Fire destroys 1,400sq m factory

A fire early this morning destroyed a 1,400sq m foam rubber mattress factory in HCM City's Binh Tan District, the local fire office said.

The blaze took nearly 100 firemen five hours to stamp out.

A director of the company that owns the factory Le Thi Cam Tu he said the cost of the damage was estimated in the billions of dong.

No human loss was reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

HCM City aims for major growth by 2020

HCM City hopes to more than double its average income by 2020 and triple it by 2025, according to a master plan approved by the People's Council yesterday, May 13.

HCM City hopes to more than double its average income by 2020 and triple it by 2025, according to a master plan approved by the People's Council yesterday, May 13.

From US$3,600 last year it is expected to go up to $8,430-8,822 by the end of the decade and to around $14,000 by 2025.

However, the 2025 target of $13,900 would only be marginally higher than the 2010 figures for Jakarta and Bangkok.

These figures were released in a report by Nguyen Van Dong, head of the city People's Council's Economy and Budgets Department, at the 9th meeting of the People's Council yesterday.

The Council approved the income growth targets of 10-10.5 per cent for the 2011- 2015 period set in the master plan.

"These growth rates are reasonable," he said.

The Council urged the municipal People's Committee to give priority to improving the administrative work, and called for measures to strengthen social welfare, saying a master plan for development "must aim to improve living standards".

The committee should tweak the housing policy, giving priority to re-settlement projects, relocating people living along rivers and canals, renovating run-down tenements, and providing housing for the poor.

Swallows free of bird flu in Ninh Thuan

The southern central province of Ninh Thuan officially announced yesterday that swallows raised in Phan Rang-Thap Cham City's Dao Long District are free of bird flu.

Over 4,000 swallows raised by the Yen Viet Trading and Service Company Limited in Thong Nhat Street died in late March. Samples of the dead birds were found to contain the H5N1 virus.

The provincial People's Committee announced the epidemic on April 19 and took measures to disinfect the breeding area.

Asia-Pacific law schools meet in HCM City

How to address challenges law institutions face in the 21st century is being discussed at a May 13-14 forum in HCM City.

Representatives from 25 law schools in the Asia-Pacific region will exchange management and training experiences and examine ways to improve the quality of training in the region.

They will debate a project to standardise law training at universities in the Asia-Pacific region and establish a network of law lecturers.

Nguyen Tien Dung, Director of the Economics and Law University in HCM City, said he hopes Vietnam will learn from countries’ experience in law formulation.

Dung emphasised that more attention should be paid to training lawyers at universities, especially the training methods, to help equip students with up-to-date knowledge and improve their public speaking capacity to meet the increasing demands of their profession.

The forum is held by the International Association of Law Schools (IALS) forum - a non-profit organisation founded in 2005 with a membership comprising educational institutions, associations, and legal educators across the world. It holds annual meetings with different themes in member countries.

State offers insurance help for those near poverty line

Some people in households described as "near-poor" will have their health-insurance fees paid out by the State Budget. This follows a decision recently issued by the Government.

According to Decision No705/QD-TTg issued last week, full support will be provided to those who have narrowly escaped from poverty line in recent years.

The State Budget will also cover all health insurance fees for near-poor households in the country's 61 poorest districts according to Resolution 30a/2008/NQ-CP issued on December 27, 2008.

Bui Thi Dat from a near-poor household in Tam Cuong Commune, Tam Nong District, northern Phu Tho Province said that she had never thought of buying health insurance because she hadn't had enough money.

Dat still faces many difficulties despite escaping from the poverty list three years ago.

According to a Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs survey on poor households in 2011, the country had more than 1.53 million near-poor households.

The health insurance rate of the near-poor group was 35 per cent of the country's total 6 million people of near-poor status.

The Ministry of Health's insurance department deputy director Le Van Kham told Viet Nam News yesterday that about 700,000 near-poor people would benefit from the decision.

Remaining near-poor households will still receive 70 per cent of health insurance fees from the State Budget. This means they still have to pay 30 per cent of health insurance of VND170,000 (US$8) a year.

Vietnamese, French obstetricians meet in Hanoi

Vietnamese and French doctors, scientists and experts gathered in Hanoi on May 13 to attend a Vietnam-France Conference on Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said that the event is an opportunity for scientists from both nations to update their knowledge and share experiences in obstetrics and genecology.

He quoted a recent survey on infertility, saying 48 percent of respondents do not know women aged 40 have less chance of pregnancy than those aged 30, 75 percent do not know obesity can reduce fertility, and 60 percent do not know women without menstruation have no reproductive ability.

Notably, he said 83 percent of Vietnamese women have no doubt about their husbands' fertility, and 50 percent of women feel that their husbands’ parenting has greater influence on their readiness.

Nearly 30 reports on obstetrics, genecology, prenatal diagnoses, reproductive health and other related issues were delivered at the conference.

The event marked the 20th anniversary of the signing of a cooperative agreement on health between the two nations.  

New projects seek to remove illiteracy

Around 1.2 million people aged 15-60 from 14 underprivileged provinces are expected to escape illiteracy by 2020.

The plan should raise the literacy level in those provinces to 94 per cent, and 98 per cent nationwide.

The project aims to remove illiteracy by 2020 under a plan recently signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

The provinces include An Giang, Bac Kan, Cao Bang, Gia Lai, Ha Giang, Kon Tum and Yen Bai.

Under the project, the number includes 300,000 ethnic minority people, raising their literacy rate to 90 per cent by 2020.

According to Nhan, classes for the deaf, ethnic minorities and visually impaired people would be set up.

The Ministry of Education and Training has been assigned to compile anti-illiteracy programmes for these groups.

The ministry has also been instructed to improve the programmes in line with regular high school programmes after 2015.

The project is being funded by the National Target Programme on Education and Training.

Improperly dumped mud retrieved from river

Authorities in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau dredged and collected 18,000cu.m of mud which was improperly poured into the Cai Mep-Thi Vai River by contractors who were mending and dredging the water surface of Posco in the river port.

The mud was transported to regulated areas by 26 ships.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA