Poor households in HCM City receive digital TV receivers
The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) signed an agreement on August 10 to provide 2,100 digital terrestrial TV receivers DVB-T2 for poor and near-poor households in Ho Chi Minh City.
Accordingly, the gifts will come to households in Districts 9 and 12, and Nha Be, Can Gio and Hoc Mon districts.
This activity is part of a road map to digitalisation in Ho Chi Minh City, and aims to help poor people gain access to topical information of the nation and the world, as well as information about new sciences and technologies.
According to statistics, Ho Chi Minh City currently has around 13,000 poor and near-poor households, of which more than 10,000 have yet to be equipped with standard digital terrestrial TV receivers.
UN Women helps protect women’s health
“UN Women” in Vietnam announced on August 10 that it had delivered essential items like soap and sanitary products to thousands of women and girls in La Pa and Dak Bo districts of the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai on August 8-9.
This was part of the organisation’s programme to provide 20,500 sets of sanitary products for poor women and girls in Ca Mau, Kien Giang, Binh Thuan, Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces, which were severely affected by drought, in 2016.
The budget for the programme comes from aid worth 300,000 USD from the Republic of Korea’s Government and 400,000 USD from the UN Emergency Fund.
UN Women Chief Representative in Vietnam Shoko Ishikawa said that such essential items will help prevent the spreading of diarrhea, dysentery, foot and mouth, dengue fever and skin diseases, thus contributing to improve the health of 41,000 women and girls in those localities.
The UN Women has worked with other UN agencies and the Vietnamese Government’s partners to ensure timely assistance for women in poor and female-headed households in remote areas, she added.
Localities nationwide support dioxin victims
Localities across the country have organised many activities to assist Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims.
On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the AO/dioxin disaster in Vietnam (August 10, 1961-2016), the Association of AO Victims of Quang Tri province visited and presented over 1,000 gifts to local dioxin victims.
Three houses worth 140 million VND (6,279 USD) in total were also built and handed over to families of the victims, who had previously been living in dilapidated houses.
The central province is now home to 15,480 AO victims. Established in 1996, the local association has to date mobilised nearly 14 billion VND (627,900 USD), from which it presented 31,000 gifts, 150 wheelchairs and bicycles and 46 houses to the victims and their families.
Meanwhile, 66 gifts worth 400,000 VND each were granted to AO victims in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, which is home to around 8,500 dioxin-exposed people.
During 2006-2016, the locality’s Association of AO/Dioxin Victims built and repaired 92 houses, presented 193 wheelchairs to dioxin victims and granted 300 scholarships to their children. It also held free health check-ups and treatment for over 22,000 local people.
In the northern province of Nam Dinh, over the past 10 years, the Association of AO/Dioxin Victims has built and repaired 192 houses for victims living in extremely difficult circumstances, and provided production loans for 1,137 households.
Free medical check-ups and treatment and medicine have reached nearly 5,000 local dioxin victims, while scholarships have been granted to 417 children of the victims.
Similar activities have also been organised in the Mekong Delta provinces of Vinh Long and An Giang to ease the pain of dioxin victims.
Between 1961 and 1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides, 44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin, over southern Vietnam, according to the Vietnam Association of AO Victims (VAVA).
As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical, about 3 million of them are AO victims. While tens of thousands of people have died, millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.
Swiss foundation supports Can Tho’s development projects
Switzerland’s Dariu Foundation will provide the southern city of Can Tho with funding worth 61 billion VND (2.77 million USD) between now and 2021, paying for micro-credit, scholarships for poor students, mobile schools and libraries and kindergarten construction.
During a working session with the municipal authorities on August 10, Director of the foundation Nguyen Van Hanh said nearly 5,000 women will benefit from loan service and training courses on how to effectively use loans.
Moreover, 200 scholarships will be presented to poor students every year, with at least half of them are for girls.
Via the foundation, the US’s Pedals for Progress organisation will present 2,200 bicycles worth 6.6 billion VND (300,000 USD) to local poor students from 2016-2017.
A mobile school and library project will help elementary and secondary students improve their computer skills and enable local areas to have access to 330 computers.
For those living around Cai Rang floating market, the project will offer tourism training courses.
The foundation also committed approximately 3.5 billion VND (159,000 USD) to the construction of 5-7 kindergartens from 2016-2021.
On the occasion, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Truong Quang Hoai Nam also pledged all possible support in administrative procedures and human resources for the projects during their implementation.
VNA launches Vietnam-Cuba photo exhibition
The State-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) launched a photo exhibition themed “Vietnam-Cuba” in Hanoi on August 10 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Cuban leader Fidel Castro (August 13).
On display are 20 coloured and black-and-white photos taken by VNA correspondents, some of which describe the visit to the central province of Quang Tri on September 15, 1973 by Fidel, who was then First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and Prime Minister.
Contemplating the leader’s photographs that marked historic milestones in Vietnam-Cuban friendship and cooperation, Charge d’affaires a.i of the Cuban embassy Liurka Rodriguez Barrios described them as evidence of the solidarity, friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the past 50 years.
VNA Deputy General Director Le Duy Truyen, Chairman of the VNA chapter of the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association, hailed the ever-growing ties between Vietnam and Cuba over the past years.
Thanks to effective cooperation with Cuban partners, the VNA has made practical contributions to fostering bilateral ties, he said.-
Yoko Café presents Flamenco Night
The HCM City-based Flamenco Mosquito Band will hold a performance at Yoko Café on August 13.
The six-member band will perform New Flamenco, a combination of flamenco guitar with musical fusion.
Established eight years ago, the band is led by guitarists Trung Trực and Trấn Hải, both graduates of the city’s Conservatory of Music. The other members are music teachers and music performance managers. The band has performed at hundreds of big events and music clubs in Việt Nam.
The show will start at 9 pm at 22A Nguyễn Thị Diệu Street in District 3.
Hard Rock hosts ’90s, Jessie J nights
Hard Rock Café Vietnam will hold two rock music shows on August 12 and 19.
At the first show, Hard Rock’s talented bands will cover the best songs of British singer and songwriter Jessie J and American pop rock band Maroon 5.
The second show will feature rock songs from the 1990s.
The shows begin at 9pm at 39 Lê Duẩn Street in District 1, HCM City. Entrance is free.
Record label hosts release party
HRBR/Habour Recordings, a sub-label of Heart Beat Saigon that was created for local productions and music events, will host a release party at The Observatory on August 13.
The event will feature Italian producer and DJ Marco Mei, who has worked in over 30 countries since 1991, and Vietnamese DJs B.A.X. and Phúc Long.
Visual artist EROL will present a visual performance, and an extended play of four tracks by B.A.X. will be introduced at the event.
The party will begin at 9 pm at 5 Nguyễn Tất Thành Street in District 4. A free limited edition of the CD will be given to partygoers as long as the stock lasts.
Entrance is free before 10 pm and VNĐ100,000 afterwards.
Masquerade ball to be held this week
Lush Saigon will host a Black and White Masquerade Ball on August 13.
The event will feature Australian DJ Mike Hyper, who has played music for 19 years at big clubs in Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and China. He has shared the stage with world-leading DJs like Steve Aoki, A-Trak and Craze.
A masquerade dance show and lucky draw will also be held. Participants, who are asked to wear black-and-white clothing, will receive complimentary masks.
The event begins at 9 pm at 2 Lý Tự Trọng Street in District 1. Entrance is free.
National Tuồng contest staged in Đà Nẵng
Over 700 artists and actors from 11 art troupes nationwide will participate in the annual National Tuồng (classic drama) and Traditional Folk Opera Contest in the central city on August 20-29.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the contest will feature 17 performances, of which 10 are classic drama, during the 10-day event at Đà Nẵng’s Trưng Vương Theatre.
Event organisers said each performance will last from 90 minutes to 150 minutes, and will depict Viet Nam’s past battles against enemies.
Gold medals will be given to the best performances, actors, artists, directors and choreographers.
The contest is an annual rendezvous for professional actors and artists to showcase their talents through traditional art performances.
The central city has introduced Tuồng to the public and tourists through outdoor performances held every Sunday night.
Visitors will also be invited to try on costumes and take photos.
Tuồng was introduced at some junior high schools as a pilot project to preserve the century-old performance art.
Last year, Tuồng Xứ Quảng (Quảng Nam’s classic drama) was recognised with National Intangible Heritage status.
The city also has a collection of 204 classical Tuồng scripts, written in Han (Chinese) and Vietnamese ideographic characters (Nôm), and published from 1802-45.
Bookworm celebrates 15th birthday
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Bookworm will host a birthday party on Sunday from 2-5pm.
During the big day, Bookworm will offer a 15 per cent discount on all its products, except for a few commissioned books. The party will include a live jazz dance band, free-flow sangria, free snacks and free balloons for kids.
The Bookworm is owned and managed by a Vietnamese man who is an avid reader and has a wide knowledge of English-language books. He is also an enthusiastic traveller and bike rider. His Australian foster parents assist as literary advisors and occasional shop assistants.
Bookworm has over 10,000 books in stock. At present, its customer base comprises about 30 per cent Vietnamese, 40 per cent expats and 30 per cent travellers.
Bookworm is at 44 Châu Long Street. It opens every day from 9am to 7pm. Tel: (04) 437153711; www.bookwormhanoi.com
Deputy PM attends Vietnamese culture days in Thailand
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and his Thai counterpart Thanasak Patimaprakorn on August 10 attended an opening ceremony for the Vietnamese Culture Days in Thailand.
The event was held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Thai Ministry of Culture to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties (1976-2016).
According to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai, the Huong Sac Viet Nam (Essence of Vietnam) art performance was performed by Vietnamese artists at the ceremony, helping to deepen Thai People and foreigners’ understanding of Vietnam’s culture and people.
The same day, Deputy Prime Minister Dam and Thanasak Patimaprakorn visited the Sac mau Viet Nam (Vietnamese Colour) exhibition which features the livelihoods of people from every corner of the country.
Along with boosting cultural exchanges between two countries, the Vietnamese Culture Days in Thailand also mark a progress in the two countries’ collaboration with a line-up of projects and common plans for the ASEAN Community.
It will contribute to consolidating relations between the two nations and build a stronger ASEAN Community.
During the culture days, art performances are scheduled to be staged in Nakhon Phanom province where a large number of Vietnamese expats live.
Elderly healthcare system yet to meet demand: Deputy Minister
Elderly healthcare in Vietnam has yet to meet the needs of aging patients due to lack of medical staff and resources to set up geriatric wards.
Deputy Minister of Health Pham Le Tuan made the comment at a conference on developing the healthcare system for the elderly in Hanoi on August 10.
Only 36 percent of provincial hospitals have geriatric wards but their activities are integrated with other departments, Tuan noted, adding that the Ministry of Health plans to enhance the capacity of geriatric wards, aiming at comprehensive health care services at hospitals. The ministry has also studied giving financial support to treatment of the elderly.
According to a national census conducted in 2011, there were more than 8.6 million people aged 60 years-old and above in Vietnam, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the total population while the rate of over 65 years-old was 7 percent. The number of elderly people was predicted to rise rapidly in the coming years.
The survey also revealed that 95 percent of the old people were in poor health or had chronic diseases.
According to Director of Hanoi’s Department of Health Nguyen Khac Hien, the quality of elderly healthcare is still poor. He said that earlier, Hanoi only had one healthcare centre for the elderly; however, it was not organised and had complicated administrative procedures.
Dong Da General Hospital was the first medical establishment in Hanoi to open a geriatric ward with 40 beds and 19 staff who underwent intensive training at National Geriatric Hospital.
Director of the hospital Le Hung said that the geriatric ward will work with other wards to treat the elderly while consulting their relatives to help the patients re-integrate with their families and society.
Participants at the conference said that most Vietnamese elderly people do not have regular health check-ups and only have them when their conditions become serious, making treatment difficult.
Man wanted for murdering four people in Lao Cai
The police are searching for a man from Lao Cai Province after the deaths of a woman and three children.
On August 9, Tan Ong Nai, born in 1994, returned home from the fields at 9pm and discovered his wife’s body in a pond just 100 metres away from his home. His oldest daughter’s body was in a stream and covered with rocks. The bodies of his 20-day old daughter and niece were found in a trench.
The house had been ransacked and police suspect that the murders happened during a burglary.
After investigations, police in Lao Cai Province issued wanted notice for Tan Lao Lo, a from Phin Ngan Village, Bat Xat District, born in 1992.
Dinh Tien Quan, director of the provincial Department of Police said they were extending the investigation and co-operating with other units to search for the suspect.
Hoang Dang Khoa, chairman of Bat Xat District People’s Committee, said they had provided support to the victim’s family.
One more dengue death reported in Highlands province
44 year old Y Trơi in a village of the highlands province of Kon Tum yesterday died of the dengue fever at the province’s General Hospital.
Doctors said that Y Troi had dengue fever for three days before he was taken to a district clinic. Due to his serous condition, he was transferred to the province’s General Hospital but he died two days later.
His death brought the total cases of fatality in Kon Tum Province to two. Before an inhabitant in Dak To District also died of the disease.
According to the province’s Department of Health, so far the province has 224 outbreak pots of the disease with 1,760 cases. Apart from this, Kon Tum town has 78 outbreaks in 21 communes with 410 patients.
The disease is on upward trend in Kon Tum Province.
Local and foreign artists to join HRBR party
Local and foreign DJs BAX, Marco Mei and Phuc Long, together with visual artist Erol, will hit the stage of HRBR Recordings release party from 9 p.m. till late on August 13 at The Observatory in District 4, HCMC.
HRBR (pronounced as Harbour), a little sister or sub label of Heart Beat, a music party series hosted by HCMC-based group of DJs from different countries, is created for the local productions and music events that will get the Vietnamese crowd on their feet.
This is one of the first events hosted by Harbour and celebrates the first EP release available as free download on Soundcloud and Bandcamp of Heart Beat and as long as on stock available for free during the night on a limited edition CD production. Attendees can expect more attention for the deep house and tech house range, finished off later in the evening with deeper and dub soundscapes.
The launching party features a special guest, Marco Mei, the remixer of two of the four tracks of the first EP. He is an Italian producer of the project “Bicycle Corporation” and he has played his own music in over 30 countries since 1991. Marco is touring so frequently in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam.
Phuc Long may sound to be a new name but in fact the alias of a very familiar face behind the decks of Heart Beat. The audience can expect to hear the music he also loves to play but not always can, from Eulberg and Rone to Rodriguez Jr and back with some Bodzin in the background.
B.A.X., head resident at Harbour, was born in 1989 in Vietnam. He was taught to play the piano when he was eight years old. At the age of 18 he discovered his passion for electronic music. In 2008 he started his own project B.A.X. The artist is known for two styles, including the New Age/Ambient music style, which makes listeners feel relaxed and the House and Deep House sets that B.A.X has been known to play with Heart Beat since 2012. Bach started his new label called Feel of Life Records in 2010.
Admission to the event is free until 10 p.m. Those who come afterwards will be charged VND100,000 per person.
Especially, there is a limited edition production of EP on CD at the event. The Observatory is located at 5 Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in HCMC’s District 4. The nightclub focuses on underground (electronic) music and the culture associated with it. It has a great view on the skyline and Saigon River as well as a sunrise after party experience.
People can search for the four tracks of EP001 by HRBR on YouTube.
Locals contribute ideas to community development
Six non-profit organizations (NPOs) last week gathered at an event held by HCMC-based LIN Center for Community Development and its Narrow The Gap Fund to raise their community development ideas.
At the “Doing good things together” event as part of the “Spreading out kindness” campaign, the six NPOs chosen from 33 initial projects presented their initiatives to bring tap water to residents in Long Thanh Commune of the Mekong Delta province of Long An, support parents to take care of their autism children at home, keep migrant children living at Han Bridge in District 7 from dropping out of school, establish a fake hair library for breast cancer patients, provide jobs for sight-impaired people, and assist deaf people to learn foreign languages.
Each organization invited 10 to 15 guests from enterprises, universities, and community development organizations to discuss and find the best solutions for their projects.
Three out of these six projects highly evaluated by a judging panel and voted by audiences will receive a sponsorship of VND150 million each from Narrow The Gap Fund. The results are expected to come out in the final round in late September.
People can log in Facebook page of NarrowTheGapFund for more information.
Khmer culture introduced in Ha Noi
A southwestern waterways month titled “Khmer ethnic minority group and southern specific culture” is running at the Viet Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in Ha Noi.
Traditional festivals of ethnic minority groups will be reinstated during the festival.
A wide range of activities are scheduled during the tree-day festival including how to make “banh xeo”(sizzling cake), “bun nuoc leo” (rice vermicelli noodle soup in savoury broth with fish, roast pork and shrimp), “banh gung” (ginger cake), and “banh ong” (tube cake).
In addition, exhibitions wil take place featuring items used by Khmer people and photographs depicting their floating life which revolves around rivers and canals.
Khmer ethnic minority people are developing well, and have gained significant achievements in building new hamlets.
The event will run until August 21.
Vice President grants scholarships to Dong Thap children
Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh on August 11 granted gifts and scholarships from the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) to poor students who have good learning performances in the southern province of Dong Thap.
At the event, 50 gifts, including bikes and backpacks, and 100 scholarships worth 1 million VND (44.8 USD) each were presented.
The NFVC also handed over 20 insurance contracts totaling 200 million VND (8,966 USD) to the fund for Dong Thap children so that they can reach the hands of local underprivileged children.
Over the past 12 years, the educational welfare scholarship programme has presented over 3,000 bikes, 10,000 scholarships and 12,000 gifts to disadvantaged children in 63 localities nationwide.
Jade Buddha statue welcomed in Thai Nguyen
A ceremony was held at Phu Lien Pagoda in northern Thai Nguyen province on August 11 to welcome the visit of the statue of the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace.
Thousands of local people and Buddhist followers came to the pagoda to admire the world’s largest Jade Buddha statue which was carved from an 18-tonne jade block and finished in late December 2008. The statue is 2.7 metres high and weighs 4 tonnes. It sits on a 1.4m-high alabaster throne.
The visitors gathered for monk’s lectures about the meaning of the Buddha statue and attended incense offering rites and a dove release ceremony.
The statue has been on tour throughout major cities around the world since 2009, for visitors to take a moment to reflect upon peace, peace for the universe, peace in personal relationships, peace for families and friends, peace at work and most importantly, peace in one’s own heart and mind.
The statue of the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace will be on display in Thai Nguyen until August 20 before it is finally placed at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Australia, ending the world tour around 90 cities in 20 countries and territories.
Vietnamese, Lao localities look for closer ties
Leaders of the central province of Thua Thien-Hue and Laos’ Savannakhet province have agreed to further strengthen bilateral links, especially in tourism and education.
During their working session in the Vietnamese locality on August 9, the two sides reviewed the results of their recent connection and discussed orientations to promote the implementation of signed cooperation programmes.
Thua Thien-Hue and Savannakhet have cooperated in tourism promotion, focusing on measures to increase the number of tourists along the East-West Economic Corridor.
Regarding education links, Thua Thien-Hue has trained the Vietnamese language for 173 students from Savannakhet over the last 14 years.
Additionally, the province has also offered Vietnamese language courses for 850 students from other Lao localities. In 2015 alone, it spent over 5 billion VND (224,200 USD) on training Lao students.
The Hue University and the Savannakhet University signed an agreement on education cooperation, aiming to boost human resources training in the two localities, and promote experience sharing and cooperation programmes in the field.
In the time ahead, the two provinces will bolster links in many other fields such as industry, trade promotion, tourism, agriculture and labour, and cultural exchange.
More support for flood-hit residents in Lao Cai
The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) Central Committee said on August 9 that it will provide the second aid batch for flood-hit residents in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai.
According to the VRC, 400 cartons of essential goods will be distributed to families whose assets were lost. Each of the 35 households with houses collapsed, completely buried and swept away will receive 3 million VND (135 USD), while the families of the dead will be also given 3 million VND each.
Previously, 250 cartons of family basics and two canvas tents were provided for those displaced by floods in Bat Xat district in the first batch on August 7.
The two batches are worth nearly 500 million VND (22,321 USD).
To cope with emergencies, the VRC chapter in Lao Cai province has mobilised local volunteers to help residents evacuate, clean houses and build makeshift tents after floods.
The provincial and Sa Pa district chapters of the VRC also offered money, fundamental goods and clothes worth nearly 200 million VND (90,000 USD) to the influenced people.
Floods from the night of August 4 until the next morning in Lao Cai claimed three lives and injured five others. Seven people are still missing.
While more than 20 houses were washed away or buried in earth and rocks, 450 houses were inundated.
Total damage is estimated at some 200 billion VND (9 million USD), according to the province’s steering board for natural disaster prevention, search and rescue.
Training in field hospitals given to Vietnam’s future peacekeepers
Seventy officers and staff members set to join in the United Nations peacekeeping missions are taking a training course in HCM City to prepare for implementing level-two field hospitals.
The course, opened by the Defence Ministry on August 9, will last for three months at the Military Hospital 175.
Lecturers from the Defence Ministry and the army’s General Staff, along with experts from Australia, China, France and the International Committee of the Red Cross will provide peacekeeping-related knowledge and experience, including preparations for and operation of a field hospital, and necessary skills to work at the UN peacekeeping missions.
At the course’s opening, Colonel Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre, said participating in the UN peacekeeping activities is to realise the country’s foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification of relations, and to actively contribute to international security and peace.
The training for officers who are going to engage in peacekeeping operations is very important and decides their task fulfillment capacity, he said.
Vietnam has so far sent 12 officers to act as liaison officers, advisors and observers at the UN missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. All of them have made excellent performance and were presented with the UN peacekeeping medals.-
Various activities held to assist AO victims
Various activities have been held across the country to ease the pain of victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (AO) ahead of the 55th anniversary of the AO/dioxin disaster in Vietnam (August 10, 1961-2016).
The People’s Committee of the northern province of Dien Bien on August 9 presented 50 gifts worth 700,000 VND each to AO victims in the locality. A local firm, the Sao Thai Duong company, also offered 70 gifts worth 365,000 VND each to the victims.
So far, the Dien Bien Association of AO Victims has established its seven district-level chapters with total 146 members. The association has helped build six houses and fix four others for AO victims, along with loans to assist them in production.
As of June this year, 188 direct AO victims and their 39 offspring are living in the province, mostly in rural areas with poor living conditions.
Meanwhile, the northern province of Thai Nguyen, home to over 2,000 AO victims, including nearly 1,000 victims of second generation, held a ceremony to honour the victims who have succeeded in overcoming their difficult conditions and gaining achievements in production during the 2011-2016 period.
Currently, as many as 40 percent of AO victims households are living in poverty.
In the 2011-2016 period, 32 billion VND was raised to support them, along with nearly 5 billion VND mobilised by the associations of AO Victims at all levels in Thai Nguyen. The fund has helped build 400 houses and repair 100 others for the victims. More than 60,000 gifts have been presented in festive days, while the victims have been supported in health care services and production capital.
On the occasion, the provincial Association of AO Victims mobilised more than 200 million VND to assist the victims.
At the same time, the Association of AO Victims of the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu where over 6,000 AO victims are living, reported that it has raised over 8.5 billion VND to build 81 houses for AO victims, together with 440 wheelchairs and other assistance in other fields.
According to the Vietnam Association of AO Victims (VAVA), between 1961 and 1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides, 44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxin, over southern Vietnam.
As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical, about 3 million of them are AO victims. While tens of thousands of people have died, millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.
Baptists hold third general conference
The Grace Southern Baptist General Confederation is holding the third general conference in Ho Chi Minh City from August 8-11.
The event brings together 700 Baptist dignitaries and followers from 44 cities and provinces.
It aims to review the confederation’s performance in 2012-2016, elect a new executive board and map out working plans for the 2016-2020 tenure.
Deputy Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Tran Tan Hung praised the confederation for actively engaging in production, poverty reduction and charitable activities, contributing to the national construction and defence.
The confederation was established in November 1962 in HCM City and recognised by the Government as a religious organisation in 2008.
It now has over 43,000 followers across 44 cities and provinces.
Police conduct murder investigation in Lâm Đồng
Authorities in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng are conducting an investigation of a case in which one man was killed and two others injured while on duty at the Nam Ban Protective Forest in Lâm Hà District on Monday afternoon.
The three men were attacked by several people with weapons. Nguyễn Ái Tĩnh, 49, died at the scene while Tân Khoa, 21, and Triệu Vũ Hiệp were injured.
Tĩnh and Khoa are workers at the Nam Ban Protective Forest Management Board. Hiệp is deputy director of the Phi Tô Commune Forest Management Unit.
Hiệp was discharged from hospital after his injuries were tended to.
Khoa is still under treatment at the Lâm Đồng General Hospital with a brain injury.
Hiệp said that around noon on Monday, the unit received information that part of the forest was being cleared to use as agricultural land.
Six police, three militiamen and 10 forest management workers were assigned to the scene.
The forest guards asked the residents to the Phi Tô Commune Guard Station to work on the case.
The forest guards then left the scene and after about 2km they were confronted by about 100 people, some armed, who attacked them.
Car crashes into house: one fatality, five injuries
A Lexus car crashed into a house in northern Hải Phòng City at 1am today, leaving one dead and five others injured, including a 17-month-old baby.
The driver, Nguyễn Ngọc Xuân, had been travelling along the An Dương-Kiến An route when he suddenly slammed into the wall of Nguyễn Thị Chinh’s house in the city’s Hồng Thái Commune.
Xuân was found dead at the scene. Five members of Chinh’s family suffered injuries.
Witnesses who lived nearby said they heard a loud noise and a cry for help from Chinh’s house. They saw a car crash into the house, causing the wall to collapse over the driver.
The local authorities and residents immediately rushed the victims to the hospital and removed the body of the driver from the car.
Sources at Kiến An Hospital said two of the victims, including the 17-month-old baby, had been discharged with minor injuries. The rest were in critical condition.
The initial investigation revealed that the driver was likely speeding and had lost control of the vehicle, causing the accident.
WB project improves waterway, inland transport in Mekong Delta
The Ministry of Transport and the World Bank (WB) co-organised a workshop to review the completed Mekong Delta transport infrastructure development project (WB5) in Can Tho city on August 10.
Speaking at the event, General Director of the ministry’s Project Management Unit of Waterways Le Huy Thang said a large number of works for the WB5 project have been completed to enhance trade with lower logistics costs through the alleviation of key bottlenecks on main waterways and inland transport corridors in the Mekong Delta region and by improving the capacity of transport administration bodies in managing multimodal transport infrastructure.
The WB-funded project has significantly improved the transport connection between urban areas and those where poor and ethnic minority groups are living, as well as between Ho Chi Minh City and provinces in the region, Thang noted.
He went on to say that it has contributed to the regional economic development and the improvement of living standards in areas where the project was carried out.
Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat added that the project has helped improve inland waterway infrastructure, including No.2 and No.3 waterway corridors and inter-provincial roads.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the WB5 project was implemented in Ho Chi Minh City and 13 Mekong Delta provinces from 2007 to 2016.
It had a total investment of approximately 555 million USD sourced from loans from the WB’s International Development Association (IDA) and non-refundable financial aid from the Government of Australia.
AO victims overcome fate to do business
Many Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin victims have overcame their misfortune and become successful entrepreneurs.
Diem Trong Thach from the northern province of Bac Ninh is one example. Five out of the seven members of his family are exposed to the toxic chemical, including Thach and his four children. His spouse is suffering from cancer.
Despites these difficulties, Thach and their children devoted themselves to upgrading motorbikes into tri-wheeled bikes for the disabled.
Another AO victim, Nguyen Duc Hoi from the northern province of Ninh Binh, fought in the southeastern battlefield, one of the most affected areas by AO/dioxin.
After Liberation Day in 1975, Hoi worked as a nurse at a tea farm. After retiring from this job, Hoi became a farmer. Through tireless efforts, he now owns a farm with more than 100 pigs, 3,000 chickens, and various fish as well as more than 10,000 square meters of peaches.
His farm earns an annual profit of nearly 200 million VND (9,000 USD). In 2008, Hoi devoted 700 square meters of land to build a kindergarten in Dong Son commune.
Speaking at an international workshop in Hanoi on August 8-9 to evaluate the impacts of AO/dioxin in Vietnam , Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said the Vietnamese State , Government and people wish that all war victims, especially AO/dioxin victims, receive sufficient support.
Vietnam has conducted multiple activities to assist victims while calling on the international community, countries, organisations and individuals at home and abroad to help overcome the consequences of the toxic chemical sprayed by the US during the war, he added.
US troops sprayed about 80 million liters of toxic chemicals, mainly AO/dioxin, over the south of Vietnam from 1961-1971. Nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to the chemicals and about three million people and their descendants suffer from health problems as a consequence of the exposure today.
Quang Ngai asked to intensify competitiveness in investment promotion
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has emphasised the need for the central province of Quang Ngai to intensify its competitiveness in investment promotion.
Addressing a conference on investment promotion in Quang Ngai on August 10, the Government leader suggested the province pitch for investments in tourism and services while paying more heed to human resource development, especially the on-the-spot workforce in order to serve local socio-economic development.
He suggested the province increase dialogues with businesses to untangle difficulties facing them, provide them with equal treatment, and encourage cooperation between domestic and foreign enterprises in the start-up spirit.
The PM also requested Quang Ngai to continuously revamp its authorities and build a transparent legal framework that ensures both rights and obligations of investors, stressing that enterprises should be put at the centre of development.
However, people’s living and social environment should not be traded for economic growth, the leader reminded.
He applauded the province’s strong resolve to spur socio-economic development amidst regional severe weather conditions, as well as its policies to develop industrial and economic zones, especially the Dung Quat Oil Refinery which accounts for up to 82 percent of local GDP.
The conference introduced Quang Ngai’s potential and strength, along with its incentives for investors in the Dung Quat Economic Zone.
Accordingly, the province will help investors with land lease, infrastructure construction, personnel training, trade and investment promotion, communication work and administrative procedures, said Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Ngoc Cang.
Apart from the 45,000 ha Dung Quat Economic Zone, the 3.8 trillion VND (171 million USD) Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) and other four industrial parks in the province are wooing investments, he added.
Over the past five years, an accumulated investment capital of over 3.2 billion USD landed in the central province, of which 2.55 billion USD was injected into the Dung Quat Economic Zone.
In the first half of this year, the locality set up five new industrial clusters spanning about 73.5 hectares.
The province now hosts 313 valid projects with a total registered capital of nearly 153 trillion VND (6.9 billion USD), of which 39 are foreign direct investment projects valued at more than 4.1 million USD.
With comprehensive policies in investment attraction, especially in industry, and a fresh agreement to commit better business and investment environment signed with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Quang Ngai has become a venue for investors and a big economic and industrial centre of the central region.
Central Vietnam ranger killed, possibly during clash with loggers
A forest protection officer in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong was killed on August 8, allegedly in an attack by illegal loggers.
Police said Nguyen Ai Tinh, 49, died with a cut on his neck during a patrol in the afternoon of August 8. His two colleagues have been hospitalized with severe injuries.
Investigators believed Tinh’s team found a group of people cutting down pine trees in a protected area.
The group then called around 100 others to come over and assist them, bringing canes and weapons.
The rangers requested backup, but Tinh died quickly after police arrived.
The case is now being investigated and no arrest has been made.
Vietnam has lost a total of 2,689 hectares (6,644 acres) of forest so far this year, including 694 hectares due to illegal logging, according to the agriculture ministry.
The Central Highlands region, famous for its lush scenery, lost 14% of its forest area to illegal logging between 2008 and 2014.
While some forest rangers have been fighting a losing war against the large number of rampant loggers, many officials have been criticized for condoning the crime.
Mekong Delta region fine arts exhibition opens in Tien Giang
An exhibition featuring 200 artworks of oil paintings, silk paintings and sculptures on a variety of subjects from 13 provinces in the Mekong region opened on August 9 at the Fine Arts Museum in My Tho city, Tien Giang province.
The event features the beauty of the region’s landscapes as well as the daily life of local people. In addition, the artists also focused on reflecting Viet Nam’s seas and islands.
Among the winners, the A prize of the VFAA went to Nguyen Huu Thien from Ben Tre province, meanwhile the A prize from Literature and Arts Associations of provinces in the Mekong Delta region went to Ha Phuoc Duy from Long An province.
The exhibition, co-organised by the Viet Nam Fine Arts Association (VFAA) and Tien Giang provincial People’s Committee.
The exhibition will run until August 16.
Network security website hacked
Hacker group Ba attacked the website of the Athena network management and security training center at athena.edu.vn from Thursday to Saturday last week and the site is now back to normal.
Hackers, reportedly from Vietnam, defaced the site, inserted a video and left a message on the site last Thursday and Friday morning, and even showed what they did to the site on zone-h.org.
Vo Do Thang, director of Athena, said data on the site remained intact despite the hacking. Athena detected the hacking early, and then redirected customers and students to its Facebook page to continue operation. The site returned to normal at noon last Friday.
However, instead of targeting the server, the hackers last Saturday sent a malicious link to Athena’s consulting and customer service department. Thang was quoted by the local news site Dan Tri as saying that if employees of the department click on the link, a malicious code would be activated to attack their computers. Athena timely warned its staff and customers against the threat.
The hacker attack occurred just a week after hackers, believed to originate in China, hacked into the flight information computer systems at Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports, and the website of Vietnam Airlines.
Information security in Vietnam has become a key topic of discussion at many local and international conferences. State management agencies and network security firms have sent out warnings of security vulnerabilities at enterprises and organizations. However, they have paid little attention to information security.
An Giang boosts ties with Cambodian provinces
Chairman of southern An Giang provincial People’s Committee Vuong Binh Thanh and leaders of the Cambodian provinces of Takeo and Kandal reviewed bilateral cooperation in the first half and set tasks for the remaining months of this year, during a meeting in An Giang on August 9-10.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction with bilateral ties across social security and order in border areas, trade, agriculture, culture, tourism, health care, transport, front work, border demarcation, and the search for and repatriation of the remains of voluntary Vietnamese soldiers in Cambodia.
In the past six months, the three provinces conducted regular information exchanges and patrols to safeguard the borderline and markers and dealt with law violations across the border, contributing to ensuring social security and order and socio-economic development.
In the remaining months of this year, they agreed to strengthen security and order, facilitate trade and travel cross the border and invest in infrastructure building.
Each side will raise public awareness of law abidance in their countries, boost cultural and economic exchanges, maintain political security and social order, towards tightening solidarity and friendship between the two nations and peoples.-
ASEAN’s founding anniversary marked in Ho Chi Minh City
The Vietnam Union of Friendship Orgnisations (VUFO) and the Vietnam-Southeast Asia Association in Ho Chi Minh City (VSAA-HCMC) held a meeting on August 10 to mark the 49th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (August 8).
Addressing the event, VSAA-HCMC Chairwoman Phan Thi Hong Xuan described ASEAN as a peaceful region with a population of over 600 million and a united economy that has extensively integrated into the global economy.
ASEAN is also a dynamic region boasting a lot of development opportunities and potential, she said, highlighting the group’s achievements over the past nearly half a century despite a range of challenges.
Stressing the strength of solidarity which has been proven through ASEAN’s formation and development, Xuan called on ASEAN member countries to join hands to promote the group’s central role in the region and strengthen the intra-bloc solidarity in a bid to promote their shared and legitimate interests in the context of complicated recent regional and global developments.
On behalf of diplomatic corps from ASEAN member countries, Lao Consul General in HCM City Somxay Sana-Oune said ASEAN has become a close-knit political and economic entity that plays an important role in ensuring regional peace, stability and cooperation.
ASEAN is an indispensible partner of many big countries and orgnisations worldwide, he added.
The ASEAN Community’s formation in late 2015 is an historical breakthrough for the group’s economic integration, helping it become a competitive and integrated region, the official said.
Apart from enhancing wide-ranging cooperation between its member countries, ASEAN has, to date, expanded collaboration with 17 partners outside.
As ASEAN Chair 2016, Laos and other member countries are actively implementing the ASEAN Vision 2025 and developing other plans to tighten their affiliation and promote the group’s position and role in the region and the world, Somxay Sana-Oune said.
The official called on the countries to team up with each other in building master programmes, plans and roadmaps to materialise the vision.
Quang Ninh asked to accelerate administrative reform
Authorities of the northern province of Quang Ninh need to make stronger efforts to accelerate administrative reform in a more comprehensive and effective manner, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has remarked.
In a working session with local officials on August 10 during his trip to the province, the Deputy PM hailed the local authorities for their initiatives in the work, especially the model of public administrative centre at the district and provincial level, saying that these helped meet the aspirations of the people.
He urged the locality to promote the IT application in simplifying administrative procedures to make it easy for enterprises and people.
Administrative reform should look towards the goals of economic development, environmental protection and sustainable poverty reduction, he stressed, adding that Quang Ninh must take specific measures to improve the business climate and competitiveness, and further support local businesses.
Regarding the public administrative centre pilot and the restructuring of State agencies in the locality, the Deputy PM required local authorities strictly follow the Prime Minister’s instructions, and assigned the Ministry of Home Affairs to supervise and assess the work, towards expanding the model nationwide.
According to Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long, Quang Ninh recorded fruitful results in socio-economic development, culture and social security in the last seven months.
The locality’s economic growth hit 9.2 percent, the record figure in recent years. Budget collection reached 62 percent, up 4 percent against the set target.
The local authorities have worked hard to improve the business climate and remove difficulties facing investors and enterprises operating in the province.
Attention was also paid to comprehensively developing and upgrading transport and engineering infrastructure facilities, and those in industrial parks.
Public administrative centres at all levels proved effective, bringing benefits to the people and enterprises.
From July 1, 2016, Quang Ninh has applied online public services for 509 procedures of the provincial-level departments and sectors, and digital certificates in settling administrative affairs and transferring documents among administrative units.
To date, 90 percent of administrative documents were transferred through the internet among agencies, over 95 percent of which had digital signatures applied.
Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Nguyen Van Doc emphasised Quang Ninh’s determination to create a breakthrough in administrative reform, focusing on maintaining the operation of public administrative centres, building the e-government and a data integration centre.
He also stressed the necessity to downsize the State administrative offices in the locality.
VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE