Two people died and some 20 others received serious injuries in a traffic accident that occurred on Wednesday morning in the central province of Hà Tĩnh.

The passenger bus was travelling on National Highway 1A across the province’s Nghi Xuân District when one of its front wheel tyres suddenly burst, due to which the bus driver lost control and slammed into the lane separator.

The bus overturned, killing two passengers on the spot.

Witnesses said the bus was travelling in the South-North direction from HCM City to the northern province of Thái Bình and had some 20 passengers on board.

Nguyễn Hải Nam, chairman of the district, said three among those injured had especially serious wounds and were hospitalised in critical condition.

Nam said local authorities provided the best rescue efforts to the victims, along with VNĐ3 million (US$133) each to the families of those who lost their lives.

At noon, rescue and cleanup tasks were completed so that traffic could resume on this section of the highway. The injured victims are being treated at the Hà Tĩnh General Hospital.

Two moon bears rescued in Gia Lai Province

Animals Asia on Tuesday said it successfully rescued two moon bears which had caged for a decade in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai’s An Khê Town.

Their owner voluntarily handed them over to the Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre in the northern province of  Vĩnh Phúc.

These bears bring the number of bear rescued by Animals Asia in Việt Nam to 177.

Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre is home to 161 bears, most of them rescued from the bear bile industry.

Mekong hospital adopts advanced technology to treat tumours

The Cần Thơ Oncology Hospital has treated its first two patients with benign thyroid nodules using radiofrequency ablation (RFA).

It is the first hospital in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta and the third in the country to use this minimally invasive technique.

The HCM City University Medical Centre transferred the new technology to the hospital, which performed the procedure for the first time on April 8.

Doctors advise using the procedure as an alternative to surgery for patients who have nodules measuring 2-5cm that cause symptoms or cosmetic concerns.

In Việt Nam around 115,000 patients with thyroid nodules are treated, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health. 

Job fairs held for workers returning from RoK

Hundreds of job seekers, who had worked in the Republic of Korea (RoK) under the Employment Permit System (EPS) programme, had the chance to access job opportunities in RoK firms in Vietnam at a career fair in the northern province of Thai Nguyen on April 11.

At the fair, held by the Job Service Centre under the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, candidates joined interviews with five RoK-invested enterprises that need experienced labouers fluent in Korean. 

This was the second time the centre has organised such a job fair, offering a venue for enterprises to seek workers from the EPS programme. 

The same day, a similar fair was held in the northern province of Bac Ninh, attracting more than 100 labourers from northern localities such as Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hanoi, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc. 

Attendees were interviewed by 18 RoK firms in Bac Ninh, which need employees for positions of interpreters, officers, electricians and mechanical workers.

According to Dinh Van Duyet, Director of the provincial Job Service Centre, RoK enterprises in Vietnam have high demand for labourers, especially those returning from the RoK. 

Through the nine events of this kind in Bac Ninh, thousands of employees found jobs, contributing to reducing the rate of illegal labourers in the RoK.

VOV, Japan KansaiTV look towards broader cooperation

On April 12, Voice of Vietnam (VOV) Vice President Vu Hai received a delegation of the Japan KansaiTV in Hanoi.

VOV Vice President Vu Hai told his guests that VOV is a government agency with 8 radio programs and 18 TV channels. Its overseas service VOV5 broadcasts in 12 languages, including Japanese. VOV has 10 overseas bureaus with one in Japan.

“We are thankful to your cooperation in joint production so that we could learn from your working styles and introduce Japanese culture to Vietnam and vice versa. We have two major electronic newspapers, especially vov.vn has a high rate of readers. We hope to have further cooperation in radio and online newspapers," Hai said.

KansaiTV representative, Nobuyuki Takeuchi, expected more cooperation and pledged cooperation in relevant program productions for shows in public places in the time ahead.

Kansai is one of the 6th largest Japanese media groups with strengths in TV production. KansaiTV will cooperate with VOVTV and VTC3 in the production and counter broadcasts of reality shows, cultural and entertainment programs. 

Social networks serving as platform for public trashing in Vietnam

Social networks have become a bigger part of Vietnam’s internet-savvy community, but it's too bad they all too often serve as an arena for public shaming and hate speech, a new study has found.

The Vietnam Program for Internet and Society (VPIS) at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi, which surveyed more than 1,000 internet users, found 78% were either victims or had witnessed public condemnation, the research team said at a conference on April 12.

Pham Hai Chung, a communications and internet expert from the team, said that hate speech and shaming mostly comes in the form of slanderous and defamatory messages.

The survey found victims were usually helpless and the only way they could fight back was to ask network operators to remove the messages, which usually took time and did not always happen.

“A verbal slur can be forgotten, but a statement made online can stay there forever,” said Chung, who received a lot of online abuse herself when she wrote an essay about poor Vietnamese reading habits on a news website in 2015. She was criticized for being condescending with her western education.

Online hate speeches spare no targets.

An automobile engineer was accused of “buying her diploma” after she failed a cooking question on a Vietnamese game show last November. A woman was shamed and teased for using her bra as a face mask to run from a fire in Hanoi. Two babysitters accused of child abuse in Ho Chi Minh City received continuous insults online after they were sentenced to three years in jail in 2014.

"Online hate speech undermines the free space and the safety for internet users and is a serious gender issue since it is often targeting women," said Andreas Mattsson, who teaches journaism at Lund University in Sweden.

"It it is very important that we share experiences and solutions between us since similar patterns are shown in many places," said Mattsson, who attended the conference.

Dang Hoang Giang, deputy head of the Hanoi-based Center for Community Support Development Studies, said at the conference that online shaming is a continuity of a feudal ideology that says punishment must be made public and be watched by everyone.

Giang said that online hate speech occurs when people consider themselves vigilantes who can right the wrongs and judge anyone.

That kind of violence is the same as mob attacks against dog thieves or traffic violators, he said. “It’s the justice of fury.”

Experts at the conference said attackers should learn to accept other people’s differences, while the victims should be brave and fight back instead of staying silent and letting online shaming become part of our culture.

Cao Hoang Nam, a coordinator for the VPIS, said the Vietnamese government should ask social network providers to take greater responsibility to prevent online attacks and make the internet a fairer place.

Nearly 49 million people in Vietnam, or more than half of the country’s population, are online, and more than 35 million of them are active on social networks, mostly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. A VPIS study found that Vietnamese spend an average of 138 minutes every day on social networks, 30% more than the global average.

But meanwhile, top officials from Vietnam's ruling Communist Party have repeatedly warned the press against the risk of trailing behind digital technology, urging them to capitalize on the internet and social media to spread the Party’s messages.

The government has set up its own Facebook page to keep the public in the loop on its policies or to livestream the monthly cabinet meetings where decisions on hot-buttons issues are made. The authorities also acknowledge that they have deployed a group known as "public opinion shapers" to gauge public sentiment on Facebook and to deal with “online hostile forces.”

Analysts see Vietnam’s move to embrace Facebook, which boasts around 35 million local users, as a no-nonsense move in a country where the sudden explosion of space for free and open discussion has created a kind of high-pressure catharsis online. In 2013, the government did plan to develop its own social network for young people; but such attempts have never materialized ever since.

“The internet infrastructure developed far faster than the [Vietnamese] government's ability to regulate and control it,” Zachary Abuza, a Washington-based analyst who authored a 2015 paper about the media and civil society in Vietnam, told VnExpress International. “There is nothing the government can do to shut it down. And there are plenty of technical workarounds.”

In January, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued a circular asking Facebook and similar sites that have a Vietnamese base with over one million users to “collaborate" with the authorities in blocking “toxic information” on these platforms. Under Vietnamese laws, such information ranges from ads for banned products to anti-state content and state secrets.

Under its new circular, the Vietnamese government will give Facebook, among others, up to 48 hours to block information falling under such purview. Failure to do so will allow local authorities to take the matter into their own hands. But when the information is considered posing a threat to Vietnam's national interests, the authorities will reserve the right to block it immediately.
     
German foundation shares experience in labour relations

The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation are co-organising a workshop to share Germany’s experience in trade union activities and labour relations.

At the April 12-13 event, leaders of local labour federations shared the organisations’ difficulties and advantages, and heard the German foundation’s experience related to trade union activities and labour relations, including the role of trade unions in protecting the rights and interests of their members, reconciliation and arbitration institutions in labour disputes.

According to Chief Representative of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Erwin Schweisshelm, Germany’s basic law stipulates that trade union is the most important form to represent labourers. Therefore, its mission is to maintain working and economic conditions of workers and fight to improve them.

He noted that the most effective fighting measure is the signing of collective agreements with main contents on salaries and working time per week.

If negotiations on collective agreements between employers and trade union leaders do not come to an end, labourers can start a strike, he added.

Professor Daeubler from the foundation stated that trade union should be the legal leader of strikes which have to happen unpredictably to make employers understand how big the loss is if they do not follow the agreements.

However, in such sectors as aviation and health, labourers have to give strike notice in order to avoid losses to the country’s socio-economic development.
  
Thanh Hoa intensifies A/H7N9 avian flu prevention

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the central province of Thanh Hoa has urged localities at different levels to strengthen their monitoring of A/H7N9 avian flu.

The People’s Committees of districts, towns and cities in the province need to early detect outbreaks in order to prevent the disease from spreading while strictly implementing preventive measures instructed by the central and provincial levels, thus minimising damage.

The department has also directed veterinary agencies and other relevant forces to keep a close watch on the transport and consumption of poultry and poultry products in localities they are in charge, as well as implement strict supervision and quarantine of poultry supply from outside. 

Communication work needs to be promoted to raise the awareness of the disease among local poultry breeders, while local residents are encouraged to proactively detect and supervise the disease as well as not involve in selling, transporting or slaughtering illegally imported poultry.

Authorised agencies should closely supervise areas where fowls and their products are gathered in order to promptly deal with the transport and trading of smuggled products with unclear origin.

Localities have been urged to accelerate the implementation of the first phrase of the province’s vaccination programme and disease prevention plans for poultry and livestock in 2017.

Breeders have also been called to clean their barns, poultry selling and buying places, and slaughterhouses, particularly in areas of high risk, to minimise disease sources while taking better care of their poultry flocks.

Le Van Luan, head of the provincial Department of Animal Health, the sector has focused on human resources training, technology transfer and equipment procurement to better screen and prevent avian influenza. Therefore, no outbreak has been reported in recent years.

In 2016, the province’s vaccination programme surpassed its target by 3 percent. More than 5 million fowls have been injected, accounting for 93 percent and exceeding the target by 2 percent.

Many localities have completed the vaccination programme, namely Nong Cong, Trieu Son, Thieu Hoa, Vinh Loc, Thach Thanh and Nhu Thanh districts, and Thanh Hoa city.

Playback theatre on “When in Love”

Playback theatre is a type of improvisation theatre in which the audience tells stories and watches them performed on stage. The first playback theatre show organised by Life Art nearly six years ago – and probably the first in Hà Nội – enthralled audiences.

To rekindle the art form, Life Art is running a course on playback theatre. Participants of the course will share one thing in common: they have no experience acting.

On the 12th session of the course, instead of the usual closing ceremony, the organiser would like to invite others to share their story and see how it is reproduced on stage in a small performing programme on the theme of “When in Love”. The event will be held from 7.30pm tomorrow night, at Black Box, 56 Nguyễn Khuyến Street.

The programme is for people from 18 years old, entry is free. Maximum participants: 30. Hotline: 0168 844 3800.

FVH Film Night to present short movies

The Friends of Vietnam Heritage (FVH) will present the FVH Film Night on April 20.

The event, which will take place at the Seven Café, 3A Ngô Quyền Street, from 7.30pm to 9pm, will present three shorts movies Giường Xinh (Beautiful Bed) by director Hà Lê Diễm, Mùa Hè, Nghiêm (Summer Attention) by Lê Thu Minh, and Bánh Bao Bikes by Brenda Mattick.

Beautiful Bed is about two youngsters, who leave a northern town and go to the South to work in a furniture store. Despite hardships in work and life, they never stop nurturing dreams for their families.

Summer Attention is about a summer activity class led by An, who is a young party member. He longs to create healthy and respectable activities for children in the immigrant village.

The last movie is about Mr Tuấn, vice president of the Hà Nội Vintage Bicycle Club, who runs a busy fried dumpling street food stall. Mr Tuấn reflects on the hard times of previous decades, when bicycles cost more than houses. His father had a bicycle, but he never let Tuấn or his other six children touch it because it was their only form of transport and was a precious asset.

All the movies will be presented with English subtitles. After the screening, there will be a short Q&A session with the directors.

Donation: VNĐ150,000. Limit: 50 people. Contact: filmteam.fvh@gmail.com.

Book launch at L’Espace

On April 18, at 6pm, L’Espace will host a book launch for Voyage en Europe – Foire de Marseille, exposition internationale à Paris (Journey to Europe – Marseille Fair, International Exhibition in Paris) by Nguyễn Công Tiễu, a Vietnamese scientist specialising in agricultural research before 1945.

The book is a collection of Tiễu’s travel articles that were published in Volume 170-230 of the Journal of Science from September 1937 to May 1940.

Tiễu recounted his trip to France to the Marseille fair and the Congress of Scientific Research of the French Overseas Territories. A description of his experiences during his stay in France encourages interest in travel and provides useful knowledge: the fair, the atmosphere of the Congress, historical and cultural sites and beautiful landscapes in Marseille and Paris.

The free entry event will feature three speakers, including Prof Nguyễn Hữu Sơn and Dr Phùng Ngọc Kiên, both from the Institute of Literature and Prof Chu Hảo, director of the Knowledge Publishing House.

Tùng bags green jersey at HCM City tourney

 It took Huỳnh Thanh Tùng 1hr 9.25min to win the fourth stage of the HCM City Television Cycling Tournament yesterday.

Tùng of Military Zone 7 won the 45km race, which went around Gia Nghĩa Town of Đắk Nông Province, and received 15 bonus points.

It helped him bag the green jersey for the best cyclist, beating veteran rival Trương Nguyễn Thanh Nhân of VUS-HCM City. Tùng currently has 23 points, setting a six-point gap with Nguyễn Dương Hồ Vũ of HCM City’s youth squad, who is in second place. Nhân dropped to No 3 with 16 points.

Vũ, however, maintains his position as the tour leader with his best overall time of 7:06.38.

Giang Thanh Tuấn of Army is second, followed by Nguyễn Hoàng Thái of Calysto Đồng Tháp.

Vũ is also leading the white jersey race for best young rider.

BTV Đại Nam Bình Dương still sit at the top of the team ranking. They are followed by Military Zone 7 and Domesco Đồng Tháp.

The fifth stage today will see cyclists tour from Đắk Nông to Buôn Mê Thuột City of Đắk Lắk Province across 125km.

Sài Gòn have first win, Hoàng Thư lose

Sài Gòn FC tasted their first win at the National Futsal Championship yesterday beating Hoàng Thư Đà Nẵng 2-0 in HCM City.

It was also the first loss of Hoàng Thư Đà Nẵng at the tournament after their two wins and one draw previously.

Sài Gòn, who have only one point and sat at the next-to-bottom position prior to the game, had an early goal in the first minute of the match when captain Trần Chí Nhật’s kick touched a player of Hoàng Thư Đà Nẵng and the ball went into the net.

The goal pushed up their spirits and they counter-attacked successfully before finding their second goal in the second half.

Nhất Hội slid to convert his teammate Công Hải’s pass to the left corner some 10 minutes after the break.

Hoàng Thư Đà Nẵng changed to power play to find their goal but their effort was in vain.

Coach assistant Trần Ngọc Tú of Hoàng Thư Đà Nẵng said that after the first three matches some players including key player Văn An of his team were injured so they had to change their tactics.

An early goal in this match was unlucky and it led to a loss of morale in the team, he said.

“We were not good in the first minutes and suffered from the goal. We rearranged and created more attacks but it did not work. We must accept this defeat,” Tú said.

Meanwhile, coach assistant Phan Trần Tuấn Anh of Sài Gòn FC said his team watched carefully the playing style of the rivals and emerged with a suitable tactic.

It was an important win for Sài Gòn because it lifted the spirit of the whole team after poor performances in previous matches.

In the later game, defending champions Thái Sơn Nam won 6-3 over Thái Sơn Bắc.

Thái Sơn Nam scored four goals in the first period by Lê Quốc Nam, Nguyễn Minh Trí, Phạm Đức Hòa and an own goal by Thái Sơn Bắc’s Nguyễn Văn Quốc Huy.

Thái Sơn Bắc netted twice by Lâm Tấn Phát and Nguyễn Thành Tín.

They continued to narrow the gap when Tín converted a free kick into to his double in the early second half.

However, that was all they could do.

Thái Sơn Nam found two more goals to seal the biggest win of the tournament after Hòa completed his hat-trick.

“Despite the loss, I am pleased with what my players did. They had a good game although they made mistakes that must be fixed later in a match against a team of many national members who played in the World Cup. This will help them grow in the future,” said Thái Sơn Bắc coach Nguyễn Quang Minh.

The third match of the day saw Sanatech Khánh Hòa being tied 1-1 by Cao Bằng.

Cao Bằng opened the score with a straight shot by Nhật Trung but Sanatech Khánh Hòa did not let them celebrate too long.

Trần Tuyên netted with a close kick to equalise a few minutes later.

Later, Hải Tiến Phương Nam Phú Nhuận beat Sanest Khánh Hòa 4-0 and Tân Hiệp Hưng lost 1-3 to Sanna Khánh Hòa.

NA Vice Chairman inspects border security in Gia Lai

National Assembly Vice Chairman Do Ba Ty on April 12 visited the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai to inspect defence and security along border areas in the locality. 

He inspected la O border station in la Grai district, the border section from la Grai district to Duc Co district, Le Thanh international border gate and border marker No.30 – which marks the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. 

He also worked with representatives from local authorities and border armed units. 

According provincial border forces’ report, people-to-people and border relations between Gia Lai and Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province have improved. 

Coordination among authorised agencies in the locality has helped ensure defence and security in the locality. 

Hailing achievements made by border forces and local authorities to ensure security and defence along the border line with Cambodia, the NA Vice Chairman asked for more efforts in the work, and to promote poverty reduction and development.   

He appreciated coordination among armed units in implementing their duties in Gia Lai, especially in effectively fighting sabotage efforts of hostile forces. 

He called for closer cooperation among armed forces at all levels in the locality to promote socio-economic development.

Over 16.5 billion VND raised for disabled people

More than 16.5 billion VND (727,980 USD) was raised at an art programme held in Hanoi on April 12 to support people with disabilities and orphans.

The “One heart – One world” programme was organised by the Association for the Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO) and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The annual event is to raise money for activities to improve quality of life for disabled people and orphans.

Established in April 1992, the ASVHO aims to protect the legitimate rights and interests of disabled people and orphans.

It has raised more than 2.5 trillion VND (110.3 million USD) and received 268.2 billion VND (11.8 million USD) from the State budget to assist the disabled and poor with orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation, cataract surgery, vocational training, and wheelchairs and bicycles.

The association has supported some 9.8 million handicapped people and orphans across the country.

Fire engulfs lubricant plant in Đồng Nai

A lubricant recycling plant stretching thousands of square metres in Đồng Nai Province was engulfed in flames on Wednesday night, but no casualties were reported.

The fire started at around 8pm and quickly spread to the oil storage facility of the recycling plant, built in an isolated area inside a tea tree forest in Thiên Tân Commune, Vĩnh Cửu District.

The blaze soon grew bigger and was visible from as far as two kilometres away. Residents living in the neighbourhood said they also heard several explosions.

The huge quantity of engine oil at the plant made it extremely difficult to contain the flames, which began spreading to the adjacent tea tree forest at around 10.30pm despite firefighters’ efforts to put out the fire.

It was not until dawn that the blaze was finally extinguished.

Investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing. 

HCM City to build six-lane road to ease traffic congestion at airport

A six-lane road in parallel with Cong Hoa Street will be constructed to reduce traffic congestion around Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC, according to the municipal Department of Transport.

The road would be 4.3 kilometers long, running parallel with Cong Hoa Street from Tran Quoc Hoan Street, and connecting with Cong Hoa Street at a section adjacent to Truong Chinh Street in Tan Binh District. The road will mainly run through military land. 

The road project would require around VND1.4 trillion (or US$61.7 million).

The department’s Urban Traffic Management Unit No. 1 is working with agencies under the Ministry of Defense to come up with a design project to develop the road.

A new terminal having a capacity of 10 million passengers a year will be developed on Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Tan Binh District to ease heavy traffic at and around the country’s busiest airport.

Once the new road is in place, it will act as an extra access road to the terminal. This will help relieve traffic gridlock on Cong Hoa Street and Lang Cha Ca Roundabout.

The department has been working on five projects worth over VND1.8 trillion or US$79.4 million in a bid to reduce traffic gridlock in the airport area.

The first project is to build a steel overpass at the intersection of Truong Son Street and a road leading to Pham Van Dong Street in Tan Binh District. The Y-shaped overpass will have one branch leading to the airport’s domestic terminal and another to the international terminal.

A tunnel under Truong Son Street from the domestic terminal to Hong Ha Street would be constructed later.

The project requires a total cost of VND771 billion. It is scheduled to be finished at the third quarter of this year.

The second project is to upgrade and expand a Hoang Minh Giam Street section from Gia Dinh Park to Dao Duy Anh Street at a cost of VND166 billion.

In the third project, a section of Hoang Hoa Tham Street will be widened at a cost of VND255 billion.

The fourth project worth VND142 billion is aimed to upgrade a Cong Hoa Street section from Tran Quoc Hoan Street to Thang Long Street.

In the fifth project, a Y-shaped steel overpass worth VND504 billion will go up at Nguyen Thai Son-Nguyen Kiem Intersection in Go Vap District with a branch in the Nguyen Thai Son-Hoang Minh Giam direction and another in the Hoang Minh Giam-Nguyen Kiem direction. It is expected for completion at the end of this year.

BIDV donates medical equipment to Saint Paul Hospital

The Việt Nam Investment and Development Bank (BIDV) donated medical equipment and facilities worth VNĐ10 billion (US$435,000) to Saint Paul Hospital at a ceremony on Wednesday in Hà Nội.

The donation is part of a series of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes that BIDV is engaged in to support the capital city’s healthcare sector in 2017.

The medical equipment include a sterilisation instrument, four patient supervision monitors, two respiration machines, two high-frequency surgical knifes, electrical cardioversion, micro-surgical tools, a blood test machine and a 16-seat car for transporting doctors to local medical facilities for medical technique transference sessions.

Hospital director Nguyễn Đình Hưng thanked the BIDV for supporting the health sector and Saint Paul Hospital, and said the donation will help improve the quality of treatment.

“We commit to effectively use and manage the donated medical facilities in serving and treating people in Hà Nội city,” Hưng said.

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