Ha Noi Coach Co to put on more buses

The Ha Noi Coach Management Company plans to add more than 1,200 coach trips for the upcoming Hung King holiday which falls on March 31, National Liberation Day (April 30) and May Day.

The move will help meet increasing demand over short routes. Most trips will take place between Ha Noi, northern and central provinces and start from stations such as Giap Bat, My Dinh and Gia Lam.

Vietnamese bank builds gift school in Laos

The groundbreaking ceremony. (Source: VNA)

Woman looks for job, loses bike in scam

Nguyen Thi Nhiem (22), from Long An province, was looking for a job when she fell in to a scam which took away her motorbike, mobile phones, ATM card and VND1 million (US$50) in cash last Friday in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Nhiem’s report to Tuoi Tre, she posted a classified looking for job in a newspaper last Friday. Soon later, she got a call from a man called Thanh, who claimed to work at an electronics company and told her to bring documents to a rendezvous point on Cong Quynh street in District 1.
After having some coffee, Thanh offered to give Nhiem a ride on her bike to his company’s headquarters in District 5’s Windsor Plaza for an interview.
He then asked her to put all her properties into the bike’s trunk, including documents, a driving license, two mobile phones and an ATM card. Thanh explained to Nhiem that the company is big and would not allow strangers to bring anything inside.
Nhiem waited for Thanh to go park her bike but he never came back. When she tried to call him, he beat around the bush and told her to continue to wait. However, he later admitted to stealing Nhiem’s bike and would only return it if she could send VND3 million (US$150) to her account and read him the PIN number.
Nhiem deposit VND1 million to her account and told him the PIN number but has not heard from him ever since.
On Sunday police in ward 9, district 5 said they have filed a document on the scam and are waiting for Windsor Plaza to provide a video recorded from their surveillance camera to proceed with the case.

Schoolgirls in Phu Yen mysteriously faint

Many girls have lost consciousness during class at the Dinh Tien Hoang School in south central Phu Yen Province's Tay Hoa District during the past week, according to local authorities.

Headmaster Duong Van Trinh confirmed that a large number of female students had fainted after showing symptoms of nausea, exhaustion and convulsion.

According to tests, the students suffer from low serum calcium levels and psychological complications.

Truck falls into chasm killing two students

A truck fell into a 60-metre-deep chasm yesterday, killing two female high-school students and severely injuring another student and the driver in the border district of Sin Ho innorthern Lai Chau Province.

The three girls, including two siblings, were hitchhikers on the truck running from Lai Chau's Phong Tho District to Sin Ho District. One of them was on the way to school to register herself for the coming entrance exam.

Investigations are underway to find out the cause of the accident.

Two fishermen die, another still missing

Border forces and fishermen in central Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces yesterday recovered two bodies from a recent shipwreck off Lao Cau Island in Tuy Phong District.

Survivors reported that there were nine people on board at the time of the incident on Sunday, six of which swam ashore.

One person remains missing.

Care International helps flood victims in An Giang province

Care International in Vietnam has made many practical contributions to assisting 5,000 households affected by floods in An Giang, the provincial committee for flood and storm prevention and rescue efforts said.

A project undertaken by the organization from October 2011 to March 2012 provided flood victims in An Giang with US$308,000 in emergency aid.

It helped local people in An Phu, Chau Phu, and Tinh Bien districts restore their livelihood and repair their lavatories.

The project supplied a total of 217 tonnes of rice, 220 boats, 2,600 life jackets and lifebuoys, and over 4,900 water tanks.

Through Care International in Vietnam, another Australian non-governmental organization is carrying out a community-based natural disaster management project for four other communes of An Giang from January to June 2012 at a cost of US$36,000.

$50,000 road used to dry yam

The N5 Road in Ngoc Hoi district, in the central highlands province of Kon Tum, which was built using capital worth VND1,000 million (US$48,000), has been finished for two years and is used for purposes other than transportation.
Connecting the Ho Chi Minh Road (National Road 14) and the international border at Bo Y, the road is considered the most beautiful in the central highlands. There are 6-8 lanes with clear separators, sign boards, parterres and trees by the road.
As there are rarely any pedestrians or drivers passing by, local residents use this expensive road to spread yams for drying, park cars, and practice driving instead.

Vietnam’s acupuncture highly valued in Mexico

Vietnam’s acupuncture treatment method has been highly valued at a rehabilitation centre for disabled children in Mexico’s Zacatecas state.

Norma Angélica Delgadillo Guerrero, President of APAC (an association in support of child patients with brain disorder), said that acupuncture treatment by Vietnamese doctors have proved highly effective.

She said the federal authorities, the Vietnamese Embassy and the Independent University of Zacatecas would arrange for more Vietnamese acupuncturists to come to Mexico and help turn acupuncture into an official healthcare service.

Two years ago, during his working trip to Mexico, Professor Nguyen Tai Thu, who is General Director of the Vietnam Centre for Acupuncture Training and Application, proposed applying the acupuncture method at rehabilitation centres in Zacatecas state.

OVs support people, soldiers in Truong Sa

The Association of overseas Vietnamese from Hai Duong Province living in Moscow contributed 1,000 USD in support of people and soldiers in the Truong Sa (Spratly) island district during its debut ceremony on March 24.
Nguyen Cong Nhiem, President of the association’s Executive Board said the association gathers over 300 people born in Vietnam’s northern province of Hai Duong who are living and working in Moscow.
In response to a campaign to build the “Fund for Beloved Truong Sa” launched by the State Committee for Overseas, the Vietnamese community in Russia has mobilised over 21,500 USD.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Canada has also called on the Vietnamese community in the country to support people and soldiers in the Truong Sa island district.

Anti-gov’t agitator jailed for 11 years

The People’s Court of the Central Highland province of Gia Lai on March 26 sentenced Nguyen Cong Chinh to 11 years in prison for sabotaging the great national unity policy.

According to the court, Chinh, arrested last year, had relations with some reactionary organisations and violated the law from 2004 to 2011, disregarding warnings and fines from the local government.

“Chinh did not realise what he had been doing was wrong but kept following an illegal path, which badly affected the local security and stirred discontent in the public,” said the court.

He compiled and sent out a number of documents to anti-government organisations inside and outside the country.

“He distorted the domestic situation, calumniating the government, State and army in interviews with the foreign media,” said the court.

“When some members of the reactionary organisation FULRO (The United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races) were arrested and sentenced according to the law, Chinh claimed that they were falsely accused and imprisoned for purely religious activities.”

He was also reported to have made an urgent notice to the US Consular, alleging that Buddhism follower Thach Thanh No was killed while practising his religion. However, local authorities found that No, a Khmer man from the southern province of Tra Vinh, fell off his motorbike under the influence of alcohol and died in April 2009.

Of all 22 documents seized at Chinh’s house, 19 showed divisive propaganda between local authorities, the armed forces and the public, driving a wedge between Vietnam and other countries aimed at opposing the Vietnamese State.

Hanoi plans socio-economic future

Hanoi’s socio-economic development strategy through 2030 targets the development of a knowledge-based economy, with priority given to industries which apply advanced technology and generate high added value.

Under the strategy recently approved by the Prime Minister, Hanoi will be a metropolitan with a population of about 9.2 million by 2030 and annual GDP growth of about 10 percent.

GDP-per-capita is set to increase ten-fold to about US$17,000 per year.

The services sector will grow at between 9.5 percent and 10.5 percent and employ up to 60 percent of the city’s workforce by 2030.

The proportion of workers in manufacturing and construction will reach 35 percent, while the percentage of agricultural workers will fall to only 5 percent. The resulting service-based and industrialized economy will maintain an unemployment rate of below 4 percent.

Whether the goals could be achieved depend on many factors, said the head of the Hanoi Institute for Socio-Economic Development’s Economic Research Division, Nguyen Minh Phong.

One of the most important factors is whether the city will successfully develop a co-ordinated transport infrastructure aimed at easing current traffic congestion and promoting economic development, Phong said.

The city also needs to focus on promoting the application of advanced science and technology in production to increase the quality and competitiveness of its industries while protecting the environment, he said.

High-quality services such as banking, insurance, telecommunications, public transportation and tourism will also play key roles in the city’s economy, he added.

The city is expected to mobilize US$190 billion in investment capital in the next decade, and another US$320 billion during 2020-2030, to reach these goals.

Vietnam cements Francophone community ties

Vietnam is determined to further deepen its relations with the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF), as well as the latter’s members, though teaching French, affirmed Ambassador Duong Van Quang.

Ambassador Quang, who is head of the Vietnamese delegation to UNESCO, made the statement when talking with the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Paris following the screen of two Vietnamese films at the Francophone film festival in Paris from March 22-25.

Two Vietnamese films, including “Sinh Menh” (The Destiny in English or Le Destin in French) by director Dao Duy Phuc and screenwriter Nguyen Manh Tuan, and “Chuyen cua Pao” (The Story of Pao in English or L’Histoire de Pao in French) by director and screenwriter Ngo Quang Hai, had French subtitles.

The Vietnamese diplomat highlighted Vietnam’s initiative to organise the Francophone film festival in France in 2011, saying this was one of the activities in response to International Day of Francophonie (March 20).

Apart from politics, cultural and language cooperation is considered the “spine” of the organisation and besides English, French is also an important language in the international arena, Quang said.

He went on to say that Vietnam has also beefed up cooperation with OIF members such as tripartite cooperation in agriculture with African countries, with encouraging results.

Vietnam has coordinated with OIF to diversify its relations and the organisation has in return worked closely with Vietnam, which has an important role in international forums, including OIF, and in the Asia Paficic, the diplomat said.

Within the framework of the International Day of Francophonie, two Vietnamese students, Hoang Hai Anh and Tran Ngoc Anh, won prizes at the French language contest, “Golden words”. The annual contest was held by the International Francophone Press Union in association with the Ministry of Culture and Communications and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.

Initial assessment confirms sub-standard gasoline

The octane index of gasoline sampled from Doi Nen gas station in the northern province of Bac Giang is much lower than required, according to the initial assessment results released late yesterday, March 26.

Other performance indices of the gasoline should be released soon, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology's Quality Assurance and Testing Centre 1.

The result confirmed the suspicions of hundreds of customers who protested in front of the gas station last Saturday, claiming they had been sold sub-standard gasoline.

Engines running on low octane fuels are subject to risks of damage.

Work starts for the Viet Nam-Korea Technology College in Bac Giang

The ground-breaking ceremony for construction of the Korea-Viet Nam Technology College was held today, March 27, by the Korean International Co-operation Agency (KOICA) in Bac Giang Province.

The 9,100sq.m college will be built thanks to a US$10 million grant from the Korean Government through 2014. KOICA will also equip the facilities and help train teachers for the college.

"The Korea-Viet Nam College of Technology will train more than 800 students annually. It will create jobs and contribute to the province's socio-economic development," said KOICA Vice President Lee Jong Seon at the ceremony.

"Through this project, the Republic of Korea would like to share experiences of our country in technical training and contribute to strengthening the Vietnamese-Korean partnership," added Seon.

KOICA has already completed four vocational training projects in Ha Noi, Quy Nhon, Da Nang cities and Nghe An province over the past 20 years.