Vietnam welcomes young ASEAN delegates

The Fuji Maru cruise ship with 329 young delegates on board docked at Saigon port in Ho Chi Minh City on December 4.

Phan Van Mai, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee, expressed his delight at welcoming the delegates from Southeast Asian nations and Japan as part of the 2011 Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme (SSEAYP).  

Photo: VOV

During their four day stay in Vietnam, they will go on various trips to historic and cultural sites and take part in social activities in HCM City.

They will also go on homestays before leaving for Japan on December 7.

Vietnam has welcomed 11 SSEAYP Ships since it joined the program in 1996.

Airport staff fined for inaccurate landing order

Four traffic controllers at Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat International Airport have been fined for issuing an inaccurate landing order that could have caused a crash.

On October 10, an airplane from Taiwan should have landed on the right No.25 runway at Tan Son Nhat but the air traffic controllers mistakenly broadcasted “left No.25 runway” where some road workers were working.

The plane could have crashed into the workers. Luckily, another air traffic controller found the mistake and notified his colleagues which timely issued a correct order.

However, these 4 controllers later didn’t report the case to superiors according to regulations.

They were thus fined and had their licenses suspended for 3 months.

Last March, an airplane from GuangZhou China landed at Hanoi-based Noi Bai Airport met with a similar accident.

When the airplane prepared to land on the runway, the pilot found a car was driving underneath.

The pilot had to fly up again while the car, which was washing the runway, had to move out of the dangerous area.

Int’l travel agencies honoured for contribution

Forty five outstanding international travel agencies have been honoured for their contribution to the development of Vietnam’s tourism.

The agencies, that sent the most tourists to Vietnam, are from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, as well as Europe, North America and Australia.

The December 2 ceremony, jointly organized by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines in Hanoi, was attended by more than 250 delegates representing airlines, hotels and travel agencies.

The event also aimed to introduce Vietnam’s tourism development policies and new travel services. It was also a good chance for travel agencies to meet, exchange experiences, and discuss cooperation opportunities.

Prior to the ceremony, delegates from these travel agencies went on fact-finding tours to Hanoi and Ha Long.

In the first eleven months of 2011, Vietnam received 5.4 million foreign visitors, an increase of 17.8 percent against the same period last year. It is estimated that 5.5 million foreigners will visit the country by the end of the year, earning about VND110 trillion.

Vietnam called for more support from international travel agencies to help reach its goal of attracting 7-7.5 million foreign visitors annually by 2015 and 10-10.5 million by 2020.

US$400,000 to build storm-proof houses in Danang

The Danang municipal People’s Committee has approved a US$400,000 project to build storm-resistant houses for residents living in high risk areas for natural disasters.

The project, assisted by the US Rockefeller Foundation, will be implemented in eight communes in Son Tra, Lien Chieu, Ngu Hanh Son, and Hoa Vang districts.

It aims to strengthen the capacity of communes and districts that are frequently affected by floods to cope with the situation, adapt to climate change, manage risks, and prepare for natural disasters in order to reduce their negative impacts.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2014.

Noi Bai Airport starts building second terminal

Vietnam started yesterday, Dec 4, the construction of the second terminal of Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport with an investment capital of US$968.2 million.

The four-storey T2 terminal, which has total floor area of 139,200 square meters, is set to complete construction in November, 2014 and able to receive 10 million passengers a year. After 2020, T2 is upgraded to have a capacity of 15 million travelers a year.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has committed to provide the project a loan of US$161.5 million, or a sixth of the total cost.

It is one of the major infrastructure projects underway in Hanoi to support the country’s socio-economic development.

The airport’s current terminal T1, which has a designed capacity of 5 million passengers a year, has become overloaded since 2007. It is now handling 11 million people a year.

Two other terminals T3 and T4 of the Noi Bai Airport are planned to be built after 2020.

Attending the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday morning, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai proposed the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to make tight collaboration in management to ensure the project completed in due time and quality.

In August this year, construction began on a 12-km-long, six-lane road linking Noi Bai International Airport and Nhat Tan Bridge, and the distance between central Hanoi to the airport will be halved to 15 km when it is opened to traffic by 2014.

ILO’s regional meeting opens in Japan

The 15th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) opened in Kyoto, Japan, on Dec. 4.
The meeting draws the participation of about 500 representatives from more than 46 countries and territories in Asia-Pacific and the Arab States. The Vietnamese delegation to the event was led by Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen.

At the opening ceremony, ILO Director General Juan Somavia said that the global economic development model has over the past 30 years economically benefited some countries in the region. However, this model is posing challenges to the environment and causing a shortage of good jobs. He said if this problem is not solved, it will threaten social linkage, political stability and long-term development.

The four-day meeting will discuss the co-ordination of macroeconomic, employment and social security policies; the development of productive employment, sustainable enterprises and skills; and promoting rights at work places and social dialogue.

On the sidelines of the meeting, ILO and the host Japan will organise three sessions on employment-led crisis response, green jobs and partnerships.

Boy left home alone dies after falling to ground

Le Minh Duc, a 3-year-old boy who his mother left home alone, died after falling from the 9th floor of his home at No21 Apartment Building in Hanoi on Saturday morning.

As 7:30 am on Saturday, his mother left him sleeping home and took his sister to school while his father was going on a business trip in Germany, the police said.

When the baby woke up and saw nobody, he stood up on a chair to reach the flat’s balcony and fell.

At 8 am, the mother returned home but couldn’t find her son.

She then fainted when she found him having felt down to the second floor of the building and died.

Apartment residents suffer sudden power cut

Some residents of luxurious 48-floor Keangnam Apartment Building in Hanoi had to cook with honeycomb coal and stay on the ground floor on Saturday, Dec 3, because of sudden power cut. 

The residents cooked on the ground floor for their meals and some even prepared blankets to sleep in the lobby because they couldn’t walk to their apartments which are situated on high floors on foot.

As of 12:30 pm, the building management board began to cut electricity and water supply to the households living in two blocks, explaining that those households had failed to pay electricity, water and management fees according to the building’s regulations.

The sudden power cut occurred in the afternoon, without prior notice, so many families could not continue to use their electronic ID cards to open up the main entrance door at the ground floor to get to the lift or the stair systems.

Even when the door was opened up by the guards, the access to the lift was also blocked.

As a result, hundreds of people had surrounded the office of the building’s management board asking for explanations. But the building management refused to make any concessions.

Many families said though they had paid the fees on time, they were also affected.

Duong Tu Anh, who lives in the B1606 apartment, had paid her power bill on November 22. But when she asked for an explanation, the answer was simple “a mistakenly power cut” and power supply didn’t return until the evening.

Even in the afternoon, representatives of the local police department who showed up at the scene could not resolve the dispute.

But the policemen discovered the building management board had also asked the guards to lock the exit door of the building and had to order the door to be reopened to ensure safety for the residents in the building.

The Korean representatives of the building’s management board had rejected to meet the media on the same day.

Meanwhile, Tran Xuan Trach, interim deputy head of a board representing Keangnam residents, said they didn’t agree with the arbitrary way of doing business of the building management board which charged higher management fees than those prescribed by the law.

A Keangnam apartment costs about US$3,000 per square meter.

Third “Voluntary Heart” festival launched in Hanoi

More than 10,000 volunteers from 100 social organisations attended the third “Voluntary Heart” festival, which was launched in Hanoi on December 4.

The festival, organised by the Hanoi Blood Donation Youth Association and the Central Institute for Hematology and Blood Transfusion, includes a variety of exchange programs such as “Connecting Hearts”, Voluntary Message”, and “Colours of Volunteers”.

Chu Nhat Hop, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi Blood Donation Youth Association, said the festival aims to collect about 2000 units of blood for patients during the Christmas and the Tet holiday.

The event is also encourages young people’s participation in campaigns to protect the environment and prevent HIV/AIDS, he said.

More than 10,000 people join run for poor children

A charitable run was held in Unification Park in Hanoi on December 4 to raise funds for cancer research and disadvantaged children suffering from fatal diseases.

The event was co-organized by the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organisations, the Canadian embassy and Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, and the Vietnam-Canada Friendship Association together with Manulife Vietnam and the KAT Group.

The “run for children” has taken place annually since 2000. It has attracted nearly 50,000 runners and raised more than VND4 billion for cancer research and treatment for poor children suffering from cancer and heart disease.

This year’s proceeds will be donated to disadvantaged children being treated at the Hanoi Heart Hospital and the National Hospital of Pediatrics and put towards the Heartbeat Vietnam Fund.

After the launch ceremony, thousands of people joined the run around Thien Quang Lake in Hanoi.

S. Korean language test for Vietnamese workers

A South Korean language test will be organized for Vietnamese workers who have worked in South Korea and returned to Vietnam on schedule after January 1, 2010 and who now want to work in South Korea again.

The test will be jointly organized by the South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Overseas Workers Center of Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs from December 26 to 30, Phan Van Minh, director of the center, said at a press conference on Friday, Dec 2.

This is the first time the South Korean agency has conducted such a test for Vietnamese workers who have worked in the country, he said.

It is a measure to encourage Vietnamese workers to return home after their contracts expire instead of staying on in South Korea illegally, the center said.

Candidates are required to be born from December 8, 1971 to December 7, 1993 and to have no previous convictions.

They must also never have been deported from South Korea and are not banned from leaving Vietnam.

The test is made to re-recruit workers in three areas: production and manufacturing, agriculture and animal husbandry, and fishery.

The test will be conducted at the center’s training unit in Tien Phong Commune, Me Linh District, Hanoi.

Candidate registrations can be made in Hanoi, HCMC or Nghe An Province, from December 7-9.

To date, there have been 66,863 workers registered for the test, the center said.

The selection of candidates for the test will be carried out at random among the registered candidates and those who are not selected this time will attend another test in the first quarter of 2012.

The test results will be announced on January 1, 2012 at http://www.ttldnnvietnam.gov.vn and http://www.eps.go.krepstopik.hrdkorea.or.kr.

The test fee is equal to US$24.

Workers to be re-sent to South Korea will be selected based on test scores.

Candidates can find further information at http://www.ttldnnvietnam.gov.vn.

The animal quarantine station in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, Dec 2, seized a large amount of pork without documents.

Early in the morning, the station caught a passenger van carrying more than 360 kg of pork without legal certificates.

The goods’ owner, Nguyen Thi Thanh, 45, of Dong Nai province, said she carried the pork from the province to Thu Duc Market to sell to traders there.

Thanh showed the station two quarantine certificates issued to a pig slaughterhouse in the province’s Bien Hoa City, but after examination, officers found them invalid.

As Thanh had no other documents to prove the origin of her goods, the station seized all the pork.

A couple hours later, the station checked a motorbike carrying 140 kg of pork that had no certificate or other documents.

The carrier, 30-year-old Nguyen Van Son, of Nghe An Province, said he transported the pork from Dong Nai to Thuan An Town, Binh Duong Province for sale.

The station later had all the 500 kg of pork destroyed.

Judge faces dismissal for affair with staff

Judge Huynh Hong Thang of the People’s Court of Soc Trang City may be removed from his post for having an affair with a married female staff.

Thang has violated the code of conducts for members of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the city’s Party Committee said.

Yesterday, the committee had removed Thang from his post as secretary of the court’s Party Cell, said standing deputy secretary of the city’s Party Committee, Nguyen Thanh Binh.

The committee has also asked the Supreme People’s Court to dismiss Thang.

Nearly two weeks ago, Nguyen Van Giau, a resident of Ward 6, Soc Trang City, accused the judge of having a dubious relationship with his wife, Nguyen Thi Thu.

Giau had caught Thang and Thu embracing each other on a hammock in a garden café on November 2 and had taken a photo of the scene as proof.

Giau said he had earlier suspected that Thu and Thang had a love affair and decided to follow them.

In defense, Thang said he was only trying to “console” his subordinate after he knew that the relations between Thu and her husband were not good.

But the city’s Party Committee’s secretary Le Van Can said that the photo was a clear evidence to prove Thang’s dubious relationship.

Giau said he and Thu have a 3-year-old son after three years of marriage, but their relationship has become cool for the past one year after Thu took a business trip to Hanoi with Thang and others.

Thu, who is not a Party member, is waiting for a disciplinary action from the superior court, the Soc Trang People’s Court said.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre