President honours former prisoners of Con Dao who fought for independence

President Truong Tan Sang on Friday, April 26, presented the "Hero of the People's Armed Forces" title to a collective of revolutionaries who were once jailed in the Con Dao Island prison.

The island off the coast of the southern province of Ba Ria- Vung Tau has been well-known for a notorious prison where those who struggled for national independence during the French and US invasion were kept by foreign imperialists and puppet regimes.

 

State President Truong Tan Sang visits former Con Dao prisoners on Friday in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. (Photo: VNS)
 

He also presented the title to Phan Trong Binh, former Vice Secretary of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial Party Committee, and the posthumous title to relatives of Pham Quoc Sac, Nguyen Minh and Le Van Mot, who together with Binh, were prominent fighters in the prison during the struggle for national independence.

At the ceremony, Sang, along with other Party and State leaders and 350 former Con Dao prisoners from 35 cities and provinces nationwide, recounted the staunch spirit that helped the imprisoned revolutionaries withstand the brutal torture at Con Dao Prison.

Built in 1862 by the French colonialists, Con Dao Prison was turned into the largest "Hell on Earth" in Indochina as it was the place where about 20,000 imprisoned Vietnamese revolutionaries were tortured to death from 1930 to 1975.

The prison's history reflects the heroic epic of the country's struggle and highlights the patriotism, dedicated fighting spirit and endless loyalty of generations of revolutionaries, who were jailed physically but not mentally.

Inmates at the prison set up their own revolutionary theory and practice training schools run by such outstanding Vietnamese leaders as late President Ton Duc Thang, late Party General Secretary Le Duan, and late Party General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh.

In March, a certificate honouring the prison as a special national relic was handed over to the authorities of southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

The title is a confirmation of the historical relic's great value, contributing to educating younger generations on the nation's heroic history.

Rice aid combats skin disease epidemic

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Ministry of Finance to provide 450 tonnes of rice to support residents in central Quang Ngai Province's Ba To and Son Ha districts suffering from a mysterious skin disease.

The PM instructed the province to support residents in need of the rice for six months, adding that the Government would extend the support period if necessary.

According to the Health Ministry, the mysterious skin disease that appeared in Quang Ngai since April 2011 resulted from aflatoxin contamination, a toxin produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus, which can be caused by eating mouldy rice.

The disease has affected 226 people in the province, with 58 recurrent cases.

Green growth strategy under review

A seminar on implementing Vietnam’s national green growth strategy was held in Da Nang City on April 26.

Participants at the meeting included representatives from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the National Assembly Science and Technology Committee and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Delegates at the event were told about the main advantages of green growth, particularly its contribution to restructuring the national economy. They were also updated on research results related to improving energy efficiency.

Vietnam is currently implementing its 2011-2015 socio-economic development plan and strategy for the 2011-2020 period. The country recognises that green growth is essential for realising its sustainable development goals and increasing the quality of its growth.

Prime Minister Dung approved the national strategy for green growth last year.

Weasel coffee perks up tourism

The first farm producing the famed weasel coffee in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has opened its doors.

Visitors can now see the entire process of making the coffee with the help of domesticated civet cats.

The two-hectare farm in Hoang Hoa Tham Street, Da Lat City, has about 120 of the animals, thanks to the permission of the local forest management agency.

It can now produce an average of 500 kilograms of weasel coffee every year.

According to the farm's owner Nguyen Minh Quoc, after every coffee crop, the civets are fed with highest quality Arabica coffee beans, which pass through their systems almost undigested.

These are collected, cleaned and processed for sale.

Experts say the enzymes inside weasels' stomach give the undigested coffee beans a delightful taste and distinctive aroma.

Quoc said the coffee had been recognised by the Pasteur Institute of Da Lat and the Nuclear Research Institute for good quality and hygiene.

The weasel coffee production not only popularises the variety, but also provides a new sight-seeing venue for tourists.

Australia backs migrant workers

About 1,000 Vietnamese migrant workers will benefit directly from an Australian Government project supporting the rights of workers who have migrated from rural to urban areas in Viet Nam.

The project is worth more than VND2 billion (US$103,000). The funding will support a group of HCM City-based non-government organisations to provide migrant workers with legal services and information about their rights.

Chevron supports school development

An energy group led by the US-based Chevron company will help to upgrade schools and provide scholarships for poor students in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Region.
The activities are part of a US$150,000 programme agreed with the National Fund For Vietnamese Children on Friday.

The programme will help renovate four schools Ca Mau, Kien Giang, Bac Lien and Hau Giang provinces, as well as providing new facilities for the Phuoc Thoi Kindergarten in Can Tho City later this year.

More than 3,000 students have been provided scholarships by the group since 2009.

Gambling den found in Hoa Binh

A huge gambling-den was discovered on Friday during a raid carried out by over 120 policemen in Hoa Binh Province's Hoa Son Commune.

The gambling-den, comprised of a temporary tent on a solitary hill, contained a total of 59 gamblers, including 30 females. All were seized.

The police also confiscated more than VND500 million (US$23,800), six automobiles and dozens of motorbikes.

Nguyen Van Tai, 40, is the ringleader of the den which opens for two sessions each day, 11am-3pm and 10pm til late.

Director of the Criminal Police Department Ho Sy Tien said the den's scale showed that its ringleader and gamblers were running a highly professional operation.

The gamblers contacted each other via walkie-talkie and used automobiles as barricades to prevent strangers from entering the den.

Each gambler joining the gambling ring had to pay between VND500,000-1 million ($23-47).

Investigations by the Criminal Police Department found that the den had been established for many years, continuously changing its location to avoid police detection.

New cultivation technique boosts farmers' incomes

Farmers in the southeastern province of Dong Nai are earning higher profits by planting two rice crops and then one corn crop on the same field over a 12-month period.

Tran Thi Minh Thao of Lang Minh commune in Xuan Loc District said that farmers began this practice 13 years ago after experiencing poor rice harvests during the winter-spring crop when there was little rain.

Since that time, the commune has expanded this practice to a total of 450ha of rice fields.

Most farms in Lang Minh's Tay Minh hamlet have been yielding about nine tonnes of corn per hectare, according to Thao.

Farmer Ly Phat Sinh of Tay Minh hamlet said that higher incomes had helped many farmers build concrete houses and buy motorbikes and televisions.

Tran Quang, chairman of the Xuan Tien Union of High-Yield Clubs in Xuan Loc District, said the revenue earned from corn was two times higher than that of rice.

Rice crops yield up to VND35 million ($1,600) per hectare per crop, while corn brings up to VND70 million per hectare per crop.

Tran Hai Son, director of Dong Nai Province's Agricultural Extension Centre, said the winter-spring corn crop had brought other benefits, including the prevention of rice-disease outbreaks and more fertile soil.

Corn cultivation on rice fields during the winter-spring crop in Dong Nai Province now totals 8,800ha. In 2000, it was 2,900ha, and in 2005, 5,000ha.

Son said the Agricultural Extension Centre would expand the rotating corn/rice crop model of cultivation to other rural and remote areas in the province.

Over the last decade, the centre has offered high-yield corn varieties to farmers so they could increase productivity and earn higher incomes.

Dong Nai, the country's largest animal and poultry producer, has great need for corn.

The province, which has the largest corn cultivation area in the south, has a total of about 60,000ha of corn and corn-rice fields.

Conference focuses on stem cells

The research and application of stem cells in medicine were the main issues discussed at a national conference held in the southern province of Kien Giang from April 25-
27.

The conference, the second of its kind, attracted nearly 300 doctors and scientists nationwide, as well as foreign experts from Germany and South Korea.

In Viet Nam, stem cell research and application have been carried out since the 1990s. In 1995, the country conducted the first stem cell transplant for a 26-year-old patient with blood cancer.

Today, many hospitals have applied the technology in health treatment, including Hue Central Hospital, National Paediatric Hospital, Hospital 108 and August 19 Hospital.

Experts called for the building of a national programme on stem cell research with the participation of many organisations and medical establishments to secure the supply of stem cells from donors for transplants.

Protecting forests still uphill battle

More than 450 instances of illegal deforestation were discovered in the first three months of this year, according to the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry.

In Bac Bien Ho Forest in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai, forest fire destroyed 160ha of wooded land.

While as many as 200ha of forest were destroyed, this represents a decrease from last year, when 220 more instances destroyed even more forest.

During an online Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development conference earlier this week that connected 63 provinces and cities, deputy director of the administration Nguyen Ba Ngai said that by the end of March, only eight provinces had completed afforestation plans – 4 per cent of the goal.

Nguyen Cong Nong, deputy director of the Tuyen Quang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, complained that the province's afforestation efforts faced many challenges, as the State budget allocated only VND15 million (US$700) for a three-year period of work.

Local households also cannot achieve successful afforestation due to the lack of funds because they are not allowed to borrow capital with preferential interest.

Nong proposed hiring more forest managers. At present, the province has 280 forest rangers – nearly 200 short of the amount required by Government regulations.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat blamed province and city authorities' irresponsibility for the violations in forest protection.

Some provinces did not have enough manpower and had not found sources of funding for forest protection besides the State budget, he said.

Coming ministry inspections will focus on the central region, where there is the highest risk of forest fires.

Phat asked relevant agencies to speed up afforestation and raise awareness about forest protection.

Medi-Pharm 2013 to open next week

The international Vietnam MEDI-PHARM 2013 will be held in Hanoi on May 8-15 with the participation of 350 pharmacy groups and enterprises from 30 countries and territories, organisers VIETFAIR said at a press briefing on April 26.

On display will be herbals, medicines, health equipment, package, modern machines and technologies for hospitals, and many others, VIETFAIR said.

During the 20th fair, other special exhibitions on international hospital in Vietnam, dental and China Medi-Pharm 2013 will be held, the organiser said.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA