Chinese workers in Vietnam invited to protest illegal oil drill

Around 400 workers from the northern province of Thai Binh made a motorbike trip to Haiphong City, in a bid to urge Chinese workers to oppose the illegal oil rig in Vietnamese waters.

As the workers' protest progressed on May 14 many others from Chinese-invested factories in Vinh Bao, Tien Lang, Kien Anh and Duong Kinh districts in Haiphong City joined in.

The Vietnamese  workers hoped to convince Chinese who work and live in Vietnam to ask that their government discontinue the illegal drilling in the East Sea.

According to all accounts, the demonstration remained civil and non-violent.

Do Manh Hieu, Chairman of the Haiphong City Trade Union, said that municipal authorities requested workers participate in the protest in a law-abiding manner.

On May 13, thousands of people in HCM City and Dong Nai and Binh Duong, including many working at Chinese-invested companies, paraded to protest the Chinese violation.

Expert worries about dengue fever virus mutation

A leading Vietnamese epidemiologist has warned the dengue virus is likely to mutate genetically, making it difficult to combat the disease.

Tran Thanh Duong, director of the National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology, released the warning on May 14 following a high incidence of dengue fever over the past few months.

The virus, which often readily spreads during June in the south and September in the north, has recently emerged year-round due to weather and environmental changes.

Notably, the number of infections is increasing considerably in big cities. Since the beginning of 2014, Ho Chi Minh City alone has recorded 2,600 cases, up 28% compared to a year earlier.

Experts said that they have found four variants of the dengue virus (D1, D2, D3, D4) and that the disease will continue to get more complicated during the summer months.

Prevention medicine centres in provinces and cities have been asked to implement urgent measures to contain the spread of the disease.

Quality of Vietnam education roundtable held in France

Measures to radically improve the quality of teaching in Vietnam through teacher initiated curriculum innovation were the focus of a recent roundtable held at Sorbonne University, France.

At the event, speakers analyzed the overall framework of Vietnam’s tertiary education, comparing it with the French system, and provided their assessment of its successes and shortcomings.

There was general agreement that establishing an educator network aimed at improving channels of communication between Vietnamese and French educators and teachers around the globe would be highly beneficial.

Leading educators participating in the roundtable included Luisa Lombardi-an expert of the Eurydice Network, Roger-François Gauthier-Chief Inspector for national education and research administration, and numerous Vietnamese professors at top French universities.

The event, organized by the Association of Vietnamese Scientists and Experts (AVSE), is part of a series of workshops on Vietnam’s education to be held in 2014 and 2015.

Students turn away from education training universities

This year, pedagogical universities in Vietnam have received a sharp fall in the number of applications after a warning about the teacher redundancy.

Many departments of education and training have reported a drop of 50%-60% in applicants.

The Department of Education and Training of Dak Lak Province has witnessed a nearly 50% fall in the number of students who applied for teacher training compared to last

year. Only 543 local applicants chose to attend HCM City Pedagogical University, 633 to Saigon University and only just seven for Hanoi University of Education. The National College of Education No. 1 received just one application.

Ta Van Anh, an official from Bac Giang Province’s Department of Education and Training, said that, out of each 1,000 qualified teachers, only about 100 are able to find employment in their fields. The situation also seems to be the same in many localities across Vietnam.

Nguyen Van Long, Deputy Head of Continuing and Vocational Education Board of Thanh Hoa Province, said more students have turned away from educational careers because of the low salary of teachers in addition to the high risk of unemployment.

Three Vietnamese students to compete at MOSWC

Three Vietnamese students will attend the Microsoft Office Specialist Word Championship 2014 (MOSWC) due to take place in California, the US, from July 27-30.

They are Bui Huu Hong Hai from the University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology who won first prize at MOS Word 2010, Tran Minh Tien from the Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City who ranked first at MOS Exel 2010, and Tran Phuc Duy, 10th grader from Dinh Thien Ly School, who topped at MOS PowerPoint 2010.

MOSWC is an annual competition for hundreds of students worldwide who are keen on Microsoft Office applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint.

In Vietnam, the contest is organised by IIG Vietnam to choose the best outstanding candidates to compete at the final round in the US.

Outstanding contestants will have a chance to get jobs at powerful groups, like Viettel, VP Bank, Microsoft, ED Vietnam and Sanako.

Earlier, in 2010, Vietnam was among top four at MS Excel 2003 and top six MS Word 2003. Tran Dinh Vi claimed a gold medal at MS Word 2010 in 2012 and Phan Tien Dung won a bronze medal at MS Word 2010.

Fundraising campaign for Truong Sa soldiers

The Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the Vietnam Fatherland Front on May 14 started a fundraising campaign in support of officers safeguarding national sovereignty at Truong

Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

Over 8.8 billion VND (410,000 USD) in cash and other gifts were donated right at the launch ceremony of the drive that will last for a fortnight.

Since 2014, the city has presented four boats to Navy Zone 4 and gifts to Truong Sa soldiers and officers, totalling over 20 billion VND (950,000 USD).

Temporary fish market pollutes Delta

Residents of My Long Ward in the Mekong Delta Province of An Giang asked local authorities for help dealing with environmental pollution from Long Xuyen fish market.

Every night around 11pm, hundreds of trucks transporting fish products to the market release wastewater directly onto the road.

Bui Van Tha, a resident of Pho Que village, said that the water was sometimes 7cm high, exceeding the capacity of the village's sewage system and causing a bad smell that worsened in hot weather.

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of My Long Ward Huynh Quoc Dung said the fish market had opened in early 2014 as a temporary trading space until a permanent market was built.

The committee required polluters to deal with the waste, he said.

Chief of the Secretariat of Long Xuyen City Tu Thanh Tri said city authorities had increased management over fish market operations and asked traders to protect the environment better, but the infrastructure shortage hindered these efforts.

The city was working with relevant agencies to find a suitable location to move the fish market, he said.

Spratly ceramic mosaics completed

From a million small pieces of pottery, artisans have created two magnificent ceramic mosaics on Truong Sa Lon (Big Spratly) island in Truong Sa district, Khanh Hoa province.

Themed "Spratly-Vietnam’s power”, each ceramic mosaic is 4.8 meters high and 20 meters long, and they are on display at the entrance gate of Truong Sa Lon island.

It took five months to complete these masterpieces, which illustrate representatives of people of all social strata, along with armed forces, to create the bloc of great national unity.

In the middle of the mosaic is a smiling boy who holds a white dove symbolizing the peaceful aspirations of Vietnamese people to soar to great spiritual heights.

Japanese NGO donates wheelchairs to Hai Duong children

A Japanese non-governmental organisation (NGO) has presented 50 wheelchairs to disabled children in the northern province of Hai Duong.

The wheelchairs will facilitate the travel of the children and help them reduce dependence on their family.

The organisation, called the Volunteers Group to Send Wheelchairs to Overseas Children, collects and restores used wheelchairs before donating them to children abroad.

It has so far presented 664 wheelchairs to children in Vietnam.

Journalists aim to boost innovation

The press needs to focus on producing content for popular mobile devices, such as smartphones, in order to approach young readers who comprise the largest segment of the Vietnamese population.

Le Duy Truyen, deputy general director of the Vietnam News Agency, stated this at a conference yesterday in Ha Noi. The event, titled Smartphone with Modern Media,

was attended by journalists from Viet Nam and South Korea who shared their knowledge and experience with new media. Truyen said that newspapers and reporters should update their skills and innovate with technology to meet readers' demands.

Kwon Tae-sun, Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Korea, shared the story of the US-based online newspaper. Initially published seven years ago as a blog on political issues, the Huffington Post has become the No 1 online newspaper in the US, with 95 million daily page views. The newspaper invited bloggers who can analyse and have

good writing skills to work as its columnists. It considers comments on stories as adding value to news.

The Huffington Post Korea was founded last February as a joint effort of The Huffington Post and South Korea's Hangyore. Kwon said that the newspaper targets readers in the 25-44 age group, and provides news they would be interested in.

Vietnamplus online newspaper editor-in-chief Le Quoc Minh spoke about the rise of mobile news. When he attended an international conference in 2010, only five newspapers said that they had a mobile version of the newspapers, he said. But just a year later, all those newspapers had come up with their mobile versions.

Minh says that Viet Nam started producing mobile news very soon, even before some foreign newspapers. "However, we did not develop as fast as they did," he said.

"At Vietnamplus, reporters are equipped with smartphones and know how to use it for news coverage. The newspaper, along with the Zing online newspaper, are the only

ones in Viet Nam using flycams in news reporting," Minh added.

According to him, new concepts are emerging in journalism, with help from technology, such as mojo (mobile journalism) and social journalism.

Vice chairman of the Viet Nam Journalists Association Ha Minh Hue agreed, adding that news reporting via smartphones is a new trend. He hoped that newspapers also spent time researching and learning from each other's experience to find suitable ways for development.

The event was organised by the Vietnam News Agency and was sponsored by Samsung Electronics Viet Nam.

Major medical-pharmaceutical expo underway in Hanoi

As many as 350 businesses from 30 countries and territories are taking part in a major medical exhibition that opened in Hanoi on May 14.

The 21st Vietnam International Hospital, Medical and Pharmaceutical Exhibition (Vietnam Medi-Pharm Expo 2014) offers a good chance for participants to introduce their products such as medicine, health equipment and laboratory items at 450 pavilions.

It also features latest advanced technology of the global medicine, which enables businesses to increase sharing experience and expand cooperation for the development of pharmaceutical markets.

Free medical check-ups and campaigns raising the public awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention as well as a meeting responding to the World Hypertension Day also form

part of the three-day event.

Children in measles hot spots continue to be vaccinated

Children aging from 2-10 years old in localities with high risk of measles infections will receive supplementary vaccination against the disease from May 15.

According to the Preventive Health Department under the Ministry of Health, the campaign will be carried out in Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Vinh Phuc and Bac Giang in the north, central Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces, Ho Chi Minh City and southern Binh Duong province.

On May 14, 35 new measles cases was diagnosed and hospitalised, mostly in the Central Hospital of Pediatrics, Bach Mai Hospital and the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said a report from the ministry.

However, no measles-related death was reported.

Facing the situation, the ministry directed its agencies to strengthen the prevention against measles. It also sent a working team led by Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tien to Ho Chi Minh City to inspect the prevention of measles, foot-hand-mouth disease and dengue.

At the same time, working groups from the ministry, the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Pasteur Institute also checked the prevention of the diseases in some provinces including Dien Bien, Long An and Dong Thap.-

Tra Vinh looks towards self-produced green energy

As many as 100 biogas spherical tanks made of composite materials have been installed for 100 households engaging in poultry breeding to produce cheep energy for their daily use.

This is a follow-up to a biogas development project designed for the Mekong Delta region, which was successfully carried out in Vinh Long province in 2013.

The tanks are expected to aid a total of 600 poultry-breeding households in Tra Vinh access a sufficient amount of daily energy with biogas, which is produced from the decomposition process of animal and plant waste in the absence of oxygen.

The composite tanks are highly durable and productive. It is economically efficient and environmental-friendly, helping reduce environmental pollution and save energy.

Nguyen Duc Thinh, Vice Director of the Rural Community Development and Research Institute said the project will be launched across the region.

From now to 2020, a minimum of 600 composite biogas tanks will be placed in each of the Mekong Delta provinces, he said.

Swedish-funded environmental projects benefit Vietnam

Two projects funded by the Swedish Government in Vietnam have supported the country in the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and ecosystem services.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen held a May 14 working session with Swedish Deputy Ambassador to Vietnam Maria Selin and representatives from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to review the two projects’ results.

A project dealt with ecosystem-based approaches to biodiversity conservation planning (coded EBA) and the other sought to pilot a payment structure for coastal wetland ecosystem services in Ca Mau Cape National Park in Vietnam in the context of climate change and poverty reduction (coded PES).

After more than one year of implementation, the two projects helped Vietnam better its policy framework on biodiversity preservation and improve the management of natural resources.

The PES project also provided assistance for locals around the Ca Mau Cape National Park in aquatic farming so that they can improve their living standards.

New opportunities for central city

Over the past decade, the tourism sector in the central city of Da Nang has been developing sea tourism brand of its own, the Vietnam Economic News reported on May 14.

With uninterrupted stunning beaches, stretching nearly 60km from Hai Van Pass to Non Nuoc Beach, Da Nang was voted by the US-based Forbes Magazine as one of six most attractive beaches on the planet in 2005. The honour acted as leverage to help the local tourism industry realize its great strengths.

Da Nang’s tourism sector has actually created a breakthrough since its municipal People’s Committee approved the Management and Exploitation of Tourism Beach in a project with a total cost of nearly 4.6 billion VND. In addition, the city also implemented the 2011-2015 Da Nang Tourism Development programme, with focus on local beach vacation resorts.

Many coastal tours and beach travel services have been offered thanks to newly built constructions of Han River Bridge, the Hoang Sa - Truong Sa route (formerly known as the Son Tra - Dien Ngoc road). The route pass by 12 resorts, golf courses and villas seamlessly. Marine tourism is developing rapidly along the route.

In particular, the expansion of new cruise services in Son Tra Peninsula in early 2013 also contributed greatly to boosting Da Nang’s marine tourism development.

According to foreign investors, Da Nang has seen rapid changes in recent years and is able to become a centre of international tourism in the near future thanks to successfully attracting billions of US dollar into local tourism projects.

The newspaper said the number of tourists to Da Nang reached 1.77 million in 2010, and 3.1 million last year. This year, the city is expected to welcome about 3.6 million visitors, a 15 percent increase year-on-year.

“The city will continue to encourage non-state enterprises to invest in tourism products, with a view to transforming Da Nang into a well known centre of tourism and building the city’s tourism brand home and abroad,” Chairman of Da Nang municipal People’s Committee Van Huu Chien was quoted as saying.

War heroes repatriated from Laos decades later

The remains of 32 Vietnamese volunteers and experts who lost their lives in Laos during wartime were laid to rest with a ceremony yesterday.

They were buried at a cemetery in Bo Trach district in the central province of Quang Binh.

The remains were gathered during the 2013-14 dry season beginning in October last year, with close co-ordination between Quang Binh and Laos' province of Khammoune.

At the ceremony, representatives from the two localities offered incense to war heroes who devoted their lives to Laos' national liberation, helping tighten the two countries' special friendship and solidarity.

Driver arrested for causing fatal accident

Police in Ha Noi's Ung Hoa District remanded a 27-year-old driver yesterday for causing a traffic accident that killed a woman and her two children.

The driver lost control of his truck and crashed into the woman's motorbike on a stretch of National Highway 21B last Sunday, killing the woman as well as her 7-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

The police plan to prosecute him.

Ha Noi tightens control over medicine

Ha Noi's Health Department ordered both public and private health centres to require examinations for individuals seeking to purchase medicine.

The move came after a pharmacist at Ha Noi's Emergency Aid Centre confessed to abusing her position to steal medicine for personal use.

The pharmacist used codes of many health insurance cards to illegally get medicine, including cards belonging to health insurance users who had never visited the centre.

Ha Noi tap water poses health risks

Tap water samples collected from different plants in the capital city fail to meet the Health Ministry's hygiene standards and pose a public health hazard, according to the Ha Noi Preventive Medicine Centre.

The centre says tests on samples taken from different water plants in Ha Noi since January this year show excessive levels of minerals and chemicals that can have serious consequences for residents.

A sample from the Phap Van Water Plant showed the Permanganate index, which can cause dermatitis, exceeding the regulated level by 1.6 times, while that collected from the Ha Dong Water Plant exceeded the allowed level by 0.4-0.8 times.

Seven of 23 samples from different water plants in Ha Noi this March were also found high amounts of permanganate and amoni.

This time, samples from the Phap Van and Ha Dong water plants had permanganate contamination exceed the regulated level by 1.92 and 2.57 times respectively.

At the Phap Van and Ha Dinh water plants, the ammonia levels were 0.3-0.7 times the regulated level.

Two samples from the Son Tay Water Supply Company had chlorine levels exceed maximum regulated levels. High chlorine levels can affect the digestive system, liver and kidneys.

Nguyen Hoa Binh, deputy director of the Ha Noi Preventive Medicine Centre, told the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that the Phap Van and Ha Dinh water plants suffered contamination problems often because they were old and lacked good quality underground water sources.

Tran Hong Con, a lecturer at the Ha Noi University of Natural Science, also told Tien phong that at 0.3mg of chlorine per litre, the water can be sterilized, but at more than 0.5mg in each litre, it becomes a harmful substance that can cause digestive disorders and, in some cases, mental disorder, he said.

Con said that if the amount of ammonia in water exceeded the regulated level by very little, it would not affect people's health. But if it was too high, it can transform to nitrite which can lead to anaemia and cancer.

Hand, foot, mouth cases rise in HCM City

HCM City authorities have reported an increase in the number of hand, foot and mouth cases as the peak period for the virus has arrived, HCM City health officials have said.

As of May 9, there were more than 3,370 cases, a rise of 28 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to figures released by the city's Preventive Medicine Centre.

In April, 708 children were hospitalised, with all districts reporting an increase in the number of cases, said Nguyen Tri Dung, head of the centre.

Trinh Huu Tung, head of the Children Hospital No.2's General Planning Department, said the hospital had received nearly 8,700 children who had contracted the virus in April.

Of that figure, 478 children were admitted to the hospital, double the figure reported in March.

In the first 11 days of May, the hospital reported 2,904 infection cases, with 194 children requiring hospitalisation, Tung said.

The number of hand, foot and mouth cases has increased significantly compared to last year, he said.

From January through April, more than 2,000 children with the disease were admitted to Children Hospital No.1, said Le Bich Lien, deputy director of the hospital.

The number of cases is expected to surge in coming weeks, said Truong Huu Khanh, head of the hospital's Infectious Disease Department.

Currently, there are 60-70 in-patients with hand, foot and mouth disease at the hospital, Khanh said.

Event aims to help struggling migrant workers

For 23-year-old single mother Le Thi Hong Luc, a migrant worker of the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone in HCM City, life is series of challenges and conflicts.

Without the support of a family and close friends, Luc has struggled to find a balance between work and care of her one-year child.

At this stage in her life, Luc believes they have no future.

"I spend 10 hours a day in my workplace. I do not have enough time for my son and myself," she says.

Luc, who is just one of thousands of young women in a similar predicament, was forced to leave their native province to earn money in big cities and now does not have enough knowledge about social or reproductive issues.

Last weekend, Luc, was invited to attend a programme titled, "Talking with Migrant Workers", which was held by the HCM City's Labour Union and its partners.

The programme is part of the national event Worker Month, launched by Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour this month.

Luc and her son have received free treatment and drugs from the programme's volunteer doctors.

She has also received free advice from consultants about family planning, sexually transmitted diseases and the risks associated with drugs and prostitution.

"Thanks to the programme's experts, I have become stronger about my challenges and decisions, and have gained confidence," said Luc.

Luc is among 7,000 young people working for companies and factories in Hiep Phuoc who have received free treatment, advice and legal services under this programme.

"Our programme's members, including skilled doctors and health workers from local general hospitals, will go to foreign-invested companies, mostly located in industrial

parks and export processing zones, and provide free treatment and information and advice about basic living skills, love, marriage and family life to their young workers," said Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, the union's vice chairwoman.

"Issues related to labour law and related matters, including working conditions, salary and tax policies, would be included in these discussions," she said.

Doctor Tran Quoc Hung of the Gia Dinh People Hospital said: "We are happy to help many migrant workers, especially young females, to have better lives."

Hung said most of the workers he had treated were young women aged 20 to 29, and many of them have one or two children.

"Their knowledge about social issues, health care and family planning are limited," he said. "Thanks to the programme's volunteers, we have a chance to improve ourselves."

According to a recent survey by the union, the city's industrial parks and export processing zones now employ more than 270,000 workers, more than half female.

Most of the people come from neighbouring and northern provinces, following severe financial hardship in their hometowns. They have neither the time nor money to improve their level of knowledge and education.

Schools for ethnic students need private funding

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) yesterday called for more efforts to improve the quality of semi-boarding schools for ethnic students and attract more funding from the private sector.

Speaking at a national conference yesterday assessing the quality of semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities, Deputy Director of Gia Lai Department of Education and Training Huynh Minh Thuan announced that the development of such schools was vital to the socio-economic development of these mountainous regions.

These semi-boarding schools could help retain students, as many of the ethnic students often drop out of schools to work with their parents in the fields or mountains, Thuan noted.

Since 2010, semi-boarding schools for ethnic students have been operated in 26 provinces, with nearly 800 schools serving more than 128,600 students. The construction of such schools from 2010 to 2014 has required an investment of VND132 billion (US$6.28 million).

These schools allow students to stay overnight because their houses are often in remote areas.

However, participants at the conference agreed that many of the schools do not meet the requirements of basic quality of living, such as clean water, adequate beds or kitchens in good conditions.

The government decision issued in 2010 stipulates that financial resources to support boarding schools are guaranteed by local budget, taken from the budget for education and training.

But representatives at the conference raised concerns that these funds are not enough, and to ask local residents for support is very hard since they can only contribute things such as food and burning wood for students.

Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, director of ethnic affairs department under MoET, noted that most of the staff working in these schools are young and many have trouble in speaking the local ethnic language and knowing how to incorporate the ethnic cultural elements into the activities of the class.

Everyone agrees that the government should pay more attention to the development of these schools, as they are a source of human resources to help sustain the development of the mountainous regions.

Ministry to distribute free mosquito-repellent lotion sachets

Two million sachets of mosquito-repellent lotion, worth VND4 billion, or US$190,400, will be distributed free-of-charge to residents as part of the efforts to prevent dengue fever.

The Ministry of Health's Department of Preventive Health and Environment will distribute the sachets in Ha Noi, HCM City, Can Tho and 12 other Mekong Delta provinces which have reported the highest dengue fever infections, including Tien Giang, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Ben Tre. The aim is to help the people protect themselves, especially during the rainy season when the outbreaks of such diseases are usually observed.

The sachets are being sponsored by the Soffell lotion and spray mosquito repellent brand.

Associate professor Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Department of Preventive Health and Environment, said that dengue fever was dangerous as there was no vaccine or medicine against the fatal disease yet.

"The only way to prevent it is to avoid being bitten bythe Aedesmosquitoes," he said.

As many as 50,000 to 100,000 people in the country suffer from dengue fever every year, and nearly 100 of them die, according to the statistics of the Department of

Preventive Health and Environment.