Woman with muscle disease donates body to science

Nguyen Thi Tuy, a native of Ha Nam Province's Phu Ly City, has asked friends to complete paperwork at Ha Noi Medicine University to allow her to donate her body to a hospital after she dies.

In an interview with Cong An Nhan Dan newspaper, Tuy said that she has no living relatives.

"All parts of my body, except my legs, are sound. I have never had any disease. This is also a way to save money (on funeral expenses)," she said.

She hopes that her body or organs can be used to save the life of someone in need.

Tuy, who is in her 60s, said she had once dreamt of becoming a petroleum engineer, but she later gave up that ambition. Her mother wanted her to remain single and take care of her sister, who had myasthenia gravis, which severely weakens muscles.

When Tuy was 18 years old, she was diagnosed with the same disease, which became progressively worse. In the last 25 years, she has rarely ventured out of her home.

Railway traffic hit after train slams into trailer

A train slammed into a container trailer at a level crossing in the southern province of Dong Nai yesterday.

No casualty was reported.

The accident brought traffic on the national North-South railway artery to a halt for several hours.

At 7pm yesterday, a container trailer, departing from the Ho Nai industrial park in Dong Nai Province, suddenly stopped on the railway tracks at a level crossing in Bien Hoa City when a train that was moving towards HCM City was approaching it.

The trailer was thrown 20m away from the incident site.

According to some witnesses that Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper interviewed, the trailer ignored the railway warning alarm at the level crossing and the loud horns of the approaching train, which was coded SE5.

The railway blockage was not cleared until 10.30pm the same day.

The train was tugged back to Long Khanh train station, which is 40km away from the accident site, for repairs.

Authorities concerned are investigating the incident.

Probe ordered into South Korean company's closure

The northern province of Bac Ninh yesterday ordered competent agencies to investigate why a South Korean company had closed down, laying off 450 workers.

On June 1, GMIE Co., Ltd, a wholly South Korean company that has manufactured mobile phone covers for Samsung in the Que Vo Industrial Park in the province since 2012, suddenly suspended work on all its production lines and informed its employees that they would be laid off indefinitely.

The sudden closure has caused the company's workers to worry about their jobs and rights.

Ha Tinh copes with water shortage and salt water intrusion

Farmers in Ha Tinh province could not complete planting the summer- autumn rice crop because of uninterrupted drought, water shortage for irrigation and salt water intrusion, reported Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Tinh province.

At present, most of water reservoirs, dams and streams in Ha Tinh reel under serious salt water intrusion, causing lacking of fresh water for vast areas under the summer- autumn rice cultivation.

Moreover, not only canal and stream systems in Ha Tinh province’s Can Loc, Thach Ha, Nghi Xuan and Loc Ha district but also 24, 000 hectares of rice cultivation crops in Ha Tinh’s northern areas faced with serious water shortage and salt water intrusion.

As schedule, 41, 000- 43, 000 hectares have been planted for the summer- autumn harvest by June 10; however, up to now, only 20 percents of the targeted area has been seeded.

Huong Khe mountain district is considered as being most affected by long term severe heat waves with it’s highest daily temperature at 39- 41 degrees Celsius within previous months.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Huong Khe District reported that only 1,738 hectares of areas under rice cultivation have enough water sources for irrigation.

Dealing with bad weather condition, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Tinh province mobilized all functional forces to implement measures to prevent drought, drill wells and install more pumping stations to provide water for irrigation.

Border province to review Lao immigrants

Central province Quang Nam, bordering the Lao province of Sekong, has formed a joint-agency team to review Lao immigrants, including those married to Vietnamese without a marriage certificate.

The joint-agency will review the immigrants in the province before reaching a solution to their problem.

The joint-agency team includes representatives of the province's police, border guard, Department of Justice, Department of Foreign Affairs, Committee of Ethnic Minorities, and authority of Nam Giang District.

From now until the end of this month (June), the team will conduct a survey of Lao immigrants, including those who are married to Vietnamese citizens without marriage certificates, in the three communes of Nam Giang District, namely Dac Pre, Dac Pring, and Dac Toi.

They will organise meetings with locals in these communes and record their accounts.

Nguyen Duc Tho, director of the province's Department of Justice, said only after the review will it become clear who will be allowed to stay in Viet Nam and who must return to their homeland.

The province has committed itself to providing meals, medicines, and transport to those who will be repatriated.

It has been estimated that Quang Nam Province has more than 170 households of Lao immigrants and 50 others have members married to Vietnamese citizens without obtaining marriage certification in the province.

The joint-agency team will also work with the authorities of Sekong Province in Laos to identify Lao immigrants and Lao people married to Vietnamese without marriage certification in Quang Nam Province.

Good locations should remain with the State

The performance of former State enterprises post-equitisation and how HCM City-based firms are preparing to equitise was discussed at a meeting on Monday between the city leader and officials from related departments and State-owned enterprises.

People's Committee chairman Le Hoang Quan also focused attention on workers' rights.

Last year 11 State firms were equitised. They had a total of 11,500 workers of whom only 80 quit after equitisation.

"After equitisation, all enterprises have achieved around 10 per cent growth, meeting the city's minimum requirement," Le Ngoc Thuy Trang, head of the Department of Finance's enterprises finance sub-department, was quoted as saying by Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper.

She said all recently equitised companies should list on the stock exchange as required by the Government.

Quan ordered related authorities and agencies to continue supporting the enterprises equitised last year.

"Equitised enterprises must ensure three things: a restructuring mechanism to achieve higher economic efficiency, increasing labour productivity, and adopting business strategies to dovetail with the city's four key industries," he said.

The industries he referred to are engineering, electronics, pharmaceutical chemicals, and food processing.

He warned that since many State firms are located in prime spots, local authorities should avoid private investors interested only on land.

He cited the example of Dam Sen Park, saying if it is equitised and private investors buy a major portion, the park might soon be sold off as land.

"Therefore, city authorities have not approved the equitisation plan of Dam Sen Park because we have to consider the State's holding.

They focused on how to ensure companies pursue their core business after equitisation, he said.

Truong Van Lam, director of the city Department of Home Affairs, said, "Enterprises must choose as strategic partners, those who are able to develop their core business rather than focus on land.

"State must own dominant shares in enterprises that have good locations."

Quan said, "Equitisation aims to help enterprises develop sustainably, and we are not allowed to let equitisation become privatisation."

He ordered the Department of Planning and Investment to review all restructure plans to ensure they fit in with the city's development plans.

"Related authorities must review all good locations and submit proper plans to retain these enterprises."

He also ordered the setting up of a task force to help enterprises equitise as planned.

Quang Tri still losing its sand

Illegal sand mining still takes place along the Se Pon River in Lao Bao Town in central Quang Tri Province's Huong Hoa District despite efforts of authorities.

A report compiled by the provincial Border Guard Command has said that nine illegal sand mining spots have been located along the river.

The report has estimated that some 100 cubic metres are illegally exploited daily and illegal sand miners row wooden boats to the centre of the river to scoop out sand. The sand is then loaded on trucks for distribution.

Ho Van Tun of Ka Tup Village said that illegal sand mining and transportation often take place at night, causing much disturbance to local people.

"We hope authorities concerned will take some action to bring the situation under control soon," he added.

Vice chairman of the People's Committee Nguyen Huu Dung said that sand mining has been taking place for a long time.

At first, only several local people took sand from the river for building their houses. Later, the number of people illegally exploiting the river for sand started rising, he pointed out, adding that they started exploiting sand for other purposes as well.

Dung remarked that the committee could only urge local people to obey regulations and not illegally mine sand from the river, he added.

As the river is a natural border between Viet Nam and Laos, the right to manage it belongs to the provincial Border Guard Command.

In the latest move, the provincial People's Committee early this month sent a legal document to ask the People's Committee of Huong Hoa District to work with relevant agencies to deal with violations and curb the illegal practice.

Under Decree No 34/2014ND-CP issued by the Government, sand mining in rivers is one of practices to be banned because it affects the flow of rivers.

The Se Pon River, located in Huong Hoa District of Viet Nam and Savannakhet of Laos, is believed to be the arterial waterway between the two countries for transporting and trading goods.

Ha Tinh crops face salty threat

Thousands of hectares of crops in the northern part of Ha Tinh Province are facing severe water shortages after the concentration of saltwater in the Lam River reached the highest rate for decades.

Head of the province's Irrigation Division, Ngo Duc Hoi, said that the Trung Luong Water Inlet Sluice had been closed to prevent salt water from entering the fields.

This has led to the shutdown of 190 pumping stations that took water from the river to the fields.

He said that the sluice was opened only when the saltwater concentration was not too high.

Director of North Ha Tinh Irrigation Company, Tran Quoc Hung, said that 24,000ha of rice in the northern part of the province, including Hong Linh Town, Can Loc District and Thach Ha District, faced severe water shortages.

Saltwater intrusion and low water levels in rivers, streams and reservoirs threatened farming productivity, so the Linh Cam Pumping Station was working at full capacity.

There are 345 reservoirs and 57 barrages that provide water for over 110,000ha of farmland in the province, but most of them are dry because of the prolonged drought.

In Huong Khe District alone, farmers only have enough water to irrigate half of their crops, so many have switched to other crops.

Huong Khe District has been the hottest area in Ha Tinh Province, with temperatures up to 41 degrees Celsius and no rain for the last two months.

Last week, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Le Dinh Son asked local authorities and agencies to concentrate on fighting the drought with local farmers.

He said that State officers would be disciplined if they did not deal with the problem.

First grads complete IC course

Fifteen engineers graduated yesterday from the first analogue integrated circuit design course at the Viet Nam National University-HCM City's Integrated Circuit Design Research and Education Centre in HCM City.

Their 10-month programme, approved by the city People's Committee in 2012, was the first under the city's 2013 – 2020 Semi-conductor Industry Development Programme.

The hard IP cord of the 24-bit Delta-Sigma Modulator (DSM) was the first product designed by the trainees, and the analogue chip has been sent abroad for manufacturing, according to the programme steering board.

At the graduation ceremony, ICDREC signed with Japan's CM Engineering Co. a contract to design software for analogue ICs.

Ngo Quang Vinh, deputy director of ICDREC, said: "CM Engineering has placed an order with ICDREC after studying the capacity of the centre's human resource. The order shows the effectiveness of the centre's training programme and its design centre.

The city's semi-conductor industry development programme, which was entrusted to ICDREC, comprises of seven components: training of human resources; incubating IC businesses; developing the semi-conductor market; design and production of semi-conductors on a trial basis; advertising and launch in the market; building and running a design centre; and setting up a chip manufacturing plant.

ICDREC said products that have been commercialised based on Vietnamese technology included SG-8V1 and KIT DE-8V1 chips, container electric locks, itinerary surveillance devices, electronic meters, DCM (data collection modems), and RFID (radio frequency identification) management systems.

The centre said over 20 billion chips were consumed in Viet Nam every year.

Toyota fund supports urban transport in Danang

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) has pledged to provide assistance worth nearly US$2.87 million for the central city of Danang to develop a sustainable urban transport system.

The pilot project is expected to be implemented within three years from July 2015, focusing on three main components: developing a bus transport system in the city’s inner areas, building public parking facilities and introducing shuttle bus services on short routes connecting residential areas and popular public sites.

After conducting survey in a number of Asian cities, the TMF selected Danang – a medium-sized and rapidly growing city – to carry out the pilot project supporting Vietnam’s transport. The city is also an entrance to the East-West Economic Corridor which links Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

The TMF was established in August 2014 by Japan’s car maker Toyota to assist non-profit organisations and research institutions to develop a more mobile society.

To date, it has provided up to 4.5 billion JPY (US$36.15 million) for programmes designed to eliminate barriers to mobility, making sound contributions to the development of automobile industries.

Thailand arrests Japanese in labor fraud against 46 Vietnamese

Police in Thailand have arrested one of three Japanese suspects who allegedly took US$200,000 from 46 Vietnamese people without giving them high-paid jobs as promised.

A police source said they arrested the man, only identified as Nakatsu, on June 4 when he was entering Thailand from Chiang Mai.

Investigation so far found the Vietnamese job seekers had paid his company US$4,500 each late last year.

They were promised jobs at a Thailand factory with a monthly salary of more than $1,000.

The workers are from rural areas in northern Vietnam and many said they borrowed money to pay the company.

Most did not know what their jobs would be as the company promised to train them first before assigning them a job.

Some men ended up dissembling used electronics to collect plastic and metal parts for recycling.

The first workers who arrived in Thailand received salaries, prompting many others to follow them.

But after a while, all of the workers were no longer paid, and soon later their bosses disappeared.

They filed a lawsuit in Thailand in March and have been living off donations from Thai and Vietnamese people in the country.

Hoang Van Dat, one of the Vietnamese workers, said Nakatsu directly collected their payment, managed them, trained them and rented houses for them in Thailand.

He said the other “bosses” are Sato Hiroaki, believed to be the company’s director, and another one only identified as Suzuki.

The Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok are cooperating with Thai authorities to investigate the fraud and help the Vietnamese workers return home.

Thailand has not signed any labor trade pacts with Vietnam.

Vietnamese deputy labor minister said earlier this year that the countries are still discussing before possibly signing an agreement this year for Vietnam to officially send its workers to Thailand.

Figures from Thailand showed that between 50,000 and 100,000 Vietnamese are already working in Thailand illegally. Most of them are from Vietnam’s impoverished central region.

Various activities to mark world blood donor day

A variety of activities will be held to celebrate World Blood Donor Day on June 14, according to the National Steering Committee for voluntary blood donation, including honouring.

In Hanoi, activities will include honouring 100 outstanding donors and holding discussions from June 12-14.

World Blood Donor Day is also an occasion to remember Austrian-American Karl Lansteiner, who discovered blood groups and made blood transfusions possible.

In the northern province of Phu Tho, programmes “The meeting of kind hearts” and “Vietnam’s kind hearts return to the cradle of the nation” will be held in Viet Tri city on June 12 and 13, respectively.

Vietnam has organised the event annually since 2007.-

Ca Mau focuses on traffic system development

The southernmost province of Ca Mau has designed a plan for developing its road system through 2020, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

The locality aims to complete a section of the Ho Chi Minh Road between Nam Can and Dat Mui districts, and the Hoa Trung Bridge connecting Ca Mau downtown and Dam Doi district within this year.

Other approved key projects are the second phase of the southern coastal corridor and the upgrades of National Road No. 63 connecting Ca Mau city with the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

The project to build the 150-kilometre Can Tho-Ca Mau highway is planned to be carried out between 2020 and 2030.

In the past five years, Ca Mau invested 15,000 billion VND (701 million USD) in infrastructure development.

It has also mobilised different resources for the work.

Hanoi looks towards building smart city

Hanoi is paying heed to modernising the administrative system, building technical infrastructure and applying information technology in State-run management agencies to create a basic foundation for the establishment of an e-government system and smart city in the future.

Over the past four years, the city has instituted a number of measures to reform the administrative system such as piloting e-offices in Long Bien, Tay Ho, Tu Liem, Thach That and Chuong My districts and implementing the one-stop-shop model at several State businesses providing public services, as heard at a conference in Hanoi on June 9.

Local authorities have also enacted a number of initiatives in the field such as setting up a group at the municipal Department of Planning and Architecture to receive information and support businesses to handle administrative formalities; issuing criminal records by mail; granting ID cards at residents’ houses; and receiving applications for passports via internet.

The city has also focused on improving the institutional system by issuing legal documents relevant to the public interest such as changing school times and office hours.

Vice Secretary of the municipal Party Committee and Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao admitted some shortcomings, such as slow investment attraction, poor management software, ineffective online administrative procedure processing and loose coordination between relevant departments and sectors.

As such, administrative and institutional reforms remain the major task of the city to improve administrative and public services and personnel quality, he said.

Workshop on deforestation emissions reduction reviewed

The implementation of the second phase of the United Nation’s Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) in Vietnam is being reviewed at a workshop in the central province of Binh Thuan from June 8-10.

Carried out in six localities - the northern mountainous provinces of Lao Cai and Bac Can, the Central Highlands of Lam Dong, the central provinces of Ha Tinh and Binh Thuan and the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau - from 2013-2015, the project aims to mitigate climate change through reducing net greenhouse gas emissions via enhanced forest management .

During the event, participants involved in the project and members of the programme’s coordination board in the localities shared their experience in building local-level programmes.

Solutions and interventions to ensure long-term sustainability of local-level programmes were discussed and difficulties in developing action plans for the localities were pointed out.

As many as 30 local-level programmes have been designed during the phase, including two village-level plans, four commune-level, ten for forest management boards and seven others made by forestry companies.

Participants suggested the intensification of communication campaigns to raise public awareness of the Party and State’s forest-related policies and the significance of forest protection and sustainable development.

They also underlined the need to develop agro-forestry-aquaculture production models and increase credit support for local residents to improve their incomes.

UN-REDD was officially launched in 2008 and builds on the convening role and technical expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

By the end of June, 2014, the programme had provided total financial assistance up to 195 million USD for 56 developing countries.

Quang Nam focuses on addressing illegal migration from Laos

The central province of Quang Nam is looking to address irregular migration and unregistered marriages along its border with the Lao province of Se Kong.

The provincial People’s Committee established a working group including police, border guards and officials from the Department of Justice, the Department of External Affairs and the Board for Ethnic Affairs in charge of verifying illegal migration and marriage cases.

Through the end of June, it will organise meetings with locals to disseminate policies and laws of Vietnam and Laos involving migration and marriage.

Head of the Justice Department Nguyen Duc Tho said the most important thing is to verify illegal Lao migrants or those illegitimately married and decide whether they are allowed to reside in the locality or if they need to be repatriated.

The People’s Committee will provide financial assistance for those who are repatriated to Laos.

It also pledged to offer dwellings, cultivated land and vocational trainings for Vietnamese ethnic minorities who are repatriated from Laos.

According to initial data, more than 170 Lao households with around 500 persons have migrated to Quang Nam without permission and around 50 marriages between Vietnamese and Lao people were not registered.

Toyota fund supports urban transport in Da Nang

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) has pledged to provide assistance worth nearly 2.87 million USD for the central city of Da Nang to develop a sustainable urban transport system.

The pilot project is expected to be implemented within three years from July 2015, focusing on three main components: developing a bus transport system in the city’s inner areas, building public parking facilities and introducing shuttle bus services on short routes connecting residential areas and popular public sites.

After conducting survey in a number of Asian cities, the TMF selected Da Nang – a medium-sized and rapidly growing city – to carry out the pilot project supporting Vietnam’s transport. The city is also an entrance to the East-West Economic Corridor which links Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

The TMF was established in August 2014 by Japan’s car maker Toyota to assist non-profit organisations and research institutions to develop a more mobile society.

To date, it has provided up to 4.5 billion JPY (36.15 million USD) for programmes designed to eliminate barriers to mobility, making sound contributions to the development of automobile industries.

Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN) highlighted noble teachings and universal message of love for mankind, of living together in peace, harmony, non-violence and tolerance of Lord Buddha at the recent celebration of International Day of VESAK in New York.

“After more than two and a half millennia, today these teachings and principles remain all the more relevant and of great significance, she stressed, describing them as the foundation for harmonious relations between peoples and nations, for diversity and tolerance which are essential to the continued advancement of the international community, especially in face of multiple and complex threats and challenges, including poverty, inequality, climate change, economic crises, violent extremism and armed conflicts in many parts of the world.

Buddhism was first introduced into Vietnam more than 2000 years ago, and it has integrated into the Vietnamese society and had immense influence on our culture, ideal, morality, and customs, Nga said.

Buddhism co-exists in harmony and thrives together with many other religions in Vietnam thanks to the Vietnamese State's guarantee of freedom of religions and beliefs, she added

Vietnamese Buddhists proactively participate in many international fora, dialogues among religions and faiths and exchange views on religious beliefs, she affirmed.

Last year, Vietnam successfully hosted the 11th Anniversary Celebration and International Buddhist Conference of the UN Day of VESAK.

This year’s International Day of VESAK (Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment and Passing Away) in New York saw the participation of ambassadors, representatives from the UN’s member nations along with over 300 Buddhist monks and nuns worldwide.

As an annual event hosted by the UN since 1999, the celebration aims to honour great contributions of the Buddhism -one of the oldest religions in the world- to the spiritual life of the people as well as to the international community’s joint efforts to promote peace, cooperation and development.

Vietnam joins forces to promote tourism in RoK

A contingent of representatives from the Vietnam municipalities of Danang, ThuaThien-Hue and Quang Nam are introducing their tourism potential on June 5-14 in the Republic of Korea (RoK).

During their visit, they participated in a three-day annual trade and consumer expo in Seoul organized by Hana Tour, the largest tour company in the RoK that was attended by approximately 75,000 international visitors.

In collaboration with Vietnam Airlines, they will next join the 30th Korea World Travel Fair (KOTFA) taking place June 11-14 at the COEX Convention & Exhibition Centre in Seoul.

The fair is expected to attract more than 400 travel agents from over 60 countries around the globe.

The group will also hold seminars  featuring central Vietnam’s tourism potential in Seoul (June 10) and Busan (June 12).

Around 8.5 million people’s opinions contributed to draft Civil Code

Around 8.5 million people’s opinions have been collected for the draft Civil Code as of May 15, 2015 as reported through 100 surveys conducted by ministries, sectors, centrally-run cities and provinces nationwide.

The figure was announced at a report summarizing the result of collecting public opinions on the draft code, read by Ministry of Justice Ha Hung Cuong at the ongoing 13th National Assembly (NA)'s ninth session on June 9.

The feedback and recommendations were contributed by those working in State agencies, local organisations, social organisations, research institutes and education facilities.

A majority of the interviewees agreed that the draft code fully and comprehensively institutionalised the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, which were defined in the socio-economic development strategy, platform for national construction during the transitional period towards socialism, the strategy on building and perfecting the legal system, and the judicial reform strategy.

The draft code is seen as an aid to concretise the 2013 Constitution’s contents on human rights, civil rights, as well as the basic principles of the socialist-oriented market economy in line with international treaties to which Vietnam is a member.

As the draft code has worked out reasonable orientations to improve shortcomings and limitations of the 2005 Civic Code, it is also highly appreciated for its predictability, long-term stability and accessibility.

In its report verifying the draft code, the NA Law Committee stressed that as the Civil Code plays a crucial role in Vietnam’s legal system, the amendment of each article directly impacts social relations. Therefore, the amendment, supplement and removal of any article requires serious consideration, comprehensive research, and careful evaluation, as well as clear and convincing explanations to the changes.

Also this morning, NA deputies passed a draft resolution on the law and ordinance development programme for 2016, amendments to the law and ordinance building programme for the legislature’s 13th tenure and the law and ordinance building programme for 2015.

They also listened to a plan for a schedule of supervisory activities of the NA in 2016.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri