Social News 28/11 Ca Mau preserves coastal protective forests   The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the southernmost province of Ca Mau has taken measures to effectively protect coastal protective forests. Accordingly, the department has urged the provincial Forest Management Department and sub-departments of Ngoc Hien, Nam Can, Dam Doi and Phu Tan districts to launch activities to raise local people’s awareness of protecting protective forests and aquatic resources. The department also joins hands with the Forest Management Board, local authorities, border guards and relevant agencies to increase patrols to prevent deforestation and illegal exploitation of forest products. Ca Mau is also paying special attention to improving the efficiency of forest management. The province has banned local farmers from illegally residing in and near the protective forests. Head of provincial Forest Management Department Le Van Hai highlighted the stable forest management and development of Ca Mau as violating cases dropped over years. The mangrove forest of the Ca Mau National Park, which was damaged severely during 2012-2013, has improved with tight management, he added. However, illegal forest exploitation and coal cellar building still exist in some areas of the province, along with forest product trafficking. Over the last five years, Ca Mau province has reported more than 1,300 cases of forest product transport and deforestation. In the first 10 months of 2016, local authorities handled 196 forest protection violations. Employers must be sued over insurance debts: officials One of enterprises that have delayed or avoided paying social insurance for their employees have been brought into court although labour unions, on behalf of the employees, have the right to sue them, the Việt Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) said yesterday. Speaking at a conference about measures to crack down on insurance debtors yesterday, VGCL Vice Chairman Mai Đức Chính said that labour unions were given legal tools in January to take enterprises to court. Việt Nam Social Insurance and the VGCL even signed a co-operation agreement to provide data and ensure the rights and benefits of employees. The VGCL had required localities to sign commitments to strengthen debt collection and press suits if necessary. However, 16 localities had not yet signed their commitment and none of the debtors have been sued so far, he said. As regulated, every enterprise with more than 10 employees was supposed to jointly pay for workers three types of insurance, namely social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance. However, many intentionally ignored, delayed or refused to pay, according to the official. Việt Nam Social Insurance reports show that accumulated social insurance debt in the past ten months was some VNĐ9.55 trillion (US$382 million). Debt of more than three months total VNĐ6.8 trillion ($272 million), accounting for 72 per cent of the total. The total deb for the three types of insurance was VNĐ14.2 trillion ($568 million), an increase of 0.2 per cent compared to the same period last year.  By November 15, only 78 per cent of total debts had been collected, seriously affecting employee benefits. Under the Law on Social Insurance, employers must pay 17 per cent of their employees’ monthly salaries and employees pay six per cent. With this cover, employees can enjoy financial support when they are sick and unable to work. Nguyễn Trí Đại, Head of Việt Nam Social Insurance’s Social Insurance Department, said enterprises avoid paying insurance either because they are in financial troubles or because they are unaware of their legal duty. Lax management of social insurance companies in localities also contributes to the problem, he added, citing a company in southern An Giang Province as an example. The company failed to collect debts for more than 60,000 local beneficiaries of social welfare since early January last year. Representatives of cities and provinces say a shortage of human resources, complicated suing procedures and a shortage of guideline on suing were the main reasons that labour unions hesitate to sue on behalf of workers. To solve the problem, vice chairman of the VGCL Chính asked labour unions to hasten the completion of suits and relevant documents over insurance debtors and transfer them to the people’s courts. Any difficulties during the procedures must be reported to the VGCL. He requested each locality to get between five to ten lawsuits to the people’s court by the end of this year. Việt Nam Social Insurance would co-operate with VGCL to set up teams to supervise implementation of the task in localities, he said. State-owned firms with large numbers of labourers, especially in the fields of transport, mechanics and textiles and garments, have been guilty of violations. Strong measures such as fines of up to VNĐ30 million ($1,650) do not seem to deter the debtors: many would rather pay these low fines than their social insurance debts. – VNS Hà Nội to curb health facilities overspending The Hà Nội’s Department of Health, in co-operation with the city’s health insurance fund, will inspect about 50 health facilities overspending their health insurance funds in the past nine months. The inspectors will determine why the cost and frequency of treatment at certain facilities have increased. Prescriptions and other medical regimen will also be monitored for abuse or profiteering from the health insurance fund. According to the city’s health insurance fund, the overspending of the fund was 1 per cent. As many as 73 hospitals exceeded the fund by a total of more than VNĐ200 billion (US$8 million). To curb overspending, the city has asked the inspection unit of health insurance funds at hospitals to strengthen operations and refuse to pay for costs failing to meet the fund’s requirements. The city’s People’s Committee has required localities to reach health insurance coverage for 80 per cent of the population by the end of this year and 90 per cent by 2020. HCM City university supports disabled students Library staff at the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities plan to develop audio and brallie books for students with visual impairments at the university. The books are one of four initiatives chosen for be granted funds from a project designed to help university students with disabilities to access education carried out by the HCM City Disability Research and Capacity Development (DRD) Centre under the sponsorship from the Embassy of Ireland. Bùi Thị Hằng, director of the Library and Information Centre at University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the initiative’s team leader, said that the university has 10 students with visual impairment. Because of this disability, these students can not access documents at the library, Hằng said. “Currently, they just learn and research by hearing and writing down what lecturers say. Moreover, they access the free source of documents on Internet, but many of them are not verified,” she told Việt Nam News. Many of them take initiative in going to the library, but there are no audio and brallie books in the library to serve them, she added. In the initiative, the library’s staff also will be trained to guide these students to use effectively the library’s documents, Hằng said. It is expected that the audio and brallie books will be available next January, she added. Another initiative of lecturers from the Education Faculty at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities that has been provided funds will provide psychological counselling and other assistance services in learning for students with disabilities at the university, Lê Thị Yên Di, its group leader, said. At the Education Faculty, a counselling and assistance room for these students will be opened, she said. Two other initiatives of lecturers and staff at the city University of Education include developing a brallie map for its students with visual impairment to know the way to classrooms and providing an assistant for students with disabilities at the university. The project to help university students with disabilities to access education started at the two universities of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Education in January. Later, the DRD centre aims to expand the one-year project to other universities throughout the city. In the project, students with disabilities will raise their capacity to know and implement the rights of education and comprehensive development. They are also provided learning aid devices or volunteers who are ready to support their learning. It also aims to improve the awareness of university staff on providing necessary assistance to students with disabilities. Moreover, students will get support in seeking enterprises for internships or jobs after graduating. Lưu Thị Ánh Loan, the centre’s acting director, said that students with disabilities in the country still face difficulties in learning at universities and colleges. For instance, infrastructure there is not accessible for them.   According to the 2009 Population and Housing Census in Việt Nam, the country has 6.1 million people with disabilities age 5 and above, or 7.8 per cent of the total population. Of them, less than 0.1 per cent study at universities or colleges. Southern region tackles mounting power shortage   The southern region must speed up delayed power projects to ensure sufficient energy supply and use cutting-edge technologies to reduce energy waste, experts have said. Southern Việt Nam, home to commercial hubs like HCM City and manufacturing clusters such as Đồng Nai and Bình Dương provinces, may face more power shortages next year. Many power projects which do not belong to Electricity of Việt Nam (EVN) are behind schedule, according to EVN. An official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, who declined to be named, said that EVN would develop only 21 power projects with total power capacity of 14,610MW in the 2016-30 period.   In addition, EVN will supply only 6.6 per cent of the region’s power demand in the 2021-2025 period and 13 per cent in the 2025-2030 period. The rest would be provided by other power businesses, he said. But most of the power projects developed by other businesses are behind schedule. For example, the companies have only completed 67.5 per cent of their assigned work in the 2011-15 period, which was one of the main causes of power shortages in the region in the period, according to EVN.     Due to an annual power shortage of between 10 and 15 per cent of the region’s total demand, the region needs to receive power from the northern and central regions with a total capacity of 2,000MW every year. Experts said this resulted in a considerable loss of power in Việt Nam due to the long distance of power transfer.     Because the southern region has no power reserve, EVN at times has to use diesel to generate power, which is double the cost of coal-fired thermal power. As a result, EVN lost hundreds of billions of đồng in the first half of the year.   Dương Quang Thành, chairman of EVN, said EVN would expand capacity of a series of hydropower plants, including Hoà Bình, Ialy and Trị An. In addition, the Ô Môn thermal power plant in Cần Thơ, the Duyên Hải thermal power plant in Trà Vinh Province and Vĩnh Tân thermal power plant in Bình Thuận Province plan to increase power supply for the southern region. According to an official of EVN, EVN is building a thermal-power plant using liquefied natural gas (LNG), recommended by many experts as it can be imported easily.         In addition, EVN and its partners plan to invest in solar power in areas such as the Central Highlands, south-central region and southern region.   EVN will consider developing solar power projects on the surface of existing hydropower reservoirs and in hydropower plant areas or arid land to reduce site clearance costs. To reduce costs, the projects will use workers who are now operating hydropower plants.   EVN said it would develop a solar power project with a capacity of 200MW in the central province of Ninh Thuận. Investment procedures for the plant have been completed. EVN will also give priority to solar power projects on islands such as Côn Đảo, Phú Quý and Lý Sơn. In addition, any delayed power project must be sped up; otherwise, the projects’ investment licences will be revoked. The Việt Nam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (TKV) has submitted a proposal to the government to build coal-fired thermal power plants in Trà Vinh Province and across the Mekong Delta. Recently, the government has given the go-ahead for more thermal plants in the Mekong Delta and gas-generated power plants in the central provinces of Quảng Nam and Quảng Ngãi. Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng has urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade, EVN and TKV to join forces to minimise the risk of power shortages. Việt Nam’s electricity demand is expected to grow 13 per cent annually in the next four years due to its fast-expanding economy. American Center kicks off International Education Week in HCM City The US Consulate’s American Center in HCM City on Monday kicked off International Education Week, a joint initiative of the US Department of State and US Department of Education. The annual initiative, which ends on November 18, promotes understanding and support of international educational exchanges. Education Week, which highlights programmes that prepare Americans to live and work in a global environment, also showcases programmes that attract future leaders from abroad to study in the US. At a press meeting held on Monday in HCM City, US Consul General Mary Tarnowka said that Việt Nam was the sixth leading source of foreign students studying at US higher education institutions. The number of Vietnamese students increased from 18,722 students in 2015 to 21,403 in 2016, according to the annual Open Doors Report, published by the Institute of International Education with support from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Of the 21,403 Vietnamese students studying in the US, 60 per cent are using personal and family funds. Việt Nam also maintained its position as the top source country of students in Southeast Asia. The strong increase in Vietnamese students shows continued conviction by students and parents that a US degree is a sound investment in their future careers, the US Consul General said. Thái Bình Province plans to grow 1,320 ha of coastal forest Thái Bình Province aims to plant more than 1,320 hectares of coastal forests in the next five years and protect almost 4,000ha of forest. The plan by the province’s authorities aims to recover lost forest areas, consolidate existing forest areas and grow new forests in coastal areas. In addition, the plantation will bring much-needed benefits to the local populace, like creating jobs, generating additional livelihoods, and ensure national security and bolster defence. VNĐ392 billion (US$18.7 million) is the estimated capital required to complete the plan, of which, VNĐ386 billion will be used to plant trees and build support components. Land illegally encroached upon by industrial zones and urban areas as well as land used by ineffective seafood farms located near sea dykes will be reclaimed and converted to forests, thus enclosing the forest belt. More technology will be used in forestry, including researching suitable plants for each type of terrain and researching new methods to control pests in mangroves, hence raising the trees’ survival rates. In the next five years, Thái Bình Province will prioritise the implementation of some key projects, according to the province’s authorities. The recovery and sustainable development of mangrove forest ecosystem project, with total investment of $2 million, was funded mostly by the South Korean government. The project to mitigate seawave impacts, stabilise seashores, and plant mangrove forests to protect sea dyke No 5 & No 6 will also be high on the agenda. According to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, last year, the province finished taking inventory of its forestry resources and determined that province-wide, 9,160 hectares of land are reserved for forestry use - 3,700 hectares of which are woodlands, concentrated in two coastal districts Tiền Hải and Thái Thuỵ. Thái Bình Province merely has protection forests and no production forests so legal logging activities are non-existent. The province’s forest is part of the Red River Delta’s wetland biosphere and helps to mitigate the impact of climate change, resist saline intrusion, protect sea dykes, help conserve biodiversity, restore ecological balance and environmental protection. The province implemented numerous projects to plant new forest area and to consolidate and protect existing forests in 2011-2015. Five hundred ha of coastal protection forest and millions of ‘scattered trees’ were planted. HCM City uses waste to fuel power plant HCM City People’s Committee yesterday gave the green light to the development of a power plant that uses waste to produce electricity. The move aims to solve part of the city’s burden in waste treatment, as some 7,600 tonnes of solid waste is discharged in the city daily, but most of it is just dumped. The Japanese Hitachi Zosen Corporation (Hitz) and the HCM City Urban Environment Co. Ltd. (Citenco) are allowed to jointly build the waste-to-power plant at the Phước Hiệp Waste Treatment Zone in Củ Chi District. Under a pilot programme running from this year to the middle of next year, the plant is scheduled to handle 200kg daily, using organic waste collected from a waste classification programme in Bến Nghé Ward, District 1. People’s Committee vice chairman Lê Văn Khoa said the city would expand the waste-fuelled power plant programme if the pilot project proved effective. VNĐ14 billion trade centre now a cow shelter A VNĐ14 billion (US$636,000) - invested trade centre in the central Nghệ An Province has been unused for six years and become a free straw store for locals.   Unused kiosks in Rộ Market trade centre, at Thanh Chương District, have become stores for agricultural equipment, straw and wood. The surrounding area of the trade centre turned into a cow shelter. Trần Văn Kỳ, chairman of Võ Liệt Commune People’s Committee said the Rô Market trade centre, inaugurated in 2010, aimed at creating jobs for locals and developing the local economy. However, the trade centre was unused as local people didn’t like trading in the closed trade centre, preferring the traditional flea market. Local authorities have urged the trade centre’s investor to change the architecture of the centre to include outdoor kiosks familiar to locals. Replacing a degraded old market, Nghệ An Province People’s Committee approved building the centre in 2007 on a 30,080sq.m area. The Northern Investment and Trade Joint-stock Company, located in Hà Nội, was the main builder. The trade centre included a big market temple, kiosks, rest room, restaurant, power station, and water supply station. Hai Phong active in legal knowledge dissemination Vietnamese and international legal regulations on seas and islands have been disseminated to residents in islands and border areas across the northern port city of Hai Phong during 2013-2016. It was reported at a conference held in Hai Phong on November 15 to review a related project, jointly carried out by the Hai Phong People’s Committee and the Border Guard High Command. Colonel Dao Quang Thuc, deputy director of the project, said communicators have creatively made serious contents of legal documents practical and memorable. The documents focus on a number of topics, including the resolution of the fourth Party Central Committee (10 th tenure) on Vietnam’s maritime strategy towards 2020, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Another content that more closely related to local fishermen was the Prime Minister’s Instruction 689/CT-TTg issued in May 2010 on measures to reduce the number of arrested fishing boats and fishermen at sea. Communications campaigns on law compliance in Hai Phong between 2013 and 2016 have contributed to reducing the number of violations during the period by 364 cases compared to that of the 2009-2012 period. Hoang Thi Hong Luan, Vice Chairwoman of the People’s Committee in Cat Hai district said the population of her area is not stable due to the movement of migrant workers, thus communications activities must be specifically designed for smaller groups of people. According to Luan, to facilitate the information dissemination, Cat Hai has set up musical troupes in various localities and created a TV programme on legal education for every Saturday broadcast. The district concentrated on matters that attract public concern, such as maritime resources protection and land law. Vice Chairman of the Hai Phong People’s Committee Le Khac Nam stressed the need to continuously implement the project, requesting relevant agencies to closely work together and improve their communications human resources. Hai Phong is one of 28 coastal cities and provinces in Vietnam. It consists of 15 districts, 8 of which have sea border areas. Festival highlights HCM City’s development A festival highlighting Ho Chi Minh City’s development and integration will be held in the city from December 1 – 3 with various culture and art activities. The announcement was made at a press conference in the city on November 15. As many as 25 consulates, friendship organisations, non-governmental organisations, and business associations have registered to participate in the festival, according to the municipal Department of Culture and Sports. Organised by the municipal People’s Committee, the event aims to popularise the unique culture of Vietnam and HCM City to international friends. This year’s event will feature an exhibition on the city’s diplomatic activities, a book fair, and a workshop on education and startups. Food stalls will also be set up to introduce local specialties, while folk games are also expected to draw visitors. Alarm over paper mill threatening rivers in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta An environmental expert has called on the Tien Giang administration to pull the plug on a Taiwan-invested paper project he says may pollute one of the most important waterways in the province as well as the Mekong Delta. Assoc. Prof. Le Trinh, head of the Institute for Environmental Science and Development, is so concerned about the potential negative impacts the Dai Duong paper plant will have on the province’s Tien River, that he has petitioned the provincial administration to stop the project. The 250-kilometer long Tien (Front) River and 200-kilometer Hau (Back) River are the two most important waterways in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. The Hau River is also under threat from another paper mill, run by Hong Kong’s Lee & Man Paper. The Dai Duong facility, located in Tien Giang’s Long Giang Industrial Park, is operated by the Dai Duong Co. Ltd., and fully owned by Taiwan’s Chang Yang Holding. A man stands next to the canal where wastewater from the Long Giang Industrial Park is discharged in Tien Giang Province, southern Vietnam. The paper plant discharges its wastewater through two local canals before finally reaching the Tien River, where “many of the province’s biggest water suppliers collect surface water for treatment before supplying clean water to millions of households,” Trinh said in his petition. The pundit, who is also deputy head of the Vietnamese Council for Environmental Impact Assessment, said the paper mill will also affect numerous local farmers as their agriculture production may be “adversely affected by the facility’s wastewater and smoke.” According to Assoc. Prof. Trinh, the paper making industry requires a number of chemicals for production, and the wastewater dumped by the facility contains various hard-to-treat toxic materials. Among those toxins are organic chlorides such as dioxin, which can be absorbed by fish and other aquatic animals before they are served at the dinner table. Trinh said several studies prove that it is impossible to completely remove dioxin from chlorine dioxide, the chemical compound used for pulp whitening. “With that in mind, it is impossible to not worry about the Dai Duong plant, especially when it dumps as many as 4,950 cubic meters of wastewater on a daily basis,” Trinh said. The expert added that the wastewater treatment capacity of the Long Giang Industrial Park is unable to completely handle such a large amount of wastewater from the paper mill. “If we let the plant operator treat its own wastewater, who can be sure that it will not cause an environmental incident?” he questioned. In that scenario, Trinh said, toxic wastewater will spill to the Tien River, its tributaries and the local canal systems. The number of people affected by such a disaster would be equal to that of the Formosa crisis in central Vietnam, he added. “As an expert who has been studying the environment in Tien Giang for years, I earnestly suggest that the provincial Party Committee, People’s Council and administration stop allowing this project,” he said. According to documents reviewed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Chang Yang Holding first proposed the Dai Duong project to Tien Giang authorities in January 2016, and submitted the necessary documents and papers on February 18. Less than a month later, on March 11, the Tien Giang administration gave the developer in-principle approval for the proposal, and only four days later, the Taiwanese company received the investment license for the project, with a total investment of US$220 million. With all paperwork completed, the developer leased as many as eight land plots, spanning a total of 227,530 square meters in the Long Giang Industrial Park, to build its plant. The Dai Duong paper mill produces four types of paper, including the double-ply Duplex and Kraf paper from scrap papers, with a total capacity of 175,000 metric tons a year in its first phase. The developer has received a number of incentives from the Tien Giang administration, such as a low corporate income tax of 10%, compared to the normal 20%. The Taiwanese firm also enjoys a corporate income tax exemption for four years from the first year it begins to post a profit, and a 50% tax cut for the subsequent nine years. Pham Anh Tuan, deputy chairman of Tien Giang administration, confirmed to Tuoi Tre that he had received the ‘sincere petition’ from Trinh. “We will invite scientists to assess the environmental issues in regard to the Dai Duong plant Trinh has raised,” Tuan said. “Tien Giang authorities will strictly follow the order by the prime minister, which is to never trade the local environment for new economic projects.” Muggers on southern Vietnam buses leave authorities powerless Muggers posing as passengers have been terrorizing buses in southern Vietnam for years, seemingly above the law as authorities seem unable to shut them down. The thugs, who often act as merchants of 'panacea,' target buses traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to neighboring provinces, on which they manipulate and threaten passengers to buy their products. They are also not hesitant to attack anyone who dares interfere with their ‘business.’ The bandits operate in gangs, with a man named Cuong considered the mastermind, with decades of experience and generations of ‘disciples’ in his portfolio. Several of Cuong’s mentees have gone on to form their own gangs. Born in the south-central city of Nha Trang, Cuong moved to Ho Chi Minh City and began his panacea endeavors near the Binh Phuoc flyover in Thu Duc District, able to acquaint himself with some notorious gang leaders in the area. In order to keep himself off the radar of local authorities, Cuong is now residing in a tenanted room in the southern province of Dong Nai, which costs him some VND600,000 (US$26.3) a month. His gang often preys on bus No.12, which shuttles between Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai on a daily basis. According to the ‘master,’ one has to dress and talk properly to be a persuasive seller, while his presentation has to follow a certain process. “You have to introduce yourself as an employee of a reputable pharmacy before handing out pieces of paper with a prescription able to cure many diseases,” Cuong said. The prescriptions are then given for free to earn the trust of passengers, he continued, adding that the real trick begins when the targets receive the medicine. A blister pack of PIROMAX, a type of pain killer selling for VND3,000 (US$0.13), would be charged at hundreds of thousands of dong (VND100,000 = US$4.3). “People who receive the medicine but refuse to pay will be taught a lesson. Those who have anything to say about our business will also suffer the same fate,” Cuong asserted. The mastermind has also taught his apprentices knowledge of the law, reminding them to only dole out soft-tissue wounds, as inflicting more serious injuries would lead to a criminal charge. Such gangs have been detained by police officers on several occasions, Cuong recalled, adding that they were only warned as there was no evidence. Aside from Cuong’s group, other teams of dishonest ‘businessmen’ operate in the area and respect each other’s territory. Chanh’s gang is the most notorious, with a large number of young and intimidating members, becoming a nightmare for bus passengers traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to other locations. Besides targeting intercity shuttle buses, the crooks also carry out raids on coaches of local passenger bus lines and cooperatives. “You have to pull over following their signal. They will break the windows and prevent you from picking up any passenger if you refuse to cooperate,” one passenger bus driver said. A probe showed that Chanh’s group could earn VND5 million (US$219.6) per day from their illegal practice. No witnesses or bus operators have dared to stand up to the outlaws for fear of falling victim to an act of revenge. According to Nguyen Than Tai, an official of the Dong Nai Department of Transport, it is difficult to permanently dealt with the muggers as victims have refused to provide evidence against them. “Several officers have been attacked during their inspections. Bus operators who prohibit the sale of their medicine have been harassed and obstructed from running their service,” Tai said. Tran Ba Hoa, president of a transport cooperative whose buses have been targeted by the criminal gangs, said that he could only warn his passengers of the potential danger, reminding them to pay extra attention to their belongings during trips. Nguyen Van Tri, vice-president of another cooperative, said that bus passenger numbers have dropped because of the issue, affecting his business. “The authorities must find a permanent solution to this problem,” Tri said. Meet three ‘tiny’ members of one ethnic minority community in Vietnam Three members of the same H’re ethnic minority community, located in the mountainous district of Son Ha in central Vietnam’s Quang Ngai Province, have been found to be suffering from a rare condition that leaves them with a tiny body. Dinh Thi Huyen, 20, who is the first-born daughter of a family in the Son Nham Commune of Son Ha District, is only 80 centimeters tall and weighs a mere 11 kilograms. Huyen’s body has refused to grow despite prescriptions of supplementary vitamins supplied by multiple visiting healthcare groups, the chairman of Son Nham Commune, Dinh Van Bay has said. Locals refer to her as 'the tiny girl.' According to Huyen’s father, Dinh Eo, being the only child in the family that suffers from the condition, Huyen is childish by nature and finds joy in playing children’s games with other kids in the neighborhood. Despite her physique, Huyen performs on the same level academically as her classmates, though she has stopped going to school since finishing junior high, as her family’s house is too far away from the nearest high school. Dinh Van Khit, of Di Lang Town in Son Ha District, is another H’re boy with a body that is tiny for his age. At 11 years old, Khit is 78 centimeters tall and weighs only eight kilograms, according to his father, Dinh K’Tenh, who said that Khit weighed a mere 800 grams at birth. Khit is shy, eats very little and does not perform well at school, having yet to graduate from kindergarten, his father added. “He once crawled into the family’s rice container and fell asleep there as the whole village set out to search for him, thinking he had gone missing in the woods. Later that night, my wife found him sleeping like a log in the rice container as she was about to prepare dinner,” K’Tenh said. However, Khit is not the smallest person in the district. The record for the smallest Vietnamese human goes to eight-year old Dinh Van K’Re, of Son Ba Commune in Son Ha District, who stands just 50 centimeters tall and weighs a mere 3.5 kilograms. K’Re’s father, Dinh Van An, said he was only able to eat a couple of spoonfuls of rice each meal, and had stopped growing from the age of three. K’Re learns quickly with visuals and audios, but is challenged with reading and recognizing letters, said Dang Van Cuong, headmaster of Son Ba Elementary School, where K’Re is in the first grade. According to the director of Quang Ngai Province’s Department of Health, Nguyen Tan Duc, Khi and K’re have had their conditions studied carefully by medical experts from both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, who have agreed that they both suffer from Seckel syndrome, a form of dwarfism. People with Seckel syndrome, also known as bird-headed dwarfism, are characterized by a small head, a narrow bird-like face, a beak-like nose, large eyes with down-slanting palpebral fissures, a receding mandible and usually an intellectual disability, Duc said. The syndrome is a recessive genetic disorder caused by defects in the genes on chromosome 3 and 18. According to health director Duc, there have only been eight cases of bird-headed dwarfism reported in Vietnam. As for Dinh Thi Huyen, further examinations are still required before a proper conclusion can be made on the nature of her condition, with Duc saying Huyen’s small physique could be the result of hormonal disorders or congenital hypothyroidism. Urban transport project in Hai Phong adjusted The Prime Minister has approved an amendment to the northern port city of Hai Phong’s urban transport development project. Accordingly, gross investment for the project is 276.6 million USD, including 175 million USD in international development assistance. The project was extended to August 31, 2018 in accordance with the aid agreement. The PM has assigned the municipal People’s Committee and the State Bank of Vietnam, along with Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice and relevant agencies to complete legal procedures to extend the project. The municipal People’s Committee will also take appropriate measures to finish the project on schedule and is responsible for allocating funds for expenses arising from the extension. Patients need comprehensive treatment,” he added. HMC City says not to grant license for festivals with commercial purpose The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has asked districts’ authorities and relevant departments not giving permission for festivals with commercial or trade purposes and presenting violation of the rules implementing civilized lifestyle. According to the municipal authorities’ document on tightening management of traditional festivals in 2017, festivals depicting evil activities of brutality and violence, like gambling, practicing superstition, begging, making traffic jam, selling endangered wild animals and among will not be allowed to organize. Under the document, food services, retail food stores and restaurants have to ensure the safe and sanitary from manufacturing, processing, and holding of food... The management of local pagodas and temples has to manage donation box and use it for clear purpose; remove non-native statuary or foreign-style objects deemed “unsuited to Vietnamese customs and culture” from spiritual sites; keep relic sites in their original condition in accordance with Law on Cultural Heritage. Da Nang welcomes 5.51 million visitors, beating expectations The number of visitors to the Central city of Da Nang in 2016 is expected to reach 5.51 million, up 17.7% compared with 2015 and exceeding the projected figure by 7.2%, according to the municipal tourism department. Foreign arrivals are estimated to increase by 31.6% to about 1.66 million, while domestic tourists are also up by 12.5%. The sector has created jobs for about 27,000 people and generated revenues worth an estimated VND16 trillion (US$720 million), a year-on-year rise of 24.7%. Such positive figures come as a result of the city’s campaigns to promote its image, an endeavour to open new flight routes connecting the city with Bangkok and Taiwan, China and the efforts of the city’s tourist support centre. Da Nang has also worked with the provinces of Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam and travel agencies to diversify tour packages, and with the EU to enhance the capacity of its tourism staff. In addition, CCTV cameras have been installed throughout the city to ensure a safe environment for tourists. Last month, Da Nang was named Asia’s leading festival and event destination at the World Travel Awards ceremony. The city has set a target of attracting 6.1 million visitors in 2017, including 1.9 million foreign tourists, by stepping up its promotion programmes in key markets in East Asia and Southeast Asia and expanding to new markets in Europe and North America, as well as India. Da Nang’s tourism sector in 2017 is also expected to be buoyed by its hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and the annual firework festival. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE