Whale Worshipping Festival recognised as cultural heritage

The “Cau Ngu” (Whale Worshipping) Festival of the central province of Phu Yen has been recognised as national intangible cultural heritage.

A ceremony to receive the certificate was held on November 23.

The Whale Worshipping festival, held once or twice a year from the first to the eighth month of lunar calendar, plays an important role in spiritual life of coastal fishing villages in Phu Yen.

The event often takes place for two days with a wide range of rituals and ceremonies. A number of fairs, art performances and folk games are also held during the festival.

The event features humanity values and experiences dealing with sea and nature of fishermen, helping preserve and promote traditional customs and art forms of coastal fishing villages, said Phan Dinh Phung, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

The south central province of Phu Yen has two coastal districts, a town and a city stretching 190km of coastline. Its fishermen is well-known for tuna fishing.

UNDP-funded project promotes sustainable poverty reduction

Vietnam has achieved targets on sustainable poverty reduction in disadvantaged areas thanks partly to a project funded by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ireland Embassy, heard a conference in Hanoi on November 22.

The project, which was to support the implementation of the Vietnamese Government’s Resolution 80/NQ-CP on sustainable poverty reduction in 2011-2020 and the National Target Programme on Sustainable Poverty Reduction (NTP-SPR) in 2011-2015, helped Vietnam realise sustainable poverty reduction goals in mountainous, coastal and ethnic minority areas. 

It targeted eight provinces: Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Dien Bien, Bac Kan in the north, Thanh Hoa and Quang Ngai in the central region, Kon Tum in the Central Highlands and Tra Vinh in the Mekong Delta. 

Under the project, local residents received training in self-help, successful poverty reduction models were multiplied, and local officials were helped to integrate poverty reduce targets in socio-economic plans. 

The implementation of the Resolution 80/NQ-CP aims at accelerating poverty reduction in the poorest districts, communes and villages of the country, by setting poverty reduction target of 4 percent per annum (compared to national target of 2 percent), and by emphasizing priority to mobilize resources and support to these areas. 

Meanwhile, the NTP-SPR is designed and implemented effectively, contributing to rapid poverty reduction in poorest districts, communes and villages and of ethnic minority people through the application of innovative modalities and approaches. 

Participants said successful models and experience from the implementation of the project should be shared, adding that the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and relevant ministries and sectors should receive more support in order to expand the project in other localities in the coming time.

Australia launches programme to empower Vietnamese women

The Australian government on November 22 launched a Gender Equality Strategy for Vietnam for the first time, outlining its plans to promote women’s empowerment in Vietnam.

The strategy will be implemented by Australia’s diplomatic missions in Hanoi and HCM City between 2016 and 2020 and will cover all Australian government agencies in Vietnam.

The strategy will highlight Australia’s priorities for improving the quality of life for girls and women and support the Vietnamese government in its efforts to implement its National Gender Equality Strategy 2011-2020.

To reduce gender gap, the focus will be on three key areas: improving women’s participation in decision-making and leadership; promoting economic empowerment; and putting an end to violence against women.

“Gender equality is an important social policy priority for Vietnam, as it is for Australia.  It is also smart economics,” Australian ambassador Craig Chittick said while speaking at the launch in Hanoi.

“Women bring particular perspectives, priorities and strengths from their own life experiences that contribute to the development of businesses, communities and the nation,” Chittick said. “Australia’s investment in women and girls in Vietnam will be an important contribution to Vietnam achieving its social and economic development objectives.”

Promoting women’s economic empowerment, including among ethnic minorities, is one of the three pillars of Australia’s development co-operation programme with Vietnam for the period 2015-20. With more than 10 million AUD (7.4 million USD) invested in gender-related programmes over the last few years, Australia is already one of the largest contributors for advancing gender equality in Vietnam. Its newly launched Gender Equality Strategy will make its contribution more focused and purposeful.

The Australian government also hosted yesterday a Women in Leadership forum, to encourage the exchange of ideas on how to integrate the focus on women’s leadership through Australia’s scholarship and human resources development programme, and to discuss how it could collaborate with local partners to promote women’s careers.

Charity bazaar to take place in Hanoi

The Hanoi International Women’s Club (HIWC) will organise its annual charity fair at St Paul American School – Splendora in Hanoi’s Hoai Duc district on November 27.

Under a winter wonderland and Christmas theme, the 25th HIWC Bazaar will take place in conjunction with the 30th founding anniversary of the HIWC.

It will feature traditional food and handicrafts from 43 embassies and international organisations.

A live musical concert, with the performance of Korean opera singer Sung Min Park, pianist Trang Trinh, the Hanoi Brass Band and the African Band, among others, is expected to take visitors by storm.

In 2015, the bazaar attracted 8,000 visitors and raised 107,000 USD in total.

The club has so far supported 258 ear surgeries for children and 32 breathing machines for infants.

Most recently, it organised an award ceremony to honour Vietnamese women with significant contribution to society.

Dialogue promotes gender equality in Vietnam

A dialogue on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) between young people, the Government and partners took place in Hanoi on November 22.

The event was organised by the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in Vietnam.

At the function, Shoko Ishikawa, Chief Representative of UN Women in Vietnam, said that the country has actively participated in the convention and well-coordinated with UN Women in promoting gender equality and protecting the rights of women and girls.

She stressed that UN Women will continue to help young people organise activities to raise awareness of gender equality and protect the rights of women and girls.

According to Hoang Thi Thu Huyen, deputy head of the Gender Equality Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), the Vietnamese Government is actively building an action plan to implement recommendations by the CEDAW Committee.

After getting the Prime Minister approval, the MOLISA will issue documents guiding the implementation of the action plan, she added.

She expressed wish to continue receiving support and experience sharing from UN Women and other international organisations in Vietnam in order to help the country better realise the convention’s contents, especially the making of a mid-term report on the implementation of the convention to the CEDAW Committee in 2017. 

Participating young people wished that the Government and international organisations will continue creating conditions for them to engage in implementing the convention, contributing to boosting gender equality and the rights of women and girls in Vietnam.

CEDAW was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 18, 1979 and took effect on September 3, 1981. To date, 185 countries around the world have ratified and signed the convention. It was adopted by Vietnam in February 1982 and came into force in the country in March 1982.

Vietnamese students to join World Tsunami Awareness Day in Japan

Seven students of Hanoi’s Cau Giay High School will attend the High School Students’ Summit on the World Tsunami Awareness Day in Japan. 

A press conference announcing the event was held by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on November 21 in Tokyo. 

The event will take place on November 25-26 in Kuroshio town in Kochi prefecture with the participation of 250 students from 29 countries and about 100 Japanese students. 

The programme aims to raise awareness of high school students – who are future leaders - on natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. 

It will also provide participants with knowledge on how to cope with, survive in and mitigate the effects of earthquakes and tsunamis while building international solidarity and mutual assistance in coping with nation disasters. 

Japan’s Kochi prefecture was selected to be the event’s venue due to its initiatives and solutions to the Nankai Trough Earthquakes off the Japan’s central coastline, which are great megathrust earthquakes that are predicted to occur in a cycle of 100 – 150 years. 

This is the first time the summit has been organised since the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted November 5 as Word Tsunami Awareness Day in December 2015.

More steel ship handed over to Quang Ngai fisherman

Another steel fishing vessel was handed over to a fisherman in Duc Pho district’s Pho Quang commune of central Quang Ngai province on November 22.

This is the 12th steel ship of its kind built with preferential credits from the provincial Fishermen Support Fund as instructed in the Government’s Decree 67/2014/ND-CP designed to boost the development of the fishery industry, including a programme on building high-capacity, steel boats for deep sea fishing.

The vessel was built by Nha Trang Shipbuilding Company at a total cost of 12 billion VND (528,000 USD). It has a capacity of 811CV and measures 26m long, 7m wide and 3.4m high.

The ship will be run by a crew of 10 trained members. The owner of the vessel, Huynh Thach, 44, said the vessel will help him fish off-shore effectively and safely. 

Also on this occasion, the Fund provided an aid package worth 269 million VND (11,836 USD) to support local needy fishermen. 

Vietnam, Cambodia enhance coordination in drug fight

Representatives from Border Liaison Offices (BLO) of Vietnam and Cambodia gathered at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on November 22 to discuss measures promoting cooperation in combating cross-border drug crimes in the coming time.

The conference, the third of its kind, aimed to review cooperation among the two countries’ BLOs in the work.

Addressing the event, Lt. Gen. Dong Dai Loc, Deputy General Director of General Directorate of Vietnam Police under the Ministry of Public Security appreciated close coordination between the two countries’ relevant agencies in the fight against drugs in recent times.

The two countries will intensify campaigns to combat drug crimes along the two countries’ border line, while promoting connection to break down drug trafficking rings operating between Vietnam and Cambodia, he stressed.

Lt. Gen. Mok Chito, Deputy Chief of the General Department of the National Police of Cambodia said Cambodia’s drug fighting forces will enhance coordination with Vietnam through BLOs, thus supporting task forces in the work.

According to the General Directorate of Vietnam Police under the Ministry of Public Security, drug trafficking along the Vietnam-Cambodia border line still remains complicated as the drug is transported to HCM City through border gates or by waterway.

Notably, a number of cocaine and methamphetamine transportation cases by postal service have been discovered.

Through sharing information between BLOs, police and border guard forces and customs of Vietnam’s southern Tay Ninh province and Cambodia’s authoritised agencies jointly worked to detect three cases of drug transport, seizing six packages of heroin, one kg of methamphetamine , 2,500 synthetic drug pills and 250 gram of cocaine.

Agency wants cashless toll payments

The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam (DRVN) has asked the Ministry of Transport for permission to test cashless toll collection on one-stop toll highways.

In a document sent to the ministry, the DRVN said that there were more than 100 fee collection stations in the country. Of which, 86 were under the ministry’s management and 15 were under local authorities’ management.

Currently, the ministry has applied electronic fee collections for 37 tolls along the National Highway No1A and Ho Chi Minh Highway.

An electronic toll collection station determined whether vehicles are enrolled in the programme, alerted toll collectors about those that were not, and electronically debits the accounts of registered car owners without requiring them to stop.

Vehicles would be equipped with a tag on the windshield with information to be read by the station’s sensor. Those without the tag would have to stop and pay manually.

The ministry plans to replace toll booth operators with electronic collection systems. The move aims to reduce traffic jams and delays at toll gates and cut costs.

According to the ministry, in many countries, electronic fee tolls and manual fee tolls are used on the same highway.

It said vehicles would pay via prepaid Card of State-owned VietinBank.

VietinBank would be assigned to install the pre-paid card system as a trial on one-stop toll highways. The model will be implemented from now on until the end of this year.

National Highway No1A connects Lang Son and Ca Mau, running more than 2,300km through 32 cities and provinces, while the Ho Chi Minh Highway runs along the west of the country, connecting Cao Bang and Ca Mau via the Central Highlands with a total length of 3,167km.

Phu Tho hosts ceremony honouring outstanding prestigious people

A ceremony will be held in Viet Tri city, the northern midland province of Phu Tho on December 4 to honour outstanding prestigious people in the northwestern region, said the organising board at a press conference on November 22 in Hanoi.

The event will see 547 people representing 22,529 highly accredited people from 14 regional provinces.

They are in different ages, from different sectors, ethnic groups and are working in various areas of the social life from public servants to farmers and workers. 

They have made excellent achievements in implementing policies of the Party and State as well as in socio-economic development, while actively engaging in the building of the Party and government as well as organisations, which is recognised by their family and the community.

According to deputy head of the Steering Committee for Northwestern Region Hoang Thi Hanh, the event aims to affirm the position and role of the region in the country’s strategy, while creating a chance for outstanding and prestigious people to meet and share information.

It also contributes to popularise the Party and State’s policies to promote the role of prestigious people in national construction and defence, creating favourable conditions for them to contribute and participate in socio-economic development activities, ensuring defence and security in their locality.

Special exhibition on Con Moong cave, nearby relic sites

An exhibition on Con Moong Cave is being held at the Thanh Hoa province’s Museum from November 22-23. 

The event is part of activities to celebrate the cave receiving the special National Relic Site Certificate in Thach Thanh district, Thanh Hoa province. 

The exhibition displays 500 objects, photos, materials on Con Moong cave and nearby relic sites found through archeological excavations. 

Con Moong cave is located in Mo village (now Thanh Trung village), Thanh Yen commune, Thach Thanh district. The cave was discovered in 1974 and was excavated for the first time in 1976. 

From 2008-2009, the cave was explored to create dossiers to submit it to UNESCO for recognition as world cultural heritage. 

From 2010-2014, the Vietnam Institute of Archeology in collaboration with the Novosibirsk Institute of Archeology – Ethnography under the Russian Academy of Science, and the Thanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism continued excavations and research. 

The excavations showed that Con Moong cave and nearby relic sites had great values in historical research, especially the tradition of living in caves and stone roofs of ancient Vietnamese. 

With striking cultural values, Con Moong cave was named a special national relic site.

Palestinian film week opens in Hanoi

A Palestinian film week started at the Hanoi Cinema Club on November 22. 

The opening ceremony of the four-day event featured the Oscar-nominated documentary film “Five broken cameras”. 

The three-day film week was organised by the Embassy of Palestine in Vietnam, on the occasion of the annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (November 29).

Hospital task force saves stroke survivors

Hundreds of stroke victims hospitalised in the Da Nang General Hospital over the past three years were saved by a special task force for stroke victims, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper reported.

The task force examines anyone arriving at the hospital with symptoms of a stroke, and gives first aid.

The patient is then classified as an “urgent case”, enabling a speeded up administrative process so doctors can race to save the patient’s life, hospital director Dr Tran Ngoc Thanh told the newspaper.

Proper first aid is essential, the doctor said.

Experience shows that the first three hours after a stroke are the crucial ones for getting life-saving treatment, but most victims arrive at the hospital after experiencing the symptoms, such as numbness, difficulty speaking and vertigo, he added.

According to the hospital director, the task force was formed three years ago and consists of 10 doctors.

“The whole process of diagnosing, giving first aid, conducting tests and deciding on proper treatment will take about 40-60 minutes,” said doctor Duong Quang Hai, one of the team members.

If they are treated in time, “most stroke patients resume normal lives after one month of treatment in the hospital,” Hai said.

“We are always racing against time because every minute that passes reduces the patient’s chances of survival,” he said.

The doctors have also instituted several new treatment methods for stroke patients.

“Before, about 70-80 percent of patients with a stroke caused by a blood clot in brain vessels would die or remain disabled,” said doctor Le Duc Nhan.

“Since earlier this year, the hospital has a new method of removing blood clots from the brain vessels,” Nhan said, “giving many patients a chance of survival.”

According to the Vietnam Stroke Association, about 200,000 people in Vietnam suffer strokes each year. Half die, a decrease of about 20 percent compared with 10 years ago.

Experts say stroke treatment in the country is difficult due to limited hospital infrastructure and lack of knowledge on the part of victims.

While the number of deaths has dropped, the number of those remaining disabled was on the rise.

In fact, about 90 percent of patients suffer after effects, the severity of which depends on when they were hospitalised and how they were treated.

Da Nang General Hospital is one of ten hospitals nationwide providing emergency intervention and treatment for strokes. But most hospitals nationwide still lack modern equipment for diagnosis and treatment.-

Going number one, more than one too many times

You can probably recall, with some tangible discomfort, the last time you felt a strong urge to urinate. Imagine that urge nonstop. Welcome to overactive bladder syndrome (OAB), a syndrome that can bring you on the verge of mental breakdown.

N.T.A, 23, has been in the throes of OAB for almost two years.

She has gone to many clinics and been diagnosed with a whole range of diseases and received treatments accordingly, yet, her condition has failed to improve.

Recently, she went to Bình Dân Hospital and was told that her condition didn’t respond to medicine, and surgery was indicated.

The condition started back in the beginning of last year, when she felt a sharp abdomenal pain as well as a constant need to urinate and an equal inability to pass urine. She soon found herself in emergency care.

Local doctors said she had a urinary tract infection and prescribed some drugs which made her able to urinate again.

But after the prescription ended, the frequency of the need to urinate increased abnormally, up to 30-40 times a day.

Totally devastated, she decided to take a leave from university since she was unable to go to school.

“By last August, I felt the need to urinate a hundred times a day. The need arose every 10-15 minutes. In merely one year, I lost more than 6kg from stress and hopelessness,” she said.

“I went to Bình Dân hospital, where doctors said my condition is called overactive bladder syndrome. The drugs I took only reduced the times I need to urinate back to 25-30 times a day. And then the doctors tried injecting drugs directly into my bladder,” she added.

According to Dr. Huỳnh Đoàn Phương Mai, from Bình Dân Hospital’s Department of Female urology, the patient is a prime example of OAB syndrome – wherein bladder dysfunction causes a frequent, sudden and unstoppable need to urinate.

The adult bladder volume’s max capacity reaches about 350-500ml, however, in those who suffer from OAB, just a small amount of urine in the bladder will trigger the need to go to the bathroom which will not otherwise.

Mai said that surveys conducted in the U.S. and European countries revealed that about 16 per cent of the population are affected on some level. In Việt Nam, according to a survey done by Việt Nam Urology & Nephrology Association (VUNA) in 2014, the rate is roughly the same.

While the syndrome itself doesn’t pose any direct risk for the patient’s health, it intrudes in their work, daily activities and social lives. It’s embarrassing, not many are willing to talk about it.

The patients will likely suffer from stress, sleep disorder, heightened anxiety and depression, which will likely exacerbate the situation.

According to Mai, doctors need to do detailed screenings, examinations and imagings in order to find the exact causes for repeated urge to urinate and incontinence (leakage of urine).

Many diseases feature the same sets of symptoms, like urinary tract infections, benign prostatic hyperplasia (in males), neurogenic bladders, prolapsed bladders (in females), urinary tract obstructions, bladder stones or tumors, among others. In these cases, proper medicines will be administered.

If, however, no apparent causes were found, then the diagnosis is idiopathic overactive bladder.

According to Mai, patients  need behavioral and lifestyle changes, quitting smoking, caffeine, tea, sodas to lessen bladder contractions.

Kegel exercises, bladder-holding practices, perineal massages to help restore normal contractions are also recommended.

If these measures fail, second and third-line treatment will be available.

Prescription of oral medicines for 4-6 weeks will help to relieve the symptoms – proving effective for 80 per cent of patients.

Medicines can also be injected directly to the bladder’s wall to relax its muscles, improve capacity.

Surgery is amenable to cases where repeated medicine injections still don’t prove any success, the patient’s bladder will be removed and replaced with a new one (neobladder) that is grown out of a piece of patient’s own intestine.

There is no indication that children who are given so-called height-boosting pills grow taller than those who are not. Yet many websites advertise the pills and parents are often seduced by the promise.

N.P.T, a 38-year-old mother in HCM City, says every mother wants her children to grow taller. Seeing height-increasing pills advertised online, she wants to buy them immediately.

“However, I have also carefully done a lot of research to see whether they are reliable or not. If it is really as effective as advertised, I would not hesitate to buy it for my child,” she said.

Doctor Huỳnh Thoại Loan, head of the department of nephrology at Paediatrics Hospital No.1 in HCM City, said some of the pills contained nutritious elements, such as calcium. "But they can only act as a dietary supplement. So far, there are no studies showing that they boost height," she said.

Doctor Tạ Văn Bình, former director of the National Hospital of Endocrinology, warned that the growth hormones contained in the pills could have negative effects, such as bone and joint pain and change in face structure.

Another danger is an overdose of calcium from the pills, leading to its accumulation in the kidneys, causing kidney stones and other kidney disease, he said.

According to Professor Trần Ngọc Ân, president of Việt Nam’s rheumatism study association, the main ingredient of many pills being advertised to help increase height is chondroitin sulfat, supposed to be produced from shark fin cartilage. However, due to a shortage of shark fin cartilage, and in order to reduce production cost, in many products it is made from ox windpipes and additional chemicals.

Chondroitin sulfat is used to treat optical disease, joint-bone failure diseases and cancers. There are no studies showing it boosts height.

"Việt Nam’s authorised health agencies also have yet to license the sale and use of any kind of height-boosting pills," Ân said.

Experts also warn that taking the pills during puberty might limit growth and lead to functional disorders.

Doctor Huỳnh Thoại Loan says mothers should ask for doctors’ advice if they want to give their children such pills.

A person’s height depends on three elements, she says, namely genes, nutrition intake and growth hormone. If parents are short, their children may not grow to be tall.

In terms of nutrition intake, the two most important nutritional sources are total energy and calcium. Bones are structured by calcium. Height depends on how tall the skeleton is. Adding these elements to the daily nutritional routine can help stimulate height, she said.

Sleep is also important since the body produced growth hormones at night, Loan said.

She also advised children to increase physical activities such as swimming, playing basketball, cycling in order to extend their thigh bones. Play outdoors and being exposed to sunshine for a sufficient level of vitamin D in the blood is also important.

Responsibility urged in construction

Numerous buildings in the capital city show signs of cracks, leaks and blistering soon after construction has been completed, raising questions of construction quality management, Tin tức (News) newspaper reported.

The conditions were noted at several buildings constructed for public use, including apartment complexes, schools, and hospitals, causing concern amongst citizens.

According to Trần Kỳ Sơn, chief inspector of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, it is essential that when a construction incident is reported, its cause, level of damage, and the part of the process in which it happens is clearly identified.

It will help authorities decide which party should be fined, or whether the case should be transferred to agencies for further criminal investigation.

There are four parties directly related to the construction process, including the investor, the design agency, the contractor and the supervising agency, whose responsibilities are clearly regulated in the construction law, he said.  

The media need to highlight the issue, creating pressure so that construction investors take responsibility and penalise the contractors involved, he said.

According to Dr Nguyễn Việt Hùng, former director general of the Bidding Management Department under the Ministry of Investment and Planning, if construction incidents happened during the construction process, not the design process, the first-level responsibility belongs to the contractor.

The second-level responsibility belongs to the supervising agency, since without strict supervision from this agency the contractors will not complete the construction in a way that ensures good quality.

One of the temporary solutions for the situation is that all related agencies, at all levels and sectors, take great responsibility in complying with the 2014 Law on Construction and other Government regulations on managing construction quality and budget, he said.

Construction experts said that all related parties must take responsibility for the quality of the construction, not only during the warranty period but during the whole cycle of the project.

Dr Trần Chủng, former director general of the State Department for Construction Quality Assessment under the Ministry of Construction, said that low-cost construction packages and short construction time would not result in high-quality constructions.

According to Chủng, the problem does not lie in the method of construction bidding, since in countries with developed market economies where this method is used, constructions remain of good quality long after being built.

It was because those construction agencies gave high priority to protecting their reputation and would not accept low-cost construction packages that might not ensure the quality of the construction, he said.

In Việt Nam, construction bidding takes place with the rule “lowest bidder wins the package”, which has been shown to affect the quality of several constructions, according to Chủng.

There were buildings which, during the construction process, were expected to last a century but must be either rebuilt or replaced after only 20-60 years. Those that were expected to last 15 years must be restored after only five years.

The money saved from hiring low-cost construction units cannot compensate for the high cost that this restoration process requires.

It did not only damage the construction agencies’ reputation but also caused citizens to lose trust in the general construction process, Chủng said. 

HCM City gets approval for 2 flyovers

The Government has given the green light to HCM City to immediately build two flyovers near Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport to ease traffic congestion in the vicinity.

One will link Trường Sơn Street with the airport in Tân Bình District and the other will be built at the Nguyễn Thái Sơn Street-Nguyễn Kiệm Street intersection in Gò Vấp District.

The People’s Committee can choose contractors who have the capability and experience for such an undertaking.

HCM City water needs met as new pumping station opens

The second phase of HCM City’s Tân Hiệp water pumping station began operation yesterday with a daily capacity of 300,000 cubic metres.

The plant, situated on a 3.2 hectare site in Tân Hiệp Commune, Hóc Môn District, cost VNĐ1.2 trillion (US$54 million).

It supplies fresh water to the 12 districts of 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, Gò Vấp, Tân Bình, Bình Tân, Tân Phú, Bình Chánh, and Hóc Môn.

The city’s seven pumping stations now have a total capacity of 2.1 million cubic metres and fully meet its needs.

By 2020 two more pumping stations will be built to meet the growing demand as the city’s population increases.

Illegal timber found stored in public warehouse

Authorities in central Quảng Bình Province have ordered an investigation to trace the origin of timber stored illegally in a public agency’s warehouse.

The province’s department of forest rangers late last week discovered timber stored in two warehouses owned by the local department of science and technology. One of the two warehouses contained illegal timber.

Nguyễn Đức Lý, director of the science and technology department admitted that he lent his wife the warehouses to store the timber, which is a violation of regulations on the usage of public property.

Lý affirmed that his family purchased the timber legally, but the ranger department has determined that some of the timber is illegal.

Meanwhile, Nguyễn Hữu Hoài, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, told local newspapers that he had ordered the ranger department to conduct a more thorough investigation of the timber’s origin.

Logging, purchases, transport and storing of forest timber are prohibited by Vietnamese laws. Quảng Bình is among the localities in the country where illegal logging has caused severe consequences to the environment. 

Cường triumphs in fourth stage of cycling event

Phạm Quốc Cường of Dogalic Domesco Đồng Tháp won the fourth stage of the Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa Cycling Tournament yesterday.

Cường took the lead in the 178km stage from Cà Mau to Cần Thơ City with a time of 4: 2.15 with a top speed of 41.609 kmh.

Nguyễn Trường Tài of VUS HCM City won the yellow jersey (best overall time) with a total time of 12:55.33 after four stages. The green jersey as award for scoring the most points belonged to Nguyễn Thành Tâm of Gạo Hạt Ngọc Trời An Giang with 45 points.

VUS HCM City topped the team’s rankings with a time of 38:47.22. Gạo Hạt Ngọc Trời An Giang and Dogalic Domesco Đồng Tháp were the runners-up.

Today, the event will finish after cyclists complete their fifth 177km stage from Cần Thơ City to HCM City’s Hóc Môn District.

Tam Hải Commune suffers serious landslides

Landslides in coastal areas of Tam Hải Island Commune, Núi Thành District, in the central province of Quảng Nam have become increasingly serious recently, according to local authorities.

Earlier, Hamlet No. 3 in Bình Trung Village had been populated by 70 households, but now, most of them have moved to other safer places and left their old houses behind.

Võ Minh Công, 71, a local resident, said Hamlet No. 3 was close to the Trường Giang estuary, so landslides had become a common occurrence in recent years.

A similar situation is apparent in the Tân Lập and Thuận An villages as well.

Nguyễn Tấn Hùng, deputy chairman of the Tam Hải Commune People’s Committee, said that in 2012, the Chu Lai Economic Zone Management Board had helped the commune build a 1.8km dyke, with a total investment of VNĐ48 billion (US$2.1 million).

However, a 200m section at the end of the dyke, which is in Tân Lập Village, was destroyed by the sea pounding against it.

At present, Tam Hải Commune has 60 households in the areas most at risk for landslides, and they need to be moved urgently.

All of them are poor, so the commune’s allowance of VNĐ20 million ($890) per household is insufficient for them to build a new house in a new place, according to Hùng.   

Tam Hải Commune hopes to receive help to build a sea dyke of about 4.5km in length. 

Workshop on COP 22 outcome and plan for Paris Agreement implementation

GIZ and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on November 23 hold a workshop on the outcome of COP 22 and the plan for the implementation of the Paris Agreement in Hanoi.

Louise Chamberlain, UNDP Country Director said at global level, UNDP commits to providing long-term support to the Paris Agreement, helping countries to deliver on their climate commitments as well as achieve the SDGs.

In Vietnam, we are proud of good partnership with the government and development partners in preparing NDC, and in operatizing the Paris Agreement’s commitments, including demonstration of low-carbon, green-growth models that are grounded in sectors, cities and provinces, she said.

With relevant climate-proofed policies and incentives in place, Vietnam now has opportunities to access to global finance such as Global Environment facility, Green climate Fund (GCF) and other international finance mechanisms to install resilient financing for infrastructure investments.

Vietnam sets a good example of mobilizing climate finance from GCF by obtaining an award of 29.5 million dollars for the project “Improving the Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change Related Impacts” with UNDP support, she noted.

UNDP committed to help Vietnam move towards inclusive and sustainable development, that benefits all Vietnamese people, she said.

Anna Shreyoegg, Chief Technical Advisor of NAMA Project, GIZ Vietnam, said Vietnam has proofed its strong commitment to combat climate change at domestic and at global level, Vietnam also obtained a leadership role for the region.

The Government of Germany through GIZ will continue to support Vietnam in its important endeavour to implement the Paris Agreement and thereby its NDC. This will inter alia be ensured through on-going projects but also through new projects that will be committed this year in the volume of EUR18 million in the context of its international climate initiative, she said. 

Dong Nai: 2,000 year old ancient tomb recognised as national special relic site

The Dong Nai provincial People's Committee held a ceremony on November 22 to announce the Prime Minister's Decision and receive a certificate recognising the Cu Thach Hang Gon ancient tomb as a national special relic site and Tran Bien Temple of Literature as a national historical relic. 

The Cu Thach Hang Gon ancient tomb was built around 2,000 years ago and is one of Asia’s largest stone chambers. Also known as a dolmen, the tomb is so far bigger than any other dolmen discovered in Jordan, north Myanmar and Java.

The rectangular parallelepiped tomb is 4.2m long and 2.7m wide, and co

mprised of four upright stones with a curved capstone at the foundation.

The ancient tomb was discovered by French civil engineer Jean Bouchot in 1927 while working on a project to construct a road from Long Khanh to Ba Ria.

In reports sent to the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient from 1927 to 1930, Bouchot wrote “the tomb contained many stone rings, pottery and several small earthen bottles, inside of which were layers of brown soil and ash.” Recent excavations, however, have revealed that the ancient tomb contains none of these items.

From reading Bouchot’s initial reports, archaeologists now believe that Cu Thach was originally used as a common tomb for a group of Polynesians. They understand that these people were most likely ancestors of the ethnic Ma, Ch’ro and S’tieng people who now inhabit the Central Highlands and eastern provinces of southern Vietnam.

The tomb is located inside the Hang Gon Rubber Plantation in Dong Nai province, just 3km from the Tan Phong intersection and not far from a road that leads towards Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The curved capstone of the tomb is over 30cm thick, and wider than the four upright stones. Historian Nguyen Dinh Dau said the capstone weighed in at over 10 tonnes.

Tran Bien Temple of Literature is located in Buu Long Ward, Bien Hoa City, of Dong Nai.

Built in 1715 under Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu, it was the first temple of its kind in the South. It is a place to honour Confucius and also serves as an educational centre.

The site was destroyed by the French in 1861 and later restored in 1998. It has become a popular destination for tourists who want to learn more about the history of Vietnam through the stories of national heroes and the country’s cultural personalities.

HCM City helmet factory catches fire; no one hurt

Fed by flammable materials inside the facility, a fire consumed a helmet factory on November 23 in the Binh Chanh District of Ho Chi Minh City and quickly spread to nearby homes, a fire official said.

About 100 firefighters responded to the three-alarm fire at the Vinh Loc B Commune, and it took them about two hours to bring it under control, said the official. There are no reports of any injuries.

Employees at the facility attempted to douse the fire with fire extinguishers, but thick black billowing smoke and intense heat drove them out, so fire crews were called in to fight the blazing inferno.

The first alarm came shortly after 12 p.m. and the fire was under control by 2 p.m., he said. The cause appears to be an electrical malfunction. It’s unclear how many houses have been destroyed.

Slow no more? New undersea cable ready to boost Vietnam's internet speed

The US$450-million system is much faster than the Asia America Gateway, which the country has relied on over the past years.

Internet users in Vietnam should expect faster speed soon as a new undersea cable connecting the country with neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region has been completed.

NEC, a Japanese IT corporation, last week announced that it has finished construction of the Asia Pacific Gateway Submarine Cable linking Japan with Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The cable, with a total length of around 10,900 kilometers, will go through Vietnam’s central city of Da Nang.

It features 100 Gigabit per second (Gbps) optical transmission capabilities that deliver a capacity of more than 54 Tbps, which is much faster than the 2.88 Tbps speed of the Asia America Gateway (AAG), the notorious rupture-prone system that connects Vietnam and the US.

slow no more? new undersea cable ready to boost vietnam's internet speed hinh 0

Vietnam’s two biggest telecom companies Viettel and the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group are among the 13 investors of the new cable.

The military-run Viettel, which funded more than half of the $450-million cable, has also invested in another 25,000-kilometer cable connecting Vietnam with Europe. The Asia Africa Euro 1 is scheduled to go into operation this year too.

Vietnamese service providers have been trying to ease their reliance on the AAG. The 20,000-kilometer system, installed in 2009, has broken or been shut down for maintenance many times since 2011.

In 2015, the cable ruptured three times while in 2014, it went down twice.

This year local users also bemoaned slow connection to international services when the cable broke down in August and then went through a maintenance period in September.

Nearly 49 million people, more than half of Vietnam’s population of 90 million, are online.

Cruise ship SuperStar Virgo docks at Phu My Port

Saigontourist Travel Service on November 22 received more than 1,000 foreign tourists on the SuperStar Virgo cruise ship that docked at Phu My port, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

Accordingly, the travellers who come from China, Austria, Australia, and Canada moved to Ho Chi Minh City on November 23 to tour historical sites, go shopping in Ben Thanh market, enjoy a water puppetry show in the city centre, and walk around Nguyen Hue pedestrian street.

In the afternoon, SuperStar Virgo left Phu My Port to dock at Cam Ranh International Port.

In Nha Trang, the visitors visited the Po Nagar Cham Towers, discovered Vinpearl Land, dove in Hon Tam and Hon Mun, tasted delicious food and explored traditional handicraft villages.

The cruise ship left Cam Ranh Port at 10p.m on the same day for other Asian countries.

In November alone, Saigontourist received 8,000 passengers on Superstar Virgo.

Saigontourist said Superstar Virgo holds the mantle for largest passenger cruise ship, having replaced Royal Caribbean International’s Legends of the Seas for the top spot. 

It is 4.34 metres longer and weighs 5866 tons more than the Legend with two extra decks and carries more than 700 extra passengers (2800) at a maximum capacity almost doubling the crew (1300).

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