Buddhist Sangha to mark 30th birthday in November

A solemn ceremony will be held at the HCM City-based Pho Quang Pagoda on November 7 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of establishment of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) (1981-2011).

The information was released at the fourth meeting of the VBS Central Committee, which opened at the Quang Duc Monastery in Ho Chi Minh City on January 7. The two-day meeting aims to review the VBS’s Buddhist affairs in 2010 and its plans for 2011.

According to Most Venerable Thich Tri Tinh, Chairman of the VBS’s Executive Council, the central-level ceremony will look back on the 30-year path of the VBS with numerous activities serving the religion and the nation in order to draw experiences and map out new plans for development.

A central-level workshop on the VBS’s 30th birthday will also take place at the Pho Quang Pagoda in late December this year, he said, adding that provincial-level ceremonies will be organised during the week from November 1-7, 2011.

Over the past year, the VBS has recorded satisfactory achievements in Buddhist work with a wide range of activities, including the restoration of Buddhist pagodas, towers and statues; and the organisation of seminars and symposia on King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong, the Buddhism with 1,000 years of Thang Long-Hanoi, and the Khmer Theravada.

International cooperation has been expanded with a number of overseas trips to attend Buddhist activities in Thailand, India , Myanmar and Europe.

The Sangha has raised nearly VND710 billion for charitable activities in support for the poor, disabled people and victims of Agent Orange and natural disasters nationwide.

Ben Tre province delivers 333 houses to the poor

The Ben Tre Provincial People’s Committee on January 9 delivered 333 houses to local poor families.

124 of the houses were handed over to the poor in Dinh Trung commune and the rest were transferred to disadvantaged people in Tan Xuan and Thanh Hai communes.

The Phuong Trang Real Estate Joint Stock Company and the Saigon Phu Gia Construction Investment Joint Stock Company donated a total of VND5 billion to fund the construction of the houses.

The province has to date built around 6,000 houses, including more than 4,900 homes in 2010, for the poor. It plans to call for support from donors both in and outside the province to build another 5,000 houses for the targeted people in 2011.

Poor Vietnamese in Cambodia get free check-ups

Doctors from the Ho Chi Minh City-based Hoa Tam charity and the Reasmey Kompong Som Clinic on January 8 provided free check-ups and medicines for 200 poor Vietnamese people in Cambodia’s Preah Siahnouk province.

On the occasion, Hoa Tam presented gifts, each worth VND200,000 to 150 poor patients.

In August 2010, it examined and presented gifts to 150 Vietnamese patients in the Tonle Sap region.

Long spells of biting cold trouble flower growers

Photo: VOV
Hanoi and northern provinces have been suffering biting cold for a week, which is warned to continue, making flower growers “like to be a cat on hot bricks” as the biggest holiday is approaching.

Peach flower growers in Phu Thuong and Nhat Tan wards in Tay Ho precinct, two largest flower suppliers in Hanoi, complained that just over 20 days away from Tet, but weather forecasters have warned of several other spells of biting cold ahead.

If the forecast comes true, peach flowers are in a threat to be unable to blossom at the Lunar New Year festival (Tet).

Peach flower growers are resorting to all means to make their flowers blossom at the right time. They have intensified watering, fertilising and even turned on electric lights the night round to warm up peach roots in an effort to make peach bloom soon.

Peach flower growers said the ideal weather should be the mixture of cold and warm. Peach will yield huge flowers with thick petals and beautiful colour and numerous buds in a weather which has several days of the cold weather after several warm days.

Growers of rose and chrysanthemum are also struggling against the long spells of chilly cold. They cover their orchards with nets, maintain the necessary humidity level and keep trees warm with electricity light.

Dung Quat economic zone creates more than 12,000 jobs

The Dung Quat economic zone has so far attracted 113 investment projects with a total registered capital of US$8 billion, providing jobs for more than 12,000 workers and contributing more than VND13,000 billion to the State budget in 2010.

On January 8, the Management Board of the Dung Quat economic zone in the central Quang Ngai province received the Labour Order, first class from the State President in recognition of its significant contributions to boosting Quang Ngai’s socio-economic development.

Fourteen years after its establishment and development, Dung Quat has seen a rapid development with the building of the first heavy industry complex in Vietnam, which includes an oil refinery, a shipbuilding factory, a heavy equipment manufacturing factory, a PP plastic factory, a steel factory, a biological material factory and many projects related to tourism, services and sea ports.

Dung Quat’s strong development has contributed to increasing Quang Ngai’s GDP, industrial production value and budget revenues as well as restructuring the production structure.

Tame elephant dies after stabbing

A tame elephant that was stabbed dozens of times by poachers two months ago has died, Le Thi Thanh Ha, director of the Ban Don Eco-tourism Company, said on Thursday.

Poachers inflicted 217 cuts to the Pak Cu elephant's hind legs and tail.

Ha said the male elephant had long and valuable tusks. The eco-tourism company spent VND50 million (US$2,500) trying to treat the elephant's injuries.

On the same day, three wild elephants died in mysterious circumstances in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highland) province of Dac Lak's Ea Sup District.

Overseas Vietnamese in Thailand receive Certificates of Merit

A ceremony was held in Bangkok, Thailand on January 7 to present Certificates of Merit to overseas Vietnamese in Bangkok and in the Thai provinces of Chon Buri, Chiangmai and Chantha Buri.

Addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Ngo Duc Thang praised the contributions and efforts made by overseas Vietnamese in developing Vietnamese community through their various activities launched with the thought of the homeland.

This was also to show the Vietnamese State and Government’s recognition of Vietnamese nationals’ contributions to developing the community and enhancing the multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand.

Mr Thang called on overseas Vietnamese in Thailand to bring into full play what they have achieved over the past years while preserving their national cultural identity and contributing to the building of an ASEAN community, particularly in the context of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 vision.

Thai Manh Hung, Vice Chairman of the Provisional Standing Committee of the Vietnamese Association in Bangkok also spoke highly of the Party, State and Government’s attention to overseas Vietnamese in Thailand as well as those living in different countries around the world.

Under the decision made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA), 49 collectives and individuals were awarded the Certificates of Merit in Thailand this time and the rest will continue to be presented on the Traditional Lunar New Year.

Publishers to print annual event listing

Two leading national publishers will co-produce an events directory every year, recording the preceding year's domestic highlights as well as glimpses of important national and international events for the coming year.

The Viet Nam Event Book Centre (VietnamEvent), a subsidiary of the Viet Nam Records Book (Vietbooks), and the Viet Nam News Agency Publishing House have agreed to publish the directory from this year onwards.

VietnamEvent staff will collect and select two most important events that took place in the country every day in Viet Nam, based on Viet Nam News Agency publications, press agency dispatches, as well information gathered from enterprises, organisations and national agencies.

This year's Viet Nam Events Directory is expected to be release in April.

Floating restaurant sinks, injuring two

A double-decker floating restaurant docked in Phond Dien District of Can Tho in the Mekong Delta sank suddenly last Saturday evening while more than 220 people were partying on board. There were no fatalities and only two were injuried while trying to escape in a panic.

The restaurant operator planned to retrieve the ship using oil drums as floats.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation. The restaurant was not yet licenced.

Clothing store burns down in Long Xuyen

A violent fire brought down a clothing store of My An Company, a garment manufacturer in Long Xuyen City in the Mekong Delta, last Saturday night.

Losses were estimated at VND7 billion (US$350,000).

More than 200 fire fighters struggled for three hours to put out the flames, finally finishing the job at midnight. Local police are trying to determine the cause of the fire.

Babysitter gets two year prison sentence

A district court in southern Binh Duong Province last Saturday sentenced Tran Thi Phung, a babysitter whose violent treatment of a three-year-old girl was caught on camera, to two years in prison.

The People's Court of Thuan An District found Phung, 52, guilty of meting out unacceptably harsh treatment to Ho Thi Thuy Ngan almost every time she gave the girl a bath.

Phung admitted to police that she'd put the girl on the floor and placed her foot on her to prevent the little girl from playing with water. She also used a dipper to keep splashing water continuously on Ngan's face in case the girl cried out, and pulled her hair tight to keep the girl still.

A labourer working near the illegal kindergarten run by Phung saw the violent bathing many times and decided to film it on November 20. The film was put on youtube on November 23, shocking the public.

Thuan An District police on November 25 visited Phung's kindergarten, where she provided the service to children of poor workers for VND350,000 (US$18) per child a month.

Doctors later found that Ngan had suffered damage to her lungs and respiratory system because of the violent treatment.

The court ordered Phung to compensate Ngan with VND5 million ($256) for the abuse.

The case has prompted companies in the district to come up with plans to build kindergartens for their workers' children. It was found that at least 20 illegal household kindergartens were operating in the district when this case came to light.

Four more trains to be put on for Tet

Four more trains will be put on for the Tet holiday.

The trains, operating between HCM City and Ha Noi, will add 2,600 seats over the lunar new year holiday from January 20 to 23.

Passengers should not buy tickets outside the station, which are liable to be fake, said Nguyen Van Thanh, Sai Gon Railway Station deputy head.

Illegal logger attack hospitalises 4 rangers

Four forest rangers who were hospitalised on Wednesday after being attacked by illegal loggers are still in critical condition, according to doctors at the Bac Quang Nam General Hospital in the central province of Quang Nam.

On Wednesday evening, the rangers, working for the provincial Forest Protection Division, stopped a 12-seat car that was carrying a large amount of chopped wood on National Highway No.14B.

When the car stopped after failing to escape from the rangers, a group of seven young people suddenly jumped out and attacked the rangers with iron pipes, wrenches and sticks. They escaped the scene after severely beating up the rangers, leaving behind the car with the illegal wood.

So far the police have arrested the car driver and are searching for the others.

Three arrested of trafficking narcotics

Tan Binh District Police handed over Tran Thanh Toan, Mai The Duong and Nguyen Thanh Tung, all in their 30s, to the city's drug criminal investigative police on Thursday for alleged drugs trafficking.

Police claim to have caught the men transporting hundreds of narcotic pills. Duong admitted to having sold a 50-gram packet of drugs to Tung for VND63.5 million (US$3,175).

VNN/VOV/VNS