Japan gives $365,000 to upgrade schools

The Japanese Government has given a total of US$365,000 to upgrade substandard classrooms in primary schools in the northern provinces of Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh and Phu Tho.

Since 1992, nearly 160 schools have been built in Viet Nam with support from the Japanese Government.

Man, ravaged by tumors, longs to read

For most of his life, Do Tien Tru has struggled with tumors that, while benign, cover his head and legs.

They began as small lumps when Tru was a child, though his family had no history with the rare condition.

The tumors spread completely by the time Tru reached his teens. Now 57, he makes a living through hard labor in northern Vietnam’s Bien Hoa City, where he can’t afford hospital treatment.

Tru has lived alone since his parents died long ago, though neighbors have gotten used to his appearance.

The cancers prevent Tru from wearing glasses. If he gets treatment, Tru says his dream is to buy a pair of spectacles and take up reading.

Viet Nam spends US$13 million on fire fighting and rescue centres

Police of social safety met on Tuesday, June 12, in central Da Nang city for the implementation of the project to build information and command centre for fire fighting and rescue.

The VND 275.5 billion (US$13 million) project was funded by Austrian Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the Vietnamese capital.

Major General Tran Anh Dung said that such centres are of key importance for the work of fire fighting teams in the country's major cities and provinces.

The centres in Ha Noi, HCM City, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Binh Duong would be established to provide all the necessary functions for mission control: reception of emergency calls, mission recording, mission scheduling, alarm processes, and mission control and management, said Dung.

The project would also support the national command centre in monitoring and supervising the rescue activities at a national level by navigating through information and analysing statistics. The national centre could process and update the whole information system on fire fighting and rescue.

Signed early this year, the project was expected to finished by end of 2013.

IFAD supports poor farmers in Tuyen Quang

Nearly 100,000 poor and ethnic minority households in the northern province of Tuyen Quang will eventually benefit from a rural areas support project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The six-year project, which started in 2011, aims to encourage households in 64 communes in six districts of Tuyen Quang province to take part in sustainable economic activities to raise their living standards.

The project focuses on three main tasks: strengthening local capacity to carry out initiatives in farming and rural areas; promoting pro-poor value chains; and introducing more market-oriented policies for communes when planning and carrying out socio-economic development.

It will bring several important social-economic benefits, such as empowering communities, especially poor households and ethnic minorities living in upland areas, by improving their material and spiritual lives.

Ha Van Hoa, Director of the project’s Coordinating Board, said in the first year, the project focused on 15 communes with over 13,000 households taking part.

It has instructed people in models of bio-gas production, how to plant and maintain forests as well as in the modern techniques used in farming and aquaculture.

The project is on target to disburse nearly VND146 billion this year.

Paint shop blaze burns three homes

A paint shop was destroyed in a fire yesterday morning, June 13, in central Da Nang City's Hai Chau District.
A short circuit is believed to be the cause of the blaze. The shop's two owners tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze.

About 100 fire-fighters put out the blaze after one hour.

Spain funds for domestic violence prevention project

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) is providing 385,951 EUR for an information campaign to raise public awareness of the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence.

This will help the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to reach its target of reducing the number of households that report incidents of domestic violence by 10 -15 percent each year.

The Ministry also announced that it is in the process of drawing up a national action program to targeting domestic violence in 2012 - 2015, with a view to 2020.

Subsequently, it will support the Joint Communication Campaign for Prevention of Domestic Violence (JCC) and distribute information on the issue and family building through the mass media.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre