Two women honoured for catching robbers

The People's Committee of southern Tien Giang Province on Thursday awarded a certificate of merit for bravery to a woman and her deceased daughter who chased and caught attempted robbers on the road.

A police report revealed that on the night of January 31, Le Thi Bich Hong, 49, and her 18-year-old daughter were driving their motorbike through My Tho City's Ward 7 toward the Ly Thuong Kiet – Doan Thi Nghiep intersection when two men tried to rip Hong's gold necklace from her neck.

Although the robbers were unsuccessful in their attempt, the two women chased them. When Hong caught up with the bandits, her daughter fell off the motorbike and then died from brain injuries on the way to hospital.

IAEA , OFID help Vietnam fight cancer

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) have agreed to help Vietnam control cancer, especially in women.

Photo: VNN

IAEA has been implementing PACT since 2004 to help low and middle income countries to deal with increasing number of people suffering from cancer.

Together with other partners, IAEA continues its global fight against cancer and it has successfully implemented PACT in Ghana, Zambia, Uruguay, Albania, Nicaragua and Tanzania.

IAEA Director General Amano emphasized that World Cancer Day (February 4) helps raise awareness of cancer and promotes the fight against the killer disease among the international community.

Over the past 32 years, IAEA has spent more than US$250 million supplying services, equipment, prevention information, and treatment, in addition to training medical staff and improving the capacity to prevent and treat cancer in developing countries.

President supports business youth

President Truong Tan Sang yesterday affirmed that the Party and State would guide the implementation of the Politburo's Resolution No9 on promoting the role of entrepreneurs in Viet Nam in the period of industrialisation, modernisation and international integration.

The President made this statement while receiving a delegation from the Viet Nam Young Entrepreneurs Association (VYEA), calling it an essential measure in order to allow entrepreneurs to contribute their talents to the country.

Reports from chairman Mai Huu Tin attest that the association has developed significantly over its 18-year existence and has created a new generation of entrepreneurs with passion and intelligence, who serve as key leaders in the branded business sector.

Many entrepreneurs have become National Assembly deputies and have suggested legislative improvements related to national economic development.

With more than 9,000 members from 62 out of 63 provinces, the association has adopted three major programs for young entrepreneurs: "Starting a career and developing the country", "Building corporate cultural and social responsibilities", and "Building a strong VYEA".

Speaking at the meeting, the President said the association needed an effective model to attract new members and encourage new business creation.

Sang also expressed his hope that the association would take responsibility for uniting entrepreneurs to perform the tasks of economic development and participate in social work.

Participants from the association promised to actively contribute to the construction and development of the country. They also proposed a new mechanism that would help Vietnamese entrepreneurs enhance their competitiveness, brand development and expansion activities in international markets.

Lotus on way to becoming Vietnam national flower

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has submitted to the Prime Minister for approval the outcomes of the national flower-selecting project, with lotus being the frontrunner candidate for the title, said the ministry’s spokesperson To Van Dong.

The project has, since last year, been announced on the ministry’s website, sent to other ministries and made known to the public nationwide to collect opinions, he said.

According to a survey organized in 2011 by the ministry to poll public opinions about Vietnam’s national flower, lotus ranked first on the list with 71.1 percent of the 60,000 votes, followed by apricot with 18.16 percent, and peach with 6.71 percent.

The national flower must be chosen based on the following criteria: indigenous to Vietnam or having been grown in Vietnam for a long time; symbolic of the nation’s character, culture or spirit; beautiful and scented; frequently used and highly valued in art, literature, sculpture and architecture; and easily and popularly grown by most people, said the ministry, which has been assigned by the Prime Minister to chair the project.

In Vietnam, lotus is a familiar flower to most people. It is respected for its noble and pure beauty and represents the Vietnamese people’s friendly nature, elegant style, and adaptability. Therefore, lotus deserves to be chosen as the national flower, the ministry said in a report to the Prime Minister.

If lotus is approved by the Prime Minister as Vietnam’s national flower, the ministry will organize a ceremony to announce the country’s national flower and the first National Flower Festival in the capital, Dan Tri newswire reported.

The ministry will then draw up regulations over the use of the national flower, organize a logo contest for it, and control activities that use, promote, and honor the flower at home and abroad.

Ceremony for new Cambodian school

The General Association of Vietnamese Cambodians (GAVC) on Thursday began a project to build a school for overseas Vietnamese children in Cambodia's Pray Veng Province.

Funded by US$115,000 from Dong Thap People's Committee the building will have an area of 1,530 sq.m which is expected to be completed in four months.

This is the second school for overseas Vietnamese children built in Cambodia, with the other located in the capital Phnom Penh.

About 600 Vietnamese children living in Pray Veng are pursuing Vietnamese language classes in different locations in Cambodia.

The school construction project is part of efforts to help Vietnamese Cambodians maintain their mother tongue, traditions and customs, and to promote solidarity within the Vietnamese community.

US professor honoured for contributions

The Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations, Peace Committee and Vietnam-US Friendship Association on February 3 granted HCM City’s insignia to US professor Harry Bury in recognition of his contribution to Vietnam-US relationship.

The 82-year-old professor expressed his happiness and said he considers Vietnam his second home.

In 1971, in order to put pressure on the US government to withdraw their troops from Vietnam, Catholic Priest Harry Bury and two of his friends tied themselves to the gate of the US embassy in Saigon (now HCM City). After being expelled by the Saigon puppet regime, he continued to struggle for the implementation of the Paris Peace Accords.

Since Vietnam’s re-unification in 1975, Professor Bury, who is now working for Baldwin-Wallace University, has been back to Vietnam many times and contributed greatly to developing the friendship between the two peoples.

3 motorbikes on police truck burst into flames

Three motorbikes impounded for over-speeding got burst into flames while being carried on police truck in Can Tho City today morning. Luckily, no casualty claimed.

A traffic police unit of Phong Dien District said the fire started flaring up on one of the three bikes when the police truck was running in Nhon Loc 1 hamlet in Phong Dien Town.

The fire quickly spread to the other two bikes.

Policemen used fire extinguishers on the truck but failed to put it out. Locals living along the road offered help and snuffed the fire out ten minutes later when it began spreading to the truck cab.

The three bikes got seriously destroyed and the cabin of the truck was also partly damaged.

Phong Dien District police is investigating the case.

Diabetic mother gives birth to 6 kg baby

31-year old L.T.K from Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Phu District, who is diabetic, last Thursday gave birth to a 6-kg baby at Tu Du Hospital.

During her periodical pregnancy checks, the doctors said K. was showing signs of diabetes, which caused the abnormal size of the baby.

When K. was in labor and was taken to the hospital, the doctors decided to operate her to take the baby out. It might have been risky if K. had given birth naturally.

Cases of newborns who were 6 kg or more are very rare and this is the heaviest baby born at Tu Du this year, the doctors said.

After K.’s case, the doctors warn that pregnant women who have diabetes need to watch out for their blood sugar to prevent their newborns from getting obese or themselves from having complications such as high blood pressure, urinary infection or pre-eclampsia.

Vietnam becomes member of UN Commission for Social Development

Vietnam has joined Nepal and Bangladesh as members of the United Nations’ Commission for Social Development (CSD) for the 2012-2015 term.

Vietnam’s membership in the commission was declared at the 50^th annual meeting of CSD.

This event showed the international community’s recognition of Vietnam’s development achievements in recent years as well as its contributions to the world social development process.

As a CSD member, Vietnam will have the chance to contribute to planning policies, developing targets and action programs at the global level to promote social progress and increase coordination, and sharing information between governments on devising and implementing national-level social development policies.

CSD is an agency under the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).

The CSD session is taking place from February 1-10.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre