Northern region to tremble in cold 

A cold front is moving towards northern Vietnam and would begin affecting the area on Monday.   
The National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center said that northern provinces would experience extremely cold on wide area.

In Hanoi, temperatures would fall to 17-20 degrees Celsius at daytime and 10-12 degrees at nighttime.

In mountainous regions, the mercury will tumble to just 7-10 degrees with Lao Cai and Son La provinces slate to suffer frost.

After blanketing the north, the cold front would head towards central and southern provinces.

Ho Chi Minh City weather will be affected with temperatures dropping to 20-22 degrees Celsius and fog appearing in early morning.

15 candidates win Prudential essay contest in Mekong Delta 

The examiner board of the “Prudential – Good Essay, Good Writing” contest has chosen 15 best candidates to award prizes -- one first prize, two second prizes, two third prizes and 10 consolation prizes.  
Secondary school students take part in the "Prudential-Good Essay, Good Writing' contest 2010 in HCM City. 
The final round of the contest was held in Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang on December 4 with participation of 39 candidates from the delta’s 13 provinces.

The final round was held by Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper, the provincial Department of Education and Training, and Soc Trang Newspaper.

The topic of the competition reflects the socio-cultural and economic development of the country, the thinking of teenagers and their passion for literature and good handwriting.

According to 13 examiners, this year’s exam question was relatively hard but it required candidates to bring into play their creativeness and use real knowledge to complete the examination.

Many candidates showed their thoughts and strange solutions in the examination, said an examiner.

The award ceremony for the essay contest will be held at Soc Trang Province’s political school on December 5.

On the occasion, SGGP and life insurer Prudential Vietnam will offer 10 scholarships, worth VND1 million each, to poor students in the province. 
Ha Tinh Province announces existence of blue ear epidemic  
Ha Tinh Province on December 3 announced the existence of blue ear epidemic in some communes and it had destroyed 51 pigs in Thach Hoi and Thach Van.   
More than 60 pigs in two communes Thach Hoi and Thach Van in Thach Ha District, central province of Ha Tinh had been infected with blue-ear disease from November 18-29.

The provincial Department of Animal Health has worked with localities to sterilise and set up quarantine points. The province has directed localities to strictly implement measures to stamp out and prevent the spread of the disease.

According to the agriculture ministry, the blue-ear disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), affected thousands of pigs.

PRRS in pigs is caused by the Lelstad virus, which causes ears to turn blue, appetite loss, high fever, miscarriage, premature delivery, coughing, respiratory problems, and death in extreme cases.

Vietnam Airlines to link HCM City with Beijing 

Vietnam Airlines will open a new air route between Ho Chi Minh City and Beijing, China, starting on December 16.   
The national carrier said it would operate three flights a week on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays using Airbus 321 aircraft.

Vietnam Airlines said that the two-way fare would be VND5.83 million (US$299) for booking between now and December 31. The fare can be changed depending on the exchange rate of Vietnam dong and US dollar, the corporation said. 
Gov’t provides $17 mln for disaster-hit provinces

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has entrusted the Finance Ministry to extract VND335 billion (US$17.1 million) from the state budget and 8,600 tons of rice from the national reserve to support 11 provinces stricken by natural disasters.

The beneficiary localities include Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dak Lak and Thai Nguyen.

The PM also asked the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to continue keeping close watch to the scarcity of food and hunger in localities hit by floods and report to him.

Chairmen of the provincial People’s Committees will be responsible for effectively managing and using the allocated cash and rice as well as actively mobilizing the local budget and other legal financial resources for surmounting the consequences of natural disasters, according to the decision.

On the same day, the PM signed another decision to provide lifeboats, chemicals and vaccines for Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thua Thien-Hue, and Quang Ngai provinces.

Fire kills one at HCMC hotel, two seriously injured

One died and two others were seriously injured in a fire at the Giang Binh Hotel in District 8 late Friday. 

The blaze broke out in room No 202, which was rented by a couple at 10pm the same day.

Hotel employees said they heard furious arguments coming from the room.

“Immediately after that, we witnessed the big fire there. It then spread to adjacent rooms.”

The fire spread so fast that some firefighters could not handle it. When the district’s firefighter team came to the scene, they used fire-pump and apparatus to subdue the blaze and rescue victims.

At the result, the fire was put under control 15 minutes later.

The two injured were hospitalized at once.

Tran Thi B.N., who resides in District 7’s Tan Phu Ward, rented the room, according to police.

The cause of the fire is being under investigation, they added.

Mekong Delta fisherman catches 25 kg turtle

A fisherman caught a 25 kilogram turtle in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre Friday that locals say is the biggest they have ever seen.

Le Van Cuong of Chau Thanh District said he caught the turtle while fishing in a ditch.

Local residents said the animal may have lived for 30 years.

The same day, Cuong sold the turtle to a man for VND8.75 million (US$450).

The turtle looks like the Asiatic softshell turtle (Amyda cartilaginea), a species of softshell turtle in the Trionychidae family.

It is found in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

VND56 billion allocated for teaching about laws  
By 2015, Vietnam aims to include education about laws and policies in school curriculums for children and adolescents with the goal of reducing the number of teenage lawbreakers by 80 percent.

Last November, the Prime Minister approved a project to promote education about the law for young people and teenagers in the 2011-2015 period.

The project will cost VND56 billion sourced from the State budget and will be implemented in the first quarter of next year until the end of 2015.

The cost of the project will be paid for disadvantaged localities with concentrated urban areas and industrial parks and young women and mothers under 30 years of age.

“Voluntary Heart” Festival launched in Hanoi  
The second “Voluntary Heart” Festival was launched in Hanoi on December 5 in response to the 10th anniversary of International Year of Volunteers and International Volunteer Day.

The festival was a venue for more than 3,000 Vietnamese and international volunteers from 100 voluntary organisations in Hanoi to discuss issues of common concern and donate blood as a significant contribution to society and the community which brings happiness and joy to patients.

Head of the Central Institute for Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Nguyen Anh Tri said the institute is ready to help young volunteers come up with different ways to mobilise and encourage more young people to donate blood.

A variety of events were also held during the festival including an exhibition to introduce voluntary activities, portraits of young volunteers and a release of 1,000 balloons with messages from volunteers.

Hanoi’s young people join job trading floor in December  
Hanoi’s Youth Union organised job trading floor at Bac Ha International University in My Dinh ward, Tu Liem district on December 5. 

Forty two businesses were registered to recruit at the event. The organising board also provided career guidance for over 2,000 workers who were interested in seeking jobs and taking part in training courses at universities, colleges and vocational training centres in Hanoi and neighbouring areas.

The job trading floor is a good opportunity for businesses and workers to meet and have direct dialogues to learn about each other and cooperate.

Number of Chinese tourists arriving in HCM City by air increases sharply  
The number of Chinese tourists travelling to Ho Chi Minh City by air has shown a sharp year-on-year increase of 189 percent.

This positive result is due to Vietnam’s recent participation in international tourism fairs in Shanghai and Kunming and the promotion of tourism launched by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Following the Chinese were Taiwan (China), Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the US, which rose by 49 percent, 69 percent, 119 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Vietnam leads region in gender gap eradication  
Vietnam is evaluated as the best performer in Southeast Asia in terms of eradicating gender gap over the past 20 years, said Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Ngan, who doubles as Head of the Vietnamese National Committee for the Advancement of Women, delivered the remark at a seminar “Enhancing women’s position in development and international integration” which was held in the central province of Khanh Hoa on December 4.

The minister said Vietnam’s gender development index (GDI) climbed to 0.732 in 2009, ranking 94 out of the surveyed 155 nations, from 0,537 – the 72 nd among the 130 countries worldwide in 2005.

The number of female National Assembly deputies currently accounts for almost 26 percent, making Vietnam top the list of eight Southeast Asian nations that have parliaments and 4th in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of female parliamentations, Ngan added.

To enhance women’s position, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director in Vietnam Setsuko Yamazaki suggested Vietnam improve the awareness and political will of women so that they could engage in the leadership.

Vietnam should also encourage localities to bring national gender equality policies into life and build up the capacity for women by organising training courses.

Meanwhile, Cao Tran Quoc Hai, Deputy Director of the Multilateral Economic Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged the government to complete the legal system and concerned policies, and establish specialised agencies to implement and monitor gender equality.

The seminar, co-hosted by the Vietnamese National Committee for the Advancement of Women, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNDP, saw the participation of almost 50 delegates and the ambassadors of Finland, Ireland, Canada and Laos to Vietnam.

PV