Eighteen fishermen rescued off Nghe An coast

Eighteen fishermen from Quỳnh Lưu District in the central province of Nghệ An were rescued on Sunday, 24 hours after their trawler’s engine failed and it went adrift at sea, said the province’s Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention, Search and Rescue.

The rescue operation was conducted by the Việt Nam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre (Vietnam MRCC).

The trawler went adrift, 30 nautical miles to the northeast of Cửa Hội Beach in Nghệ An Province, after its engine failed around Saturday noon. On receiving the alert, the Vietnam MRCC sent out its SAR 411 boat, which reached the trawler on Sunday afternoon.

The rescue boat personnel provided medical aid to the fishermen, who were exhausted and in a panic after being battered by strong waves and winds for such a long time, and safely towed the trawler and its crewmen to the shore soon after.

All 18 crewmen are reported to be in a stable condition.

400 cases of dengue reported in Quảng Trị

At least 400 cases of dengue fever have been recorded in the central Quảng Trị Province, reveals a report released late last week.

While Đông Hà City reported the highest number of cases at 103, the remaining ones are from other districts in the province, including Vĩnh Linh and Triệu Phong.

Local authorities have asked agencies in Đông Hà City to inspect cleanliness and sanitation levels across the place.

The province People’s Committee has requested that a campaign be conducted to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds and fumigation be done to kill the disease-spreading insects.

The committee has also directed that an awareness drive be held to educate locals on how to prevent the fever from spreading further.

Quảng Trị is among the poorest localities in the country, and most of its areas, including Đông Hà City, are poorly developed.

Doctors remove 1.2kg tumour

Doctors from the Đồng Nai International Hospital have successfully removed a 1.2kg tumour from a woman’s gallbladder.

Ngô Hồng Đức, 62, from Vĩnh Cửu District, was hospitalised last Monday with severe stomach pain. Doctors at the hospital said that when she came in, she was unable to eat and had lost 15kg in just two weeks. She was anaemic and very pale.

Investigations revealed that Đức had a large tumour in her gallbladder, which was blocking and affecting the functioning of her various organs. Doctors operated and removed the tumour last Wednesday. Đức is recuperating well after her surgery.

Dr Lê Đình Hùng, deputy director of the hospital, said it was the biggest gallbladder tumour he had seen in his 40 years of experience.

Fire destroys two buildings in Hà Nội

A fire broke out in a four-storeyed building in Hà Nội’s Hai Bà Trưng District this morning, destroying most of the structure as well as the building next door.

Around 11am, people on Trần Khát Chân Street heard loud explosions coming from the fourth floor of a building, said to be a chemical warehouse, and saw a column of smoke rising. The flame quickly spread to two other buildings, causing panic as locals were worried about the presence of flammable materials in the warehouse.

People called the fire department, which mobilised five fire engines and dozens of firefighters. Firefighters said they struggled to success the site as it was located in a small alley and surrounded by glass windows. After 90 minutes, the fire was finally brought under control.

The four-storeyed structure and another building, also reported to be a chemical warehouse, were completely burned down. There were no casualties.

Initial investigations suggest that the fire was started by a short circuit. A probe is underway to determine the cause.

Woman sentenced for producing fake seals, documents

The Hà Nội People’s Court today sentenced a 40-year-old woman to 27 months of imprisonment for producing fake seals and documents of an organisation.

Vũ Thị Bạch Nga, who lives in Thụy Khuê Ward, Tây Hồ District, was accused in 2011 of misappropriating money from several individuals.

Specifically, a man named Nguyễn Thanh Hà, who knew that Nga’s husband worked for the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD), asked Nga to help him purchase a flat in the Việt Hưng Residential Quarter.

Other people also asked Hà to help them buy flats in the quarter and in the Vân Canh Residential Quarter.

They gave Nga a total of VNĐ5.1 billion (US$266,600).

In mid-2011, Nga asked a worker at the HUD to buy several flats in the two residential quarters. However, the prices of the flats had increased, so Hà declined the purchase.

Nga refused to return the money to Hà and instead used it to buy land in Sóc Sơn District in Hà Nội and a flat in Hà Nội’s Hoàng Mai District. Nga lied to Hà, saying she could not get back the money from the HUD.

Nga produced fake seals and documents from the HUD to support her story.

However, Hà discovered that the documents were fake and accused Nga of cheating.

During the investigation, Nga paid the victims VNĐ4.1 billion ($182,200).

Soc Trang asked to focus on products with high value

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has suggested the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang further promote tourism development and agricultural restructuring, and study to produce high-value products, towards becoming a medium-income locality in the region.

During his working session with key officials of Soc Trang in Hanoi on November 21, the PM highlighted the potential and advantages for Soc Trang to further develop in the future.

He asked the locality needs to review its development plan, saying that this should focus on agriculture restructuring, poverty reduction and climate change adaptation, he said.

Soc Trang needs to consider developing it into the country's second or third largest shrimp material area, and study to produce products with high value such as cow breeding along with rice cultivation, he added.

Attention should be paid to attracting businesses to invest into the locality, and promote processing industry, thus creating more jobs for locals, he stressed.

He also urged Soc Trang to build a national startups programme towards developing start-up enterprises in the locality.

At the session, leaders from several ministries recommended the locality to devise solutions to climate change and drought, mobilise resources to upgrade transport infrastructure, and attract more foreign-invested projects.

Concluding the session, PM Phuc praised the local authorities and people for their efforts in implementing the national target programme on new-style rural area building.

However, the locality has yet to fully tap potential and advantages for development, he noted, adding that Soc Trang should to take more drastic measures to reduce the rate of poor households in the coming time.

Local officials said Soc Trang is working to foster tourism and service development, while calling for investment in industry and in building a high-speed train to Con Dao, aiming to develop spiritual tourism.

Soc Trang is a disadvantaged locality in the country with its economy mainly depending on agriculture and aquaculture.

The province has been affected by saline intrusion and prolonged-drought early this year, severely causing damage to agricultural production. These make the locality difficult to realise 8-percent growth target this year.

Vietnamese leaders condole with India over train accident

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 21 sent a message of condolences to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi over the loss of lives in the derailment of an express train in Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh state. 

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also extended his sympathy to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj. 

The accident occurred on November 20 morning, killing at least 146 passengers and injuring more than 200 others.

Legislators discuss draft laws on planning, guard force

Lawmakers gave opinions to a draft Law on Planning and another bill on the Guard Force during the November 21 plenary sitting of the 14th National Assembly’s second session.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung and Minister of Public Security To Lam cleared up several issues related to the bills raised by the legislators.

On November 22, the deputies are scheduled to approve a resolution on the pilot granting of electronic visa to foreign visitors and a law on amending and supplementing Appendix 4 on the list of conditional business and investment fields in the Law on Investment.

They are due to discuss in groups about a draft law on supporting small-and medium-sized enterprises, and a draft law on technology transfer (revised).

The parliament will vote to adopt a resolution on stopping the nuclear power plant project in the central province of Ninh Thuan.

Fishermen equipped with scuba lifesaving

Fifteen fishermen in the central province of QuangNgai’s Binh Son district have been equipped with scuba lifesaving through a three-day training course funded by the Francophone Association for Mutual Aid and Promotion of The Life Sciences (AFEPS). 

The November 16-18 programme cost 458 million VND (20,298 USD), with 387 million VND (17,152 USD) sourced from the AFEPS. 

Experts provided the local fishermen with basic skills to prevent and handle diving-related accidents. 

Each trainee received a diving cylinder set from the AFEPS after the course, which aimed to help participating fishermen know how to rescue themselves and pass the knowledge to others as well as know scuba equipment maintenance. 

A similar AFEPS scuba course was scheduled for another 24 fishermen in Quang Ngai’s Ly Son island between November 19 and 24.

Int’l forum on new rural development opens in Hanoi

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development hosted an international forum in Hanoi on November 21 to promote new rural development in Vietnam for 2016-2020. 

Speaking at the event, Director of the ministry’s Department of International Cooperation Tran Kim Long said the National Target Programme on New Rural Development for 2016-2020 sets the key goal of devising synchronous policies and special mechanisms for poor and climate change-hit areas, diversifying social resources for the effort, particularly official development assistance and technical support from foreign partners. 

Chief Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Vietnam Jong Ha-bae hailed fruitful results of the 2010-2015 programme, citing improved power supply, road and school infrastructure and health care service. However, he admitted that poor farmers still lack credit access and agriculture insurance while the rates of poor households in several areas remain high. 

Jong said FAO will continue providing government support to Vietnam’s agriculture, building evidence-based policies targeting food and nutrition security, strengthen approaches to sustainable agricultural production with a focus on economic development in tandem with environmental protection. 

The FAO will offer a technical support programme to Vietnam to improve income in rural areas, he said. 

Carolina V.Figueroa-Geron from the World Bank (WB) said the lender has initiated the Programme for Results (PforR) to assist national target programmes, which is expected to improve the quality of investment in agriculture and livelihoods within the framework of the National Target Programme on New Rural Development and the Programme 135 as part of the National Target Programme on Sustainable Poverty Reduction. 

The PforR will give priority to helping the government with planning, implementation, monitoring and governance while providing financial assistance for small-scale infrastructure and livelihoods, contributing to enhancing productivity and added value, she said.

Japanese firms updated on investment opportunities in Vietnam

Representatives from 60 businesses in Mimasaka city of Japan’s Okayama prefecture and locals have attended a workshop in the locality to study investment and business opportunities in Vietnam.

Jointly organised by the Vietnamese Consulate General in Osaka, the local administration and the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association of Mimasaka, the event offered a good chance for participants to get an update on Vietnam’s policies and incentives related to foreign investment attraction. The information about Vietnam’s socio-economic development and Vietnam-Japan relations was also provided to the attendees.

While sharing his impression after his trips to Vietnam, Mimasaka Mayor Hagiwara Seiji spoke highly of Vietnam’s business and investment potentials as well as its efforts to improve policies and business climate.

He also highlighted Japan’s endeavours to expand cooperation with Vietnam and draw foreign investment.

The mayor stressed that Mimasaka has actively promoted cooperation with Vietnam, especially in education-training, labour, economy-trade, and tourism.

The city inked a cooperation agreement with Da Nang University in the central city of Da Nang in April last year, he added.

ASEAN police share experience in enduring traffic safety

Traffic police from ASEAN member countries have exchanged experience in ensuring traffic safety and order, and discussed measures to facilitate cross-border transportation at a forum that kicked off in Hanoi on November 21. 

The first ASEAN Traffic Police Forum, an initiative of Vietnam, brought together 150 delegates from the ASEAN nations, and representatives from embassies of regional countries and the ASEAN Police Chiefs (ASEANPOL). 

In his opening remarks, Vietnamese Minister of Public Security Sen. Lieut. Gen To Lam highlighted similarities in traffic safety and order shared by ASEAN countries with high rates of traffic accidents, deaths, injuries and congestion. 

Member countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region also signed memoranda of understanding on cooperation in transport, he said, noting that such documents have just touched upon cooperation in facilitating cross-border transportation without mentioning collaboration in ensuring traffic safety and order. 

The Vietnamese Government has paid heed to ensuring traffic safety and order, and considered this one of the key national programmes, the officer affirmed. 

However, Vietnam remains one of countries with large numbers of traffic accidents and jams, according to the minister. 

Lam said the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security (MPS) hopes to learn from other regional countries’ experience in guaranteeing traffic order and safety, and improving State management in this field. 

Major General Tran Son Ha, head of the Traffic Police Department under the MPS, said transport and traffic order and safety play an important role in building a complete and sustainable ASEAN Community. 

He explained that transport helps promote socio-economic and cultural development as well as trade exchange domestically, regionally and internationally. 

The three-day forum, to last through November 23, will discuss issues regarding traffic accidents, traffic law enforcement and driving licence grant. 

The participants are scheduled to make a fact-finding trip to the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway.

HCM City to help sight-impaired students with Braille book

ibrary staff at the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities plan to develop audio and Braille books for students with visual impairments at the university.

The books are one of four initiatives chosen for be granted funds from a project designed to help university students with disabilities to access education carried out by the HCM City Disability Research and Capacity Development (DRD) Centre under the sponsorship from the Embassy of Ireland.

Bui Thi Hang, Director of the Library and Information Centre at University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the initiative’s team leader, said that the university has 10 students with visual impairment.

Because of this disability, these students can not access documents at the library, Hang said.

“Currently, they just learn and research by hearing and writing down what lecturers say. Moreover, they access the free source of documents on Internet, but many of them are not verified,” she told Viet Nam News.

Many of them take initiative in going to the library, but there are no audio and Braille books in the library to serve them, she added.

In the initiative, the library’s staff also will be trained to guide these students to use effectively the library’s documents, Hang said.

It is expected that the audio and Braille books will be available next January, she added.

Another initiative of lecturers from the Education Faculty at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities that has been provided funds will provide psychological counselling and other assistance services in learning for students with disabilities at the university, Le Thi Yen Di, its group leader, said.

At the Education Faculty, a counselling and assistance room for these students will be opened, she said.

Two other initiatives of lecturers and staff at the city University of Education include developing a Braille map for its students with visual impairment to know the way to classrooms and providing an assistant for students with disabilities at the university.

The project to help university students with disabilities to access education started at the two universities of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Education in January.

Later, the DRD centre aims to expand the one-year project to other universities throughout the city.

In the project, students with disabilities will raise their capacity to know and implement the rights of education and comprehensive development.

They are also provided learning aid devices or volunteers who are ready to support their learning.

It also aims to improve the awareness of university staff on providing necessary assistance to students with disabilities.

Moreover, students will get support in seeking enterprises for internships or jobs after graduating.

Luu Thi Anh Loan, the centre’s acting director, said that students with disabilities in the country still face difficulties in learning at universities and colleges.

For instance, infrastructure there is not accessible for them.

According to the 2009 Population and Housing Census in Vietnam, the country has 6.1 million people with disabilities age 5 and above, or 7.8 percent of the total population.

Of them, less than 0.1 percent study at universities or colleges.

Free check-ups, medication for OVs in Cambodia

Free check-ups and medication were offered to disadvantaged Vietnamese expatriates and Cambodian people in Cambodia’s Kandal province on November 21. 

About 300 overseas Vietnamese (OVs) and Cambodian people in Ponhea Leu district benefited from the programme, organised by the Ho Chi Minh City Committee for OVs and the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine. 

Aside from check-ups, medicine and gift provision, the working delegation also presented 500 sets of books teaching Vietnamese, 600 sets of learning tools and 5,000 notebooks for the association of Vietnamese-Cambodian people in Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provinces. 

Pham Thi Ngoc Hanh, deputy head of the HCM City committee, said the programme is to realise the Politburo’s Directive 45-CT/TW dated May 19, 2015, on accelerating the implementation the ninth Politburo’s Resolution 36-NQ-TW on OVs-related work in the new situation. 

“Through this activity, we want to convey the Vietnamese Party, State and people’s sentiment towards the expatriates, wishing them happiness and prosperity,” she said. 

Hanh also expressed her hope that the OVs and Cambodian people will continue to strengthen the traditional friendship between the two countries. 

This was the second charity programme in Cambodia held by the HCM City Committee for OVs in 2016.

Vietnam People’s Army presents information equipment to Laos

Information equipment was presented to the Information Department under the General Staff of the Lao People’s Army at a ceremony held in Vientiane on November 19 as a gift from the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA). 

The equipment presentation aimed to realise the protocol on Vietnam-Laos defence cooperation in 2015-2019 and the cooperation plan between the two countries’ defence ministries for 2016. 

Addressing the ceremony, Colonel Pho Trieu Cuong, deputy chief representative of the Vietnamese Military AttacheOffice in Laos, reaffirmed the significant role of Vietnam-Laos solidarity in the revolutionary cause of each nation. 

Over the past time, the VPA has given the highest support to Laos, Cuong said, adding that the gift is expected to help ensure a firm information system for the Lao Ministry of National Defence, thus serving Laos’ national building and protection. 

Director of the Lao department Colonel Sayaphon Chanthavong thanked the VPA for its assistance for Laos during the struggle for liberation in the past as well as in the current national construction and defence. 

The gift will help improving the capacity of the Lao People’s Army in communication, he affirmed. 

He pledged that his department will effectively use the presented equipment to better fulfill its assigned tasks.

Northern region first ethnic group dancing competition to open

As many as 30 performances will participate in the first professional dancing competition of ethnic minorities in the northern region.

The announcement was made by People’s Artist Ung Duy Thinh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Dancing Artist Association (VDAA), at a press conference on November 21 in Hanoi. 

The competition, co-organised by VDAA, the Literature and Art Association of Vietnamese Ethnic Minorities, aims to honour dancing works on Vietnamese ethnic groups. 

It also serves as a platform for composers, choreographers and artists to exchange experiences, particularly in composing art work on Vietnamese ethnic groups, while contributing to the orientation of the future Vietnam’s dancing development.

To date, the organiser has received 30 entries, most of which are dances in group. They will be staged from November 27-28 at Au Co Performing Arts Centre, Hanoi. The awards ceremony will be held on November 28 evening.

A workshop relating to folk dance of ethnic groups and professional dancing works will take place on November 29 morning as part of the competition.

The competition for the southern region will be held in 2017.

Outstanding plays honoured at Int’l Experimental Theatre Festival

Three plays from Vietnam, Japan and China won gold medals at the International Experimental Theatre Festival 2016, which ended on November 20.

The three plays include Under the Sand is Water (by the Military Drama Theatre of Vietnam), The Seagull (by the Theatre Centre Without Walls and Theatre Company a la Place from Japan), and Ramayana (Henan Beijing Opera Troupe from China). 

Vietnam’s play Under the Sand is Water was performed at the opening ceremony of the festival one week ago at the Hanoi Opera House.

With the actors wearing theatrical masks during the performance, the play features the life of a family in central province of Quang Binh. It touched audiences by leading them to the deep humanity in the bottom of the character’s hearts. The message of the play is clear: beneath the hot sand is the cool water, behind the feud is love and altruism. 

Ramayana, an ancient Indian epic, was adapted in a play by Chinese artists, featuring the Beijing opera, combining singing, speaking, acting, and martial arts—with stunning acrobatics and music. 

The Seagull, which is originally a play by Russian 19th century dramatist Anton Chekhov, was staged by Japanese artists at this festival in a different way, combining Eastern and Oriental cultures. 

At the closing ceremony, silver medals were also awarded to four plays: Medea and The Dream (Vietnam), Hotel Paradiso (Germany), and Pure Love (the Philippines).

Several Vietnamese and international artists were also honoured during the festival.

Meritorious artist, theatre director Tran Minh Ngoc, who is president of the jury of the festival, said he highly appreciated the quality of the plays.

“Through the plays which were presented in this festival, the artists have proved that they worked hard to find new ways to tell stories… Those new ways can be the combination between the language of silence, and body movements, or the combination between traditional theatre and contemporary theatre, or the combination between Oriental and Western theatre.”

He added that he was impressed by the technology and installation art used in several plays. 

Vuong Duy Bien, deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stressed at the closing ceremony that the festival helped showcase the culture of different countries.

“This is a great opportunity for domestic and international artists to exchange experience and raise their level of expertise,” he said.

“It also encourages Vietnamese artists to create more high-quality art works, contributing to the development of the country’s culture.”

Apart from performances, various discussions on experimental plays took place during the event.

The International Experimental Theatre Festival 2016 took place in Hanoi from November 12-19 with workshops and 16 plays performed by eight troupes from China, the Philippines, Japan, Greece, Germany, Panama, France, and Vietnam. 

It was the third experimental theatre festival held in the country. The first and second festivals were held in Vietnam in 2002 and 2006.

The fourth International Experimental Theatre Festival is expected to be held in Hanoi in autumn 2019.

The festival was organised by the Vietnam Stage Artists Association and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Performing Arts Department.

Quang Nam’s coastal localities face serious landslides

Tam Hai island commune in Nui Thanh district, the central province of Quang Nam has faced an increasingly serious landslides, forcing many people to leave their houses.

Binh Trung village’s hamlet 3 once had 70 households, but the majority of them have moved and left desert houses.

Vo Minh Cong’s family, one of the six households choosing to stay, has their backyard intruded by seawater. Cong, 71, said that his hamlet locates in the estuary of Truong Giang river, thus have been affected by landslide for years.

This year, although it has not been hit by devastated storm, the hamlet has faced rapid and unexpected landslide and locals were not able to respond, he said.

Along with Binh Trung, Tan Lap and Thuan An villages have also been ravaged by landslides.

According to Nguyen Tan Hung, Vice Chairman of the Tam Hai commune People’s Committee, in 2012, the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone’s Management Board supported the locality to build a 1.8km dyke with total investment of 48 billion VND.

However, one end of the dyke with a 200m section in Tan Lap village has been washed by sea wave, destroying protective forest in the area.

Currently, Tam Hai island commune has 60 vulnerable areas where locals need urgent evacuation, the majority of whom are poor, he said, adding that the aid of 20 million VND per households is not enough for them to resettle.

He underscored that Tam Hai commune hopes to receive more investment to construct about a 4.5km dyke. Locals have also actively plant mangrove forest with a newly-planted area of 17 hectares.

Outstanding youth to receive Lương Định Của Award

A total of 85 outstanding young people from throughout the country will receive the Lương Định Của Award at a special ceremony in Hà Nội on November 26.

The Lương Định Của Award is an annual award sponsored by the HCM Central Youth Union and given to young people with outstanding achievements in manufacturing, trade, applying modern science technologies, protecting the environment and setting up new rural lifestyles.

Nguyễn Phi Long, Secretary of the HCM Central Youth Union, said that the award aimed at encouraging rural young people to contribute to developing the country’s socio-economic, agriculture and new rural lifestyles.

This is the eleventh year the awards ceremony will be held.

The 85 young people receiving the award this year are between 18 and 35 years old. Thirteen of them are members of ethnic minorities, including Bana, Dao, H’mông, Mường, Sán Chỉ, Tày and Thái.

Work done by the young people in trading and manufacturing brings in from VNĐ100,000 million (US$4,400) to more than VNĐ1 billion ($44,400) per year. They have created permanent work for nearly 500 workers and seasonal work for thousands of workers in their communities.

During the award ceremony, each of the young people will receive a certificate of merit, a cup, and VNĐ2 million (about $90). They will also receive technical and financial help to further develop their manufacturing businesses, with help from the Việt Nam National Oil and Gas Group, and Agribank.

Hanoi Women’s Club targets US$100,000 for charity

The Hanoi International Women's Club will host their 25th annual charity bazaar on November 27 at the St Paul American School— hoping to raise a record setting US$100,000 for charity, says President Gill Lever.

The event has attracted the participation of more than 50 exhibitors from 43 countries, showcasing a vast array of items including everything from colourful traditional costumes, organic cosmetics and household appliances to handicrafts.

Aiming to raise funds for women's and children's health and education along with community projects in Vietnam, the bazaar is a family fun day as well as a great Christmas shopping opportunity.

Visitors also have a chance to try delicious food and drink from around the globe as well as enjoy interesting musical performances of famous artists such as Korean opera star Park Sung Min, pianist Trang Trinh, the Hanoi Brass Band, African Band, Apaxionado, and the Electric Yard Dogs.

Those interested can obtain more information about the event at hanoi-iwc.com/annual-charity-bazaar.

France launches social network for teachers of French

Around 100 teachers of the French language at secondary schools and universities in HCMC and Can Tho City attended the launch of IFprofs, a social network for French-teaching people on the occasion of the Vietnam’s Teacher Day which was held over the weekend at the French consul general’s residence in HCMC’s District 1.

IFprofs, developed by the French Institute in Paris, has attracted around 4,500 members in 29 countries in the world, 186 of them are Vietnamse. Teachers can access the platform for teaching materials and methods.

Nguyen Thi Dinh, a teacher with Phan Chau Trinh Highschool in the central coast city of Danang, won a contest to discover IFprofs with an award to attend a language master class in France, sponsored by the French Institute in Vietnam.

An office of French-teaching people (FIEF) under the management of Vietnam – France Friendship Union in HCMC and Can Tho was also unveiled this year. The office is a hub to support cooperation and cultural exchange of French language with provincial departments of education and training across Vietnam.

Since 2015, the French consulate general in HCMC and the French Institute in Vietnam have hosted a special day for Vietnamese teachers to honor their contributions in teaching the French language in the country.

Reverie Saigon listed among top hotels in the world

Featured in a recent Town & Country article, The Reverie Saigon was listed amongst “83 Top Hotels Around the World.” The listing represents luxury accommodations from around the globe for American and international jet-setters.

According to Kai Speth, The Reverie Saigon’s general manager, it is an honor to be featured on this distinguished list from Town & Country, a monthly American lifestyle magazine. Through the centuries, Town & Country has remained an influential source of news and entertainment of modern American society.

People can read a full article at http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/travel-guide/a8059/best-hotels-world/

A member of The Leading Hotels of the World, The Reverie Saigon – a latest luxury addition to the country’s flourishing hotel scene - features 286 rooms and suites alongside 89 fully furnished serviced apartments. The property also features five distinctive food and beverage outlets, a 1,200-square-metre spa & fitness centre, an expansive outdoor swimming pool and 16 function spaces.

The Reverie Saigon is located at Times Square Building at 22-36 Nguyen Hue Boulevard & 57-69F Dong Khoi Street, District 1, HCMC.

Local artist unveils flooding season themed photo exhibition

“An Giang in flooding season” is a photo exhibition by artist Huynh Phuc Hau currently on display at Tinh Te Café in HCMC’s District 3 until December 3.

Hau has a strong desire in taking landscape photos and he aims to feature the unique beauty of Chau Doc and Tinh Bien areas in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang in the flooding season. The exhibition features 39 of Hau’s artworks which had been taken during the past 12 years, depicting the nature, people’s portraits and daily activities of people during the flooding season.

Apart from the exhibition, the artist also publishes a landscape photo calendar to raise funds for poor patients at a general hospital of An Giang.

Huynh Phuc Hau is an ultrasound-scan doctor in Chau Doc City in An Giang Province. He was named the photography artist of Vietnam in 2009.

Tinh Te Café is located at 209 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3, HCMC.

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