Australia promotes rights of homosexuals

The Australian Government will provide more than VND2 billion ($95,200) this month to support a project aimed at reducing discrimination against lesbians and gay, bisexual and transgender people in Viet Nam.

The project will reach an estimated 20,000 students and members of the public, 200 homosexuals and transgender people and 75 government officials in Ha Noi and HCM City. Contemporary plays and exhibitions will be used to raise awareness about the rights of homosexuals.

Netherlands funds city’s waste water treatment

Illustrative image. (Source: VNA)
The Dutch Government will provide almost 374,000 EUR for a pre-feasibility study of a project to collect, treat and reuse waste water in Phan Rang-Thap Cham City, the southern central province of Ninh Thuan.

The funding agreement was signed by the Facility for Infrastructure Development ORIO of the Netherlands and the provincial authorities on March 10.

The pre-feasibility study is scheduled to begin on April 1 this year.

The project aims to collect and treat waste water discharged by about 25,000 households and 300 businesses, improve the quality of water in man-made lakes and rivers in the locality, and contribute to protecting the environment there.

It will help the local responsible agencies apply proper waste water treatment technologies and reuse treated water for agricultural production and rural development in suburban areas.

4 arrested for appropriating bank loans

The Ministry of Public Security police yesterday arrested 42-year-old Nguyen Thanh Hung, a company director who set up 16 fake companies to appropriate bank loans, as well as his three accomplices.

Hung’s accomplices are 51-year-old Tran Kim Hoa, vice director of Hanoi-based Dong Anh branch of VietinBank, 32-year-old Dinh Cong Khanh, a credit officer of the same branch, and Phan Duc Manh, 41, director of Phu Quy General Trading Co. Ltd.

Hoa and Khanh have been charged with “violating lending regulations” while Hung and Manh were charged with “swindling to appropriate assets” and “counterfeiting seals and documents of agencies and organizations”.

According to an initial investigation, after setting up 16 companies in 2011, Hung directly managed one of these firms, Thuy Tien Construction Co. Ltd., and hired his relatives and acquaintances, including Manh, to act as nominal directors of the remaining companies.

Hung ordered his directors to apply for bank loans and re-lend these loans at higher interest rates to pocket the differences.

Hung and Manh used fake papers and documents to obtain loans worth more than VND300 billion (US$14.4 million) from VietinBank.

Khanh, as a credit officer, helped Hung and Manh go through lending procedures using fake papers.

Hoa, as the VietinBank branch’s vice director, signed many documents, including counterfeit papers to facilitate Hung’s companies in getting the loans.

Hung and his accomplices were discovered after his companies failed to repay their loans to the bank.

Kien Giang islanders run out of clean water

Residents in Kien Hai Island in the southern province of Kien Giang have run out of clean water for daily use.

Stream water in the island has been exhausted and the 10,000cu m Nam Du Reservoir is the only source of rain water.

The district has a plan to build five reservoirs at a cost of VND20 billion ($952,000) but it can't get the funds for construction.

Three Vietnamese people burnt to death in Malaysia

The firefighting forces found bodies of a Vietnamese woman and her two children at a fire in Seri Kembangan, Salangor, Malaysia, the Malaysian newspaper Bernama reported on March 3.

The 30-year-old mother was identified as Huynh Thi Ngoc Thao and her two daughters as Yap Siew Yoon and Yap Siew Yee. Her husband Yap Yao Chong suffered from serious burns while trying to rescue his wife and children.

The Malaysian News Straits Times said one of Thao’s relatives, Lam Thi Bich Phuong and another woman luckily escaped from the fire.

The fire occurred at 2.55am on March 9. When the firefighters came to the scene 80 percent of a two-storey house was burnt to the ground.

Zolkipli Sailan, a local official, said they distinguished the fire in one hour and found bodies in the ruins.

The Yap family had lived in that house for more than 10 years.

The initial results of investigation showed the cause of the fire might be electrical leakage.

TV to show public and ministers in dialogue

A weekly forum for citizens to question Government cabinet members will take place on Viet Nam Television and the Government website.

Despite no concrete schedule yet, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has instructed relevant parties in the upcoming launch of the programme called "Citizens Ask — Ministers Answer".

"The forum must rely on quality in informing the public on issues related to ministerial responsibilities," the PM said.

"Citizens ask — Ministers answer" is expected to keep the public posted on new policies, strategies and Government directions in an effort to improve State management.

According to Dung, previous online dialogues between ministers and citizens via the Government website kept the country informed and created a consensus in society.

As planned, the programme will be broadcast in 5-7 minute slots every Sunday evening. Central and local TV channels will serve as additional platforms for the new initiative.

People are called upon to start sending their questions to the email address danhoibotruong@chinhphu.vn.

3 Japanese naval ships visit Vietnam

3 Japanese naval ships, JS Hamgiri, JS Sawayuki and JS Asayukido, with 620 officers on board landed at Hai Phong Port yesterday, starting their 5-day visit to Vietnam.

The delegation, which is led by Colonel Tomoo Mizukami, commander of Japanese Navy’s 15th Fleet of Escort Ships, was welcomed in a ceremony held by Vietnamese naval officers.

This is the 5th time that Japan’s naval ships have visited Vietnam.

The visit this time is aimed at further strengthening mutual friendship, understanding and trust between the two countries’ armies in general and their naval forces in particular.

Yesterday afternoon, after paying courtesy visits to the Hai Phong city People’s Committee and the High Command of Military Zone 3, the delegation’s representatives visited the High Command of the Navy and had a talk with Vietnamese naval officers.

From March 10 to 12, a number of cultural exchanges and sports activities will take place between Vietnamese and Japanese naval soldiers and officers.

Buddhist festival opens in Danang

Thousands of Buddhist dignitaries, monks, nuns, followers and tourists flocked to the Quan The Am (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) festival from March 9-11 to offer prayers of peace for the nation. 

The festival, one of the 15 largest festive events in the country, is held annually at Quan The Am pagoda in the Ngu Hanh Son (Marble Mountains) tourist site in the central city of Danang from the 17th to the 19th of the second lunar month. 

A wide range of Buddhist activities was held, including a ritual to pray for peace for the country and prosperity, good health and happiness for people. 

More than 30 paintings and sculpture works on Buddhism were displayed.

A delegation of monks from India’s Namgyal-Dharamsala monastery participated in the festival.

The Quan The Am festival which was first held in 1960 was recognised as a national festival in 2000.

Family to receive murder victim’s body in Korea

Two relatives of Pham Thi Loan, a Vietnamese woman who was killed on Tuesday by her South Korean husband who later committed suicide have gone to South Korea to receive her body.

With the help of the Women Union of Can Tho Province, Loan’s native land, 34-year-old Pham Thi Lan, who is Loan’s younger sister, and her husband, arrived in the South Korean Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday afternoon to carry out procedures for going to South Korea to cremate Loan’s body and take her ash home.

The diplomatic agency granted the couple a visa valid for 90 days and said it would cover accommodation, food, travel and interpretation expenses for the couple.

After arriving in Seoul this morning, Lan and Hai have been assisted by the Multicultural Family Support Center of Gangwon City’s Jeon Seon County in carrying out procedures for receiving and incinerating the body, which is being kept at a local hospital.

Lan said she wanted to take pictures of Loan’s body before the cremation and bring back to Vietnam all of the items Loan had brought to South Korea.

As earlier reported, Loan was killed by her husband, 49-year-old Eom Yang Ock, on February 6, three months after she accompanied him to Jeon Seon.

Their wedding ceremony was held in Can Tho on November 11, 2011.

After her marriage, Loan seldom phoned home and her relatives had to phone her husband to ask to talk with her, Lan said.

In these phone conversations, Loan never said she had been mistreated by her husband.

Peace Trees continues with mine clearance in VN

Peace Trees Vietnam (PTVN), which consists mostly of US war veterans, will continue funding operations to clear unexploded ordnance in central Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces this year.

The information was confirmed at a meeting between a PTVN delegation and President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Vu Xuan Hong in Hanoi on March 8.

The organisation will extend credit loan projects in Quang Tri, provide scholarships for victims of unexploded bombs and mines and assist social development in areas cleared of unexploded ordnance.

At the meeting, the VUFO President praised the efforts made by PTVN to clear unexploded ordnance in the central province of Quang Binh over the years.

He said he hoped that after this visit, PTVN will target more joint activities between non-governmental organisations of both countries and help Vietnam address the war’s legacy, particularly the issue of Agent Orange victims.

Impressed with Vietnam ’s current development, the PTVN delegates, however, showed their concerns about efforts being made to ease post-war difficulties in Vietnam .

They talked about the fundraising work for projects undertaken by PTVN in central Vietnam since 1995 as well as on how to elevate the relations between Vietnamese and US people.

During their visit, the PTVN delegation made a fact-finding tour to Quang Tri and met with Vietnamese veterans at the Ta Con-Khe Sanh relic site.

Regional Civil Society Consultation opens in Hanoi

Vietnam’s Farmers Union, in association with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, hosted the Asia-Pacific Regional Civil Society Consultation meeting in Hanoi on March 10.

The meeting is an opportunity for Asian-Pacific countries to share their experiences and raise the level of cooperation amongst regional communities when developing agricultural in a sustainable manner.

The delegates discussed issues on food security and highlighted challenges, investment trends, agricultural finances and fluctuating food prices.

The talks also involved effective models of production for farmers’ small establishments and will help policy makers to draw up policies and take more constructive measures.

The participants also called on all concerned parties to combat famine across the world and come up with practical solutions to face environmental pollution and climate changes that reduce agricultural production.

Two die in northern Lai Chau landslide

Two people, both aged 37, were killed by a landslide in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau on Saturday.

The two victims, who were workers of the Quyet Tien Construction Company, were installing a sewerage pipe in fish farm pond in Tan Phong Ward, Lai Chau Town, when soil 5m above them fell and buried them.

Construction of the 13ha aquatic product pond started in January last year with an investment of VND50 billion (US$2.3 million).

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre