Chủ Nhật, 19 tháng 10, 2014

Social News 19/10

Local news sites remain blocked
Users remain blocked from the websites of Vietnamese newspapers with platforms hosted by the Vietnam Communications Corporation (VCCorp) since October 13.
The newspapers include Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times) at , Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourers) at and Gia Dinh Xa Hoi (Family and Society). Other company websites have the same issues.
Nguyen The Tan, deputy general director of VCCorp, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the breakdown of its Data Center system has resulted in the websites' inaccessibility.
He said the company was prioritising the repair of the newspaper websites to enable them to re-open.
Asked about the reasons for the breakdown, Tan said the company needed to check further and verify, although it specified errors in the Data Center system. He added that it was possible the sites were hacked.
Vietnam, Australia promote cooperation in science and technology
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Centre for Vietnam Science and Technology Internationalisation Promotion under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Flinder University, Australia in Hanoi on October 17.
According to the MOU, the two sides agreed to cooperate on training and exchanging staff at research and technological institutions, participating in research projects and organising joint workshops to promote science and technology.
At the signing ceremony, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Cong Tac said he believes the five-year MOU will help further bilateral cooperation on science and technology. He added that the two sides should put forward specific measures and projects to ensure the effective implementation.
Vietnam-US Friendship Association’s efforts praised
The Vietnam-US Friendship Association (VUFA) has made significant contributions to increasing mutual understanding and exchange between the people of Vietnam and the US, said President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Vu Xuan Hong.
Hong made the remarks at a seminar in Hanoi on October 17, which focused on the role that people-to-people diplomacy plays in the Vietnam-US ties.
He noted that VUFA, which was established on October 17, 1945, was the first bilateral friendship association connecting Vietnamese people and those in the rest of the world.
Hong also urged the association to exert more efforts for the growth of bilateral ties, especially in the context that the two countries are celebrating the 20 th anniversary of normalisation of their relations next year.
Besides holding activities to further foster mutual understanding between the two peoples, the association should continue working closely with US partners to deal with matters left by the war, including issues related to Agent Orange/dioxin and unexploded ordnances.
According to VUFA Chairman Nguyen Tam Chien, the people-to-people ties have contributed significantly to strengthening the solidarity and mutual understanding between the people of Vietnam and the US during Vietnam’s struggle for national independence and freedom.
The association also played a remarkable role in the process of normalising bilateral relations through facilitating exchanges and cooperation between social and people’s organisations in various fields.
During the seminar, participants also gave their ideas for the association to help promote the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the US for the interest of both peoples.
Filipino pirates attack Vietnamese fishing vessel
Two Vietnamese fishermen were shot when Filipino pirates attempted to seize their vessel near Kudat town in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the Northern Tip of Borneo at approximately 9 a.m. on October 14.
The remaining crew members were unharmed but “very shook up” by the traumatic ordeal.
Police report the seamen on the ship were attempting to flee their attackers when the shots were fired seriously wounding the two who were rushed to nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Doctors report they are now in stable condition.
At present, patrols vessels, the Royal Malaysian Navy and law enforcement agencies are actively searching for the gunmen, according to Malaysian media reports.
Vietnam convicts Cambodians of illegal money transport
The People’s Court of southern Tay Ninh province on October 16 sentenced two Cambodian nationals to a total of five years in prison for illegal cross-border money transport.
According to the indictment, the two offenders, born in 1955 and 1993, were caught by competent agencies on July 7, 2014 illegally transporting 81,900 USD from Vietnam to Cambodia via Xa Mat border gate.
They admitted that they were hired by four other Cambodians with a pay of 5 USD per 10,000 USD.
World Disaster Report focuses on culture and risk
The Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC), in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, today released the 2014 World Disaster Report.
The report focuses on culture and risks in relation to disaster prevention and advocates solutions that will address often-neglected factors and related human behaviour. These factors strongly affect the way in which people interpret and behave in relation to the risks they face.
There is an urgent need to ensure that humanitarian organisations, governments and donors recognise these human dynamics and take cultural differences into account, so that they do not have unrealistic approaches to disaster risk reduction.
"The report aims to bring these cultural issues into the open for discussion so they are better incorporated in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation," said VNRC Chairman Nguyen Hai Duong at the event.
"The report will also help strengthen awareness and collaboration of organisations, institutions and mass media on disaster risk reduction, and rehabilitation, and global climate change adaptation," added Duong.
The report explores the different ways in which culture affects disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, and how disasters and risks influence culture. It examines why people choose to live in areas prone to hazards, and how culture and beliefs enable them to live with the risks they face.
The World Disaster Report calls for a more comprehensive, people-centric approach in order to ensure that future disaster risk reduction interventions are culturally sensitive, more acceptable to local people and therefore, more effective.
VNRC statistics said that natural disasters affected the lives of about 100 million people world-wide in 2013, of which 87 per cent live in Asia.
Viet Nam reported 14 floods and storms last year - the highest during the past decade - that affected the lives of 4.13 million people.
EVN successfully completes submarine cable projects
The Vietnam Electricity Group inaugurated three submarine cable projects to transit power from the inland to island districts from October 2013 to September 2014. This was marked as a great achievement of Vietnam’s power industry, the Vietnam Economic News reported.
With the three submarine cable projects to Ly Son, Phu Quoc and Co To islands, the EVN has completed distribution, management and trading of electricity to 8 out of 12 island districts of the country.
These island districts are far from the mainland and have strategic positions in terms of security, national defence and economic development in the northern, central and southern regions.
According to Deputy Chairman of EVN Nguyen Tan Loc, the power supply projects to island districts received strong supports from the government, ministries and sectors and localities to complete these projects as soon as possible.
To complete these projects, the EVN had to deal with a tonne of work ranging from capital to technical issues.
The success of submarine cable projects to island districts proved EVN’s management capability. The EVN chose suitable solutions on raising capital, selecting relevant technical solutions, and conducting effective project management.
According to representative from EVN’s Sales Department, one of the difficulties when implementing those projects was raising capital and looking for technical solutions. The islands are tens of kilometres away from the mainland shores with complicated terrains, deep sea and unfavourable weather conditions. Furthermore, undertaking projects in the sea require experienced and skilful contractors and only a few contractors could meet these standards. Therefore, there were few options and the investment costs were usually very high.
Nguyen Thanh, the Deputy General Director of the Central Power Corporation (EVN CPC) said that although bidding packages were assigned to contractors and electricity companies, EVN CPC still had to make coordination and supervised to make sure that the works went smoothly and met quality and progress requirements. As this was the first time that EVN CPC acted as the investor of a project using new techniques, it had to study and learnt experience from previous projects and worked out plans to tackle rising issues during the construction process.
2014 int’l conference on communications, technologies kicks off
The 2014 International Conference on Advanced Technologies for Communications (ATC) was officially launched in Hanoi on October 15.
It takes places every year and is organised by the Radio Electronics Association of Vietnam (REV) under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).
The event acts as a platform for scientific and technological exchange between Vietnamese and international scientists and engineers in the fields of electronics and communications and enables experts to present their latest research.
This year’s conference features nearly 300 scientific articles by approximately 700 researchers from 26 countries in Asia, Europe and America in numerous fields, including technological trends, the future generation of mobile networks (4G and 5G), and information security and network systems.
The conference ends on October 17.
Cambodia welcomes Nhan Dan newspaper’s office
Nhan Dan (People) newspaper, the central organ of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), launched its representative office in Cambodia on October 16.
The opening ceremony was attended by Cambodian Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith and Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Thach Du.
Speaking at the event, Nhan Dan Editor-in-Chief of Thuan Huu newspaper expressed his gratitude to the Cambodian and Vietnamese leaders and relevant agencies for actively supporting the opening of the office.
He also stressed the role of the representative office in strengthening the traditional friendship and solidarity between the two nations and their people.
The office is expected to increase the dissemination of information on Vietnamese Party and State policies and follow socio-economic development in both countries, he added.
On his part, Minister Khieu Kanharith reaffirmed the time-honoured bilateral relationship, notably in the field of media, and expressed his gratitude for the support of Vietnam’s press agencies, including Nhan Dan newspaper, the Vietnam News Agency and Vietnam Television, for their Cambodian counterparts.
Furthermore, he pledged to facilitate the office’s operations with a hope that Nhan Dan’s Cambodian outlet will help boost the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.
This is the fifth overseas representative office of Nhan Dan newspaper, after France, China, Thailand and Laos.
Alarm bell over health of local firms
Economic expert Le Dang Doanh has said it is time to ring an alarm bell over the declining health of Vietnamese enterprises and that the Government should extend further help to them to ride out tough times.
Speaking to the Daily on the 10th celebration of the Vietnam Businesspeople Day on October 13, the former director of the Central Institute for Economic Management said enterprises are in the most pessimistic mood since the country adopted doi moi (renovation) policy less than three decades ago.
Doanh was concerned that the real number of inactive enterprises is much bigger than 200,000 as reported by relevant agencies over the past four years because a lot of firms have not announced their closings due to debt problems.
Between January and September, over 70,000 companies were dissolved, went bankrupt or halted operation compared to over 52,500 firms newly established in the period, according to a report of the Ministry of Finance.
However, the General Statistics Office reported that there were over 48,300 firms dissolved, halting operations and filing for closures in January-September, a year-on-year rise of 13.8%.
Entrepreneurs have been disoriented and felt lost. For instance, land prices have advanced by 2.4 times this year, causing challenges to businesses, Doanh said.
In a recent meeting between enterprises and the government of Quang Tri Province, a businesswoman cried that her firm could not compete against Thai enterprises in exports to Laos given the current policies applicable in Vietnam.
Besides, local enterprises cannot compete with foreign firms with a tax payment time of 872 hours a year, versus an average level of 172 hours in ASEAN nations, he added.
Sub-licenses have mushroomed after 286 licenses were eliminated owing to the 1999 Enterprise Law. Certain civil servants wanted new licensing requirements to take bribes from enterprises, Doanh assumed.
“I suggest associations and entrepreneurs raise their voice to help make the amended Enterprise Law a breakthrough in structural reform and business environment improvement,” Doanh said.
Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expy set to get going next year
A much-awaited public-private partnership project to build the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway will start rolling next September for completion in 2019, the Transport Ministry said after a meeting with the World Bank on October 13.
The WB delegation and the Transport Ministry at a working session on October 13 afternoon reviewed the project preparation and finally agreed on its timeline. It will be the first-ever infrastructure project to be executed under the PPP format.
The Transport Ministry is now selecting the second investor via competitive bid for building the 100km expressway stretching from Dau Giay Junction in Dong Nai Province to Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan Province.
Bitexco has been chosen by the Government as the first investor, which will contribute 60% of the cost, while the second investor will pay the remainder.
Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said as the expressway is the first project of its kind to be developed under the PPP format, there may be many problems surfacing during the implementation process.
However, the investors would be offered many incentives to build the street, he said.
“The bid winner will be offered a grant from the World Bank. In addition, the investors will not have to look for commercial loans from banks, as the global lender will offer a soft loan for the project,” Dong said.
Site clearance for the project will be assumed by the Government. It is estimated that the Government as a stakeholder in the project will pay some US$257 million out of the project’s total cost estimated at US$750 million.
The expressway once in place will help shorten the traveling time between HCMC and other southeastern provinces, and serve as a strong catalyst for industrial and tourism development in localities the expressway runs through. It will also help ease traffic on National Highway 1A.
Climate change to make storms more disastrous
The number of people killed by storms in the country has edged down in recent years but storms are forecast to be more damaging in the future due to extreme weather patterns, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.
Speaking at an online conference on how to respond to storms held by the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control in collaboration with the National Committee for Search and Rescue last week, Hai said storm fatalities have dropped by half compared to 20 years ago.
“There were as many as 500 deaths a year caused by storms 20 years ago. Now, the number has slipped to a little more than 200 a year,” said the deputy prime minister.
More powerful storms are likely to emerge due to ongoing climate change and global warming. Citing Super Typhoon Haiyan that swept through Tacloban City, Philippines in November 2013 and killed up to 6,200 people, Hai said preparations of local authorities are in fact inadequate for such disasters.
Huynh Thi Lan Huong, deputy director of the Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, told the conference that storms in many regions across the country are forecast to be more damaging. The likelihood of rising water levels is also expected to occur more.
The deputy prime minister at the conference ordered localities to check and upgrade necessary infrastructure for cushioning the impact of storms and providing shelters, as well as improve the weather forecasting capabilities.
Campaign launched for the poor in Hanoi
A total of VND52.433 billion (US$2.5 million) was raised to support needy households in Hanoi at the launch of the campaign “Days for the Poor” Month on October 15.
The campaign, which lasts until November 18, is to call for more people to join hands in helping the needy people.
More than 30,000 houses have been built and repaired for needy families thanks to financial assistance from the city’s Fund for the Poor for the past 14 years, while the figure in the first nine months of 2014 was 500.
In 2013, the Fund mobilised VND45.121 billion (US$2.15 million) to help build, repair more than 700 houses, to provide over 5,000 scholarships and financial assistance to the poor for medical check-ups and production.
Additionally, many businesses have donated hundreds of billions of VND to social welfare programmes such as construction of schools, community houses and roads.
The city currently has 45,732 poor households and 43,718 near-poor ones, accounting for 2.66% and 2.55% of its population, respectively.
Hanoi targets to reduce its household poverty rate by 1.5-1.8% per year.
Local teachers get global Cambridge scholarships
Local teachers Mai Tien Minh and Tran Phat Thuan Quynh from Hanoi were among four beneficiaries of the Cambridge English Language Assessment IATEFL Scholarships 2015.
Minh from Vietnam Australia International School and Quynh from Popodoo English Center respectively received the Cambridge English Teacher and Peter Hargreaves scholarships. Other two beneficiaries, Alison Salm from the community of Kurd people in northern Iraq got the John Trim scholarship and Cristina Peralejo from Canada pocketed the IELTS Morgan Terry Memorial.
Scholarship recipients were chosen by a judging panel of Cambridge English’s experts based on their short essays on building Cambridge English Teaching Framework and solutions to teaching challenges in a classroom.
The quartet will be funded to attend the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) at Manchester Central in Manchester, the U.K from April 11 to 14 next year with the participation of over 2,500 language experts and lecturers from around the world.
Pham Hoang Uyen, development director of Cambridge English Language Assessment in Southeast Asia, said the scholarships to IATEFL are such remarkable recognition to winners that help develop their teaching career. “Especially, Vietnamese teachers have always been named on the final lists of Cambridge English scholarships during the past five years. This is a great honor to the country,” she said.
Interviews and essays of the four winners will be updated on http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/iatefl-scholarships/
Cambridge English Language Assessment is a non-profit organization and a department of the University of Cambridge. There are over four million people in 130 countries and territories taking the Cambridge English exams every year. Cambridge English has had a permanent office in Vietnam since 2006.
Rapid bus system set for test run in Hanoi
A pilot Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route will be deployed in the coming months as a forerunner to upgrading the nation's public transportation system.
The Ministry of Transport's Finance Department and the Hanoi Transport Company will rearrange routes to better cope with rising public transport demand in some areas and less demand in others.
The pilot route will run from Kim Ma to Yen Nghia bus station, through Giang Vo, Lang Ha, Le Van Luong, Lang Ha, Le Trong Tan and Ba La. The bus system is expected to be fully implemented in early 2015.
The 90-passenger busses will arrive every three to five minutes, and travel 22 kilometres per hour.
Passengers must buy electronic tickets at the bus stop before getting on board.
All rapid buses will be linked to their control centre through a GPS to make handling unexpected problems more efficient. The system will connect to traffic lights, as well, giving rapid busses first priority to cross intersections.
The World Bank funded the 49 million USD project, including infrastructure, bus stations and vehicles.
Hanoi earlier began a pilot project to introduce electronic smartcards in the city. The project consists of two phases funded by non-refundable aid from Japan International Cooperation Agency.-
Paper firm fined for dumping toxic waste
The People's Committee of the southern province of Tay Ninh is fining a paper production company over VND235 million (US$11,100) for discharging untreated waste into the environment.
The Anh Sang paper company, located in Go Dau District, released 20cu.m of untreated waste each day into the Vam Co Dong river.
Test results from samples of the released waste water revealed that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the river was 14.6 times more than permitted levels. Additionally, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) during the five-day test was 5.98 times higher than permitted levels.
HCM City to put almost all documents online
As of next year, all documents issued by HCMC’s departments and agencies will be sent and received via a document management system, except for those confidential.
The city’s Department of Information and Communications told a press conference on Monday that the system will monitor 40% of the total number documents exchanged between the city’s departments and agencies as of year-end and the rate will be raised to 100% by 2015.
According to the department, the progress of accessing the system between all agencies has been smooth, which makes the document exchange easier and more convenient.
Vo Thi Trung Trinh, deputy director of the department, said the city authorities have officially deployed and operated the system for all its agencies. All documents have been collected to a data center, thus helping the authorities easily connect and share information.
Earlier, the city government has stopped receiving paper documents from its affiliated agencies and shifted to using the system except for confidential documents since the middle of last month.
Currently, all 24 districts, 12 departments and the city government office have been connected to this document management system.
The department added the city government also sends invitations for meeting by mobile messages instead of papers as before.
Lack of downtown bus stops for visitors
Downtown HCMC lacks bus stops for tourists to drop off though this central quarter is home to many destinations for sightseeing and shopping.
Some travel firms have complained that several streets in the center are restricted or off-limits to vehicles due to construction works in progress.
Tourists often go shopping along the main streets like Dong Khoi, Le Loi and Nguyen Hue. However, Dong Khoi is now the only street where buses of the travel firms can stop for passengers to get off, while the other two streets are now closed to traffic.
Even for Dong Khoi Street, travel firms must also take prudence when allowing visitors to drop off buses, especially in the peak tourism season starting this month, as it is difficult to handle many buses at the same time due to traffic congestion and parking fines.
Phan Xuan Anh, chairman of Viet Excursions Travel Company, explained coaches used for transporting foreign travelers are usually big and takes much time for passengers to get on and drop off. As a result, these travel companies are afraid of being fined.
Some firms of the HCMC Tourism Association also suggested that the city government should arrange suitable places for buses to let tourists get off.
Anh added the authorities should allow buses to stop at unoccupied spaces near the HCMC Post Office and Opera House, or allow such vehicles to stop longer in the city center.
The city welcomed around 3.1 million foreign tourists in January-September, a year-on-year rise of 9%.
Former forest ranger, deforester jailed
The People's Court in the central highland province of Dak Nong has sentenced two people to prison terms of up to 11 years for damaging the forest.
According to the indictment, in 2008, Chu Van Lam, former deputy head of the forest management board of New Architecture Co., Ltd., and Ho Huu Hien, director of Vinh Hien Co., Ltd., worked together to chop down trees and reclaim virgin soil without licences from authorised agencies.
They reclaimed about 70 hectares of soil, causing a loss of nearly VND9 billion (US$423,000) for the State.
Paper firm fined for dumping toxic waste
The People's Committee of the southern province of Tay Ninh is fining a paper production company over VND235 million (US$11,100) for discharging untreated waste into the environment.
The Anh Sang paper company, located in Go Dau District, released 20cu.m of untreated waste each day into the Vam Co Dong river.
Test results from samples of the released waste water revealed that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the river was 14.6 times more than permitted levels. Additionally, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) during the five-day test was 5.98 times higher than permitted levels.
Vietnamese farmers to improve skills overseas
The People's Committee of the central province Quang Ngai is planning a project to send farmers abroad to participate in study tours and training courses from 2015-2020.
Under the VND8 billion (US$377,040) project, the province will send 120 to 150 farmers and managers of farms and agricultural cooperatives to Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and China for study, according to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Truong Tho.
They will learn from foreign experience in building new-style rural areas, developing models of economic cooperation in agriculture, managing large-scale farms management, as well as preserving and processing products.
They will also study how to build brands for agricultural products and apply advanced technology in production to increase added values.
After the study tours, the trainees will become a major force that actively contributes to the new-style rural area building movement in the locality, Tho said.
Quang Ngai province has more than 286,200 households living on farming, aquaculture, handicrafts and agricultural services, accounting for 46% of the total population.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND

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