Hanoi police confiscate smuggled animal organs

Hanoi police on November 4 seized nearly one tonne of animal organs that were being smuggled from the northern province of Bac Ninh.

Driver Truong Dinh Thanh admitted to police that he was hired to transport the batch to the capital city for consumption.

Over the past 10 days, the capital’s police have busted a number of similar cases.

On October 24, a lorry, registration number 89C – 04055, was found carrying 17 parcels of foul-smelling pork organs when it was handling goods in Ninh Hiep, outlying district of Gia Lam. All of them had Chinese labels.

Man accused of stealing from poor

Police in the southernmost province of Ca Mau have arrested deputy chairman of Ngoc Chanh Commune People's Committee, Tran Hoang Anh, for allegedly stealing money used to support the patriotic poor.

Chairman of the commune's People's Committee Pham Duc Ly said Anh had stolen the money for four years. The funds were meant to help families who served in the nation's fight against the American troops.

Thealleged theft was discovered after families of beneficiaries sent denouncement letters to the district's authorised agencies.

The communal authority has suspended Anh from his position, Ly said.

Police are checking on the total amount of money missing and others who may be involved.

Operations of leather tannery suspended for environment pollution

Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, on Monday instructed the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to immediately suspend operations of Hao Duong Leather Tanning Joint Stock Company for violating environmental regulations, according to a reliable source from the People’s Committee.

The Committee also entrusted the department to coordinate with relevant departments to immediately check all violations of Hao Duong Company in all fields, especially environmental violations as reported and present measures and strictest punishments for the company.

The Committee has now ordered immediate coercive implementation for settled sanctions, and thorough and complete repair of environmental damages, with a report back before November 15.

Hao Duong Leather Tanning Joint Stock Company has repeatedly been dumping untreated wastewater into the Dong Dien River despite being warned and fined several times, subsequently affecting the health of local residents, and raising much public concern.

Excessive pressure on children to study

Many Vietnamese parents have been trying to force their children to study to excess, focusing on good results at the expense of any other activities.

This trend has been popular not only among more well-off families, but also families who face economic difficulties. This type of parent is only concerned that their child studies well. They set goals and put high pressure on their children to achieve them.

Many such children are prevented from leaving their rooms. They are not allowed to attend any extra-curricular activities at school but attend several extra classes and do not have any leisure time.

Le Quy An, from HCM City’s Tan Binh District said, “One of my relatives has a hardworking daughter in the sixth grade. She gets good marks. Now she has acquired several English certificates and is also studying French.”One problem is that the little girl is so strictly controlled by her parents that she is forced to stay in her room all day and is even provided with meals in the room.

Pham Thi Thuy, an MA of sociology from National Academy of Public Administration – HCM City, attributed the situation to the significant changes in Vietnamese methods of teaching children. Parents have turned from simple expectations that their children would become a good person into much higher targets that their children would not only study well but also succeed in their work in the future.

Local experts have voiced their concerns over this situation, saying that such children tend to lack life skills and that their personal development may be incomprehensive. They say that when children are forced to achieve their parents' targets, they may try to do it at any cost, and this may affect their behaviour in the future. Worse still, when they fail to reach the set target, they may suffer severe distress.

HCM City to make 300 'green' buses

HCM City's People's Committee has approved a VND163 billion (US$7.76 million) plan to produce 300 buses running on compressed natural gas by 2015.

The project, conducted by the Sai Gon Mechanical Transportation Corporation (SAMCO), aims at reducing the pollution of the urban environment caused by fume discharge, saving fuel costs, and replacing out-of-date and substandard buses.

At present, there are 30 buses in the city fuelled by compressed natural gas, most of which were imported from South Korea.

Watchdog makes electric bike bust

Ha Noi Market Watch seized over 60 electric bikes and thousands of spare parts on Saturday, which had been allegedly smuggled from China.

HFT chemistry trade and service limited company, based in Ha Noi's Thanh Oai District, failed to show police documents showing the legal origin of the products.

When police attempted to contact the company, its director – a Chinese national- was absent but a company representative claimed had began producing and selling electric vehicles in June, 2012.

Thousands products had been sold so far, he said.

The case is under further investigation.

HCM City to pioneer poverty reduction plan

HCM City has selected four districts – 6, 11, Tan Phu and Binh Chanh – to carry out a pilot programme on multi-dimensional poverty reduction for two years (2014- 2015).

The City Steering Committee for Poverty Reduction said several steps have been taken to improve the lives of residents in many areas including health, education, and housing.

To date, however, a multi-dimensional approach to poverty alleviation has not been taken, and the pilot programme will be the first to do so nationwide.

Traditionally, poverty alleviation efforts have focused on improving the income of poor households, but failed to address other factors that have a bearing on their wellbeing, including access to healthcare, education, clean water and a clean living environment.

In District 6, for instance, many families have already risen above the poverty line – calculated at annual earnings of VND12 million (US$570) by each member. However, these families still cannot afford to access even basic social services like quality healthcare and education, making them vulnerable to falling behind the poverty line again.

Experts say a multi-dimensional approach is key to sustaining poverty reduction.

The Viet Nam office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has funded the programme, helping draw up measurement criteria and setting poverty alleviation targets under the new approach.

The programme's results will be reviewed and adjusted in order to expand it to other districts in the city after 2015. They will also be used to make policy recommendations on multi-dimensional poverty reduction.

HCM City aims to reduce the number of poor families living in the city to less than one per cent by 2015.

Yamaha presents free safety helmets to kids

Yamaha Viet Nam donated 29,475 helmets to children in Hai Phong and Dac Lak on October 27 and November 3.

General Director of Yamaha Ono Masaru said he hoped that the programme would raise parents' awareness about traffic safety and thus minimise traffic accidents.

VRA begins road maintenance bidding

Competent construction companies can now bid to win road maintenance contracts this year, according to the Viet Nam Road Administration (VRA) under the Transport Ministry.

The acting general director of the VRA, Nguyen Duc Thang, said that the move would help ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the Road Maintenance Fund as well as improve maintenance quality.

Previously, road maintenance activities were usually assigned to State-owned companies.

At present, local transport departments across the country are reviewing the condition of national highways running through their localities and submitting to the VRA lists of roads that are in need of maintenance in the next three years, according to Thang.

Meanwhile, the VRA is completing the necessary documents to call for bids on projects maintaining six national highways this year.

Next year, 30 per cent of highways across the country are scheduled to be maintained through bidding contracts and by 2015, the maintenance activities for all national highways would be awarded through bidding.

At present, there are nearly 18,000 kilometres of national roads across Viet Nam, of which, over 3,400 kilometres of road are over 12 years old, 9,700 kilometres over eight years old and nearly 2,600 kilometres over four years old.

Each year, about VND12 trillion (US$570 million) is needed to repair and maintain roads. However, this year, the country could manage only about VND4 trillion ($190 million) for road maintenance, and funding is expected to be reduced next year because of tightened public investment.

However, Thang said since public spending for transport construction was tightening, more investment for road maintenance would be a reasonable policy.

It was calculated that one dollar spent maintaining roads effectively could help save three dollars for transportation firms, thanks to savings in fuel, travelling time and the increased efficiency of vehicles. On the contrary, the shortage of funds for regular road maintenance could lead to degradation which could cost four times more to restore or build new roads.

Thang said that for years both central and local governments in Viet Nam did not pay proper attention to road maintenance and funding, with these activities meeting less than 50 per cent of demand.

Nguyen Xuan Lam, vice general director of Road Management for Region II, which oversees 19 national highways in northern provinces, said that they always lacked funding for road maintenance and the fund was usually prioritised for seriously degraded roads.

At localities, funding for road maintenance from local budgets met only 20-30 per cent of demand, he said.

Nordic NGO helps reduce climate change risk

Nordic Assistance to Vietnam (NAV) has granted about US$27,000 to the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to implement a project on climate change adaptation in 2013.

Nordic Assistance to Vietnam (NAV) has granted about US$27,000 to the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to implement a project on climate change adaptation in 2013.

The more than US$29,000 project is aimed at assisting poor people in the districts of Nam Dong and Phong Dien and Hue city to reduce the risk of climate change by producing biogas fuel and micro-biological fertilisers from agricultural by-products.

Under the project, five kindergartens will be funded to install solar energy equipment.

In addition, Thua Thien-Hue province has recently received about US$26,000 donated by the Bridge Asia Japan (BAJ) to develop community-based tourism services.

UNFPA announces 2013 report on world population

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee jointly held a ceremony on November 4 in Hanoi to announce the 2013 report on the state of world population.

Addressing the event, UNFPA Chief Representative in Vietnam Arthur Erken said Vietnam has entered the golden population period with a high ratio of young workers - nearly 40 percent of the country’s population is between 10 and 29 years old.

This is both a good opportunity for economic development and a challenge for the country in providing reproductive health care for the youth, he said.

Investment in health care for youngsters and adolescents will lay a firm basis for them to enter their adulthood, thus making contributions to sustainable socio-economic development in Vietnam, he added.

Erken called for further efforts in raising the reproductive healthcare service quality for disadvantaged groups and increasing knowledge, skills and attitude of the service suppliers to unmarried adolescents, so that Vietnam can fulfill its millennium development goals in all rural areas by 2015.

The report on the state of world population 2013, themed “Motherhood in Childhood: Facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy”, shows that girls under 15 account for 2 million of the 7.3 million births that occur in under-18 girls every year in developing countries.

The risk of maternal death for mothers under 15 in low- and middle-income countries is double that of older females, and this younger group faces 70,000 adolescent deaths annually from complications in pregnancy and childbirth, it said.

In Vietnam, despite achievements of the healthcare sector in reducing maternal fatality and increasing access to reproductive healthcare and family planning methods over the past decades, one third of adolescents still do not have access to contraception.

This has led to a high ratio of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions among young girls, especially unmarried ones.

A pregnancy can have immediate and lasting consequences for a girl’s health, education and income-earning potential, the report said.

The health risks to the infants and children of adolescent mothers have been well documented. Stillbirths and newborn deaths are 50 percent higher among infants of adolescent mothers than among infants of mothers between the ages of 20 and 29, the report added.

On the occasion, UNFPA also called for governments and international development partners and relevant agencies to join hands in activities to help adolescent girls make their own responsible choices and receive necessary support when their rights are not well preserved.

Vietnam does more to collect martyr remains

The national steering board for search and repatriation of martyr remains, known as Steering Board 1237, is set to actively collect information in an attempt to locate more martyr remains.

This is an important political mission and the responsibility of the entire Party, people and armed forces.

The board reached the consensus at a conference in Hanoi on November 4 where its members learnt more about Directive No. 24-CT/TW dated May 15, 2013 by the Politburo and Decision No. 1237/QD-TTg dated July 27, 2013 by the Prime Minister on approving the project to search and collect the remains of martyrs from now until 2020, and beyond.

Under the decision, Vietnam looks to find the remains of 10,000 fallen soldiers by 2015. In the next five years, the country will focus on cases when some information is available, hoping to locate the remains of about 60 percent of these cases.

In the past years, the board searched, handed over and reburied 1,412 remains found both at home and abroad, satisfying the expectations of their families.

Concluding the event, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan hailed relevant agencies for their close coordination with the board in the efforts.

He asked the Ministries of National Defence, Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and Science and Technology to continue working more closely with the board and hold a televised conference on the issue in the near future.

Canon Vietnam offers help to flood victims

Canon Marketing Vietnam Co., Ltd presented hundreds of gifts worth VND300 million to 400 storm-hit households in Duc Bon and Duc Linh communes, Vu Quang district, central Ha Tinh province on November 3 and 4.

Nick Yoshida, Executive Director of Canon Marketing Vietnam Co., Ltd, said he hopes the aid will contribute to helping the victims soon overcome the difficulties and resume their normal lives.

According to Le Van Ngo, deputy Chairman of the Duc Bong People’s Committee, typhoon Nari, the 11th to hit the country this year, flooded 300 households and divided eight villages in the area.

Assistance from relief workers, including Canon’s staff, has encouraged local people to overcome the storm’s consequences, he said.

Last year, Canon donated VND330 million to storm victims in Huong Khe and Vu Quang districts.

The company has organised many charitable activities to help disadvantaged schools and launched campaigns to protect the environment in Vietnam.

Over the past 10 years, Canon has created jobs for 25,000 workers and made contributions to social activities in the country.  

Vietnamese, Cambodian lawyers strengthen cooperation

Vietnamese and Cambodian lawyers have agreed to further cooperation for the two countries’ stronger development and deeper international integration.

The agreement was reached at a November 4 meeting between the Vietnam Lawyers Association (VLA) delegation and President of the Cambodian Bar Association, Bun Hon in Phnom Penh.

The Vietnamese delegation led by Le Minh Tam, VLA Vice Chairman and Secretary General, is visiting Cambodia from November 3-6, aimed at improving cooperation between the two countries’ lawyers.

Both sides concurred to foster bilateral ties, especially in the field of human resource development, and share experience in their expertise.

They also stressed the need to increase the capacity of lawyers and raise their role in society, thus protecting the legal rights of citizens and making more contributions to national construction and development.

Earlier the same day, the delegation had a working session with Hy Sophea, Cambodian Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice, and visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia.

Boundless love

Only a mother can do it. But even by the lofty standards of a mother's love for her children, Nguyen Thi Do is no ordinary person. For years, almost every day, she has carried her paralysed son, Nguyen Chung Tu, on her back, literally.

Of late, this has meant going past several storeys to the lecture halls at the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, where Tu is a third-year student.

For his part, Tu has repaid his mother's boundless love and sacrifice with outstanding academic performances that have made him the idol of many peers.

Do says that when Tu was born, he looked normal. However, at 14 months, as she eagerly waited for him to take his first steps, she discovered that his legs were paralysed due to Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant that had infected his father.

All her efforts to help her son stand and walk failed, and her struggle inspired Tu to do his best to overcome every difficulty he faced. For 12 consecutive school years, he was an excellent student and this has continued in college as well.

Tu has actually gone beyond just studying well. He has set up a club called Niem Tin (Confidence) to support other youngsters in predicaments similar to his. After graduating, Tu plans to open a free computer class for poor and disabled children in his home province.

However, his health is not very good and his mother is exhausted, working to earn money to feed him as well as his brother, another paralysed Agent Orange victim.

Fortunately, the heroism of the mother and son has inspired other people to take inspiring action.

Vuong Thi My Trinh, who works with the HCM City University of Natural Sciences' Student Supporting Centre, recently attended a game show on TV and raised VND49 million to support Tu and his mother.

Binh Thuan builds new sea resource management model

The People’s Committee of the southern coastal province of Binh Thuan has approved a new community-based management model to preserve and better exploit noble scallop resources, and protect the coastal environment and ecosystem.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Department, the model will be implemented in Phuoc The commune, Tuy Phong district from November this year to December 2015, with the involvement of 50 local fishermen and divers.

During the implementation of the model, which targets the exploitation of seafood resources in a sustainable way, noble scallop will be bred in certain areas, while fishermen will receive instructions on how to fish and protect seafood resources sustainably.

The model also aims to create a stable livelihood for fishermen and earn recognition from the Marine Stewardship Council certification programme - the world’s leading certification and eco-labelling programme for sustainable seafood - for noble scallops, helping expand the export market for this local product.

Binh Thuan is one of the country’s three largest fishing grounds with a 200km coastline and 52,000 square km of sea area, as well as abundant seafood resources.

However, despite the efforts of the local authorities, old fishing practices in the locality have led to declining seafood resources and environmental pollution.-

Saudi Arabia funnels money for health project in Bac Kan

The Saudi Fund for Development-funded medical training centre in northern Bac Kan province will start its first enrollment in 2014, aiming to provide sufficient health workers for rural and remote areas in the locality.

The centre has a total investment capital of nearly 349 billion VND (17 million USD), with almost 14.5 million USD financed by the Saudi Fund for Development under a loan agreement on health and education projects between Vietnam and the North African country in November 2011.

It will also provide further training for postgraduate and assist health research studies in service of healthcare development in Bac Kan and its neighbouring provinces.

The centre is now under construction. It is expected to be completed and ready for its first 200-300 recruits next year.

Source: VOV/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri