JICA helps Da Nang improve infrastructure

The Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) Viet Nam will help Da Nang improve the city's Lien Chieu water supply plant and Tien Sa port's second phase with funds totaling US$86 million from the Asia Development Bank.

As scheduled, groups of Japanese investors will come to study the feasibility of these Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects next year.

JICA will also provide funding to relocate the city's railway station and rebuild Lien Chieu Port in the next few years.

Tien Sa port only allows access to 30,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) ships, while 50,000 DWT container ships can dock at Lien Chieu.

Computer science experts gather for conference

A three-day international conference on advances in computational mechanics opened yesterday, Aug 14, at HCM City's Ton Duc Thang University.

Computational mechanics refers to a combination of mechanics, mathematics, and computer sciences, and is applied in all areas of engineering and sciences that follow the rules of mechanics.

"In recognition of its broad influence, the conference is convened to bring together scientists, researchers, engineers, and practitioners to exchange knowledge and expertise in the development and innovative application of computational mechanics," chairman of the conference, Professor Dr Nguyen Thien Tong said in his opening speech.

He also hoped it would spark off co-operation in training and research between Viet Nam and other countries.

There will be 78 presentations on computational methods; solutions for mechanical problems on the computer in the area of damage mechanics; structure mechanics; mechanics of material; mechanics of study solids and structures; fluid mechanics; hydrodynamics; work dynamics, mathematical models in engineering; stability analysis of structure, and structural optimisation.

The conference organising committee expressed thanks to Prof Nguyen Dang Hung of Liege University, Belgium, who has been working for 11 years on an international graduation programme for Viet Nam.

Under his supervision, more than 350 students have obtained master's degrees, 55 have earned PhDs, while 17 others are currently Ph.D candidates in various countries.

"The programme has made a practical contribution to the development of high quality human resources for Viet Nam," Tong said.

Viet Nam wins Bronze Prize at Expo 2012

Viet Nam's display space at the Expo 2012 in Yeosu in South Korea won the Bronze Prize thanks to its unique decorations.

Covering a 300sq.m area, the space highlighted "Viet Nam – Sea, Islands and People", a theme that also highlighted the nation's great potential in exploitation of natural resources.

The display also spotlighted rice – one of Viet Nam's key crops and biggest export earners.

Various sophisticated handicraft products also were on display at the event.

Thousands of people visited the Viet Nam exhibition everyday, where they enjoyed traditional folk music performances featuring unique musical instruments such as the monochord, dan nguyet (two-chord guitar) and dan da (lithophone made of stones).

A total of 104 nations and territories and 10 international organisations from all over the world joined the Expo Yeosu 2012, which had the theme of The Living Ocean and Coast. The three-month event attracted over 8 million visitors.

Bird flu recurs in some localities

A number of cities and provinces across the country have declared an outbreak of avian flu, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of poultry.

The disease has spread over 11 hamlets in two communes of the central province of Ha Tinh, where it had been prevalent in the past but was not completely eradicated.

According to the provincial Animal Health Department, the rapid spread of the epidemic is due primarily to local people's lack of awareness about preventing the disease, as well as their outdated breeding methods.

Bird flu has also been discovered in other provinces, including Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Ha Nam, Bac Kan and Hai Phong.

The progress of the epidemic has become even more complicated with the emergence of the deadly H5N1 virus  in some areas of Thanh Chau and Thanh Nguyen hamlets in Ha Nam and Yen Thuong commune in Bac Kan.

The localities have boosted drastic measure to fight and control the epidemic, including sterilizing farms and setting up checkpoints on major transportation routes to prevent illegal trafficking of infected poultry.

Public gives health insurance a pass

Only 64 per cent of the population had bought health insurance by the end of last year, despite the government's aim to have full insurance coverage for everyone by 2014.

People pay for services at Hoai An Health Centre in the southern province of Binh Dinh.

The quality of medical care needs to be improved to encourage more people to spend money on insurance.

Many people are declining to purchase insurance because of low-quality healthcare, according to Health Ministry officials.

The number of insured people increased by 1.8 per cent in 2010 compared to 2009, and rose 3.7 per cent in 2011, said Tong Thi Song Huong, head of Health Insurance Department under Ministry of Health.

Speaking at a workshop on the issue held on Monday in HCM City, Huong said the quality of treatment and behavior of health staff to insured people was not good.

In addition, many hospitals are taking advantage of loopholes in the regulations by charging too much for treatment costs.

Thus, patients who have health insurance, who must pay a portion of the bill, are faced with fees that are higher than they should be.

For the poor and other special groups, such as mothers of war martyrs, the Government fully subsidizes health-insurance costs.

Huong said that treatment quality and behaviour of medical staff must be changed to ensure that patients were satisfied with their care.

Nguyen Hong Vy, deputy head of the Health Department in Tien Giang Province, said that more money should be invested in health-care facilities at the commune, ward and district level.

Currently, these facilities lack equipment for check-up and treatment, and some even lack doctors.

At the workshop, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien urged all medical staff, especially nurses and administrative staff, in the country to improve their attitude and behaviour toward the insured.

Many companies in the country, especially in the private sector, do not offer employees health insurance because they lack awareness about government policies.

Moreover, people near the poverty line have to pay 20 per cent of the costs of health insurance.

In addition, many residents believe that health insurance is only valuable for serious illnesses like cancer or for overnight stays in hospitals.

 Thailand trip opens students' eyes

Viet Nam and Thailand share several cultural similarities and both have many places of great beauty as well as historical interest, but the Thai government and people promote them more effectively.

"I think we should learn from them, because Viet Nam has as many beautiful sites as any other country," said Pham Cong Danh, a third-year student of the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities majoring in Thai culture and language.

Danh was one of 20 Vietnamese youth, students and journalists, who went on a sponsored week-long trip by road to Thailand.

The trip, the first of its kind, traversed more than a thousand kilometres through Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand, giving students of the Thai language in Viet Nam an opportunity to see and experience first-hand the country they are learning about.

The Grand Palace in Bangkok, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand, was Danh's favourite site during the trip. He said it was a fantastic embodiment of Buddhist and Hindu cultural traditions with its architecture, frescoes and sculptures.

In Ayutthaya, the ruins of temples and palaces spoke of bygone times of great prosperity and cultural richness of bygone days, he said.

The Vietnamese group was able to learn about the Thai dynasty that ruled Thailand from tour guide Prawit Chankasem who told his stories with a touch of engaging humour.

Panpimon Suwannapongse, consul general of Thailand in HCM City, whose office organised the tour, said it was a "very interesting route" for Vietnamese youth to take to Thailand.

Students of Thai culture and language should make similar trips to understand well the area they are studying, she said, adding that the programme will be expanded in the coming years to include more students.

Danh said he saw several cultural similarities between Viet Nam and Thailand. These were "easily found" in Buddhism and agricultural festivals, he said.

Truong Hoai Thien, 19, a first-year student at the same college as Danh, said that on his first ever trip to Thailand, he was able to gather valuable information about Thai culture, a subject he is currently studying.

Thien said he greatly admired the architecture of the temples, pagodas and palaces built by the Thai people. There was sophistication and ingenuity at every historical site, he said.

His favourite site was Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand, about 70km to the north of Bangkok.

The first trip under the newly launched Getting to Know Thailand programme succeeded in creating several opportunities for Vietnamese youth and local media to learn about the neighbouring kingdom's diverse culture and history.

Before arriving in Thailand to see Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Pattaya, the participants visited Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Thien said the trip had convinced him that there was much more to see and learn in Cambodia and Thailand.

"I will be back there again soon, for sure."

Register officers examine 1,000 boats each per year

In provinces with large numbers of fishing boats, like Binh Thuan or Khanh Hoa, a boat registration officer has to examine as many as 1,000 vessels per year, which is an extreme amount of work overloading, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported.

There are now only 268 registration officers nationwide, and an officer has to be responsible for examining 320 boats per year on average, the ministry said, adding that there has yet to be a norm set up to regulate how many registration officers are needed for a given number of fishing boats.

With such a thin workforce, most register officers perform their duties more administratively than professionally as required, said Dao Hong Duc, deputy head of the Fisheries Resource Protection under the Directorate of Fisheries.

Most officers can only check boats to determine whether they are generally safe enough to go to sea, but they cannot gather insight and detailed analysis for each component of a ship to form a basis for classification of fishing boats.

“In order to tackle the problem, the Directorate is preparing a plan to re-organize the shipping registration system. A norm of quantity of registration officers will be set forth, and training and re-training for them will be held to improve their professional qualifications,” Duc said.

Disadvantaged kids benefit from subsidy

Around 8,000 disadvantaged students from 66 junior and higher schools in 12 provinces have benefited from a US$3 million tuition subsidy programme in the 2010-13 period.

The Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) Education programme aimed to encourage students in Thai Binh, Bac Kan, Bac Giang, Phu Tho, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen to reach 12th grade graduation in three years.

The World Bank-funded programme is expected to develop an educated and skilled work force for Viet Nam.

Border guards nab heroin trafficker

Dien Bien Province Border Guard and the provincial police held Sung A Sung, 24, in custody on Monday for transporting four cakes of heroin (equal to 1.4 kg).

Sung, from Dien Bien's Phi Nhu Commune, said that he was transporting drugs by motorbike to the neighbouring province of Lao Cai for consumption when detained.

According to the police, Sung played an important role in the drug trafficking ring which they had been following for over a month.

Sci-tech university helps train Laos officials

The University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) will grant 15 scholarships to students from Laos to follow master’s degrees at its university.

These students will major in bio-technology, pharmacy, water and environmental sciences, oceanography and space technology and applications.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed in Hanoi on August 14 between representatives of the USTH and the Laos Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES).

The MoU will help promote cooperative ties between the USTH and MoES in science and high technology training and research. It is also part of Vietnam’s assistance for Laos to improve the qualifications of Lao officials.

The scholarships will begin in the 2012-2013 academic year and will last until 2016.    

Rapist claims to be relative of notorious killer

A 16-year-old boy who is being detained for raping and killing a schoolgirl proclaims himself a relative of notorious cold-blooded killer Le Van Luyen. It is not sure if he is actually Luyen’s relative or the claim is just a stunt to get media attention.

In August last year, Luyen became notorious for cruelly murdering three family members to rob jewelries in Bac Giang northern province.

Now, teen boy Le Tuan Anh wants to be associated with him.

At about 6:30pm on August 12, a floating female body was found on the bank of Tinh River that runs through Quang Chau commune in the central province of Thanh Hoa.

The naked victim was identified as Le Thi Bich Ngoc, a 12th grader (17 years old) at a local high-school.

Following a tip-off from local residents, police arrested Le Tuan Anh about 10 kilometers away from the murder scene on August 13 afternoon.

Upon being taken to the detention center of Thanh Hoa’s police department at 2:00pm on Monday, the small-built suspect looked emotionless and even did not tremble while being questioned by dozens of policemen.

He told the police that when he was wandering in Chau Kieu hamlet on August 11, he met Ngoc and tried to get acquainted with her. After talking for a while, Anh forced her to the ground on a riverbank and started to rape her.

Afterwards, he killed her and threw the body into the river, with the aim of destroying the traces of his crime.

When asked about his motive for the murder, Anh replied simply that he is a relative of 18-year-old Le Van Luyen. [The two share the same surname “Le”].

“As I’m a relative of Luyen, I have to do something like him", Anh told the police.

As Le Van Luyen was under 18 years old when he committed the horrible murders, he has received 18 years in prison.

The Luyen effect

Two months after Luyen’s arrest, a group of Vietnamese netizens started to turn the teenage killer into a sort of celebrity in various forms of parodies.

A music video called “Nang Luyen lo buoc” (Ms. Luyen took a wrong step), after the song “Nang Kieu lo buoc”, attached Luyen’s face on Korean and Chinese movie posters, music bands, and pictures taken from popular online games and comics.

The joke has gone further as some young people inserted Luyen’s crime into some famous poems and rewrote the verses to fit the story.

On one online forum, a special section was even created for those who like this murderer to share their interest in him. A Facebook page was founded to dedicate to Luyen, hosting a collection of parodies about him.

Project helps reduce domestic violence in Hanoi

The Vietnam Farmers Association (VFA) and Vietnam’s Female Parliamentarians Group (VFPG) approved a project to help reduce domestic violence in Hanoi on August 14.

The project focuses on approaching high-quality and essential services and seeking social sponsors particularly in Hanoi, Hai Duong, Ben Tre and Quang Binh provinces.

It also aims to enhance the officers’ capacity and launch movements to prevent domestic violence, reduce gender inequality and take care of and promote the eldly people’s role.

VFA Chairman Leu Vu Dieu said that its programmes on population, and birth control, reproductive health, gender equality and preventing family violence have contributed greatly to economic development and poverty alleviation in Vietnam.

The VFA and VFPG will also assist those provinces to carry out the project successfully and expand this model throughout the country.

Conference on computational mechanics gets underway

Hundreds of leading researchers from 15 countries are gathering at the 2012 International Conference on Advances in Computational Mechanics (ACOME), which runs from August 14-16 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The conference, hosted by Ton Duc Thang University, aims to highlight the latest findings, both theory and application, in the field of mechanics.

In particular, the event is attended by four world top mechanics scientists, including Professor Bui Huy Duong from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France, Honourary Professor Giulio Maier from Polytechnique University of Milano, Italy, Professor Gui Rong Liu from the University of Cincinnati, the US and Professor Wing Kam Liu from US’ Northwestern University.

Participants at the conference will hear 78 reports covering issues related to the theories and application of computing methods in solving mechanical problems of computational damage mechanics, fluid dynamics, mechanics of materials and construction mechanics. Of these, 25 reports will be selected to be published in international magazines.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre