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Farm insurance piloted
The Bao Viet Corporation has agreed to operate the Government's pilot agricultural insurance programme on a not-for-profit basis, deputy general director Nguyen Quang Phi said at an online discussion yesterday, Aug 9.
The operation would be based on co-operation between State-owned enterprises and the Government, Phi said.
The discussion, held in Ha Noi, aimed to bring farmers nationwide a comprehensive view of agricultural insurance.
Twenty years ago, we failed to successfully run another programme on agricultural insurance, Phi said. Calamities and agricultural productions on a small scale were blamed for the failure at that time.
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Farmers collect corn from flooded fields in Tan Hung Commune, Binh Long District, Binh Phuoc Province, after recent heavy rains. (Photo: VNS) |
Drawing experiences from the earlier failure, the corporation had submitted to the Ministry of Finance a new method of insurance payments that gave priority to coverage of natural disasters instead of random risks, Phi said.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ho Xuan Hung said agricultural insurance was not operated in all countries, partly due to high risks as well as dispersed production.
Viet Nam's economy had faced difficulties with agriculture insurance, he said. Among them were lack of prioritised policies to encourage insurance enterprises.
Also, domestic farmers did not participate in agricultural insurance because they did not know what it was and how they could benefit.
Agricultural insurance was a new sector, not only for farmers but also for local authorities and insurance agencies.
In the short term, localities had been ordered to train their staff in agricultural insurance and then assign them to educate local farmers, said Tang Minh Loc, director of the Ministry‘s Economy Co-operation Department.
The ministry planned to compile a detailed manual for both insurance agencies and farmers on how to operate the insurance, he said.
Representatives from the agriculture ministry also stressed that the rules of agriculture insurance would ensure the rights of the State, farmers and insurance agencies.
HCM City worries over rampant fake taxis
With hundreds of cases of fake taxis being discovered in just one month, taxi cheats have gone rampant in Ho Chi Minh City, causing headache to the municipal authorities.
According to the municipal Department of Transport, hundreds of fake cabs have been found operating under well-known company names and ripping off customers with exorbitant fares.
Fake taxis often ply the city’s downtown area and other places most frequented by tourists, such as Ben Thanh Market, the hydrofoil station on Ton Duc Thang Street or the areas around Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
The most popular trick taxi hustlers use is taking their customers on a longer route to inflate the fare, since most tourists are from out of town and not familiar with the city.
A representative of Mai Linh Taxi Group said taxi hustlers even copy the logos and other identity features of most prestigious taxi companies to the detail, such as the car colors and the design of the light boxes.
It is difficult for the taxi companies and customers to tell scam taxis from real ones. Customers only discover they have been taken for a ride when presented with a wildly inflated bill.
Ta Long Hy, chairman of the HCMC Taxi Association, said the only difference between an authentic and a fake taxi is the taximeter.
“The fake taxis always use unlicensed taximeters or taximeters that have been tampered with to charge exorbitant fares,” he said.
On May 10, three Malaysians fell victim to a Mai Linh scam taxi and had to pay VND6 million ($300) for a ride from Ben Thanh Market to Tan Son Nhat airport, which normally costs only VND150,000 ($7.50).
Vinasun Taxi said they receive 5 to 7 complaints about fake taxis operating under the company logo every month. The company has responded by forming an inspection team and managed to bring to court dozens of taxi hustlers since the beginning of this year.
On July 5, they caught a hack in Binh Thanh District who faked their logo and put him in the dock. The Tan Binh District People’s Court, however, fined him a mere VND1.5 million, which many taxi companies said was not strict enough to curb the spread of taxi scams.
At present, fake taxi drivers face only a fine of VND2.5 million and do not have their cars impounded.
Customers are advised to call for a taxi through the company number to avoid the scam.
Woman runs away from forced marriage with Chinese
A 25-year-old woman from Can Tho has complained to the city police that she was forced to marry a Chinese man in China.
Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang of Thoi An Dong Commune, Binh Thuy District was coerced into marriage after going to China with a Chinese broker, and escaped the clutches of her husband when they arrived in Ho Chi Minh City for a wedding party.
The Can Tho police said yesterday, Aug 9, they had received an appeal for help from Hang, who returned to Vietnam on July 28 with Chen Jin Rong, whom she had been forced to marry in China.
After she gave the slip to her husband, Hang said she received a message from a woman named Hien, the broker Liu Bin’s interpreter, demanding a “compensation” of VND100 million (US$4,800) if she did not agree to return to China with Chen.
Hang told the police that Hien had introduced Bin to her mother. Bin later took Hang to China where she refused to marry Chen and asked to return home. Bin allegedly told her that she would not be allowed to return home if she did not marry the man.
The police are investigating and have summoned Le for questioning.
Hang has also appealed to the local Women’s Union for help.
Retailers discount school textbooks
Although prices of textbooks and stationery for the school year have increased, many bookstores and supermarkets in HCM City are offering discount promotions.
With the increase in prices, bookstores and supermarkets are reducing the costs for people who have school-aged children in the city.
Phuong Nam bookstores nationwide, including in HCM City, have launched promotions, with a discount of 5 per cent- 50 per cent for textbooks, learning tools, calculators, electronic dictionaries, bags and other items until August 31.
HCM City General Publishing House in District 1 is also offering a 50 per cent discount on textbooks, notebooks and other books.
Nguyen Thi Thuy of District 3, who has two children, said this year she was buying textbooks at shops holding promotions rather than at places nearby in her neighbourhood.
She said she bought textbooks at a 10 per cent discount at a shop at Dinh Tien Hoang Street. "I saved a bit of money and took this amount to buy stationery for my children," she said.
Besides bookstores, many supermarkets like Maximark, Co.opMart, Lottemart and Big C are offering 10-20 per cent discounts on pens, pencils, calculators, bags and notebooks.
HCM City has also launched for the first time a price stabilisation programmes for bags, notebooks and students' uniforms. It will be effective until the end of October.
The HCM City Department of Industry and Trade has worked with 10 stationery production and trading enterprises to carry out the programme.
The city has handed out three-month loans worth a total of VND34.3 billion ($1.7 million) at zero interest rate to enterprises, which have to ensure that their products are at least 15 per cent cheaper than similar kinds in the market.
The programme has met the demand of 2.2 million students in the city, according to the department.
Tran Minh Quan of District 5, who has one son learning in the ninth grade, said that he took advantage of the weekend to go to Co.opMart Supermarket, one of the shops that sell products in the price stabilisation programme.
"The programme has helped me to save a bit," he said.
Sufficient supply
There are enough books for all students this year, according to publishers. Viet Nam Education Publishing House (VEPH) has published 89 million copies of textbooks for the 2011-12 school year, up 2 million against last year.
Pham Canh Toan, deputy head of the HCM City Educational Book Joint Stock Company said that the company had ensured enough textbooks for the school year.
This year's prices issued by VEPH showed that textbooks from the first to the 12th grades increased by nearly 17 per cent over last year.
For example, the price of an entire set of second-grade textbooks, which includes six copies, is VND45,300 (US$2.2), while last year's price was VND38,900 ($1.9).
The price of fifth-grade textbooks, including nine copies this year, was VND78,300 ($3.8), an increase of VND11,100.
In a recent press meeting, Nguyen Minh Khang, deputy general director of VEHP, said the main cause was the increase of paper price by 30 per cent, as well as transport costs.
The prices of stationery, including notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers, bags and other items this year, has risen by 10 per cent–15 per cent compared to last year.
Law firm to help fishermen detained in Philippines
Ha Hai Law Office in Ho Chi Minh City has been asked to defend the 122 Vietnamese fishermen who have been detained by the Philippines for the past two months for illegal fishing.
Long Hai Long Company which sent the fishermen to the Philippines for fishing has requested assistance from the law firm.
Lawyer Ha Hai, head of the law firm, said his firm would defend the fishermen free of charge.
Hai said his office would ask for permission to attend the trial for the fishermen on August 24-26.
At present, the law firm is contacting the detainees’ families for more information, Hai said.
Earlier, Long Hai Long signed a contract with a Philippine partner, Preiere International Interfishing Corp. (PIICop), to obtain its license to operate seven boats in the Philippine territory.
Long Hai Long fully paid PIICop and the latter was supposed to complete the required legal procedures.
However, on May 30, the Philippine police seized these boats and arrested the fishermen, who come from Binh Thuan Province and were fishing off Palawan Island.
A Philippine court has questioned the 122 fishermen about their alleged illegal fishing.
The detainees told the court that they and Long Hai Long were not at fault because it was PIICop that failed to obtain the fishing license as required by the contract.
Meanwhile, Thanh Nien Newspaper reported that it had obtained a notice dated May 11, 2001 from PIICop to Long Hai Long that confirmed that all of the seven boats had been licensed by the Philippine authorities.
The notice also asked the boats to arrive on Palawan on May 30 for fishing operations.
According to Thanh Nien, PIICop has hired lawyers and Pham Van Thoai, who is Long Hai Long’s director, went to the Vietnamese embassy in Manila Wednesday, Aug 8, to seek help.
Thoai’s wife told Thanh Nien that Long Hai Long was paying US$300 per day for food and drinks for the detained fishermen to ensure they are in normal health conditions.
Nguyen Nhu from Binh Thuan’s Phu Quy Island whose 34-year-old son is one of the detainees told Thanh Nien that the fishermen were being kept in a prison near the port of Rio Tuba.
Rail worker honoured for saving infant
Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang on Monday awarded a certificate of merit to a female rail worker who saved a baby from being hit by a train in the south central province of Phu Yen on August 1.
Tran Thi Xuan, 22, a barrier keeper, saw the 20-month-old baby playing on the rails in Tuy Hoa District as a train approached. She jumped over and plucked the baby to safety moments before the train passed.
74-year-old bike stealer repeats his crime, gets caught
A 74-year-old man last Sunday in southern Binh Duong Province was caught stealing bike for the second time.
Tran Van Nam from Binh Dinh Province always dressed up for his crime.
On Sunday, Nam was drinking coffee in a café near Binh Duong Boulevard when he stepped outside and stood near an Airblade bike.
He pretended to talk on the phone and used a short knife to crack open the lock.
The man then took the bike to the street and was seized by the “street knights” and taken to Hiep Thanh Ward’s police station.
Tran Hoang Anh, one of the “street knights” said they had been observing Nam for two days.
Last March, Nam was caught by the street knights for stealing a bike in Binh Duong’s Coi Nguon café with the same trick.
He even took out a knife and threatened people around. However, he and his companion were later arrested.
This time, Nam worked with a new partner.
Australia supports Quang Ngai’s poverty reduction programme
The Australian Government doled out nearly VND51 billion to help the central province of Quang Ngai implement the second phase of the National Programme 135 on poverty reduction.
The figure was released at the August 9 conference to review the Implementation Support Programme (ISP) funded by the Australian Government.
Dinh Thi Loan, Vice Chairwomen of the Quang Ngai provincial People’s Committee and Kathryn Elliott, First Secretary of the Australian Agency of International Development co-chaired the event.
The money is part of an aid package worth VND66.6 billion that the Australian Government committed this year to assist Quang Ngai province in production development, infrastructure construction, capacity improvement and management planning.
In her speech, Loan highlighted the significant contributions of ISP to hunger elimination and poverty reduction in mountainous districts of Quang Ngai province.
She urged relevant units to ensure the progress of capital disbursement in 2011, the final year of the programme, and keep a close watch over activities launched in communes.
Central Vietnam fisherman catches sea lion
Van Dien, a fisherman in Quang Binh Province, caught a 20-kg sea lion while the animal was basking on a small rock off Hon La Bay Monday.
He has released the meter-long animal into his fishpond.
Local authorities have advised Dien to release it into the sea, but he has refused saying he not only wants a compensation of VND20 million (US$1,000) but also coverage by the local TV station.
Sea lions live in temperate climates and have never been seen in Vietnamese waters.
Sex-soliciting cop asked to resign
Captain Nguyen Thanh Phu of Binh Duong Province’s Police Department has been asked to resign after he was found to have solicited a suspect’s wife for sex.
Even though Phu said he was just joking, the police department said yesterday if Phu didn’t resign, he would be fired. Major General Vo Thanh Duc, chief of the provincial police, said it was unacceptable for a police officer to have such a “joke”.
Phu was demoted to Captain from Major in May after being found to have solicited sex from Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, the wife of Nguyen Cong Nhut, a suspect in the loss of 6,600 car tires at Kumho Tire Co., Ltd.
30-year-old Nhut, who had been working as Kumho’s storekeeper, was found hanging dead at Ben Cat District’s police office on April 25, 4 days after he was arrested for investigation.
One day after Nhut’s death, Tuyen handed the provincial police two recordings of her conversations with Phu, who had called her many times while Nhut was being detained to solicit sex.
Phu was an officer at Thuan An Town’s police department and was sent to Ben Cat to help with the investigation.
Denmark supports workplace safety
Denmark has pledged US$10 million to help improve labour conditions in Vietnamese enterprises and create jobs during 2011-13 following an agreement signed with the Embassy of Denmark on Monday.
The agreement lays down the mechanisms for the Danish support to what is termed the Vietnamese National Programme on Occupational Safety and Health 2011-2015.
Denmark would like to see companies focus on "corporate social responsibility" which was considered throughout the world as a comparative advantage for companies, especially in retaining workers, Danish Ambassador John Nielsen said.
Many Danish companies believed that if the working environment for employees was improved and workers' rights were considered, the likelihood of increasing productivity and performance was high, he said.
Food poisoning under control
In the first half of the year, the cases of food poisoning decreased by 40 percent and the death toll dropped by 70 percent as compared with the same period last year.
The figures were released at an August 9 meeting held by the Central Committee on Food Safety and Hygiene presided over by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.
The committee reports that only 53 cases of food poisoning involving 1,776 victims occurred nationwide in the first six months of the year.
The Law on Food Safety, which has taken effect since July 1, stipulates that the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will promulgate circulars, and standards of technical management by ministries.
However, the government has not introduced any decree to guide the management of food safety according to groups of commodities.
Addressing the meeting, Deputy PM Nhan proposed ministries and sectors actively advise the government on working out such a decree.
He asked the Ministry of Health to better handle the problem of food poisoning and food additives, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to manage animals and pesticides, the Ministry of Industry and Trade to build markets that ensure food safety and food processing, and the city of Hanoi to strengthen managing food along streets and slaughter-houses.
1 killed, 14 injured in bus accident
One passenger was killed and 14 others were injured when a 35-seat bus slammed into a mountain early yesterday morning, Aug 9, in Ha Dong District in Hanoi.
The person who was killed was 35-year-old Dang Thi Lan, the driver’s wife.
Investigators said the driver, who was heading for the central city of Da Nang, lost control when his brake broke down.
Of the injured, 9 people, including the driver, suffered from multiple wounds, said Pham Van Long, Deputy Director of 115 General Hospital in Nghe An Province where the victims were first treated.
At 6:00 a.m. yesterday, all of the patients were sent to Hanoi-based Hospital 103 for further treatment.
Cyanide in fruit killed children: report
The two children who died last month in Dak Lak Province after eating wild fruits were killed by cyanide found in the fruits, the provincial Sub-Department of Food Safety and Hygiene said.
The Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, which conducted tests on the fruits after the deadly incident in which 18 other kids were hospitalized, identified them as tho bọ or Passiflora octandra Gagnep (Passiflora siamica Craib).
The fruit’s purple skin contained cyanide at the rate of 450-500 mg per kilogram, it said.
Tran Duc Dinh, a scientist and lecturer in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) University’s Forestry and Agriculture Department, said the fruit usually grew in evergreen forests around the country.
On July 26 a group of children in Cu Kroa Commune, M’Drak District, found the fruits in a forest, ate them and brought a bunch to their commune to share with other children.
A few hours later 20 children who ate the fruit developed symptoms of food poisoning and were taken to hospital.
Giang A Sang, 6, died on the way to the hospital, while Giang Seo San, 12, died soon after being admitted. They reportedly ate the largest quantities of the fruits.
The remaining children had convulsive fits, cyanosis, nausea, and heart arrhythmia, doctors said.
Ma Leo Lao, head of the commune’s Hamlet 7, said people had for long seen the fruit in the forest but nobody ate it.
Murder suspect’s lover expelled from Party
A former head of a market management team in Long An Province, who had extramarital relations with a woman who torched her husband to death recently, has been ousted from the Communist Party of Vietnam.
A source told Tuoi Tre yesterday, Aug 9, that the Long An Province Party Committee expelled Nguyen Van Tam for gambling in Cambodia and having extramarital relations.
It has been confirmed that he went several times to Cambodia to gamble and that he had illicit relations with Tran Thuy Lieu, 40, who has been charged with burning her husband Le Hoang Hung at their home in Long An last January. Hung died 10 days later in hospital.
Officers investigating the case alleged that Tam had given her instructions on what she should tell the police during interrogation.
Lieu admitted to the police that she and Tam had contacted each other every time she returned home after questioning and he told her to be careful if asked about their relationship.
Lieu’s daughter Le Hong Nhung made copies of several letters that reveal her intimacy with Tam.
One letter reads: “They are suspecting I killed Hung because of our relationship. I am too tired but will never leave you. I also said we are not related in anyway.”
In another, she wrote: “…I miss you so much! Please write back to me, seal in an envelope, and I will have Nhung bring it.”
On July 27, after prolonged investigations, police finally filed murder charges against Lieu.
But the indictment says she acted alone, rejecting speculation that her lover had assisted her.
Hanoi firm caught selling pills with fake US label
A Hanoi-based company has been found to be buying food supplements from a domestic source and putting fake labels on them to purport they are imported from the US.
The city economic police and market management unit inspected Takeda Vietnam Co Ltd on Nguyen Hong Street, Dong Da District, and found nearly 100 cartons of nutritional supplement with labels reading glucosamine, Arginine, and Ginkgo Biloba as well as two packaging and labeling machines.
They also seized thousands of nutritional supplement pills that later proved to be of lower quality than claimed on the labels.
Takeda Vietnam confessed to buying the products from the northern province of Hai Duong and managing to sell 20 cartons every day.
In a similar crackdown in late June authorities seized from Hoang Gia Corporation thousands of nutritional supplement pills produced in China but with US labels.
They included Liquid Calcium plus Vitamin D3-Allnature and Super Omega3 Fish Oil Epa/DHA allnature.
They were also of lower quality than claimed.
Fertiliser maker gives prizes to young farmers
PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Corporation (DPM) said on Monday that 300 young farmers would receive Luong Dinh Cua prizes this year.
Luong Dinh Cua prize, named after a top Vietnamese agronomist, is awarded to those who were creative, performed well and made noteworthy contributions to agriculture.
The total value of prizes this year is about VND3 billion (US$146,000).
VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre
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