Dien Bien: Two arrested for transporting 4,000 drug pills

A man and a woman were arrested on October 16 for trafficking 4,000 synthetic drug pills in northern mountainous Dien Bien province.

Vu A Phong, born in 1995, and Mua Thi Sua, born in 1991, both from Dien Bien were caught red-handed when carrying the drug pills hidden inside 20 blue plastic bags in Ba Khom village, Nam Lich commune of Muong Ang district.

The pair attacked the local police with stones to resist arrest, leaving a policeman injured.

They confessed to purchase the drugs at a border area and were on the way to make sales.

The case is under further investigation.

Vietnam Women Award honours 18 units, individuals

The Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) Central Committee on October 17 presented the Vietnam Women Award 2017 to eight units and 10 individuals with outstanding contributions to social development.

The honoured units include women teams of the Emergency Department of Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi-Amsterdam High School, Thai Hung JSC, and Women’s Union of Ba Che district of Quang Ninh province.

Meanwhile, the 10 outstanding individuals include Lieutenant Colonel Bui Thi Ha from the Naval Technical Institute, Do Thuy Ha from Hanoi Blind Association, Nguyen Thi Hue from a lemon growing cooperative in Can Tho city, Nguyen Thi Lieu from Duc Tri junior high school, and Nguyen Ngoc Mai, a worker of Vincem Hoang Thach cement company.

Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue affirmed that the Party and State always create favourable conditions for women to develop, adding that administrations at all levels and sectors have paid due attention to gender quality and women’s progress.

He asked the WVU Central Committee to continue promoting its role in protecting and ensuring legitimate rights and interests of women, while increasing communication campaigns to raise public awareness of the need to implement women-related policies.

The Deputy PM also requested agencies, ministries, sectors and localities to ensure adequate ratio of women’s participation in their organisations.

Meanwhile, VWU President Nguyen Thi Thu Ha underlined Vietnamese women’s tradition of patriotism and devotion.

In the current period of international integration, Vietnamese women have continued their important role in promoting socio-economic development as well as ensuring security-political of the country.

The women honoured with the Vietnam Women Award 2017 have inspired millions of others across the country to work harder and create for the nation’s sustainable development.

The same day, the VWU also organised Women Innovation Day with the themed  “Women engaging in natural disaster risk reduction and climate change response”. The organising board presented certificates of merit to 22 project authors, while funding three most feasible initiatives.

Fifteen female students who recorded the highest scores in the university entrance examination 2017 and a female student winning a silver medal at the International Biology Olympiad 2017 also received certificates of merit.

On the occasion, the VWU also raised funds to support flood-hit residents in northern mountainous provinces.

Central city to build new $300m paediatric hospital

The central city of Đà Nẵng has proposed building a world-class paediatric hospital in Cẩm Lệ District, with an estimated price tag of US$300 million.

Ngô Thị Kim Yến, director of the city’s heath department, said the city urged the ministry of health to begin construction of the high-tech paediatrics hospital to serve people in the central and Central Highlands region.

Yến said the establishment of a new paediatrics hospital would ease overcrowding at the city’s Paediatrics and Obstetrics Hospital. Opened in 2012 and designed to hold 600 beds, the hospital now operates with more than 1,600.

The city plans to designate land for the development of the new hospital in the newly launched Hòa Xuân Eco-Urban Area.

According to the central paediatrics hospital, retired doctors and professors from Japan, Germany, the Czech Republic and other developed countries will be invited to work at the hospital and provide training courses for young staff.

The city and the ministry will also call for private sector investment in high-quality medical services in the region.

Đà Nẵng currently has 11 hospitals with 1,000 doctors and more than 620 consulting rooms and medical care centres.

HCM City’s inter-hospital red alert saves young woman

Obstetricians at Hùng Vương Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital in HCM City on Monday saved the life of a 27-year-old woman suffering from uterine inversion, a rare and fatal childbirth complication, thanks to the inter-hospital red alert.

Nguyễn Thọ Loan was admitted to the Nhà Bè District Hospital, where she delivered a 3.4kg baby boy, but the placenta did not separate normally.

Doctors there manually removed the placenta, but their efforts to separate and expel it from the uterus failed.

After 30 minutes the mother developed life-threatening bleeding and went into shock. Doctors had to activate the inter-hospital red alert to seek professional assistance.

Fifteen minutes later Hùng Vương Hospital’s rapid response team of obstetricians and nurses arrived at the Nhà Bè District Hospital and immediately began resuscitative efforts and performed life-saving surgery, Lê Kim Bá Liêm, the team leader said.

The woman had lost 3,000gm of blood and was in a coma and without a pulse; her survival chances were very low, he said.

But after three hours of resuscitative efforts and the surgery, her condition stabilised.

She was transferred to Hùng Vương Hospital for further treatment yesterday, Liêm said.

The red alert system has helped save the lives of many patients who might otherwise have died on the way to higher level hospitals, according to the doctor.

Health Ministry urges preventive methods against hand-foot-mouth disease

The Ministry of Health has instructed people’s committees in provinces and cities throughout the country to ensure that preventive methods against hand-foot-mouth disease are being carried out as the number of incidences has increased.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 730 children in the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ have contracted the common viral illness, which affects mostly infants and children younger than five years old. The figure is an increase of more than 100 compared to the same period last year, according to the city’s Preventive Health Centre.

The illness can sometimes occur in older children and adults, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Typical symptoms of hand-foot-mouth disease include fever, mouth sores and a skin rash.

Hand- foot-mouth disease is spread from person to person through coughing and sneezing, or contact with blister fluid or feces of an infected person.

Đồng Tháp Province has recorded more than 4,170 children with the disease since the beginning of the year, an increase of 123 per cent against the same period last year.

Many other provinces in the Mekong Delta region have seen an increase of incidences of hand-foot-mouth disease.

Nguyễn Công Tuấn of Vĩnh Long Province’s Department of Health told Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper that the virus had spread among children at kindergartens.  

Dr Huỳnh Minh Trúc, head of the Cần Thơ Preventive Health Centre, said the peak season started from September and ended in November.

Because of the spread of the disease in kindergartens and schools, the centre has given guidance to teachers about identifying kids with the virus and isolating them in a timely fashion, Trúc said.

Teachers were also told to wash toys and other teaching aids and keep the school environment clean, he added.

According to the Ministry of Health’s recommendations, people should wash hands regularly, especially before cooking meals and feeding or holding babies.

They should disinfect dirty surfaces and soiled items and avoid close contact such as kissing, hugging, or sharing eating utensils or cups with infected people or those suspected of having an infection, the ministry says.

As of October, the country had more than 65,000 incidences of hand-foot-mouth disease, an increase of 10 per cent compared to the same period last year. Nearly 30,000 of the cases required hospitalisation. 

Programmes planned to introduce SDGs to youth

A series of activities aiming to raise young people’s awareness about the Việt Nam’s implementation of the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals will take place in Hà Nội this December.

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are a set of targets that UN member states, including Việt Nam, are attempting to reach by 2030. Together, the goals are intended to end poverty and protect the environment.

The first event is the “2017 Creative & Innovative Youth Award”. This is the first time the award has been organised in Việt Nam to honour youth organisations working for community development in the 2015-17 period.

As planned, the award will be given in December 3 with financial support from Irish Aid. The first prize is worth VNĐ17 million (US$750).  The deadline for applications is October 28.

Vũ Duy Kiên, coordinator of the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies—the  organiser of the award—said on Tuesday the award was created after the centre worked with 45 youth organisations and found that the number of youngsters who knew about the 17 SDGs was less than expected.

The second event, “The story of Kiến Village”, is a forum where 70-80 people under the age of 30 will gather to learn about the importance of youth force in the implementation of SDGs in Việt Nam. It will be held on December 1 and 2 on the outskirts of Hà Nội.

The participants will be offered chances to share their initiatives to deal with current social problems in the country. The forum was also designed for young people to build up their professional networks.

Another event, International Volunteer Day, will be organised on December 3 at Hà Nội’s pedestrian streets around Hoàn Kiếm (Returned Sword) Lake by the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee. The event will consist of discussions on the role of voluntary activities in achieving the SDGs in Việt Nam.

Phạm Quang Huy, a first-year student of Hà Nội Culture University said he was eager to join the activities. But Huy said the organisers should do more to promote the activities via mass media so that more young people will learn about them and plan to attend.

Phạm Thị Hồng Nết, Advocacy Officer for Oxfam’s Education Programme, said the organisers are considering developing an alternative phrase to describe the goals, as "Sustainable Development Goals" may sound inaccessible to vulnerable young people living in remote areas. Different terminology, she suggested, might help people in rural communities more readily see the relevance of the goals to their lives.

In May, the Government issued a National Action Plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which demonstrates the country’s commitment to achieving the global SDGs.

Vietnam Embassy in Indonesia raises funds for flood victims

The Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia on October 17 raised funds to support local residents affected by recent floods in northern and north-central regions of the home country.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Hoang Anh Tuan said the embassy expected that people in these regions will soon recover from the floods and stabilise their lives.

On this occasion, staff members of Vietnamese representative agencies in Indonesia also donated money to support the unfinished wish of the Vietnam News Agency’s reporter Dinh Huu Du, who laid down his life reporting the flood in Yen Bai province. 

The proceeds will contribute to the building of a library in remote Che Tao commune in Mu Cang Chai district and a bridge in Khe Ngoa village in Van Yen district (both in Yen Bai province), where local people have to use ropes to cross a stream every day.

Northern mountainous provinces and part of the central region have been submerged by widespread floods resulting from torrential rains on October 10 and 11.

The death toll climbed to 72 by 21:00 on October 15, according to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

Thirty others are still unaccounted for while 33 are injured.

Can Tho, An Giang present gifts to the poor in Cambodia

The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) committees of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang and Can Tho city partnered with the General Association of Vietnamese Cambodians in Cambodia to present gifts to poor Vietnamese and Cambodian nationals affected by the recent floods. 

Speaking at the event, Chairwoman of the An Giang provincial VFF Committee said gift-giving activities have been conducted by the two committees for many years. 

Chairman of the General Association of Vietnamese Cambodians in Cambodia Chau Van Chi thanked the overseas Vietnamese and Cambodian people for their practical support. 

A total 300 gifts were presented to families. Apart from gifts presented in Kongpong Speu province on October 17, the remaining will be offered to poor Vietnamese and Cambodian citizens living in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap province on October 18.

Evangelical Church (North) holds 35th General Assembly

The Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) opened its 35th General Assembly on October 17 with the participation of representatives from the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Government Committee for Religious Affairs and about 1,500 delegates.

Head of the Church Pastor Nguyen Huu Mac said that participants at the three-day event will review the Church’s operation in the 2013-2017 period, adjust its Charter, build plans for the next period, and elect an executive board for the 2017-2021 tenure.

He noted that in the 2013-2017 period, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) added 12,000 new followers, more than 140 registered places, while recognizing six local Churches and ordaining 54 pastors. It also appointed dignitaries-managers for 14 local churches.

The Church actively joined social activities and poverty reduction programmes. Along with launching campaigns to donate blood to the needy, the Church also presented gifts to poor children in mountainous areas. Followers of the Church donated land, money and 1,300 working days to construct 16 concrete roads in Thai Nguyen, he said.

Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Bui Thanh Ha hailed charitable activities of the Church, expressing hope that in the future, the Church will continue that activities, contributing to the country’s prosperity.

Ha affirmed the Party and State’s policy of respecting and ensuring people’s freedom to religion and belief, saying the State encourages progressive religious activities in service of the nation and people. 

Vietnam always pays attention to religious harmony and works to strengthen the harmony, he said, adding that all religious organisations are equal before law, which is clarified in the Law on Belief and Religion that will take effect from January 1, 2018.

Vietnam-USA Society seeks to enhance people-to-people links

The Vietnam-USA Society (VUS) organized a seminar in Hanoi on October 17 to discuss measures for its efficient operation to contribute to boosting the friendship of the two people.

The seminar was on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the Vietnam-USA Society, a member of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations.

VUS President Nguyen Tam Chien said that the formation of the VUS, which was formerly the Vietnam-US friendship association, showed Vietnam treasured the development of its relations with the US. Thanks to efforts of both sides, bilateral relationship was normalized and developed to comprehensive partnership, he noted.

Chien stressed that VUS should help with organising more meetings and increasing all-round cooperation between people of the two countries, thus deepening bilateral ties and connecting efforts in dealing with war-era problems.

According to Nguyen Van Huynh, a member of the VUS Standing Committee, along with boosting collaboration in economy, science-technology, culture, education, VUS should also strengthen mutual understanding between Vietnamese and US people through the organization of seminars to introduce their nation and people, the publishing of books on VUS history, and meetings with US civil organisations and businesses in Vietnam.

He also stressed the need to maintain and develop the VUS English Centres.

Meanwhile, Dr. Pham Xuan Dai, VUS Standing Committee member, said that the society should expand its membership to receive ideas from people from all walks of life in all fields.

Economic committee prepares reports for NA’s coming session

The National Assembly (NA)’s Committee for Economic Affairs commenced a two-day meeting in Da Nang city on October 17 to prepare for verification reports to be submitted to the parliament’s fourth session, slated for later this month.

During the event, participants are set to verify a report on the implementation of the NA’s resolution on the 2017 socio-economic development plan while discussing development directions and tasks for 2018. 

They will look into the draft revised law on competition, a project on land seizure, compensation and resettlement support serving the construction of Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai province, and the investment in building some sections of the eastern North-South Expressway between 2017 and 2020.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Trung delivered a report on the implementation of the NA’s resolution on the 2017 socio-economic development plan and on directions for 2018. 

Accordingly, Vietnam’s macro-economy has been kept stable with GDP growth rate estimated at 6.7 percent this year. While the investment and business climate has continued to be improved, the economic restructuring associated with growth model reform has been stepped up.

Administrative reforms and the fight against corruption and wastefulness have been strengthened, resulting in many important outcomes. Improvements can also be seen in different social aspects, Trung said.

Major development orientations for 2018 include continuing to stablise the macro-economy, making substantive improvements in carrying out strategic breakthroughs and economic restructuring, encouraging innovation and startups, and promoting economic growth.

Enhancing administrative reforms, environmental protection, climate change response, defence-security strength, external activities, and international integration will also be main directions for development next year, according to the report.

Solutions sought to end gender-based violence

Drastic efforts are crucial to ending gender inequality and violence against women and girls, said Le Khanh Luong, Vice Director of the Gender Equality Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Speaking at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on October 16 on communication training on gender equality, gender and domestic violence prevention, Luong said that women and girls are still victims of trafficking, abusing, sexual assault and violence.

He said that the first action month against gender-based violence, part of a national action programme on gender equality and domestic violence, was held in 2016 with more than 800 activities involving over 200,000 people.

This year, the action month, starting from November 15, aims to change public awareness of gender equality.

Ha Thi Quynh Anh, an official from the United Nations Population Fund said that inter-sectoral support, including health care and legal aid, is necessary to help women and girls recover from domestic violence.

She also stressed the need for stronger communications to raise public awareness of gender equality.

Nguyen Thi Diem Chi from Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Newspaper said that the newspaper’s hotlines have received many reports on domestic and gender-based violence, which show that the problem is still common.

Statistics show that as many as 34 percent of married women have suffered from physical or sexual abuse, the majority of whom did not reveal their situation or seek help from public services.

Meanwhile, backward concepts have caused a serious at-birth gender imbalance at 112.2 boys over 100 girls (2016). It is predicted that in 2030, up to 4.5 million Vietnamese men will be unlikely to have spouses.

From 2005-2009, nearly 6,000 women and girls were victims of human trafficking in Vietnam.

HCM City student dies from falling concrete

A male student has been killed by a falling concrete while waiting for the lift at Hutech University in Ho Chi Minh City, a representative from the university said.

The accident occurred at 6 pm on October 17 when the students were waiting for the elevator in the yard which is located on Dien Bien Phu Street in Binh Thanh District.

A student said that she was queuing with some ten other students for the lift when hearing a loud noise behind and small pieces of concrete falling on her.

"I turned around to see a male student lying on the ground bleeding a lot with a big piece of concrete beside," she said. "We all screamed in fears and many ran away. Some people rushed in to help him but he was dead."

Some people witnessed the accident said that the concrete fell from a wall of a building there.

According to the university, the victim was Nguyen Thanh Long, 29, a student at the Environment Technology Faculty. They are investigating the cause of the accident

Hanoi proposes construction of Me So Bridge at US$215 million

The Hanoi municipal government has proposed constructing the Me So Bridge connecting the city’s Thuong Tin district with Hung Yen province at a cost of approximately VND4.89 trillion (US$215 million).

According to Hanoi’s report, presented to the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Planning and Investment, the bridge will be built by a consortium of two companies, Phuong Thanh and Nguyen Minh, under a build-operate-transfer contract.

The project will include a bridge over the Red River and connecting roads, with a total length of 13.8 kilometres, running from an interchange with National Highway 1 to an intersection with the Hanoi-Hai Phong Expressway in Van Giang district of Hung Yen province.

The bridge and roads will be part of Hanoi’s fourth ring road.

The project is designed to strengthen the connectivity between the two expressways of Phap Van-Cau Gie and Hanoi-Hai Phong, to reduce traffic towards the capital city’s inner area and boost the economic development of Hanoi and Hung Yen province.

In 2015 the authorities of Hanoi and Hung Yen agreed with the Ministry of Transport on reporting the project to the Prime Minister in order to seek investment approval, under which the transport ministry will be responsible for implementing the project.

But since then no progress has been made on the project.

At a meeting last September, it was agreed that the Hanoi municipal government will now take charge of the Me So Bridge project.

Vietnam targets US$2.5 billion in rice export revenues by 2030

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has set the target of raising Vietnam’s rice export revenues to between US$2.3 and 2.5 billion by 2030.

The target was announced at a conference on realising Vietnam’s rice export strategy during the 2017-2020 period, with a view towards 2030.

Under the strategy, Vietnam will gradually reduce its rice export volumes whilst increasing the proportion of high-earning varieties, with the annual volume for the 2017-2020 period targeted at 4.5-5 million tonnes and shrinking to 4 million tonnes by 2030.

Specifically, low and medium-quality white rice will not exceed 20% of the total export volume by 2020, while high-quality white rice accounts for approximately 25%, fragrant, speciality and Japonica rice around 30% and glutinous rice 20%.

By 2030, fragrant, speciality and Japonica rice will make up 40% of Vietnam’s rice export volume, with glutinous rice at 25% and other nutritious rice at over 10%.

According to the delegates at the conference, in order to achieve this target, Vietnam needs to deal with a number of issues that are currently plaguing Vietnam’s rice industry.

At present, Vietnam’s rice export growth is heavily skewed towards volume growth, rice farming is not linked to the market demand and exports are highly dependent on a number of markets.

In addition, Vietnam’s rice exporters have not been able to build well-known brands or meet the market’s diverse demands.

At the conference, the delegates discussed a number of solutions, such as re-organising production and post-harvest processing and storage, building national rice brands, strengthening international cooperation and enhancing the capacity of domestic rice traders.

151 pine trees poisoned with herbicide in Lam Dong Province

People’s Committee in the central highlands province of Lam Dong has decided to carry out investigation of 151 pine trees poisoned with toxic chemicals in the jungle under the management of Lam Vien forest ranger board. 

Some 151 pine trees planted over 30 years in the jungle of 8,500 s.q meters in the central highlands town of Da Lat in Lam Dong Province were poisoned with toxic chemicals.

The jungle is just one kilometer far from the People’s Committee in Ta Nung Commune.

Before, management board of Lam Vien forest in coordination with local forest rangers and forestry brigade in Ta Nung Commune discovered 151 pine trees had been toxified with herbicide. These trees with its root diameter of 12-60 cm and height of 12-16 cm were poisoned.

At the spot, foresters collected an empty jar of herbicide and a cellphone. From the evidence, related agencies summoned some locals for investigation.

Most of pine trees are drilled three to seven holes in its roots and culprits poured weed -killer into the holes to kill the trees. Leaves of pine trees changed its color. Many trees with diameter of 40-60cm had been chopped down before.

Forester Lieng Hót Quil said pouring herbicide into holes in tree is not new way to kill pine tree yet it is hard to discover and it takes a short time for criminals to toxify all forest of tree.

Further investigation will be carried out.

New type of cyber security attack threatens wifi users

The Association for Information Systems (AIS) under the Ministry of Information and Communications has warned wifi users in Vietnam of new cyber security attacks.

According to AIS, a website of network security researcher Mathy Vanhoef at www.krackattacks.com has discovered serious weaknesses in WPA2, a protocol that secures all modern protected Wi-Fi networks, which allow attackers to use key reinstallation attacks (KRACKs) to read information that was previously assumed to be safely encrypted.

This can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, photos, videos and others.

The attack works against all modern protected Wi-Fi networks. Android, Linux, Apple, Windows, OpenBSD, MediaTek, Linksys, and others, are all affected by some variant of the attacks, according to AIS.

The weaknesses are in the Wi-Fi standard itself, and not in individual products or implementations. Therefore, any correct implementation of WPA2 can be affected.

Depending on the network configuration, it is also possible to inject and manipulate data. For example, an attacker might be able to inject ransomware or other malware into websites.

To prevent the attack, AIS suggested users update affected products as soon as security updates become available.

Users should not use public wifi networks unless it is necessary, install software from untrusted sources, or provide private information over unencrypted connections. 

AIS also suggested organizations and enterprises actively watch for information from relevant agencies to get the updated solutions.

For support or further information, call AIS at 04.3943.6684 or send emails to ais@mic.gov.vn.

Cần Thơ prosecutes VAT invoice traders

The Investigation Agency in southern Cần Thơ City said it had decided to investigate six people who are directors, accountants and heads of local enterprises for allegedly involvement in illegal trading of value-added tax (VAT) invoices.

They are identified as Lương Ngọc Huyền and Nguyễn Thế Hùng, chief accountants of Cần Thơ Housing Development Joint Stock Company’s Sand Exploitation Establishment; Lê Chí Công, head of Sand Exploitation Establishment’s Construction Team No 1; Đinh Hồng Châu, accountant of the Construction and Tourism Joint Stock Company’s western branch; Võ Đăng Tuyết Sương, director of two one member limited companies of Vạn Thành Phát Trading and Service and Minh Phát Construction and Trading Service; and Trần Công Thành, director of HDV Joint Stock Company.

All of them are banned from leaving their residential areas, e-newspaper Vietnamplus reported. 

Last month, the police discovered Huyền, who was delivering 20 VAT invoices to Hùng at a coffee shop in Ninh Kiều District, with total sales of over VNĐ769 million (over US$34,100).

The police also seized 111 VAT invoices of the four companies, worth VNĐ5.3 billion ($235,500), upon searching Huyền’s house.

She admitted she bought these invoices from Sương, the director of two limited companies.

After searching Hùng’s workplace, the police seized 117 VAT bills, with sales of VNĐ2.1 billion ($93,300) from five businesses.

At the police station, Sương confessed she had set up two companies without any business activities to mainly purchase and sell VAT invoice. Sương also claimed to have sold 589 invoices, worth VNĐ25.7 billion ($1.1 million), to 51 enterprises.

The police are investigating the cases further.