Breastfeeding rate decline ‘alarming'

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported declining breastfeeding rates in Asia earlier this week.

Only 10 per cent Vietnamese babies are now fed exclusively with breast milk, according to UNICEF, compared to 19 per cent in 2008. The figure is 5 per cent in Thailand and 28 per cent in China.

Illustrative image. (Photo: Internet)

Vietnam workers in Russia to receive assistance

Forty Vietnamese workers who are suffering hunger and cold without wages in Ekaterinburg city of Russia’s Sverlov province will be identified and receive assistance.

Head of the Overseas Workers Management Department Nguyen Ngoc Quynh said that they and the Consulate Department of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry have asked the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia to help the workers under the citizen protection policy.

The workers came from northern Ha Nam, Hung Yen and Bac Giang provinces to work for a leather shoe workshop in Ekaterinburg city without going through Vietnam’s labour export companies.

Regarding the second case of 36 Vietnamese workers are now waiting in Moscow to return home, Quynh said his department will ask the Vietnamese business concerned to directly work with their Russian partner to protect the worker rights.

The workers said they were not paid their entire salaries and were working without medical or labour insurance when Russian companies unilaterally cut their contracts. They were sent by the Centre of Dispatch Labour Overseas of the Vietnam Steel Corporation (VSC) in December 2008 and January 2009 to work for Russia’s construction sector under a contract signed by VSC and APC Limited Liability Company in Russia.

Container trucks seized from tree smugglers

Ha Giang Province police on Wednesday seized four dump trucks illegally carrying 13 rare trees of the species Bischofia trifoliata, which were over 100 years old. The trucks, registered in Da Nang, were transporting the trees to Thanh Thuy Border Gate for sale in China.

According to the local police, many trees, worth billions of dong each, have been sold as bonsai trees or to make traditional Chinese medicine.

Bus firm caught carrying rotten food again

A joint inspection team including animal quarantine officials and police officers in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc District on Wednesday caught a bus carrying 324 kg of pig fat and kin and 6 kg of chicken – all stinking and rotten.

The bus driver, Nguyen Thanh Dung, of central Quang Nam Province, failed to show the inspectors any documents about the origin of the goods.

Dung said he was hired by a trader in central Da Nang City to transport the items to HCMC.

The team made a report about the finding and seized all the goods.

The bus was operated by Cam Van Co Ltd, located in the city’s Tan Phu District.

Last week, two buses of this same company were caught carried 215 dead suckling pigs and a large amount of rotten pigskin, all of which were in the initial stage of decomposition.

Both drivers of the buses had no documents related to the goods. One of them, Huynh Van Thau, of Binh Dinh Province, said he had been hired by a trader to transport the goods to HCMC.

The HCMC Veterinary Sub-department is coordinating with other relevant agencies to consider strict penalties for the firm for its repeatedly carrying goods without documents and violating food hygiene and safety regulations.

Fishermen rescue foreign sailors

An inflatable liferaft carrying seven tugboat crew – three Indonesians, two Malaysians and two Bangladeshis – has been found drifting in the East Sea by Vietnamese fishermen.

The crew were off the Malaysian-registered tug boat Wantas VI which, they said, was hijacked by pirates.

The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre of Region 3 was overseeing their transport to hospital to be treated for severe dehydration and sickness after 15 days at sea.

The crew members were expected to arrive in port in Phu Yen Province this morning.

According to Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, the tugboat, towing a barge, departed from Langkawi, Malaysia on April 12 en route to Tawau, Malaysia.

Presenting 30 houses for AO victims

The Ben Tre provincial Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (AVA) presented 30 houses for families of Agent Orange (AO) victims on May 3.

Chairwoman Le Thi Thanh Van said each house is worth VND50 million. Half of the construction cost was funded by the Ben Tre Lottery Company and the remainder sourced from businesses and individuals.

Nguyen Van Tat, a recipient from Long Hoa village in the coastal district of Binh Dai, said the house will help his family feel secure in the upcoming stormy season. Two of his three children are suffering from the impact of AO chemical.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre