Overseas Vietnamese aid disabled at home

The Canadian Global Association for People with Disabilities on February 18 presented 280 wheelchairs to the disabled in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces of Vinh Long, Soc Trang and Hau Giang and Can Tho City.

The wheelchairs, sponsored by overseas Vietnamese in Canada, are expected to make the lives of people with disabilities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, especially their access to social services and integration into the community, easier.

Since 2009, the Canadian association has provided wheelchairs and other supporting devices worth over VND415 million (US$19,920) for the disabled in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.

Swiss-funded community project a success

The efficiency of the Swiss-funded project “Promoting Community Management Models” (PCMM) will be rolled out across the Red River Delta province of Nam Dinh from 2012 to 2016, according to the SDC.

This was announced at a meeting between the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC) and Nam Dinh province to review the outcomes of the project’s first phase from 2008-2012 and discuss plans for the second phase.

Director La Thi Thuy of the Nam Dinh Community Friendship Centre (Nadicofric) which managed the project’s first phase said Nam Dinh will receive total funding of US$5.5 million from SDC to replicate the model throughout the province during the second phase.

The PCMM project aims to promote community involvement, especially from poor and disadvantaged people, when drawing up plans and coming to decisions by using models of community-based management and holding training sessions on how to increase management capability at the grass-roots level.

Under the project’s first phase, which ran from July 2008 to June 2011, 386 sub-projects were completed throughout the province, at a cost of over VND8 billion (US$384,000). In addition, 25 wards and communes in Nam Dinh City have completed their socio-economic development plans with input from local residents and relevant agencies.

The city People’s Committee has adopted this process to be applied in every ward and commune in the city by the end of this year.

Apart from Nam Dinh, the PCMM project has benefited the northern province of Hoa Binh, and will also be applied in two districts of the central province of Quang Binh.

Graduate bikes around city to find job

With two cardboards saying “I need a job. I have a finance degree and other certificates etc. Please contact:..” placed on the bicycle’s basket and its saddle, 22-year-old graduate Huynh Ngoc Thanh of Ho Chi Minh University of Finance and Marketing has for days ridden his bicycle across the city, hoping to catch some employer’s attention and a job offer.

Graduating in July 2011, Thanh has applied for many finance jobs but yet to land the one he wants. “I met some job brokers too and paid them VND 100,000 but there was no news after I paid the fee. I did some interviews too but the companies did not call me after that.”

Wiping sweats on his forehead, Thanh said he couldn’t passively wait for job offers to come any more as he had bills to pay.

“I chose this self-marketing way to promote myself and hope some employers will pay attention,” Thanh explained.

Finding no other way to get a job, the finance graduate finally decided to give this bike-riding idea a try after some thought “although it was really embarrassing and hard at first.”

Pondering over what vehicle is best for his purpose, he went for the bicycle as “it is easier to control your speed and more economical. Plus a bicycle will get more attention, and those who are interested can easily read my information and contact numbers.”

Having a file of copied degrees and certificates ready to give out, Thanh said if he were not confident in his ability, he would not have chosen this last resort.

With a retired 70-year-old mother at home, he only wished he could work to support himself and his family.

Nam Dinh enters new project phase

The second phase of the Swiss-funded project Promoting Community Management Models will be implemented in the northern province of Nam Dinh during 2012-16, according to the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC).

The project aims to promote community involvement, especially by the poor and disadvantaged, when drawing up plans and reaching decisions by using community-based management models and holding training sessions on how to increase management capacity at the grass-roots level.

Under the first phase of the project, which ran from July 2008 to June 2011, 386 sub-projects were completed throughout the province, at a cost of about VND8 billion (US$384,000). It has assisted 25 wards and communes in the city of Nam Dinh to complete socio-economic development plans with input from local residents and the relevant agencies.

SDC and the province of Nam Dinh are reviewing the outcomes of the project's first phase and discussing plans for the second phase.

Nam Dinh will receive a total of US$5.5 million from SDC to continue the second phase, said La Thi Thuy, director of the Nam Dinh Community Friendship Centre, which managed the project's first phase.

In addition to Nam Dinh, the project will be rolled out in the northern province of Hoa Binh and in two districts in the central province of Quang Binh.

Lawyer prosecuted on fraud charges

The Ha Noi Police Department has charged former head of the Viet My Law Office Nguyen Viet Ha and an accomplice for fraud and property appropriation.

Ha, 50, together with Ha Noi-based Quang Tan Investment Joint Stock Company director Nguyen Huy Vui, used tricks such as partnership establishment for contract bidding to allegedly steal money from enterprises involved in site clearance and the provision of sand to the Phu Quoc International Airport construction project in southern Kien Giang Province.

Ha was accused of stealing VND6.3 billion (US$302,400) and Vui was charged with appropriating VND5.4 billion ($259,200) in the form of personal loans.

Ha has admitted to have spent VND2.3 billion ($110,400) on the operation of his law office and to cover personal debt.

Traffic officer killed while chasing suspects

Tong Phuoc Ngo, a traffic policeman in Phung Hiep District in the southern province of Hau Giang, was killed as he was chasing 2 suspects, a local source said.

Ngo was among the 18 traffic police officers assigned to patrol No. 927 Street in Phuong Binh Commune on the evening of Feb. 17.

At 8:40 pm that day, Ngo found 2 suspicious men on a motorcycle and ordered them to stop. But they ignored his order, forcing Ngo to chase them.

Shortly afterwards, one of the suspects kicked the head of Ngo’s bike, causing him to lose control and smash his bike into a tree.

Colonel Nguyen Hai Son, director of the provincial public security department, said the 2 suspects had been arrested.

Dong Thap to host agriculture festival

The first safe agricultural produce festival based on growing orchards, farming fish in ponds, and animal husbandry will be held in Dong Thap Province in April.

The festival, to be held in Cao Lanh City, would offer opportunities for businesses, co-operatives, and farmers to promote their products and enter into long-term co-operation and investment agreements, Vo Mai, deputy chairwoman of the Viet Nam Gardening Association, said.

The festival, to have the theme "Agriculture-Farmer-Rural Area," will have six exhibition areas where more than 300 stalls will display safe agricultural products, seedlings, and others.

There will be seminars on safe agricultural produce chains and the use of technology in producing safe products to highlight the importance of safe products and instructing farmers in producing them.

More than 10 provinces have confirmed their participation in the exhibition from April 15 to 20 to be organised by the Viet Nam Gardening Association and Rural Economy newspaper together with Dong Thap Province.

Teachers to receive allowances for seniority

Teachers will be provided with seniority allowance starting from May 1 this year, according to a joint circular of the Ministries of Education and Training, Internal Affairs, Finance and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Under the circular, the beneficiaries of the allowance are teachers who have minimum of five-year experience. The monthly allowance will be equal to 5 per cent of their existing salary, and will increase by 1 percentage point for each additional year.

The seniority allowance for teachers was implemented in 1988, but was abrogated in 1993.

2 killed in Hoa Binh rock slide; highway blocked

A serious mountain slide occurred at a stretch of the National Highway 6 in the northern province of Hoa Binh’s Dong Bang town 8.am on Feb 16, killing 2 residents passing by and blocking traffic, local authorities reported.

The victims are Ha Van Nghi, 24, and his wife Vi Thi Nguyet, 22, residing in Mai Chau District who were riding the motorbike when the landslide occurred.

Nguyen Ngoc Son, deputy director of Road Management Zone II told Tuoi Tre Newspaper that by Thursday’s afternoon, around a 10,000 cubic meters of rocks from the mountain had fallen down onto the highway.

Bui Van Tinh, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the locality has deployed traffic relief methods. The road section is planned to be cleared in late afternoon of February 17.

Ecstasy trafficker arrested in Son La

Police from northern mountainous Son La Province's Moc Chau District arrested a 30-year-old man for illegally trafficking 2,000 ecstasy pills on Thursday.

The trafficker named, Nguyen Quang Dung Quy, from northern Bac Giang Province's Yen The District, admitted to the police that he was hired to transport the drug to an unknown person.

According to the police, this is one of 60 drug-related crimes detected since the beginning of the year. Local police continue investigating the case.

Suspect in gruesome murder in Hanoi arrested

The police in Don Hung District in the northern province of Thai Binh Province have arrested 27-year-old Nguyen Huu Duong, a local resident, for his suspected murder of a gold shop owner in Hanoi to steal her gold necklace.

Tran Xuan Tuyet, director of the Thai Binh Public Security Department, has confirmed this information.

Tuyet said the provincial police would soon hand over the case to the Hanoi Public Security Department.

According to investigators, at 4:42 pm on February 16, Duong went into Vung Bac Gold & Silver Shop owned by 55-year-old Nguyen Thi Bac and asked to buy some gold.

While Bac was turning around to weigh the gold, Duong asked to show him the restroom.

When she took him through the living room toward the restroom, Duong suddenly strangled her, covered her mouth and placed a knife near her throat.

Bac struggled violently, so Duong forced her to the ground and stabbed her many times on the neck, chest, and back.

Afterwards, he tried to open the glass counter with Bac’s key to steal the gold and jewelries but failed.

He tried to break the counter with his elbow but didn’t succeed either. Duong then snatched the gold necklace worth VND2.8 million ($140) from Bac’s body and fled away on a motorbike.

He left a glove at the crime scene. Bac later died from loss of blood.

Germany seeking builders for HCMC consulate seat

The German government is looking for a qualified investor for a project to build a “German House” (Deutsches Haus) in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, the German Embassy in Hanoi said Friday in a news release.

The investor will be contracted to build and manage a multiplex on a 3,500 square-meter land plot at 3-5 Le Van Huu Street, which is intended to accommodate the Consulate General of Germany in the city, German businesses, economic agencies, and cultural and scientific organizations.

The Vietnamese and German governments earlier agreed to this project during German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Vietnam in October last year.

The move is to strengthen the two countries’ bilateral cooperation in politics, diplomacy, economic field, and culture.

The final result of the search will be announced at http://www.ted.europa.eu, the website of Tenders Electronic Daily, the online version of the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union.

The Vietnamese government allocated the land site to the German government in November last year.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre