Saltwater fish die en masse in Ca Mau

Masses of dead saltwater fish have drifted ashore in Bo De seaport, in southernmost Ca Mau Province, since early last week.

According to the provincial Aquatic Resources Exploitation and Protection Department Director, Do Chi Si, experts are investigating the cause of the deaths.

Organisations call on people to fight domestic child labour

People were called to join the fight against illegal labour practices that take advantage of vulnerable youths on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour.

The call was made by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

According to the latest National Population and Housing Census, 7.1 per cent of domestic workers in Viet Nam are under 18 years of age.

A 2011 domestic worker study conducted by MOLISA and ILO in the country's two biggest cities of Ha Noi and HCM City indicates that 17.3 per cent of surveyed domestic workers started their job before they were 18 years old.

"It is a reality that the number of child domestic workers is on the rise. This is for a number of reasons – the lack of awareness of families and society as a whole, poverty, poor children dropping out of school and thus having very few choices for jobs, and the increasing demand for domestic workers in urban households to care for old people and do housework," said MOLISA Deputy Minister Doan Mau Diep.

The Labour Code allows children from the age of 15 to be employed as domestic workers if the job is suitable for their age, working hours are not too long and do not affect their education and the working environment does not harm their physical and mental development.

However, ILO Viet Nam Country Director Gyorgy Sziraczki said, "Since their work is often hidden from the public eye, child domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, exploitation and abuse."

"It's time to identify hazardous elements of domestic work and to prohibit such work for children under 18 years of age," he added.

Diep said the fight against child labour, particularly in its worst forms, requires the participation of families, communities and society at large.

With co-operation from ILO, Viet Nam has been implementing a number of projects dealing with early child labour – researching the situation and the causes and working out a national programme to eliminate its worst forms through prevention, early intervention and re-integration into the community.

"One important way we can eliminate child labour is through awareness-raising activities to change the perception of society," said Spanish Ambassador Alfonso Tena, whose country has been a major international donor in the fight against child labour in Viet Nam.

The ILO estimates that 15.5 million children around the world are engaged in paid or unpaid domestic work in the home of a third party or employer. The vast majority of all child domestic workers are girls and more than half of them are found in hazardous child domestic work.

Like a rolling stone

Torrential rain triggered landslides and avalanches in the northern mountainous Lai Chau Province. (Photo: VNS)

Torrential rain triggered landslides and avalanches in the northern mountainous Lai Chau Province, especially in the section of National Highway 12 in Sin Ho District's Chan Nua Commune. Part of the road was blocked after a temporary bridge called Nam Ho was destroyed by a flood early Monday morning.

‘Super thief' handed life sentence

The People's Court in central Da Nang City has handed down heavy sentences to three people found guilty of carrying out a series of thefts in the area between 2008-11 worth billions of dong.

At the end of the three-day trial on Monday, 31-year-old Dang Ngoc Tan, nicknamed the "super thief," was given a life sentence.

His accomplice, 30-year-old Nguyen Huu Phuoc, received a 14-year prison sentence.

Phuoc's wife was handed down seven years' imprisonment for receiving stolen goods.

The defendants were told to pay back VND13.6 billion (nearly US$654,000) to their victims.

RoK shares rural area construction experience

A seminar was held in the northern province of Thai Nguyen on June 11 to discuss the new rural area model in Vietnam and the experience of the Republic of Korea (RoK).

Participants from Vietnam and the RoK examined the model in Vietnam, RoK’s experiences in Saemaul Undong (new village) construction, State agencies’ roles in developing new villages, projects to develop production and improve farmers’ income and training in new rural area construction.

They agreed that the National Target Programme on New Rural Area Construction revolutionises agriculture, farming and rural areas in Vietnam.

It plays a strategic role in the country’s industrialisation, modernisation, and socio-economic sustainable development. It also contributes to preserving and upholding national culture and protects the environment.

According to an evaluation of the central coordinating office of the National Target Programme on New Rural Area Construction, after three years of implementation the nation’s rural areas have seen active and significant changes.

Vietnam is striving to have 200-300 communes nationwide achieving all 19 criteria of the programme by 2015.

Residents relocated from unsafe apartment

As many as 83 families living in a seriously degraded five-storey apartment building in Ha Long City's Hong Ha Ward have been moved to new accommodation.

The families were determined to stay in the building, which had been used for over 40 years, but authorities in the province insisted on the relocation to ensure their safety, and had been planning the operation since 2011.

The province will support each household until the end of the year with VND1.5 million (US$71) per month for rent.

Son La suspension bridge collapses

A suspension bridge crossing the Tac waterway in the northern province of Son La's Phu Yen District collapsed yesterday morning, causing at least 24 local residents to fall into the water along with their vehicles.

The victims were immediately taken to Phu Yen General Hospital.

Their bicycles and motorbikes were retrieved from the water nearly four hours after the incident.

No serious casualties were reported.

The incident has been attributed to too many people crossing the bridge, which was under repair, causing it to become overloaded.

Hanoi implements Asia-Pacific programme for the disabled

The Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) has selected Vietnam as a venue for a target programme on increasing the capacity of disabled people in Southeast Asia.

APCD executive director AkiieNimimiya announced this information at a recent meeting in Thailand, saying the programme will help enable Vietnamese people with disabilities to make contributions to their family and local economy.

The three-year programme will be implemented through 2015 with financial assistance from the Japanese government. In Vietnam, it will be carried out in Ba Vi district on the outskirts of Hanoi.

A regional conference for the APCD is scheduled to take place in Hanoi, with the participation of representatives from 10 ASEAN member countries and others in the Asia-Pacific region.

Hitachi inks supply deal for first City metro line

Japan's Hitachi Ltd signed yesterday, June 11, an agreement with the HCM City Urban Railways Management Authority under which the former will supply electrical and mechanical equipment for Viet Nam's first Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien).

The contract for the equipment is estimated at approximately 37 billion yen (US$376.59 million).

Under the agreement, Hitachi will deliver subsystems including 17 trains with a total of 51 cars, signaling systems, telecommunications systems including wireless train radio systems, power supply systems, platform screen doors, automatic fare collection systems, and depot facilities.

Hitachi will undertake five years of maintenance work after the start of commercial operations, details of which will be stipulated in a separate agreement later.

The Metro Line 1 is scheduled to begin operating in early 2018. Plans call for the construction of a 19.7km railway track (including both underground and elevated sections) connecting the center of HCM City with its Northeast gateway, where there are bus terminals with services to provinces in the north.

This is Viet Nam's first full-scale urban railway project, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency has pledged to provide special terms for the Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding that it will provide.

Hitachi has said it will continue activities aimed at expanding business opportunities as several urban railway systems are being currently planned in HCM City and Ha Noi. This will help accelerate the global rollout of its railway business.

The Vietnamese Government has made plans for the construction of several urban railways in HCM City. The Metrol Line 1 represents the first phase of these plans

Terminal fire started in builder's storeroom

Ha Noi Police on Sunday announced Saturday's fire at the T2 terminal being built at Noi Bai International Airport was caused by an electrical leakage.

The fire broke out in a store for building materials owned by Vinaconex 9, a subcontractor on the T2 terminal project.

The blaze destroyed office machines and 30 motorbikes of company workers.

The terminal is expected to open in November 2014.

Northern residents get clean water

Nearly 1.3 million people in four northern provinces have been provided with clean water thanks to World Bank-funded clean water, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said yesterday.

The US$122 million project, which started in 2005, has already disbursed $107 million. The number of those with water in Hai Duong, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh and Thai Binh provinces has increased from 22,000 to 313,500.

Nearly 90 per cent of the families now have hygienic toilets and more than 600 public restrooms have been completed.

 Police to follow up on octopus seizure

Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang has asked the leader of Hai Duong's Police Department to report on the seizure of two tonnes of octopus by police two weeks ago.

The move follows complaints from about 40 owners of the octopus. They said the seizure was unreasonable because the goods were legally imported.

An initial report showed octopus was seized when being transported from HCM City's Can Gio District to northern Quang Ninh Province's Mong Cai District. They were said not to be carrying quarantine certificates.

Quang also asked the province's chief inspector to check the seizure and report by the end of this week.

He said that if police had committed any violations, punishments were likely to be made and compensation paid.

Ha Long Bay to get clean public toilets

Tourist cruises, floating houseboats and onshore restrooms in northern Quang Ninh Province's Ha Long Bay will be equipped with bio-toilets and composting systems to keep the local water clean.

A pilot project, run by the provincial People's Committee and Japan's Chodai Co Ltd, will help prevent leakage of waste water to the sea, thus, reducing breakouts of dangerous bacteria.

The technology is said to be cheaper to install and operate than normal waste treatment plants.

The Netherlands helps manage Hue heritage sites

The Hue Relics Preservation Centre (HRPC), in coordination with the Netherlands Urban Solution Company, opened a course on June 10 to train preservationists to manage Hue relics using geographic information system (GIS) technology.

Trainees will take field trips to improve their capacity for data analysis and create GIS maps of some heritage sites to help devise proper development strategies for Hue city.

Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945 during the reign of 13 Nguyen Kings. There are hundreds of historical, cultural and archeological works in the city, most notably Hue Royal Palace, which alone includes 253 works and seven imperial tomb complexes of nine Nguyen Kings.

The centre will manage large scale Hue heritage sites using the GIS in line with UNESCO’s requirements, said HRPC Director Phan Thanh Hai.

Around 1,500 trees in the Royal Palace areas are already being managed by the GIS technology.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA