Two arrested for stabbing TV reporter

Police in northern Thai Nguyen Province have arrested two men for allegedly chasing and stabbing a local television reporter while he was on the way to work.

Chu Van The, 24, in northern Tuyen Quang Province, and Duong Nghia Hau, 21, in northern Thai Nguyen Province, admitted that they attacked the reporter.

On Friday morning, the two on a motorbike blocked the car of Nguyen Ngoc Quang, deputy chief of the news desk at Thai Nguyen Television and Radio Broadcast at Gia Bay Bridge in Thai Nguyen City when he, along with his wife, was on his way to the office.

They used a hammer to break the front door, chase and attack Quang with knives, leaving him eight wounds in his shoulders, back and arms.

They only fled when Quang and his wife entered into a house nearby. Quang was taken to Thai Nguyen General Hospital for treatment. Doctors said the wounds were not life-threatening.

Police are continuing to investigate into the case.

HCM City firms need 46,000 Q3 recruits

Companies and enterprises in HCM City will have to recruit more than 46,000 employees in the third quarter, the city's Centre of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information said.

The vacancies comprise 36,300 long-term jobs and nearly 9,800 casual ones.

The findings are from a survey conducted by the centre of nearly 4,200 enterprises that regularly recruit labourers.

Deputy head of the centre Tran Minh Tuan said in Q3, most jobs would need trained and skilled workers, mainly in the fields of business sales (25.27%), services (17.35%), transport, storage services and import and export (9.57%), and information technology (7.28%), besides tourism, restaurants and hotels (5.39%).

Trained workers with university degrees and higher qualifications account for 16.50% of the recruitment needs, while workers trained in colleges and vocational schools and manual workers account for 18.24%, 20.74% and 24.56%, respectively, down 29.53% compared to the same period last year.

The need for experienced labourers is 62.4%.

Companies and enterprises in the city were making efforts to increase the quality of their human resources to meet the demand for economic integration into ASEAN Economic Community, which would be formed at the end of this year, Tuan said.

Torrential rain causes flooding in Hai Phong

Several major streets of the northern Hai Phong City have been inundated following three hours of torrential rain of 50mm to 100mm this morning.

Many motorbikes broke down on flooded streets such as Cau Dat, Lach Tray, Le Hong Phong, Tran Nguyen Han and Me Linh, bringing traffic to a standstill.

Multidimensional poverty measurement project gets the go-ahead

The Prime Minister has approved a master project to transfer from a one-dimensional to a multi-dimensional poverty measurement approach for 2016-2020.

Measuring poverty will encompass five factors, including living conditions, income levels, access to education and healthcare, access to information, and access to insurance and social assistance.

Accordingly, a household that lacks more than half of its basic needs will be considered critically poor. Households that cannot meet between one third and a half of their needs will be regarded as multidimensional poor households.

The new poverty measurement approach will reveal common shortcomings in specific communities and regions, thus helping policymakers identify geographic areas and demographic groups most in need of assistance.

The statistics will also help monitor poverty reduction results and evaluate poverty reduction policies to make timely adjustments, if needed.

The new approach contains various factors used by the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative and the United Nations Development Programme in 2010 that go beyond income poverty to reveal alternate patterns of poverty.

According to Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa, the poverty rate among households nationwide was cut from 14.2 percent in 2010 down to 5.8-6 percent by the end of 2014. The figure is expected to fall to below 5 percent in late 2015.

The number of low-income families in Vietnam reduces by an average of 2 percent annually, while the rate in impoverished districts drops by more than 5 percent yearly, meeting the targets set for 2012-2015.

In 2014 alone, a total of 34.7 trillion VND (1.65 billion USD) was allocated for poverty alleviation efforts, 30.8 trillion VND of which came from the State budget and the remaining 3.8 trillion VND from other sources.

Three held for drug trafficking

Border police in Nghe An Province and Laos' Xiangkhoang Province arrested three persons for smuggling 18 heroin cakes and 12 ecstasy pills from Laos to Viet Nam yesterday afternoon.

The suspects -- 45-year-old Po Chua Ly, 26-year-old Bun My Mua and 30-year-old Thong Gia, who live in Laos -- were captured in Nam Chau Hotel in Xiangkhoang Province.

The suspects admitted to the police that the heroin, weighing 7kg, was being transported for sale in Viet Nam.

Quang Tri to preserve ancient stone wells

Authorities in Quang Tri province are proceeding with work to preserve historic wells, estimated to be thousands of years old, that have been in a state of disrepair for decades.

According to the province's Centre for Landscapes and Monuments Conservation, the work started several weeks ago after nearby residents complained about the condition of the wells.

The centre said it does not know the exact age of the 14 stone wells, but the structures have stood in Gio An commune of Gio Linh district for as long as residents can remember.

According to Nguyen Quang Chuc, the centre's director, the wells were damaged by American bombs during the war. Chuc said the centre is planning opportunities for tourism once the wells are restored.

Conservation work on the wells' stone canals is nearing completion, and improvements have also been made to reservoirs, streams leading to rice paddies and paths leading to the site.

Rocks that have been removed from their original sites are being returned to those locations in an attempt to preserve the wells' integrity. Broken rocks will also be replaced.

Local residents said the wells have been a key feature of the commune for many generations. They are the primary source of fresh water for their crops when drought hits the region. However, in recent years, the water level of streams that flow from the wells has been critically low, forcing residents to brainstorm conservation measures.

The system, including 30 wells, was recognised as a national heritage item in 2001. Locals consider them a cultural legacy, and they have contributed to conservation measures by bringing rocks to the site. The wells are said to be manmade works constructed from rocks arranged in a structural fashion.

Locals expect the country's leading archeologists to thoroughly inspect the wells, taking into account their recent topographic changes, in order to better conserve the structures.

English course for military officers opens

An English course for 18 officers from the Vietnamese Defence Ministry opened in Ho Chi Minh City on September 21 as part of a cooperation programme between the two defence ministries Vietnam and the UK.

During the nine-month course provided by the British Council, trainees will be equipped with essential English skills for their professionals. Participants with high results after the course will be eligible to attend other courses in the UK’s advanced military command training programme.

Over 100 military officers have completed the similar language courses, funded by the UK Ministry of Defence since 2012. This year’s programme is set to expand the initiative with more than 70 officials to be trained in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The programme is within an agreement framework that two sides agreed to lift up, including training, industrial defence and marine security cooperation.-

HCM City, Bangladesh share public administrative experience

Ho Chi Minh City is speeding up administrative procedure reforms, Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council Truong Thi Anh told a visiting Bangladeshi delegation during a meeting on September 21.

Vice Chairwoman Anh briefed the Bangladeshi delegation led by Chairman of the Bangladeshi Parliament’s Standing Committee on Ministry of Administration Ashequr Rahman about the organisation and operation of the municipal People’s Council.

She also highlighted that Ho Chi Minh City is willing to welcome and create conditions for Bangladeshi delegations to work in the city.

Ashequr Rahman spoke highly of the strong economic development of Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, saying that that the Vietnamese southern hub is a typical example in implementing public administrative procedure reforms, which are billed as valuable experience for Bangladesh to apply in its state.

At the meeting, two sides shared experience on recruitment, management, human resources, development of the e-government and application of IT in administrative procedures.

Residents in Lai Chau threatened by landslide

Residents living in the resettlement quarter in Nam Khao Commune, Muong Te District in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau have faced high risk of landslide during the past two years, according to local authorities.

To have space to build the Lai Chau hydroelectric plant, residents living in the needed area of the plant were moved to a higher place and set up a resettlement quarter. But now they are living in dangerous conditions caused by landslides.

Chang A Han, deputy secretary of the Nam Khao Commune, said that at present 13 households were in high risk. The commune's junior secondary school also had some long cracks.

Moved to the resettlement quarter in April last year, Le Thi Hue built a strong house with funds of about VND700 million (US$31,100).

But during the past two years, her family lived in worry because the house faced risk of being swept away by mud and soil.

Hue said that whenever it rained, soil behind her house had erosion and she must take her children to another place for sleeping as they did not dare to sleep in their house.

Observation by the Vietnam News Agency's correspondent showed that Hue's house is now leaning. Its foundation and walls had a number of cracks, and some of them were like gutters.

Many other houses also were in dangerous conditions.

Nguyen Xuan Truong, deputy chairman of the Muong Te People's Committee, said that since last year, the district had conducted technological measures to improve the landslide condition.

The reason of the landslide was because of underground water. To improve it completely, at least VND20 billion ($888,800) was needed and the district did not have enough funds, he said.

In the short term, the district assigned as many as 20 workers to be on duty at hot spots of landslides. When it rains heavily, residents would be moved to safer places including schools and villages' cultural houses.

Police tighten control over container trucks

The Traffic Police General Department, under the Ministry of Public Security, has asked traffic police forces nationwide to strengthen control over the operations of trucks and container trucks.

Traffic police were required to patrol, inspect and crack down on container trucks whose drivers were found violating traffic regulations against overloading, speeding, using a fake driving licence, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and so on.

The request was made following a series of fatal traffic accidents related to trucks and container trucks in the past several months.

On September 5 and 6 alone, five traffic accidents occurred, resulting in two fatalities, a three-year-old and a pregnant woman, as well as leaving four others injured.

Figures from the ministry showed that in the first five months of this year, there were 22 traffic accidents related to container trucks, twice as many as last year.

Of these accidents, 10 occurred in HCM City, accounting for 45 per cent of the total, nationwide.

Bui Van Quan, chairman of HCM City Cargo Transport Association, said more than 200 transport enterprises owning more than 6,000 container trucks in the city were facing a serious shortage of drivers.

Thus, many had increased the working time of the drivers or had even hired drivers with fake driving licences with the aim of fulfilling all their transport contracts, even though these actions increased the risk of traffic accidents.

The use of drugs by drivers was yet another problem, as many enterprises did not enforce regular health examinations, he added.

In HCM City, more than 120 of some 12,800 taxi drivers working for two taxi firms have shown signs of drug abuse, according to the municipal Department of Transport.

Most of the affected drivers are employees of Vinasun and Mai Linh, the department said, citing statistics compiled by the taxi operators between mid-July and mid-September this year.

All of the drivers showing signs of drug abuse will be dismissed if they test positive for drugs.

Quang Tri General Hospital opens

The Quang Tri General Hospital was officially opened today by this central province's Health Department.

The 500-bed hospital, covering 20ha of land, with a total capital investment of VND535 billion (US$23.8 million) from Government bonds, was established to address the increasing demand for health examinations and treatment for the locals.

The hospital was launched after the old provincial hospital, which was built in 1997, was downgraded.

Seminar eyes smarter Vietnam traffic

A convergence platform for smart city traffic will top the agenda at a seminar on "Vietnam Information and Communication Technologies Outlook" to be held in Ho Chi Minh City this week.

Vietnam and other rapidly urbanising countries need to adopt smarter solutions to manage their transport infrastructure, environment, electrical and water systems and population figures, Chu Tien Dung, Chairman of the HCM City Computer Association (HCA), said.

The Internet of Things plays an increasingly important role in network connectivity for smart operation, allowing timely information processing and supporting management and forecasting for urban development.

Vu Anh Tuan, HCA's General Secretary, said delegates at the seminar would discuss measures to reduce traffic congestion and accidents and improve the efficiency of traffic works.

Dung said Vietnam is ready for deploying intelligent transport with the Ministry of Transport issuing the required regulations and creating a legal framework for it and many localities, especially HCM City, being very interested in the issue.

Many local IT companies have created these solutions and early tests have proved successful, he said.

To be organised by the HCA on September 24, the annual seminar will see the participation of 400-500 leading local and foreign ICT experts and users, government officials, and business people.

The HCA said it would organise a function the previous day to give away awards to the country's top 5 ICT companies.

Tuan said the awards are given away every year to recognise, popularise, honour, and encourage firms in the ICT industry and to foster their competitiveness.

Vietnam’s MDG implementation over 15 years reviewed

Vietnam has long considered the implementation of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) national targets of socio-economic development and living condition improvement.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung made the statement at a workshop on September 21 in Hanoi reviewing MDG implementation over the past 15 years. The event was jointly organised by the ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Vietnam has developed a number of initiatives and approaches through international experience consultations in MDG implementation, Dung said.

Over the past 15 years, the country has reaped significant achievements in education, gender equality, public healthcare and climate change adaptation.

Measures have been devised to ensure sustainable development with a focus on improving living conditions for disadvantaged people.

Specific MDG targets have been included in other national strategies and socio-economic development programmes.

Representative from the UNDP Pratibha Mehta hailed the key role of the ministry in implementing the MDGs over the past 15 years.

She said that few countries have accomplished such significant achievements and attributed them to Vietnam’s continuous and effective efforts.

International experts suggested Vietnam promote its outcomes while mobilising different resources and using them effectively during implementation.

They also called for more communication campaigns to raise community awareness of MDG implementation.

Low-CO2 rice farming foresees future expansion

A three-day seminar on greener rice cultivation in Vietnam and across the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) opened in northern mountainous Thai Nguyen province on September 21.

About 20 reports and studies are presented at the seminar by representatives from Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and China’s Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. Their research focuses on sustainable farming methods with the system of rice intensification (SRI), an organic method that opts against herbicides and uses younger seedlings and low water, underscored as a potential model.

In Vietnam, more than 1.5 million farmers in 29 provinces and cities have thus far applied the SRI on over 500,000 hectare of rice paddies.

Hoang Van Dung, Deputy Head of the Thai Nguyen Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the measure has generated positive outcomes in his province, reflected in strongly growing crops as well as up to 15 percent yield increases.

According to Tran Kim Long, Head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s International Cooperation Department, rice cultivation in Vietnam produces an average of 27.8 million tonnes of CO2, accounting for 67 percent of the total greenhouse gases emitted by the sector. This contributes to making Vietnam 31 st worldwide in terms of emissions.

To address the issue, Vietnam is improving its land and farming management as well as boosting the spread of biomass energy, Long noted.

As part of the seminar, participants will take field trips to and further discuss rice paddies applying the SRI in Thai Nguyen’s Phu Luong and Dinh Hoa districts. 

HCM City aims to be free of leprosy within five years

With a prevalence rate of 0.2 per 100,000 as of June end, HCM City has eliminated leprosy, the Ministry of Health has certified.

The detection rate reduced from 3.21 per 100,000 in 2000 to 0.1 per 100.000 this year, according to a report by the city Hospital of Dermato-Venerelogy, which treats patients with leprosy in the city and southern provinces.

In the first six months there were just nine new cases. Since 2013 no child has been diagnosed with the disease.

The rate of second degree disability, or severe loss of work capacity, among new patients also dropped to 11.11 per cent in the first six months from 18.8 per cent in 2000.

Although the number of new cases has reduced, the number with disabilities caused by the disease remains high, with most people aged below 50, Dr Vu Hong Thai, the hospital head, said.

It is very important to strengthen rehabilitation for these people, and disability prevention for patients with the disease should be given priority, he said.

The hospital treated 148 leprosy patients with disabilities from the city and the southern provinces in the first six months.

In the city, hospital technicians and district health officials visit the houses of such patients to provide guidance on caring for themselves and rehabilitation.

The hospital also provides free shoes to patients with disabilities in legs.

But Thai cautioned that the fight against leprosy should not be stopped in the city despite the elimination of the disease and should continue.

The city aims to be free of the disease by 2020, he said.

"With many industrial parks attracting large numbers of immigrants, the city has difficulty detecting new cases. Communication about the disease should be enhanced, especially in areas with many immigrants."

In the country, 18 provinces including Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau are recognised as having eliminated leprosy.

Nghe An workers lack clean water

Thousands of workers living in renting houses in Nghi Xa Ward, Nghi Loc District are suffering from a polluted water source.

The underground water had been contaminated with a high concentration of lime and waste pollutants from nearby Nam Cam industrial zone, Lao Dong (Labour) reported.

Nghi Xa Ward, home to about 1,700 workers of this industrial park, has been provided tap water by Cua Lo town's water factory for over one year. Due to the high cost of water, many room owners have refused to allow renters to use it.

"I earn VND3 million (US$133) per month for renting houses but must pay nearly VND2 million ($89) for water bills," said Nguyen Thi Lan, who rents five rooms in hamlet 11, Nghi Xa Ward.

In stead of using tap water, workers have to buy mineral water in 20-litre bottles for drinking and cooking.

Vo Sy Que, deputy director of MTV water supply limited company in Cua Lo town, said that the underground water was pumped from the lime mountain area, and calcium caused water precipitation.

Due to a careless water treatment process, alluvia, which appeared when the climate changes, made water muddy, he said.

The Lao Dong newspaper quoted him saying that the water supply factory was built 18 years ago so the water system had been degraded with rusty zinc pipes, making tap water provided by his company reportedly muddy, stinky and dreggy.

However, he affirmed that the water still met the standards.

But Que did not take responsibility for the unclean water.

"The water quality testing agency has authorities and responsibilities on the issue.

"If the agency asks us to stop exploiting underground water in Nghi Xa Ward, we will follow its order," he said.

In Hanoi, making moon cakes at home is new craze

Despite being busy at work, Nguyen Thu Trang, 32, an accountant at a Hanoi-based garment company, went to a bakery after lunch to learn how to make moon cakes.

“Moon cakes, from low-priced ones made by small bakeries to fancy ones made by five-star hotels, are available in all corners of Hanoi, but I like making the cakes by myself,” she said, posting photos of 12 animal-shaped cakes she made.

She and two of her colleagues went to baking classes starting early last month.

They have a passion for soaking eggs with salt and filling roasted nuts and meat, lime leaf and liquor.

“I use my teacher’s recipe, but change it a little every time I make moon cakes to arrive at a recipe that is tastiest to me.”

Like Trang, many women, mostly white-collar workers, are learning to make moon cakes, which are eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th of the eighth lunar month. This year it falls on September 27.

Chat A Thinh, owner of a bakery on Hanoi’s Nguyen Huy Tu Street, said more than 100 women, mostly office workers and students, have registered to take part in his moon cake baking classes since early July. Each class lasts five-seven days.

Le Bang Tam, a clerk at Electricity of Vietnam, said she paid a fee of VND1 million (US$45.5) for such a class because she wants to make tasty cakes herself for her family to enjoy and give friends.

“I had to wait for over a month to attend a baking class because there were too many people registering for it,” she said.

After several lessons, she could make traditional moon cakes using various ingredients like bean paste, ham, chicken, salted egg yolks, and nuts, she said.

“It is of significance to gift relatives and friends moon cakes you yourself made,” Tam said, covering the thick filling in the cakes with a very thin crust.

Many others like Thai Thu Huong, a teacher from Dong Da District, do not go to classes but instead learn on the Internet.

She began making the cakes three years ago. In the beginning they were not delicious, but she kept tweaking her recipe and now they are so much better that she even sells them.

“I advertise my products on Facebook and Twitter. My customers are mainly friends and colleagues,” she said.

In recent days, Huong has often been baking from 8 p.m. until midnight. Her sister helps her make the cakes, while her husband delivers them to customers.

“Because of the small volume, I only make a small profit. But making cakes is for pleasure; it helps reduce stress.”

Vietnam Airlines, Airbus aid Hanoi hospital

Using the delivery flight of Vietnam Airlines’ second A350 XWB the Airbus Foundation and the airline recently carried 25 kidney dialysis machines to the Hanoi Nephrology Hospital (Benh Vien Than Hanoi).

The machines were donated by the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Purpan in Toulouse, France.

“Whenever possible, we try to use delivery flights of new aircraft to our customers to ship medical or humanitarian donations to countries or cities in need, through our Foundation”, said Fabrice Brégier, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airbus and member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“We are proud to facilitate the transport of these highly needed kidney dialysis equipment between the Hôpital Purpan in Toulouse and the Hanoi Nephrology Hospital.”

Dr Pham Ngoc Minh, President and CEO of Vietnam Airlines said, “As the flag carrier of Vietnam, we are not only focusing on the implementation of renewing fleet and upgrading service quality to satisfy customers’ needs, but also contributing more to our community.

This second Airbus A350 XWB of Vietnam Airlines has done a meaningful task of bringing better treatment opportunities for kidney patients and protecting the health of Vietnamese people.

After joining our modern wide-body fleet, this aircraft will definitely fulfil the missions of carrying national and international passengers as well as contributing to the corporate social responsibility of Vietnam Airlines.”

Autumn tours draw Vietnamese tourists

Autumn tours offered by local travel firms have become increasingly appealing to Vietnamese tourists with companies announcing a rise in the number of bookings.

One of the main reasons for the rise in autumn tour bookings is the alluring characteristics of the season, such as the pleasantly mild climate and a colourful display of flowers and trees, bright yellow rice terraces, hamlets blanketed by clouds and limitless tea hills.

According to Tran Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of Vietravel Hanoi, the company saw an estimated 20 percent increase in the number of tourists travelling to the northwest and northeast from August to the first half of September.

Mai Chau (in Hoa Binh province), Moc Chau (Son La), Sa Pa (Lao Cai) and Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai) are top fall destinations.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, Deputy General Director of Hanoi Redtours, said the company is implementing tours to the northwest and northeast to serve its customers eager to explore the culture and beauty of the mountainous region.

Those tours are the most sought after in the autumn-winter period. Each week, the company organises two tours to these regions, he said.

Beyond the popular domestic tours, many companies are offering tours to Northeast Asian countries such as Japan, the Republic of Korea and China as well as to European countries and North America.

The Republic of Korea, for example, is offering big promotion programmes, enabling tourists to shop and experience Korean culture in the most economical way.

Hike in drug puts more burdens on patients

Along with the hike in medical services, many drugs and  vaccines sold as optional services surged from the beginning of the year.

Though the prices of vaccines in Vietnam have not surged massively, many of them increased bringing much difficulty on patients.

According to the Ministry of Health, in August, imported medications such as Scilin M30 for diabetes treatment, Imacep 100mg, Dicloberl 50mg, Exomuc 200mg have gone up from 5 percent to 9 percent.

The prices of vaccines like French-made Pentaxom or in Belgian-made Infanrix Hexe Vietnam have recently surged from dozen to hundred thousand Vietnam dong.

Worse, as normally, for years, most imported medicines or specific medications mainly soared, the prices of domestically-made drugs have lately spiraled and even increased more than foreign-made kinds. As per the price list of the Drug Administration of Vietnam under the Ministry of Health, amongst increased pharmaceutical items, the prices of 51 imported drugs and 606 home-made drugs escalated.

By statistics of Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, up to 656 drug items increased in 2014 including 84 imported ones and 572 domestically-made medications.  Most of increased home-made drugs are normal kinds such as medication for flu, fever and herbal medicines.

There have been many reasons for the issue and one of them is the fluctuation in exchange rate, said enterprises. However, in reality, it is not true reason because the exchange rate fluctuate, the prices of raw materials decreased especially price of oil has gone down drastically.

The fact that medicine prices escalated will place more burden on patients especially needy people and low-income families.

According to the Ministry of Health, a Vietnamese person spends over US$20 on drug in a year. Yet, if the prices of drugs rise, people must spend more because the country’s pharmaceutical sector is dependent on imported materials and 50 percent of drugs in markets used imported materials meanwhile the control of drug prices and bidding procedures are loose.

Few laborers buy voluntary social insurance

A mere 0.39% of workers in the country had bought voluntary social insurance as of the second quarter of this year, heard a conference on social insurance in Hanoi last week.

Tran Thi Thuy Nga, head of the social insurance department at the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said by the end of June, around 11.6 million laborers had purchased social insurance and 11.45 million of them had got compulsory social insurance, or 21.64% of the total workforce.

The insured are mainly those who work in the public sector and employees having labor contracts valid for over three months. These policyholders are insured for sickness, maternity, labor accidents, retirement and death.

Voluntary social insurance has been applied since January 1, 2008 and the policyholders can get insurance payouts for retirement and death only.

Since the launch of voluntary social insurance, only over 213,000 laborers have bought this product and most of them have already purchased the compulsory social insurance and got the voluntary one to supplement the number of years of having social insurance so that they can meet the condition for receiving retirement pensions, Nga said.

Although the 2014 Law on Social Insurance has flexible solutions to make voluntary social insurance attractive to laborers such as removing the cap on the age of applicants, reducing premiums and applying flexible payment methods, the number of voluntary social insurance buyers has inched up from 0.36% of the total number of laborers in 2013 to 0.39% by the second quarter of this year.

Le Thi Hoai Thu of the Institute for Research on Policy, Law and Development said many workers are not interested in the voluntary social insurance due to limited benefits after they retire or die.

Nga said when drafting the policy for voluntary social insurance, relevant agencies wanted the policyholder of voluntary social insurance to enjoy the same benefits as buyers of compulsory insurance but the insurance fund could not afford this.

Although the revised Law on Social Insurance supports voluntary social insurance policyholders, the document guiding the implementation of the law has not been issued. Therefore, relevant agencies cannot provide specific guidelines on how and what to back beneficiaries.

Moreover, voluntary social insurance is not attractive as people are required to pay for as long as 20 years to benefit and those having demand for insurance are mostly elderly people.

Women risk permanent harm for whiter skin

Vietnamese women are risking permanent disfigurement and damage to their health using "ultra speed" skin bleaching products of uncertain origin to whiten their skin, thinking it will make them more beautiful.

A 19-year-old dancer in Long An Province bought a skin bleaching product advertised it as a "South Korean imported product." Three weeks later, she was hospitalised with a severe skin rash. A woman in HCM City used a locally made skin-whitening cream for five years, which left her with dangerously thin skin and wrinkles like an old woman.

Many women hospitalised after using 'ultra speed' skin bleaching products

Nguyen Trong Hao, vice head of the HCM City Dermatology Hospital, said many cases were being seen, because so-called "ultra speed" skin bleaching products have corticosteroids, powerful anti-inflammatory agents with a wide-range of side-effects. Cheap products, and those of unknown origin, contain mercury and other harmful substances.

Formulae and ingredients to create skin-bleaching cream at home are easily found online. Some markets in HCM City sell some of the ingredients, and some products advertised are promoted as being of South Korean origin, but do not have barcodes. Websites promote a "secret formula" to avoid listing ingredients.

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