Social News 20/12 Central highland province to host first culture festival The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently decided to organise the first ever Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival for Ethnic Groups in Central Highland Provinces in Gia Lai Province at the end of 2017. The event will gather ethnic groups from five provinces in the region - Kon Tum, Đắc Lắc, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai and Lâm Đồng. The event will highlight the groups’ traditional costumes, religious ceremonies, daily lifestyle, cuisine, folk games and arts. Tuyen Quang to grow 11,400 ha of forests in 2017   The northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang has set to plant 11,400 hectares of new forests in 2017, raising its forest coverage to over 60 percent.  The area of new productive forests will amount 11,150 hectares while the remainder will be for protection and special forests. Tuyen Quang will grant the land use right of 50 years to families who register to grow new forests, for both productive and protection forests. Besides, local authorities also guide forestry farms and nurseries to provide  seedlings for forest growers. The province has mobilised social resources to protect and grow productive forests and support forest regeneration in a bid to strengthen ecological system protection and natural disaster prevention efforts. Tuyen Quang province expects to exploit more than 9,750 hectares of planted forests for over 844,000 cubic metres of wood in 2017. The province currently has nearly 435,000 hectares of forest land, including 47,000 hectares of special forest, 121,600 hectares of protection forest and over 266,400 hectares of productive forest. In 2016, more than 10,940 hectares of new forests have been grown in the province. Top Bình Dương inspector dies in car accident The chief inspector of the southern province of Bình Dương’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department, Phạm Minh Thái, was killed in a car accident yesterday. The accident happened while he was driving from the provincial administrative centre to Phạm Ngọc Thạch Street in Thủ Dầu Một city. His four-seat Toyota car suddenly veered to the right and crashed into a lamp post. Vietnamese workers in RoK get together A get-together among over 400 Vietnamese guest workers in the Republic of Korea took place in Incheon on December 19. Co-organised by the Vietnam Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the RoK Human Resources Development Service and Incheon Foreign Workers Centre, the event featured a musical concert and a prize draw sponsored by the Vietnam Airlines and other businesses.  Officials in charge of overseas labour affairs from MoLISA, offered direct consultations for participating workers concerning administrative procedures upon their returning home. Meanwhile, some experienced workers shared their knowledge and advised their peers to leave when work permits expire to obtain preferential policies from both governments.   Speaking at the gathering, Tran Anh Vu from the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK lauded effective cooperation between the two nations’ labour agencies. He highlighted their signing of a memorandum of understanding on the Employment Permit System (EPS) programme in last May, which has reopened opportunities for Vietnamese workers to enter the RoK after five-year interruption due to illegal stay in the past. Vu took note of progress recorded in current situation of Vietnamese workers in the RoK thanks to their workers’ better legal awareness and support policies issued through cooperation of Vietnamese and Korean state agencies.  He took the occasion to greet the community a happy New Year and presented certificates of merit for some outstanding workers. Le Manh Hung, deputy head of the MoLISA’s Overseas Workers Centre, said the EPS programme has brought positive outcomes after 12 years of implementation. It has helped more than 90,000 Vietnamese labourers enter the RoK, with over 40,000 people still working in the host nation, he added. He also pointed to problems hindering the programme that include job switch without clear reasons, unfavorable employer-worker relationships and illegal residence. According to Hung, 40 percent of Vietnam’s workers staying longer their work permits issued by the host nation, 20 percent higher than the average figure for other countries.  More than 16,000 Vietnamese migrant worker are staying illegally in the RoK. Help extended to flood victims in Binh Dinh Domestic and foreign organisations and individuals have sent more than 30 billion VND since December 16 to help flood victims in the central province of Binh Dinh.  Floods triggered by torrential rains since early December have claimed 16 lives during 10 days from December 11 to 18 while two others went missing. More than 6,150 houses were submerged.  On December 19, the Vietinbank handed over 200 houses, each costing 50 million VND, to poor families in six districts in Binh Dinh.  The bank pledged to build 300 more houses for families who lost their homes during the recent floods.  The same day, the Hoa Sen Group committed 600 million VND in aid to the province.  According to Director of Binh Dinh Education and Training Department Dao Duc Tuan, the education sector of the province suffered losses amounting to 30 billion VND after five consecutive floods in the past month. Schools are flooded, classroom equipment such as desks and computers are damaged, and more than 50,000 students lost all their school textbooks. Since early December, eight school children also died as a consequence of floods.  Binh Dinh has asked the Government to exempt school fees in the second semester for all students in the province.  Rains have eased in the area but many low-lying areas in Binh Dinh are still deep in water. Mountainous districts access electricity before Tet More than 9,100 families in three districts of the northern mountainous province of Son La have been connected to the national grid, just one month before Lunar New Year 2017. This is the result of a two-year project to bring electricity to 120 mountainous villages across nine communes in Mai Son, Thuan Son and Song Ma districts in Son La. Addressing the celebration of the project’s conclusion on December 17, Chairman of Son La People’s Committee Cam Ngoc Minh said that the project will facilitate poverty alleviation efforts and the building of new rural areas in disadvantaged localities, thus improving local people’s lives. The project also brings the proportion of residents in Son La having access to electricity to 86.7 percent. The figure is expected to reach 97.5 percent in 2020. On the occasion, the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) Northern Power Corporation launched another project to bring electricity to 114 villages in four districts of Thuan Chau, Muong La, Bac Yen and Phu Yen in Son La.    The project will be carried out from 2016 to 2018 at an estimated cost of 378 billion VND (16.6 million USD). Upon its completion, additional 4,700 families will be connected to the national grid. Alumni club helps promote Vietnam-Japan friendship Vietnamese alumni in Japan have made significant contributions to strengthening the friendship between the two countries, said Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio. Addressing at a ceremony making the 15 years of the Club of Vietnamese Alumni in Japan in Hanoi on December 18, the diplomat affirmed that the embassy is willing to support Vietnamese students pursuing their study in his country.  Ngo Minh Thuy, President of the club, highlighted the organisation’s development and operation over the last 15 years, saying that it has so far admitted over 1,500 members and closely connected with the alumni associations of Southeast Asian nations in Japan.   Through the club, dozens of Vietnamese junior pupils and students have joined short-term exchange programmes in Japan. Additionally, the club selected and sent postgraduates and young PhDs from Vietnam to pursue higher training courses in Japan under scholarship programmes funded by the Japanese Government and the Toshiba International Foundation.   According to Thuy, the club have also arranged many exchange programmes, gatherings, workshops and exhibitions, contributing to promoting cultural exchange between the two countries, and helping Vietnamese young people get deeper insights into Japan’s culture and education.  The number of Vietnamese people learning Japanese language increased to 65,000 in 2015 from only 10,000 16 years ago. And, the number of Vietnamese students in Japan reached nearly 40,000 in 2015, up nearly 40 times from 2000. Vietnamese students formed the second largest community among over 200,000 international students from more than 170 countries studying in Japan, just after China. Vietnamese scientists in France contribute to homeland Outstanding Vietnamese scientists and experts living in France gathered at a meeting in Paris on December 17 to seek ways to contribute more to the home country’s development. In opening the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son said the Vietnamese community in France has the right to feel proud of the many intellectuals and scientists who studied in France and made significant contributions to the home nation development over the past nearly one century. He honoured such outstanding scholars as Tran Dai Nghia, Pham Ngoc Thach, Ta Auang Buu, Le Tham Thiem, Ho Dac Di, Tran Huu Tuoc, among others. Many others are currently involved in numerous projects and works in Vietnam, contributing actively to the nation’s development, Son said, citing as examples Professors Tran Thanh Van, Le Kim Ngoc, Nguyen Khac Nhan, Le Van Cuong and Nguyen Quy Dao. The Ambassador stressed that the Vietnamese Party and the State have identified science and technology as the first priority to in efforts to narrow the development gap between Vietnam and other nations. Therefore, thousands of Vietnamese experts and scientists living and working in France will be a great force to help Vietnam reap benefits from the fourth industrial revolution and success in international integration and development.  Prof. Nguyen Duc Khuong, President of the Association of Vietnamese Scientists and Experts in France (AVSE) introduced the network of Vietnamese experts and scientists in France recently set up by the Association. For his part, Prof. Nguyen Quy Dao, Emeritus Research Director of the French National Institute for Scientific Research (CNRS) introduced a France – Vietnam cooperation programme on training engineers with the participation of 10 French Universities and four Vietnamese partners.  During the meeting, participants also expressed their concern over the modest pace of national development and suggested measures to counter challenges facing numerous fields, including health care, culture, and urban development. Stronger forestry laws needed: officials Ineffective forest management has exposed shortcomings in the 2004 Law on Forest Protection and Development that need to be addressed through amendments, officials said at a conference on December 16. Participants at the national conference in the capital city said the law defined the forest as an ecosystem but failed to clarify the scale and minimum areas involved. Criteria for forest trees was also lacking, they said. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said the law only focused on managing, protecting, developing and using wood but did not pay attention to the value of the forest environment services. The value of such services was much higher than that of wood, he said, adding that annual implementation of the policy on forest environment services netted revenues equal to 22 percent of total social investments in the forestry sector. He also said the law should also be amended to deal with shortcomings relating to forest classification, renewing forest land allocation and leasing of forest land to households. This must be done to exempt them from land use taxes and land rental fees, thus encouraging the planting of new forests. More regulations were also needed on forestry product processing and trade activities, as also credit outlays for the sector, he said. The changes should facilitate investment in protecting and sustainably developing the nation’s forests, he added. Nguyen Ba Ngai, Deputy Head of the Vietnam Forestry Administration, proposed that provisions are added on allocating forest land to residents so that forest management becomes efficient, In several localities, residential communities have proved to be very effective forest managers Participants also proposed changing the name of the law to the Law on Forestry. They wanted to increase punishments for forest protection and management violations and speed up application of science and technology advances in forest protection and management. The draft amendments to the law will be submitted to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal this month before it is submitted to the Government and the National Assembly. Hau Giang: Erosion makes relocation urgent for 9,000 households Nearly 9,000 households with tens of thousands of people in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang are being affected by riverbank erosion and need to be relocated early to ensure their safety. Among them, more than 1,000 households reside in areas with high risk of erosion, Nguyen Trong Uyen, head of the southern branch of the National Institute of Agricultural Planning and Projection, said at a recent meeting. Erosion occurs mainly along the Cai Con, Cai Dau, Mai Dam, Nga Sau and Xa No rivers. It is triggered by the movement of high-speed boats and uncontrolled sand exploitation on rivers which changes the flowing direction of rivers and canals. Mushrooming construction along riverbank and climate change impacts, including sea level rise, have also deteriorated erosion, he noted. Nguyen Van Phien, Vice Chairman of the Chau Thanh district People’s Committee, said erosion on local rivers and canals is growing more frequent and serious. Hundreds of influenced families now need to be resettled in better places. However, his district has no residential land areas that are big enough to settle them. The national institute branch said Hau Giang should build concentrated residential areas to relocate households in high-risk areas, or settle them in existing communities which are in safer places. Meanwhile, authorities should assist families in low-risk areas to settle down right in these areas. The branch estimated that nearly 600 billion VND (26.37 million USD) will be needed to relocate people in erosion-prone areas from now to 2030, mainly to build concentrated residential areas, upgrade infrastructure in existing communities to receive affected families, and provide direct assistance to displaced people. VOV marks 70 years of broadcasting appeal for national resistance day The Voice of Vietnam (VOV) held a ceremony in Hanoi on December 19 to mark 70 years since it spread broadcast President Ho Chi Minh’s appeal for National Resistance Day. VOV General Director Nguyen The Ky said the VOV was the first press agency to broadcast the appeal from Tram cave in Chuong My district (now a district of Hanoi) on the morning of December 20, 1946.  Together with broadcasting the Proclamation of Independence on September 2, 1945, the event was a milestone in the histories of Vietnam and the revolutionary press as well as the VOV, he added. The same day, to mark the 70th anniversary of the National Resistance Day (December 19) and the 25th founding anniversary of a patriotic liaison board in Hoa Lo prison, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai visited the relic site and met former war prisoners. In the same vein, the Vietnam Cinema Department announced that a film-screening week will take place between December 19 and 22 to commemorate the National Resistance Day and the 72nd founding anniversary of the People’s Army of Vietnam (December 22, 1944 – 2016). Nam Dinh leaders send Christmas greetings to Catholic community Leaders of the northern province of Nam Dinh on December 19 visited local Catholic dignitaries and followers to wish them a merry and Christmas as the event is already around the corner. Visiting Bishop Vu Dinh Hieu and Catholic dignitaries and followers in Bui Chu Bishop’s Palace in Xuan Truong district, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Dinh Nghi lauded the Catholic community’s contribution to the local development. Nghi underscored that local Catholics have actively responded to movements to build the province by donating land for road expansion, erecting public works and implementing the new-style rural area building programmes. They have also promoted mutual support in poverty reduction, while joining hands in safeguarding the social order and security, he noted. On his part, Bishop Vu Dinh Hieu thanked Nam Dinh leaders for their support to the Catholic community, pledging that the community will continue engaging in the building and reinforcement of the national unity bloc as well as the socio-economic growth in the province. Nam Dinh is home to 680 Catholic dioceses with over 400,000 followers, accounting for 21.5 percent of the province’s total population. Party leader visits General Department of Military Intelligence Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has hailed the military intelligence service’s efforts to diversify its operations, contributing to national construction and defense. During his visit to the General Department of Military Intelligence on December 19, the Party leader described the agency as a crucial and trustworthy force for the Party, State and army.  The Party chief said he is confident that the General Department will continue to fulfill its assigned missions in the years to come. His visit was made to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA). Regarding the complicated developments in the region and the world, Trong underscored the need to take heed to ensuring the national security and defence along with the socio-economic development.   He stressed the Party’s viewpoint of building a regular, elite and modern revolutionary army with combined strength and high combating level while maintaining and enhancing the absolute and direct leadership of the Party over the army. 111 people killed, missing due to floods in central Vietnam since October A total of 111 people have lost their lives or gone missing after falling victim to repeated floods that struck the central part of Vietnam since October. The casualties were reported during a teleconference chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on December 17, which was aimed at discussing measures to cope with the consequences brought about by floods in central provinces. According to the Vietnamese head of government, as floodwater has subsided at a slow pace, the top priority must be given to rescuing and providing assistance for the affected residents, as well as preventing starvation, epidemics, and further damage. Local authorities were urged to exert maximum efforts to help people repair their houses and deal with other consequences. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung attributed the exacerbation of flooding to the poor management of local reservoirs and hydroelectric projects. The deputy premier ordered relevant agencies to closely monitor the operation and safety of over 600 reservoirs in the central provinces and the Central Highlands. According to the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, torrential rains and floods that have ravaged the central region since mid-October have caused 111 people to die or go missing and injured some 121 others. A total of 316,720 houses were submerged and damaged while about 42,800 hectares of paddy and 39,200 hectares of crops were destroyed. Many farmers in the central provinces have lost spaces for agriculture and aquaculture to floodwaters, with total damage estimated at over VND8.5 trillion (US$37.4 million), the department stated. Large areas of flower gardens, which are to be decorations for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, have also been devastated by the inundation, causing immense losses for the owners. During the meeting, leaders of the affected localities called on the central government to provide support for flood victims to restore their daily life and production, requesting the emergency supply of 5,850 metric tons of rice and some five metric tons of dry food. Hoang Duc Cuong, director of the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, warned of the coming of another wave of flood in the region between December 26 and 28, with rainfall expected to total about 300 millimeters. The bad weather condition is the result of a tropical depression forming in the East Vietnam Sea, combined with a cold front, Cuong elaborated. HCM City receives over 5.2 million foreign visitors in 2016 More than 5.2 million foreign tourists visited Ho Chi Minh City in 2016, a rise of 10% against last year, said the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Meanwhile, the number of domestic visitors reached 21.8 million. Gross income of the City’s tourism hit VND103 trillion (US$4.5 billion), increasing 9% year-on-year. HCM City currently has nearly 2,200 accommodation establishments and 1,314 travel agencies (including 647 international travel ones and nine representative offices of foreign travel companies). The City aims to greet 5.5 million foreign visitors and 24 million domestic tourists in 2017 and rake in a total tourism income of VND112 trillion (US$4.9 billion). In 2015, it received 4.6 million foreign visitors and 19.3 million domestic tourists, up 4.6 and 13% year-on-year, respectively. Tourism earnings reached VND94.6 trillion (over US$4.1 billion), a year-on-year increase of 10%. Man sentenced to 10 years for causing serious accident The Long Biên District People’s Court in Hà Nội this morning sentenced a 39-year-old man to 10 years imprisonment for violating regulations on driving road vehicles. Nguyễn Quang Vinh, from Bồ Đề Ward, Long Biên District, caused a serious accident in the district at the beginning of the year. The indictment showed that Vinh was working for a car wash in the district and did not hold a driver’s licence. The Camry he was driving at the time belonged to one of his customers, who left the vehicle along with the key at Vinh’s workplace on February 29 this year. Vinh then got into the car and drove it at high speed on Ái Mộ Street, mowing down two people on a motorcycle and a pedestrian travelling in the opposite direction. The three victims included Trần Viết Tiến, 64, and his six-year-old granddaughter, Trần Gia Hân, who were on the motorbike, and a woman named Nguyễn Thị Chúc, 47. The vehicle then collided with another car before crashing into several motorcycles that were parked on the sidewalk before finally coming to a stop in front of a house. The victims were thrown about 10 metres by the force of the impact, with Tiến and Chúc killed on the spot, while Hân succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital. The Camry automobile sustained damages amounting to VNĐ270 million (US$12,000). Nhân Dân Gia Định Hospital celebrates 100th anniversary Nhân Dân Gia Định Hospital, one of largest general hospitals in HCM City, plans to use more high-tech medical treatments and buy more state-of-the-art equipment to improve medical quality, Dr. Nguyễn Anh Dũng, director of the hospital, has said. Construction of a new 15-storey building at the hospital begins next year. It is expected to open in 2019. Last Friday, the hospital was awarded a Second-class Labor Medal from the President at its 100th anniversary ceremony. The 1,500-bed hospital receives 3,000-4,000 outpatients every day. The top-tier hospital is also a practice centre for medical students from the HCM City University of Medical and Pharmacy, Phạm Ngọc Thạch University of Medicine and other medical schools in the southern region. HCM City records 43 cases of mumps Two primary schools in HCM City have recorded a total of 43 cases of mumps among students in two outlying districts, the city’s Preventive Medicine Centre said yesterday. Thirty cases have occurred at Hóc Môn District’s Tân Xuân Primary School, and 13 at Lê Văn Thọ Primary School in District 12. The city’s Preventive Medical Centre, as well district preventive medical clinics and health clinics, are monitoring the outbreak of mumps. Doctors said that parents should take children with symptoms to the hospital and keep them at home to avoid transmitting the virus to others. They also urged parents to have their children vaccinated and to instruct their children to wash their hands thoroughly when they are at school. Trial continues for record drug case A preliminary hearing today launched the second phase of the trial concerning the biggest drug trafficking case in Vietnamese history. At the centre of the case is Hoàng Văn Tiến, born in 1978 in the northern Sơn La Province, Trần Thu Hằng, born in 1978 in the northern Bắc Giang Province and dozens of other defendants. During the 2003-13 period, apart from 5,346 heroin cakes, Tiến and his partners in crime traded some 35,000 synthetic drug tablets and 1,100 grams of crystal meth in Hà Nội and the northern provinces of Thái Nguyên, Bắc Ninh, Bắc Giang and Lạng Sơn, according to the 2013 indictment by the provincial People’s Procuracy, making it the biggest drug trafficking case in Việt Nam. The provincial investigative police seized 22 heroin cakes, nearly 33 grams of Ketamine, 60 tablets of synthetic drugs, over 1 gram of Methaphetamine and 122 grams of dried marijuana. It was considered by the jury as a particularly dangerous case, involving heroin trade from Laos to Việt Nam to China and vice versa, with the use of several military weapons. The preliminary hearing was conducted by the provincial People’s Court at the detention centre of the provincial police. Twenty-five defendants are being prosecuted during this phase of the trial. The trial is expected to last until December 30.   In the preliminary hearing on 89 defendants during phase I of the trial held in January 2014, 30 defendants were sentenced to death and 13 to life imprisonment by the provincial People’s Court. Nghệ An police seize 370kg smuggled sparklers, firecrackers The traffic police seized 270kg of sparklers and 100kg of firecrackers being smuggled into the central province of Nghệ An in two separate incidents on Sunday. Traffic police officials were patrolling National Road No 48 when they got suspicious and stopped a coach for inspection. On checking, officials found 10,800 sticks of Chinese sparklers, weighing around 270kg. Coach driver Chu Minh Hải, 33, who lives in the province’s Thái Hòa Town, had no permit papers for the sparklers. In another incident, following a tip-off from local residents, the traffic police found three Styrofoam boxes with around 100kg of different kinds of firecrackers hidden in a coach on National Highway No 1, in Diễn Châu District’s Diễn An Commune. Both incidents are under investigation. Symposium highlights new studies on pelvic diseases The latest techniques in treatment and surgery for pelvic organ prolapse were highlighted on December 17 at the 11th symposium on diseases of the female pelvis held at Bình Dân Hospital in HCM City. Doctors at Từ Dũ Obstetrics Hospital’s gynaecological urology ward said that pelvic organ prolapse, which is the abnormal descent or herniation of the pelvic organs from their normal attachment sites or their normal position in the pelvis, occurs among more than 50 per cent of women who give birth. Many surgical and non-surgical treatment methods for the pelvic organ prolapse have been used in health facilities in the country, they said. Commonly, doctors prescribe patients to use medicine first, they added. And then, if the symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse, such as a pressing on the uterus, urinary problems and problems with bowel movements, do not reduce, a surgery is needed. Nearly 11-19 per cent of women with pelvic organ prolapse need surgery. Surgery for pelvic organ prolapse is used to remove the uterus, although this isn’t a  problem, said the group of doctors of Từ Dũ Obstetrics Hospital’s gynaecological urology ward. However, now many women with pelvic organ prolapse who need surgery for treatment do not want to remove the uterus because of different reasons including pregnancy in the future, they said. According to the doctors, keeping the uterus should be considered comprehensively. Speaking at the symposium held by the Bình Dân Hospital and the HCM City Pelvic Floor Society, Dr Đỗ Bá Hùng, deputy head of the Bình Dân Hospital, said that perineology, which is the study of pelvic diseases, is a new professional field in Việt Nam. Demand from patients for maintaining their physical beauty and quality of life is rising, leading to the development of perineology, Hùng said, adding that the lastest techniques in treatment, such as robotic surgery, help develop perineology. The training conferences are held to share experiences in treatment and update advanced technologies for treatment, he said. Lâm Đồng sets up traffic hotline for Tết The Lâm Đồng transport department has set up a 24-hour hotline so that residents can call any time about traffic violations during the Lunar New Year holidays. The hotline includes mobile phone numbers of department heads and the office landline numbers of several officers. Specifically, residents can contact Nguyễn Văn Gia, department deputy director, at 0913743827; Trương Văn Huấn, department chief inspector, at 0888830879; and Võ Quang Vũ, head of transport, vehicles and drivers management division, at 0903160220. People can also reach the inspection division office on 0633833491 and the transport, vehicles and drivers management division on 0633827244. The transport department said it would rope in concerned officials and punish traffic offenders based on road transport law. During the holidays, which begin end of January, the provincial transport police will conduct a drive to crack down on violators and ensure traffic safety. Several check points will be set up on highways No 20, 27, 27C, 55 and 28 to check vehicle speed, weight and the number of passengers on coaches, to prevent overcrowding. Defense ministry suggests building coast guard law The Ministry of National Defense has proposed the Government make a Coast Guard Law to better safeguard the nation’s sovereignty and sovereign rights, and promote national jurisdiction in the waters of Vietnam. In a report sent to the Government, the ministry said the country’s coast guard force has been expanded substantially after 18 years of operation, which makes several regulations in the Ordinance on Vietnam Coast Guard unsuitable with the current situation. The ordinance regulates the function and duty of the country’s coast guard force but does not make clear its function of protecting the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction at sea. Current laws have not mandated the task of dealing with situations related to maritime security and defense of the Vietnam Coast Guard. Meanwhile, the sovereignty, security, order and safety in Vietnam’s waters have been challenged, prompting the defense ministry to make such a proposal. The ministry suggests the Government upgrade the Ordinance into the Law on Vietnam Coast Guard. The law will inherit provisions of the ordinance, legalize and amend some regulations to prepare for unexpected situations which may arise. The Vietnam Coast Guard is a specialized law enforcement force that is tasked with protecting the country’s sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction, ensuring national security, social order and safety in accordance with Vietnamese law and international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory. HCMC eyes signature tourism products HCMC will focus on developing major tourism products of its strength next year in an attempt to make the city more attractive to visitors. The city government spoke of this orientation at a meeting last Friday with the departments of tourism, sports-culture, and transport to discuss ways to develop tourism next year. HCMC vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen required the Department of Tourism to attach farm-based tourism products with leisure travel, culinary tourism and cultivation activities in outlying areas such as Can Gio and Hoc Mon districts. The department was also told to develop sports-based tourism and arrange at least three large-scale sporting events in the city a year. He also urged relevant departments to organize more street art activities and light festivals to help spur tourism development. Tuyen suggested that private investors be invited to organize fireworks displays in combination with light festivals periodically. In addition, the city will bolster waterway tourism by operating sightseeing boats with dining service next year. Tuyen also mentioned the leisure and recreation service as many Japanese firms have expressed interest in investing in luxury resorts at the Cultural and Ethnic Park in District 9. According to the Tourism Department, the city has so far this year seen an estimated 5.2 million international arrivals, up 10% year-on-year, with strong growth from Chinese, South Korean, American and Japanese markets. Domestic tourists to the city are expected to rise 10% to 21.8 million this year and the city’s total tourism revenue is anticipated to rise 9% against last year to VND103 trillion (US$4.53 billion) this year. As for next year, the city targets to attract 5.5 million international tourists, 24 million domestic visitors, and earn VND112 trillion in tourism revenue. Five inspection teams to check national hospitals Five inspectorates under the Ministry of Health are scheduled to begin the inspection of 37 national hospitals to evaluate their quality and services, said head of the Medical Examination and Treatment Department Luong Ngoc Khue yesterday.  The inspection will be carried out from December 19, 2016 to January 10, 2017. Inspectors will focus on checking doctors’ skill and treatment services. Evaluation of service quality is taken as a basis to improve hospitals’ quality and ranking. Mr. Khue said that ranking will be done as per the Ministry’s of Health guideline which just asks hospital to  follow to make improvement to satisfy patients’ demand. 1,300 medical facilities nationwide were ranked by themselves since 2013 to January 31, 2016 and national hospitals gained 3.5 points under standards set by the Ministry of Health), province  hospitals gained 2.8 point; and district hospitals with 2.6 points. Private hospitals have average points of 2,9. 73 year old man honored for saving drowning girl Deputy Chairman of People’s Committee in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue Nguyen Van Phuong presented an old man with certificate of merit and cash as an award for saving a drowning girl. 73 year old Nguyen Thanh Phuoc living in Huong Thuy town of the province saved 19 year old student Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang while she and her motorbike were being swept away in front of his house during heavy rainfalls on December 15th. She lost her drive because of strong water flow and the girl cried for help.  Hearing the cry, Phuoc’s wife called him to help her. Despite his old age and violent torrent of rain, the old man still swam to aid her. Battling with the strong torrent and receiving help of other two young men, they at last brought the female student to safer shelter. On behalf of province administrators, Deputy Chairman praised his acts to save the girl and presented cash of VND3 million as an award for his brave act. Mr. Thanh Phuoc is a veteran and currently he is a member of the local veteran association in Thanh Thuy Commune. Four his sons all suffered illness because he is exposed to Agent Orange which US military forces sprayed over Vietnam during Vietnam War. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE