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Catholics promote patriotism, national unity
Catholics nationwide continue upholding the tradition of national unity and promoting patriotic movements in 2012 and the following years.
The statement was made at the third plenum of the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics (tenure 5) held in Ho Chi Minh City on February 16.
The session reviewed outcomes of implementing the fifth Catholics congress for the 2008-2013 term over the past three years and passed an orientation and tasks for the following years.
Patriotic movements among the Catholics have obtained significant achievements in economics, poverty reduction, charitable activities and the fight against social evils, contributing to the national socio-economic development.
The committee and its chapters have launched many practical movements, specifying working programmes suitable for each locality.
The committee will also make preparations for the organisation of the sixth Catholic congress, scheduled for 2013.
Inspections to meet EU food safety standards
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The ministry wants its Plant Protection Department to boost its dissemination work and issue guidelines to localities and exporters to ensure their products quality for export to the EU.
The department will co-ordinate with the country's International Cooperation Department and the EU's authorised agency to solve any problems that arise concerning exports to the EU.
The examination has been tightened after several batches of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables were recently reported to have contained a micro-organism that violated the EU's regulations on food safety and plant quarantine.
Chairmen of people's committees and relevant sectors in 63 cities and provinces have been instructed to zone and develop fruit and vegetable growing areas in line with the Global Agricultural Organisation, a non-profit body which provides support to the agricultural community on an international level.
Customs clearance will be issued when the exporters are able to show plant quarantine certificates for their products, said Minister Phat.
Mercedes burnt on Chuong Duong Bridge
The rear of a Mercedes with licence plate 30V-8088 suddenly caught fire at 8.50am on February 16 as the car was crossing Chuong Duong Bridge in Hanoi.
However, thanks to timely detection, the fire was extinguished and the lucky driver escaped from the burning car.
The incident caused serious traffic congestion along the bridge, and 5 to 6 traffic policemen were called in to direct traffic.
At 9.30am, the Mercedes was towed away for investigation.
Earlier, on December 13, 2011, a Hanoi-registered Attila motorcycle also burst into flames on Chuong Duong Bridge.
Malaysia legalizes 1,400 undocumented Vietnamese workers
The Malaysian authorities have legalized 1,416 of more than 13,000 Vietnamese workers who have been working there illegally, the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia reported.
Accordingly, the legalized workers are eligible to stay in Malaysia for work, the embassy said.
In addition, about 3,000 others have been put on the waiting list for legalization.
The legalization was made as part of the Malaysian Government’s 6P program to deal with the illegal immigration of foreigners to the country.
The program involved registration, legalization, amnesty, monitoring, enforcement and repatriation of illegal immigrants.
Previously, the term of legalization was set to begin on October 10, 2011 and end on February 15, 2012, but the authorities have recently extended the term until April 10, 2012.
After the term is over, illegal foreign workers who remain staying and working in Malaysia will be penalized and expelled.
On February 8, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and his Malaysian counterpart Anifah Aman held talks in Kuala Lumpur as part of the Vietnamese FM’s two-day visit to Malaysia.
During the talk, Foreign Minister Aman said the Malaysian government is implementing a program for the management of foreign workers, and encourages Vietnamese workers to participate in this program to have legal working conditions and more effective working results.
HCMC toughens up on male prostitution
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs suggested the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government send homosexual prostitutes to treatment facilities during a meeting on fighting social ills last Wednesday.
At the meeting, Nguyen Ngoc Thach, head of the department's Social Ills Prevention Division said since 2011 the city has conducted 11,107 checks at recreational facilities and busted 7,252 prostitution-related cases. The agency has issued fines totaling VND15 billion (US$ 720,000).
In recent years, there is a growing trend of homosexual prostitutes, especially male sex workers in disguised places like spas, massage parlors or gyms.
The situation even involves college students and foreigners. Many cases occur in public places like on the streets or in the parks.
The department demanded that homosexual prostitutes who are caught for the second time be sent to treatment facilities for reeducation.
It also suggested adapting ordinances and guidelines against prostitution to the current situation. It is crucial to impose heavier punishment on prostitutes and brothels.
According to statistics released at the conference about HIV prevention and community reintegration held by Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Social Ills Prevention (DSEP) last April, males having sex with males (MSM) have the second highest rate of HIV infection after drug users.
Japan to help Vietnam develop e-customs
Japan will further help Vietnam build its e-customs services under a project to deploy the Vietnam Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System and Vietnam Customs Information System (VNACCS/VCIS).
The commitment was made by Japanese General Director of Customs Atsuo Shibota at a recent working session with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Ngoc Tuc.
Japan will also help Vietnam master the system by transferring technology and training personnel, said Shibota.
Later, at a plenary meeting on the project, Vietnam’s customs leader Tuc called for more assistance from Japan and asked members of the working teams in Vietnam to cooperate closely with their Japanese counterparts to ensure the success of the project.
Tuc promised to mobilize all resources available for the successful implementation of the project, which will affirm the preeminence of e-customs in such a developing country as Vietnam.
Shibota added that Japan will send more experts to help Vietnam in the designing stage of the project.
** At a working session with Vietnamese Finance Minister Vuong Dinh Hue on February 14, Shibota said Japan will provide Vietnam with US$34 million in non-refundable aid to help Vietnam build its e-customs system, which is based on Japan ’s Nippon Automated Customs Clearance (NACCS).
Minister Hue said the project will help Vietnam develop e-customs and implement a one-stop customs system that links Vietnam with other ASEAN countries.
It will also help promote bilateral trade between Vietnam and Japan and create better conditions for foreign investors, he said.
Italy provides funds for water project
A project entitled Integrated and Sustainable Water Management of the Hong (Red)-Thai Binh river system in a Changing Climate will be implemented over three years with funding of 1.7 million euro (more than US$2.2 million).
The project is being funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Technical University of Milan and the Institute of Water Resources Planning under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
It is aimed at addressing issues regarding water allocation and distribution among various public and private sectors, contributing to meeting Viet Nam's long-terms needs for water resources, maintaining essential ecological services and improving the economic benefits of hydropower production and agriculture.
The project is the follow-up to an existing collaboration between the Technical University of Milan and the Institute of Water Resources Planning that dates back to 2007.
According to the institute, the Red River basin originates in China and flows into the East Sea covering an area of 169,000 square kilometres, of which Viet Nam occupies more than 51 per cent.
The area includes land in Ha Noi and 25 other provinces in the North with a population of 26 million people and total agricultural area of nearly 1.1 million hectares.
According to Rodolfo Soncini-Sessa of the Technical University of Milan, the development of an integrated planning and management model of the river system and the design of a set of regulations and policies for the system as well as training for staff at the Institute of Water Resources Planning were among the project's goals.
Students demand bonus payment from company
More than 60 young people, most of them students, demanded that a HCMC-based company pay them bonus for their participation in the “Cultural Exchange in the US” program organized by the company.
The young people gathered in front of Orient Star Travel One-member Co Ltd, at 60 Nguyen Van Thu Street, District 1, HCMC yesterday morning, asking the company to pay them US$300 each for their participation in the program last year.
The students said the amount is the bonus that has been specified in the agreement between them and the company before they took part in the program.
According to the agreement, the company would pay the bonus to the students after their return to Vietnam when the program ended.
Under the program, the company last year sent about 100 final-year students in the city to the US to work for 2 to 6 months, at a charge of US$1,435, not including airfare and accommodation expenses.
After the program was completed, the company has deferred its bonus payment many times before it said it would pay the students on February 15, 2012 at the Liberty Hotel in District 1, HCMC. However, the promise was not honored that day.
The students also requested the company to repay them US$200 as the deposit for their accommodation costs in the US that they had paid the company before leaving Vietnam.
The students said they themselves fully paid for their accommodation in the US during their stay under the program.
The company refused to give any comments about the incident.
Fifty miners hospitalised following gas leak
About 50 miners were hospitalised last night after a gas leak at the Cam Thanh Coal Mine run by the Ha Long Coal One Member Limited Company.
No casualties at the mine in Quang Ninh Province were reported. All miners working at the mine during the gas leak were taken to hospital for health checks, according to Ha Long Coal company director Vu Van Dien.
Dien said all mining teams were evacuated after several miners complained of breathing difficulties and nausea. These miners were sent to emergency units at the Cam Pha District General Hospital and the Coc 7 Coal Hospital.
It is suspected the miners suffered from Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning following a gas leak in the mine, according to Dien.
Red Bull tested, deemed safe for consumtion
Red Bull energy drinks sold in Viet Nam did not contain any harmful or prohibited additives, announced the Viet Nam Food Administration on Wednesday.
The National Institute of Food Hygiene and Safety Inspection and the HCM City Institute of Hygiene and Public Health tested random samples of Red Bull drinks after learning the beverage had recently been recalled in China for containing a harmful additive.
The test report showed that the drink in Viet Nam was safe for consumers but more tests would be conducted to confirm the findings.
Landslide kills three in northern province
Three people were buried when a landslide occurred yesterday morning in northern Hoa Binh Province's Mai Chau District.
Police have found two of the bodies who were identified as husband and wife. They appeared to have been driving a motorbike through the site at the time of the incident.
Efforts have been made to clear a 500-metre stretch of National Highway 6 to ease traffic.
VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre
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