Outstanding students honoured

A ceremony was held in Hanoi on August 25 to honour 107 outstanding students who achieved the best results on the city's university and academy graduation exams.

The event, which took place at the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university, aimed to encourage students to enrich their knowledge and make further contributions to society.

Over the past 10 years, Hanoi has honoured 1,080 of the most outstanding students who recorded the best results on the university graduation exams.

Pagoda fire caused by fallen candles

A fire yesterday, Aug 26, destroyed most of furniture in the sanctum of the Bung Coc Pagoda in the southern province of Soc Trang's My Tu District.

Hundreds of people helped put out the fire in two hours.

Secretary of Phu My Commune Tran Van Quang said the fire was caused by candles. The sanctum has 24 big candles, each of which weighs 9-10kg. Two were alight and fell down into other candles which caused the fire.

On August 13, fire destroyed furniture in the sanctum of the Tac Gong Pagoda in My Xuyen District, the most ancient pagoda in the province. The fire also was caused by candles.

Women key to food hygiene control

Improving awareness of food hygiene and safety, especially among women, is key to reducing the incidence of food poisoning, Tran Thanh Binh, deputy chairwoman of the Viet Nam Women's Union, has said.

Speaking at a workshop organised by the union and the Viet Nam Food Administration in HCM City yesterday, Aug 26, Binh explained that women account for 50 per cent of the population and have a predominant role in making food and caring for the family.

"If they are provided the right information and scientific knowledge about choosing and processing food, they would be good to educate the public about food safety and hygiene," she said.

The workshop aims to encourage women to say no to unsafe food and additives.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, the administration's deputy head, warned that using additives not permitted by the Ministry of Health and overusing even approved ones could cause food poisoning.

For example, one gramme of borax, used illegally to keep certain foods fresh, could cause diarrhoea and vomiting, while 15gramme of it could cause death, he said.

All over the world additives are widely used. The Codex Committee on Food Additives, an international body that regulates the use of additives, allows the use of 700 kinds of additives and more than 2,000 kinds of condiments in food.

Viet Nam allows 337 additives and condiments.

Only 5-10 per cent of additives consumed in the country was manufactured domestically, Phong said, with the rest imported.

"Large volumes of additives are smuggled into the country, and monitoring it is a difficult task," he said.

He urged people selling additives in the market not to sell them without certificates of origin and safety.

They should ask imported companies to show these certificates, he said. And they should learn knowledge about the safe use of additives to guide buyers, he added.

Many delegates called on authorities to slap stiff penalties on violators.

But Phong said penalties can only be imposed on sellers and it would not prevent people from buying unsafe additives.

At the workshop, the management of Kim Bien Market in the city's District 5 and local shopkeepers signed a pledge to only sell permitted additives and those with clear origins.

New IDs to go ahead despite criticism

Ha Noi will still pilot new identity cards that include the holder's parental names in three districts next month, including Hoang Mai, Tay Ho and Tu Liem, despite criticism.

The Ministry of Public Security last week decided to postpone issuing new identity cards following public concerns over citizens' privacy.

The replacement of identity cards in the capital city alone is expected to cost US$38 million.

Typhoon Tembin to miss Viet Nam

Typhoon Tembin is not going to hit Viet Nam, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecast yesterday, Aug 26.

It is forecast that by 10am tomorrow the centre of the typhoon will reach the southeast of Taiwan with wind speeds of 103-133kph.

Due to the typhoon, the northeast part of the East Sea will be rough with strong winds of about 117-133kph.

Meanwhile, typhoon Bolaven was about 1,400km off typhoon Tembin in a southeastern direction. It is forecast that Bolaven will hit Tembin in the northeast area of the East Sea and weaken Tembin in the next two or three days.

Youth blood donation festival launched in Hanoi

More than 6,000 Youth Union members joined the Youth Blood Donation Festival 2012, which was held in Hanoi on August 26 by the Hanoi Blood Donation Youth Association and the Central Institute for Hematology and Blood Transfusion.

The highlight of the festival includes a number of activities such as setting a record of 5,000 young volunteers dancing together in a "flash mob” and the Vietnamese Youth camping programme in the northern, central, southern and island regions.

Participants will show off their talents in quiz programmes on the cultures and customs of people from different regions across the country.

 Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, a student from Hanoi Medical University, said “The festival is great and I am very glad to see young people so enthusiastic about donating blood, which is very helpful for the community.”

This is the third time the festival has been held to encourage the young generation's pride in being Vietnamese and their responsibility for donating blood to help save people's lives.

Head of the Central Institute for Hematology and Blood Transfusion Nguyen Anh Tri said the festival is one of many of annual blood donation campaigns including the Red Spring Festival and the Blood Drop of Gratitude.

He said he hopes the festival will be successful, and added that 3,000 people have registered to donate blood beginning in the early morning.

The event expects to collect 2,500 units of blood to provide treatment for needy patients during the National Day public holidays (September 2).

Enterprises back proposal to increase minimum wage

The majority of local companies agree with a proposal to raise the monthly minimum wage for employees under a draft decree by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs despite economic difficulties.

The result emerged following the collection of ideas on the proposal from local companies at a meeting held yesterday by the ministry in HCM City.

In a draft decree, the proposal suggests raising the minimum wage from the current VND1.4 – 2 million (US$67 – $96) to VND1.9 – 2.7 million ($91-$30) or to VND1.8 – 2.5 million ($86 – 120).

However, the businesses also suggested that the decree be applied in March 2013 instead of January as scheduled, due to many economic difficulties, said Nguyen Hong Ha, deputy director of the HCM City branch of Viet Nam's Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

According to Ha, many commodities are currently in stock, input expenses have increased by 13 per cent and buying power is low, while more than 30,000 companies nationwide have suspended their operations and declared bankruptcy so far this year.

Raising the minimum wage will not affect companies that hire white-collar workers, but strongly impact on those that hire manual workers, she said.

Under the ministry's assessment, the current minimum wage only meets about 57-63 per cent of employees' living costs.

Mai Duc Chinh, vice chairman of Viet Nam's General Confederation of Labour, said that, based on this statistic, the current minimum wage was inappropriate.

Chinh said the minimum wage needs to be calculated based on the Labour Code that was amended this year to ensure the basic cost of living for employees, before adding that the adjustment may place a finanical burden on businesses as they will also have to pay more to purchase social insurance for their employees.

Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, director of the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs said that it had so far failed to calculate the additional fee companies will have to pay when the minimum wage rises.

According to the ministry, unless companies overcome difficulties in doing business during the last six months of the year, the decree will take effect in March 2013.

Japan helps Hoi An deal with garbage

Authorities in the central province of Quang Nam, city of Hoi An and the Japanese city of Naha, on August 25 signed an agreement on applying the latter’s model of reducing and managing waste for the future.

The agreement, funded by the Okinawa Citizens’ Recycling Movement, is part of the framework of the ongoing Hoi An-Japan cultural exchange.

The Japanese side will dispatch a group of Japanese experts to Hoi An to conduct surveys, hold a seminar and receive Vietnamese trainees who will learn about waste recycling, treatment and management process in Japan.

Hoi An is finding it difficult to deal with solid waste, including poor public awareness on separating the different types and a lack of land to build suitable disposal grounds.

So far, the locality and relevant agencies have completed the classification of waste for the precincts of Minh An, Son Pho, Tan An and Cam Pho. A waste treatment plant using bio-technology is also due to commence operation in the Cam Ha commune in the near future.

VNN/VOV/VNS