Court begins hearing in fire at karaoke shop

The People’s Court of Hà Nội on Monday morning opened an appeal to charge three defendants in a fire, killing 13 people, at a nine-storey karaoke shop in Trần Thái Tông Street in late 2016.

The defendants include 32-year-old Nguyễn Diệu Linh, the shop owner, and two welders Hoàng Văn Tuấn, 25, and Lê Thị Thì, 56.

Following the indictment, Linh ran the karaoke shop without a business licence and verification of the fire-fighting system of the shop by authorised agencies when the fire occured.

Linh had hired Tuấn and Thì to weld an iron frame on the karaoke shop’s ceiling on November 1, 2016. When Tuấn was welding a connection between two points of the iron frame, it suddenly caused a spark resulting in a fire that quickly spread to other areas of the shop. Tuấn flouted safety regulations as he did not use protective tools during the welding. The fire worsened when it came in contact with flammable material in the shop.

It quickly reduced the shop to ashes and spread to the three neighbouring houses, killing 12 customers and one staff member.

The local fire-fighting team took more than seven hours to put out the fire.

The previous hearing in January was suspended for further investigation on another person named Nguyễn Hữu Long, who was suspected to be involved in the case. Moreover, the owners of the three houses that were burnt down required authorised agencies to re-assess the damage for more compensation.

14 awarded first prizes at Toyota art contest

First prize work Fire extinguisher car by Hồ Ngọc Anh Thi, a fourth grade student from Trần Nhật Duật primary school in Hà Nội.

“I wish my dream car could actually work in reality. I drew fire trucks with lightning speed which could help firefighters get to fires in no time,” Hồ Ngọc Anh Thi, a fourth grade student from Trần Nhật Duật primary school in Hà Nội said.

Thi was speaking at the award ceremony of the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest held in Hà Nội on Saturday. 

Thi’s work entitled Fire extinguisher car with lighting speed is among the 14 first prize winners.

This year’s 14 first prizes, 16 second prizes, 30 third prizes and 100 consolation prizes were given to children in three age categories (under eight, 8-11 and 12-15) with artworks representing their dream cars. 

“I was amazed by the creativity of the children, there are hundreds of artworks hung in the gallery, but they are all different. Each one sends different messages but they are all innocent ideas with pure desire of improving the environment,” Nguyễn Ngọc Tân, a father of one student said.

Toru Kinoshita, Toyota Motor Vietnam president said: “Beloved pupils, we have seen your imagination and creativeness through the dream cars that will be helpful for people’s lives and transportation in the future. I strongly believe that one day your dream cars will become a reality.”

The nine best artworks were selected and will participate in the World Contest. The winners of the World Contest (together with their guardians) will be invited to Japan to attend the Award Ceremony and experience various aspects of Japanese culture in August 2018. 

This year’s contest received 345,185 entries.

The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest, initiated in 2004, has been held annually to inspire children’s imagination.

Việt Nam, since the school year 2011-2012, is one of the countries which achieved many awards in the world contest in Japan, including one gold award, one silver award and three best finalist awards. 

Safe corridor on expressway encroached

The safe corridor along HCM City-Trung Lương Expressway has been seriously infringed, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

The fence along the highway was set up with steel nets and barbed wires to separate the highway from the residential areas to ensure traffic safety.

However, many sections of the fence, from Bến Lức District’s Thạnh Đức Commune to Tân An City of Long An Province, have been cut off and destroyed, increasing the risk of accidents, the agency reported.

Without the fence, the safe corridor is being freely trespassed by cattle and poultry and is turning into a garbage dump.

Meanwhile, local people in some communes of Bến Lức District took off the fence in the safe corridor to raise cattle and poultry; while some have placed construction material and garbage in the area, others have even opened cafes and restaurants.

A large part of the fence along the 28km-expressway passing through Long An Province has been destroyed

Nguyễn Đăng Lâm, a resident living near the safe corridor in Nhị Thành Commune, said “Many sections of the fence were destroyed and taken off a long time ago”.

“Many coaches and buses stop here for picking up passengers and loading cargo”, Đăng said.

According to Nguyễn Xuân Trường, a driver, “Local people getting into buses on the highway is dangerous for them as well as the drivers”.

The destruction of the fence on the safe corridor on the highway was reported to the local government a long time ago, but the situation has not improved.

Deputy head of Long An Province’s Traffic Safety Steering Committee, Phùng Văn Ơn, asked the provincial government to co-operate with the highway management department to secure the fence as well as raise awareness among the local people to not destroy it.

Local authorised agencies should strictly sanction the act of destroying the fence on the safe corridor, causing danger on the highway, he said. 

First, let me take a selfie

Recently, a group of young people used the smartphone they stole from someone near a bus stop in HCM City’s District 10 to take a selfie.

The robbers, including two living in District 10, took the selfie to celebrate their clever deed. Or so they thought.

The phone was connected with its owner’s email address. Shortly after the selfies were taken, they entered the email inbox of the user who promptly posted the photos on social media, hoping to find the thieves.

The image quickly caught the attention of social network users, who expressed anger at the brazen robbery. Though the criminal investigation is ongoing and the rogues are still at large, it will be a valuable lesson for the robbers.

Never count your chickens, or smartphones, before they have hatched.

Sons-in-law fall foul of the law

Nguyễn Thị Tình and her husband from Hà Nội’s outlying district of Chương Mỹ have worked hard for years in the agricultural industry, saving their money in hopes of rebuilding their house.

As usual, on March 10 they both left home for the morning market to sell vegetables, and so did their son.

Returning home that afternoon, they found the house’s gate and main door closed but the lock on the door to the second floor’s had been broken. Their son’s bedroom was a mess, with the wardrobe unlocked. Worse still, some VNĐ125 million (US$5,500) and gold were gone.

The family reported the case to local police examined the scene and questioned those involved. Two days later, they arrested Lê Quốc Long, living in the same district. It turned out that the thief was none other than the victim’s son-in-law.

Long confessed that he was well aware of where his in-laws kept their house and wardrobe keys and that they had a fair amount of cash lying about. With that in mind, Long planned to break into the house and take the money for gambling. Of course, he made the mess in an attempt to hide the evidence.

Through investigation, the police also found that that was the sixth time Long had robbed his wife’s family. He successfully stole the family’s money as the amounts were smaller for the first three times. For the following three cases, he asked Nguyễn Văn Tý, another son-in-law of the family, to join in.

It must have been a great shock for Tình and her husband, and family dinners will never quite be the same, no matter how much Vietnamese traditionally love their sons-in-law.

Overseas Vietnamese in Laos holds requiem for fallen soldiers

At the event 

A requiem to commemorate Vietnamese soldiers who laid down their lives to defend national sovereignty was held in Phat Tich Lao pagoda in Vientiane capital, Laos on March 25.

The event was chaired by Venerable Thich Minh Quang – head of Phat Tich Lao pagoda, attracting Buddhist dignitaries and followers, along with overseas Vietnamese (OVs) in Vientiane.

Venerable Thich Minh Quang said the requiem paid tribute to Vietnamese martyrs, including 64 soldiers killed while protecting Gac Ma (Johnson South) Reef in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago on March 14, 1988.

It also reminds young people of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracels) and Truong Sa archipelagos, Quang added, calling on OVs in Laos to strengthen solidarity for national development. 

UNDP, Japan helps VN students deal with natural disasters

Over 1,400 students of Binh Dong secondary school in Ho Chi Minh City have just joined drills of emergency evacuation in case of natural disasters such as tsunami and flood, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

The activities were organised under the “Schools of Son Tinh” campaign, launched by the General Department of Disaster Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, under the auspices of the Japan Government.

Vietnam is among the ten countries most vulnerable to natural disasters. It is therefore very meaningful for every student to know how to behave appropriately in the case of natural disasters, said Kazunori Hosoya, Deputy Consul-General of Japan to HCM City.

In 2017, the country was hit by 16 storms. More than four million people were affected by floods, mudslides and landslides caused by heavy winds and downpours. Thousands of houses were damaged, communities evacuated, and tens of thousands of hectares of crops were destroyed.

The “Schools of Son Tinh” campaign is part of the UNDP’s and Japan’s regional project “Strengthening School Preparedness for Tsunamis in the Asia-Pacific Region” in 18 Asia-Pacific countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

The project contributes to the achievement of the UN Sendai Framework’s targets to reduce lives lost, numbers of people affected, and economic damage from natural and human-induced hazards. It also aims to achieve the UNDP’s goal to help vulnerable regions to adapt to climate change by integrating disaster risk measures into national strategies.

Vietnam ready to cooperate in health response to disasters

Vietnam stands ready to cooperate with other ASEAN member states in medical response to natural calamities in the region, affirmed Deputy Minister of Health Pham Le Tuan at the second regional collaboration drill held in the central coastal city of Da Nang on March 26.

The event, which was jointly held by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Thailand’s National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM) and the municipal People’s Committee, is part of the project on strengthening the ASEAN regional capacity on disaster health management. Vietnam and other nine ASEAN states have proactively joined in the project since 2015.

Tuan said that international drills will enable Vietnamese medical management agencies to improve their professional capacity in case of natural disasters.

Senior Representative of JICA Vietnam Office Nozomi Iwama said that the rehearsal aims to bolster cooperation between medical forces to have prompt response in case of emergency. 

JICA will collect specific response and build a cooperation mechanism on health response in the ASEAN bloc, she noted.

Ten emergency medical teams (EMTs) from ASEAN and Japan took part in the rehearsal in which a fierce storm was supposed to make landfall in the central coastal area, causing critical damage in lives and property in Da Nang city, Quang Nam province and some localities in the vicinity. Medical centres were completely devastated and they could not provide medical aid to the victims, especially those in isolated areas.

Under the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for humanitarian aid from the ASEAN members through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management. The EMTs joined hands with the medical staff in Da Nang city and Quang Nam province to set up mobile medical stations to save the victims.

Vietnamese, Japanese universities seek partnership

A high-level delegation from Ho Chi Minh City visited Japan’s Kyushu University on March 24 to discuss cooperation opportunities between the establishment and the Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCM).

At a meeting between representatives of the two universities, VNUHCM President Huynh Thanh Dat expressed his expectation for the sides’ stronger cooperation in the future.

He suggested the two sign collaborative pacts in flood prevention solutions for HCM City, innovative urban building, startup-innovation, high-tech farming, and academic exchange, and human resources training.

Vice President of Kyushu University Koichiro Watanabe said he hopes Vietnamese universities, including the VNUHCM, will become key partners of his university.

Founded in Fukuoka in 1911, Kyushu University is the 4th oldest university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. It is training about 2,200 international students, among which Vietnamese ranked 4th in terms of the number.

Da Nang seeks youth’s ideas in smart city development

Chairman of the People’s Committee of central Da Nang city Huynh Duc Tho chaired an open dialogue with more than 300 local young people on March 26 to learn first-hand their ideas to develop a smart city.

The dialogue also aimed to motivate the youth’s sense of responsibility and power in building the city.

Transforming Da Nang into a smart city is the city’s proper policy in an effort to improve local living standards and building a sustainably developing and worth-living city, said Duong Quan from the Youth Union of the Da Nang University of Technology.

Quan voiced the fact that little attention has been paid to creative ideas of students at local universities and colleges in order to translate them into reality. He urged the city to provide support to nurture and develop such ideas and apply them widely.

Mai Phuoc Tuan, an IT worker of Lien Chieu district, said commune and ward-based IT workers are key to the plan but most of them hold more than one position. As a result, it is very difficult to deploy smart applications at local level, he noted. Tuan suggested the city increase the number of IT workers for communes and wards and provide them with exclusive mechanism.

At the event, many governmental agencies proposed the city ask for the youth’s help in developing smart management software in terms of demography, land management, construction management and more.

Tho listened to all opinions and answered questions of young delegates. He vowed to address the problems and create all possible conditions for the young people to develop their ideas. He called the youth across the city to take part in building the city as a modern and worth-living one.

Binh Duong smart city to be built

Vietnam’s Becamex IDC Corporation and Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East (NNT East) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 26 to build a smart city in the southern province of Binh Duong. 

Under the MoU, NNT East and the Vietnam Technology and Communications Development Corporation – an affiliate of Becamex IDC will provide high-quality information technology and telecommunications services for clients in industrial parks and urban areas such as the Vietnam – Singapore Industrial Park in the province as well as localities nationwide.

Both sides will work together on workforce training, technology transfer, launching public wifi in Binh Duong new city and adjacent areas, and conducting a feasibility study on the building of the second data centre in service of local industrial and service development. 

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Thanh Liem said the smart city development project is a joint effort of the State, businesses and scientists. 

He added that Binh Duong has devised a strategic breakthrough programme for 2016-2021 with a focus on high-quality workforce training, technical and IT infrastructure.

The province has so far attracted over 29 billion USD in foreign direct investment, ranking second nationwide behind only Ho Chi Minh City.

The project is expected to turn the province into a trustworthy destination for investors at home and abroad.

Japanese cherry blossom festival in Hanoi extends to March 27

The Japanese cherry blossom festival in the framework of the Japan-Vietnam Culture Exchange Festival in Hanoi will be extended one more day to March 27 to meet the enjoyment of locals and visitors.

According to the event’s organising board, this is the third consecutive year the period for the cherry blossom display is extended in comparison to the initial schedule. 

After three days of opening, the festival attracted 100,000 visitors, the board said. 

Around 50 cherry blossom trees and 30,000 blossom branches are being displayed at Ly Thai To Square, Hoan Kiem district, along with various types of flowers planted in Vietnam.

The event also featured food pavilions and multi-cultural dances, including Yosakoi – a unique style of dance in Japan performed by large teams, and Vietnamese traditional art forms such as “xam” (blind wanderers’ music) and “ca tru” (ceremonial singing) as well as a conference to promote bilateral tourism and investment cooperation.

The festival is expected to help Vietnamese people to understand better about Japanese land, culture and people in addition to boosting collaboration in culture, tourism and economy.

Hanoi earns 349 million USD from land auctions

Hanoi earned 7.955 trillion VND (349 million USD) from auctioning land-use rights last year, pushing the total revenue it earned from land up to 37 trillion VND (1.62 billion USD).

Land-related revenue, including land leases, land fees and land auctions, accounted for 15 percent of the city’s total budget last year.

These figures were revealed at a recent meeting between Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha and the city leaders.

At the meeting, Director of the city’s Environment Department Nguyen Trong Dong reported that more than 1.53 million land plots, 98.74 percent of total land plots in the city, have now been declared and certificated. This indicates land users have provided information about the origins and use of the land, which authorities have reviewed and approved.

Certifications were granted to land users of over 196,000 land plots, the usage of which was declared for the first time last year.

Last year, the city authorities approved over 2,000 projects on land eviction, land allocation, land lease or changes in land-use purpose. 

The projects cover a total area of nearly 8,000ha.

More than 700ha of rice, protected forest and special use forest were shifted for other purposes.

Over 300ha of service land was allocated to nearly 39,000 families for management and use.

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said the city faced difficulties in granting land-use rights certificates to land users, mostly because of the unidentified origin of many land plots.

“Granting land-use right certificates is the issue of concern for which city authorities received residents’ complains most,” he said.

People usually complained about troubles they met when applying for land-use rights certifications at ward or commune people’s committees.

Minister Ha admitted that there remain problems as people seek land-use rights certificates.

He said that the ministry would send inspectors to cooperate with the Hanoi People’s Committee in detecting and punishing State employees that demand bribes or enact cumbersome and unnecessary procedures.

Ha said that the ministry would also work with the city to develop a set of environmental criteria for Hanoi to better control environmental pollution in the city.

He asked the city to co-operatively work with the UK’s Geology Department to collect data and complete a detailed map of the city’s underground terrain.

Hanoi plans to complete its land database and continue to update data of constructions, trees and underground works this year.

The ministry also asked for measures to address on-going violations on mineral mining activities in the capital city, especially illegal sand mining.

Chung said that the city intended to inspect 27 locations for safe sand mining. The sand exploitation at such locations would be opened for bidding, which is expected to generate 2.6 trillion VND (114 million USD) in the first year and 1.5 trillion VND every following year.

The funds are expected to be used for social investment as well as to address the illegal sand mining, he said.

Programme launched to call for support to TB patients

The health sector has called for the involvement of authorities at all levels to act for a Vietnam without tuberculosis (TB) patients at a ceremony held recently in Hanoi.

The event was organised by the National Lung Hospital in response to the World TB Day 2018 (March 24) themed “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world”.

“We need the participation of the whole political system. Relevant agencies and local people should be equipped with sufficient knowledge and skills to protect themselves by accessing to available modern TB prevention nationwide”, Director of the National Lung Hospital Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhung stressed.

This year, the National TB Prevention and Control Programme will expand TB screening to suspected drug-resistant tuberculosis cases and 100 percent of new AFB (+) TB patients. Thus, it will increase gene machines, ensure adequate cartridge and falcon supply and build TB patient management models, among others, he noted.

On the occasion, the programme launched a writing contest “Let’s together end TB in Vietnam” to raise public awareness of TB and measures to fight TB. Also, the TB Patients Support Fund came into sight to mobilise financial sources for the health sectors to provide more treatment opportunities for TB patients as part of efforts to minimise TB infection in the community. 

TB remains the leading cause of fatality in the world, leading to the deaths of nearly 2 million people every year, particularly resistant TB has threatened global health. In Vietnam, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that there are nearly 130,000 new cases of TB diagnosed each year, resulting in some 16,000 deaths in Vietnam in 2015.

Vietnam ranked 16h among 30 countries with the highest number of TB patients in the world. It also ranked 13th among 30 countries with the biggest burden of multi drug-resistant TB in the world. 

The country is a leading nation in terms of TB prevention efforts. The rate of successful treatment for multi drug resistant TB in Vietnam is over 70 percent, much higher than the world’s rate of 54 percent.

Thanks to early detection and effective treatment, TB-related deaths reduced 3,000 cases during 2015-2016. The country has set target to cut 30 percent of TB infected cases and 40 percent of TB deaths during 2015-2020.

Vietnam School Memorial Hall, a symbol of Vietnam – China friendship

Thousands of objects and photos of generations of Vietnamese students who studied in China in the 1950s and 1970s are kept at the Vietnam School Memorial Hall in the city of Guilin, Guangxi province, China. This is a testimony of the time-honored friendship between Vietnam and China.

The Vietnam School Memorial Hall stands in Guangxi Normal University in Guilin city, Guangxi province. Handwriting on the walls leading to the Memorial House show that this was a place where students of several Vietnamese schools were evacuated during Vietnam’s resistance wars against the French and American imperialists. 

More than 10,000 Vietnamese cadres were trained here during the war years.

The Vietnam School Memorial Hall was inaugurated on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic relations in 2010. 

Mr. Ruan Zhong Yuan, the Director of the Vietnam School Memorial Hall, said, “I’m so proud that the Hall has welcomed many Vietnamese leaders, including former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, former National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, and former Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan. The Hall is a memorial to the fine relations between Vietnam and China”.

The Hall displays many photos and objects such as clothes, backpacks, desks, and chairs used by Vietnamese students in China. Each object is associated with a moving memory. 

Mr. Yuan said the small stools were used by Vietnamese children who were looked after here while their parents were fighting in Vietnam. Many Vietnamese students who studied here later became senior State officials in Vietnam. 

He remembered doctor Deng Hai Dang who saved a Vietnamese student who fell into a pit of animal waste and a Beijing chef who cooked Vietnamese dishes here.

Ms. Luu Mei Nian, a teacher at Guangxi Normal University, said it was an unforgettable time in her teaching career when she taught at the Vietnamese Schools in Guangxi. 

Now, in her lessons, she still recalls the Vietnamese and Chinese teachers and students, who helped to foster friendship and solidarity between the two nations. “The Memorial Hall is important to Chinese and Vietnamese students. Generations of students feel pride and cherish the memory of that historic period, and honor their responsibility for developing the traditional relations between the two nations,” she said.

Since its establishment, the Vietnam School Memorial Hall has welcomed 50,000 visitors.

New Zealand education fairs in Hanoi and HCM City

More than 60 New Zealand educational institutions will be coming to Vietnam to meet prospective Vietnamese students at an education fair in HCM City on April 7 and another in Hanoi on April 8.

This year’s event is part of a continued effort to foster the Vietnam-New Zealand educational relationship, after the official visit of Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to New Zealand from March 11 to 14. 

The fairs are organized by Education New Zealand with the support of the New Zealand Embassy in Hanoi and the New Zealand Consulate General in HCM City.

New Zealand teachers and lecturers will demonstrate their country’s unique learning environments for both secondary and tertiary students.

The education quality and easier connections are amongst the reasons why the number of Vietnamese students choosing New Zealand as their international education destination has been growing steadily in recent years, with a 60% increase in the number of first-time Vietnamese student visas in 2017 compared to the previous year.

The New Zealand education providers will also be joined by a number of Vietnamese alumni who will be available to sit down with visitors to talk first-hand about their New Zealand education journey and share useful tips for living, working and travelling in New Zealand.

To register for the Education New Zealand Fairs and the simulated classrooms in HCMC and Hanoi, visit: www.studyinnewzealand.govt.nz/vn/nzfair

HCM City needs VND10 bln to build three new bus stations

According to the Public Transportation Management Center, Ho Chi Minh City is going to build three new bus stations in district of Tan Phu and Cu Chi in order to meet travelling demand of 635 million passengers this year.

In particular, the Tan Phu bus station will be located at No. 731 Truong Chinh Street, Tay Thanh ward, Tan Phu district with total area of 5,507 square meters. 

The construction is expected to finish after nearly three months since the groundbreaking day with total investment of VND 6.5 billion. 

Meanwhile, the Tan Quy bus station covering area of 1,156 square meters will be near the Provincial Highway 8 and Sen Hong street, Trung An commune, Cu Chi district. It will finish after four months with total investment of VND 1.9 billion. 

The An Nhon Tay bus station will be built on area of 600 square meters at An Nhon Tay street, commune of An Nhon Tay, Cu Chi district with total capital of VND 1.3 billion. 

The constructions will contribute to attracting public transport usage of people, and reduce traffic jams and accidents in the city.

Community project preserves weaving craft in Ha Giang province

Four foreign and seven Vietnamese young volunteers gathered for a community project to support linen weaving in the craft village of Lung Tam, Quan Ba district, in the mountainous northern province of Ha Giang.

The project, entitled ‘Action for Lung Tam’, aims to build a proper facility for the Lung Tam linen weaving cooperative, contributing to empowering women and providing sustainable development for the traditional craft village. The project has been implemented since May 2016 by seven young Vietnamese people, including Nguyen Huyen Chau as the coordinator, and four foreigners including architects Alexander Eriksson Furunes from Norway and Sudarshan Khadka from the Philippines, social enterprise consultant Rémi Gontier from France and independent filmmaker Eric Roache from the US.

Lung Tam linen weaving cooperative of the Mong ethnic minority people was formed over 16 years ago. Their products are not only popular throughout the country but are also exported to international markets. The cooperative’s founder Vang Thi Mai has made great efforts to develop the project, gaining impressive achievements. Traditionally, Mong women were not allowed to go to work; therefore, Mai and the other members tried for many years to persuade the locals to change their mindset. As a result, the number of the cooperative’s members is now 130 and the cooperative has improved the lives of the Mong women.

The young volunteers were impressed by Vang Thi Mai and her colleagues who have greatly contributed to the cooperative’s development. Huyen Chau shared: “The project’s formation did not originate completely from pity. We really respect the efforts of the local people in Lung Tam and treasure the values that they have preserved and promoted”.

Talking about the ‘Action for Lung Tam’, she said that attending IATSS Forum’s programme on sustainable community development in Japan in 2016, the lessons shared by Kobe city and Mie province helped her to realise that a community would develop sustainably if the locals could directly benefit from the fruits of their labour, as well as being entitled to self-determination and joint responsibility to maintain their property and material facilities.

Three important architects in the team have lots of experience in designing community projects. Alexander Eriksson Furunes from Norway has joined the building of several works under the method of ‘co-creation’ with local communities in India, the UK and China. His companion Sudarshan Khadka stood side by side with him in the successful construction of the project ‘Studying Centre’ for Tacloban city in the Philippines, which was struck by the super typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Vietnamese architect Nguyen Cong Hiep is one of the key members of the project. He was the founder of the Community Architect – Arts Library’ in Hanoi (also called Co-AA Library Hanoi), as well as working with Huyen Chau to implement several community projects such as building schools for children in 2013.

In particular, during the process of implementing the project, the team has encouraged local people to join most activities, aiming to take advantage of their experience. They have come to Lung Tam many times and worked with the linen weaving cooperative’s members on different issues for the project. The local people were eager to measure the actual area of their workspace as well as design as architects. Through this method, the volunteers can study the locals’ habits of living and production as well as their demands. In contrast, participating in the project, the locals are able to learn more about the facility. Grasping the way to build the facility, the cooperative members would be more active in using or repairing it afterward.

After working here, the volunteers realised that they were inspired by the local people who were always willing to learn and cooperate. Whenever visiting the village and listening to stories about the locals’ lives, the volunteer team’s members developed a stronger attachment to the land.

HCM City rule in the pool, for now

HCM City leads the 14 teams of the National Swimming Championship in Huế City yesterday.

After four days of competition, the team has won 12 golds, seven silvers and six bronzes. Đà Nẵng are second with nine golds, three silvers and two bronzes, while Quảng Bình are third with six golds, eight silvers and three bronzes.

Trần Duy Khôi of HCM City won gold in the men’s 100m individual medley in a time of 55.57secs. Trần Hưng Nguyên of the Military and Nguyễn Ngọc Triển of Hải Phòng took the silver and bronze medal with times of 58.06secs and 58.21secs, respectively.

In the men’s 100m freestyle, Lương Jeremie of HCM also bagged gold with a time of 52.19secs. Bùi Phương Nam of Đồng Nai and Phạm Thanh Nguyên of An Giang were the runners-up.

In the men’s 200m butterfly, the gold went to Hoàng Quý Phước of Đà Nẵng, 2015 Southeast Asian Games gold medallist. The 25-year-old finished first with a time of 1:58.68.

Nguyễn Ngọc Huỳnh of Đồng Nai received silver with a time of 1:59.07 and Nguyễn Huy Hoàng of Quảng Bình took bronze in 1:59.15.

In the women’s 100m butterfly, Lê Thị Mỹ Thảo of Bình Phước defeated Ngô Thị Ngọc Quỳnh of Quảng Bình and Trần Ngọc Thi of HCM City to triumph in a time of 1:01.60.

The annual event wraps up today.

HCM City tops Dunlop Cup rankings

Nguyễn Phan Yên Tích of HCM City’s Hưng Thịnh Club won the girls’ U16 category at the first youth tennis championship, Dunlop Cup, which concluded in Hà Nội on Sunday.

The overseas Vietnamese player defeated Nguyễn Thị Phương of Hà Nội in a match that saw 1.80m-tall Tích put up a strong fight to win 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The HCM City team also triumphed in two singles event: the girls’ U12 was won by Ngô Hồng Hạnh, while Dương Thiên Quang won the boys’ U14 event. In the doubles pool, HCM City, the national tennis hub, won all four categories of girls’ and boys’ U14 and U16.

With seven golds, HCM City topped the ranking charts.

In another final, Từ Lê Khánh Duy of Becamex Bình Dương beat Tất Thái Nguyên of HCM City 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (6) in the U16 boys’ singles.

Both of them are members of the national junior team which finished third at the recent Junior Davis Cup pre-qualifier in Sri Lanka.

Earlier, Trịnh Vũ Khang of Thái Nguyên won the U10 boys’ singles, while Tống Thị Bích Trâm of Tây Ninh won the girls’ singles. Đặng Trần Quốc Thái of the military team won the U12 boy’ singles, and Lý Minh Anh of Bắc Giang triumphed in the U14 girls’ singles. 

Viettel win friendly tournament

Viettel beat Hà Nội 2-0 to clinch the trophy in an international friendly U15 football tournament between Việt Nam and Japan in Hà Nội on Sunday.

With two wins and one loss, Viettel, Thanh Hóa and Japan had six points each.

Owing to better goal difference, Viettel became champions. Japan came second, followed by Thanh Hoá.

In another youth football match, the Promotion Fund of Vietnamese Football Talents Football Club (PVF) finished sixth in the U15 Asean Dream Football Tournament 2018 (U15 ADFT ) in Thailand on Sunday.

On the last day, the Vietnamese representative lost 4-5 in penalty shootout to Changrai United of the hosts after the match ended 1-1 in official time.

Earlier, in the group round, PVF won all the three matches to enter the quarter-finals, where they lost 0-1 to Assumption United. In the play-off match, to determine the fifth to eighth position, they beat Pattaya United 2-0.

The U15 ADFT is an annual tournament for ASEAN teams and Japan held in Thailand. This year, Việt Nam sent only PVF as the representative. As the host, Thailand had 12 teams. There were six teams from Japan and one from Malaysia.

VUG Dance Battle 2018 starts in Hà Nội

The Việt Nam University Games (VUG) Dance Battle 2018 started in Hà Nội on Sunday.

The event attracted many teams in the capital representing the University of Transport and Communications and the Academy of Finance, as well as rookies from the Academy of Journalism and Communication, Hà Nội University of Business and Technology and the People’s Police Academy.

On the opening day, defending champions Foreign Trade University lost to the Banking Academy of Việt Nam, considered a strong candidate for the title this year. Thăng Long University were defeated by the National University of Civil Engineering.

The event drew thousands of students in Hà Nội to cheer for their teams at the Hà Nội University of Science and Technology’s Gymnasium.

Launched in 2013, VUG is one of the largest sporting events for students in futsal and freestyle dance.