notebooks to children in the city's outskirt districts.
Shop's
bread hospitalises 15
Six
people, including two children, were taken to
Patients
exhibited symptoms of vomiting, fever and diarrhea. According to Vietnam News
Agency's correspondent in the province, local authorities have yet to comment
on the case.
Student
wins The Road to Olympia Peak
Van
Viet Duc, a student at
He
will also get a full scholarship to attend Swinburne University of Technology
in
The
competition was a race among Duc and three others who ranked first at
quarterly competitions: Huynh Anh Nhat Truong from
Authorities
in central
The
plant will have a capacity of 30,000cu.m per day and occupy nearly 10ha of
land in the southern part of the province's
The
treatment plant is part of the a project to improve the area's water
environment, with the assistance of Japanese development assistance loans.
The
plant is expected to be complete within 30 months and will help the city
treat waste water and reduce flooding in the city.
Waterworks
in
Dwellers
in the central city of
The
salinity of the water in the river has surged to the level 65 times the safe
limit, said Nguyen Minh Chinh, director of the Cau Do Waterworks in Cam Le
District.
It
results from retaining water in the reservoirs of the hydropower plants
upstream, which leads to the Cam Le River running out of water and sea water
intruding on the river.
An
official from Dawaco, the main water supply company in
Residents
of Lien Chieu District and Ngu Hanh Son District have faced a desperate
shortage of fresh water.
Before
2012, water in the Cam Le River only became salted during dry months, from
the fifth to the sixth month in the lunar calendar.
But
from that year till now, the salinity of the water has permanently stayed at
a high level, even in the rainy season.
The
lack of river water has forced
In the
past three months, the authorities have asked for water from the three
hydroelectricity plants – including Song Bung 4, A Vuong, and Dak Mi 4 –
twice.
To
cope with the shortage of raw water,
The
proposed facility can only start operations around 2020.
Diseases
in rainy season on upward trend
According
to the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, since
the beginning of the year, the number of dengue fever infection cases
decreased by 33.7 percent and the mortality rate was down by 50.6 percent
compared the same period last year with 11 deaths only.
However,
most of infection cases are in southern provinces such as
The
Ministry therefore said that the infection cases would be on upward
trend if there has been no preventative measures against the disease.
In two
first weeks of August, in HCMC, there has been an upward trend of some fatal
infectious diseases such as dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth, respiratory
problem among children.
Worse,
the new school year is going to start, it is conducive for the spreading of
tropical diseases.
According
to the Preventive Medicine Department,
According
to the Children Hospital No.2, since August, the hospital has received
7,000-8,000 patients and a majority of them have catch dengue fever.
Averagely, the hospital's Infectious Ward admits around 70-80 inpatients
excluding outpatients.
Dr.
Nguyen Minh Tuan from the Children Hospital No.1 said that more children have
been hospitalized with nearly 100 inpatients, most of them were from
districts in the city and 40 percent of them were from southern provinces.
The
Children Hospital No.1 has recorded three deaths since the beginning of the
year.
The
city's Department of Health said that the dengue fever was on upward trend in
rainy season.
Since
the beginning of the year, HCMC has 6,432 cases of dengue fever, an increase
of 47 percent compared to the same period last year. Currently the outbreaks
have been recorded in many districts including hot spots such as districts 8,
Thu Duc, Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Binh Tan, Tan Phu and Go Vap.
Along
with dengue fever, other infectious diseases such as respiratory problems and
hand-foot-mouth are also increasing in HCMC. In the Children Hospital No.1,
the number of inpatients are up to 300 cases meanwhile there are over 100
beds in the Respiratory Ward.
Therefore,
two or three children must stay in one bed together, a nurse said. Dr. Anh
Tuan said that the respiratory diseases and bronchitis were affecting
children below 2 year old meanwhile children over two year old are having
pneumonia.
Worse,
those who have congenital hear diseases and chronic asthma are likely to
catch infectious diseases and it is more difficult to treat these children,
he said.
Medical
experts say that the peak season of respiratory diseases falls in September
and October. But many infection cases are seeing now in August. Accordingly,
it is anticipated that these diseases will develop complicatedly in next
months when the new academic year start and it will widely spread.
In
addition, hand-foot-mouth is secretly spreading. According to the city's
Department of Preventive Medicine, the cases of hospitalized hand-foot-mouth
in first week of August are 133, 27 percent higher than four weeks before.
There have been 3,921 hand-foot-mouth children were admitted in hospitals in
the city.
To
prevent the outbreaks of disease spreading, Deputy Chairman of the city
People's Committee Hua Ngoc Thuan said that the health sector must actively
implement measures against the diseases to reduce cases of infections and
deaths as well as to prevent it from developing into the epidemic to threaten
the community's health.
The
People's Committee asked the health sector to keep close eye on infection
cases and spray chemicals to kill mosquitoes-an animal to transmit the dengue
fever. Moreover, the health sector must control and prevent outbreaks within
48 hours.
In
August, the health sector in HCMC must launch campaign to kill mosquito larva
and increase information of dengue fever and mosquitoes to residents in all
communes.
New
town established in Tra Vinh province
The
Tra Vinh provincial People's Committee held a ceremony on August 15 to
announce the National Assembly Standing Committee’s resolution adjusting
administrative boundaries of Tra Cu and Duyen Hai districts to establish
Duyen Hai town.
Duyen
Hai town, previously the capital of Duyen Hai district, includes seven communal
administrative units, with two wards and five communes. The town was
established on a total area of over 30,000ha and has a population of 82,393
people.
With
the establishment of the new town, the Mekong Delta
Speaking
at the ceremony, Chairman of Tra Vinh provincial People's Committee Dong Van
Lam stressed that the establishment of the town is of importance to
effectively promote and exploit national key infrastructure facilities built
in the province, such as Duyen Hai Power Centre, which has a total capacity
of 4,800 MW; a waterway passage for heavyweight vessels to the Hau River; the
39,000ha Dinh An economic zone; as well as to implementing the province’s
maritime-based economic development strategies.
The
provincial leader asked authorities of Duyen Hai to consolidate new
structures to provincial management and the political system, while
transforming organisational models suitable with urban administrative
management and promoting local economic, social and labour restructuring.
Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri
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Thứ Hai, 17 tháng 8, 2015
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