Bus collision kills 1, injures 10

A passenger bus collided with a loaded cement truck this morning, killing the bus driver's assistant and injuring 10 passengers in the central province of Ha Tinh, police said.

The Phu Quy bus was heading south to Ha Tinh on National Highway 1 in Tan Vinh Village, Nghen Town, Can Loc District, when it hit the turning truck at 6.30am.

The bus was carrying about 30 passengers, mostly from Ha Tinh.

Among the victims sent to Can Loc Hospital, four were in a serious condition, doctors said.

Officials have not yet determined the cause of the accident.

The collision resulted in traffic jam on the highway for more than an hour.

VND1 billion for Cow Bank

Photo: VOV

One third of the households benefiting from the project have had calves born and presented them to other poor families.

The project is carried out by the Vietnam Red Cross with the aim of assisting poor households to develop their husbandry and gradually escape poverty. It is one of the most effective sustainable development programmes that receive active support from ministries, businesses and benefactors.

VND1 billion raised by the staff of the Gas Corporation under the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group was handed over to the Vietnam Red Cross on July 4 to contribute to the project.

Agricultural projects to receive incentives       

Investors in agricultural and rural projects will receive preferential treatment under a recent decision made by the Ministry of Finance.

The decision is being made in accordance with the Government’s Decree No. 61/2010/ND-CP on preferential policies to encourage enterprises to invest in agricultural and rural areas.
Accordingly, as of August 1, investors in agricultural and rural projects that enjoy investment preferences or encouragement will be given the lowest land and water surface rent prices as regulated by provincial People’s Committees.
Investors will also gain financial support in land and water surface rental in the first five years and the preferential treatment is offered one time right after investors complete fundamental phases of construction.

Mother killed, son injured on way to take exam

A fatal road accident was reported at kilometer 1078 + 500 on National Highway 1A in Mo Duc district in the central province of Quang Ngai early Monday morning, killing one woman and seriously injuring her son.

The mother who was said to be taking her son on motorbike to school to take a college entrance examination was hit by a trailer tractor coming from a different lane.

The accident immediately killed her while her son sustained multiple wounds.

Police identified the deceased as Le Thi Bich Lien, 42, and the injured as Huynh Anh Tu, 18.

Police are investigating.

Vietnamese education welcomes feedback from overseas

Overseas Vietnamese specialists and scientists are encouraged to give feedback on Vietnamese education.  

This was said by Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former Deputy Head of the National Assembly’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and former Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium, Holland and the EU at a meeting with Vietnamese students in Paris on July 3.

She also introduced Tri Viet International University, scheduled to open in late 2013 in the southern province of Dong Nai, to train young leaders for Vietnam.

In recent years, a large number of Vietnamese students in France have stayed there to work in many prestige universities and research institutes.

They have kept regular contact with their friends and colleges in Vietnam to contribute to the country’s development.

Health insurance fails to attract poor

After 18 months since it officially came into effect, the Health Insurance Law has failed to attract people living near the poverty line and children under six years old.

Social Insurance Agency (SIA) statistics said that only 692,000 people were using health insurance services by the end of 2010, accounting for just 11.5 per cent of the people living near the poverty line in Viet Nam.

According to the existing poverty standards for the 2011-15 period, average monthly income levels for households near the poverty line are between US$38.5-51 in urban areas and $28-38 in rural areas.

"Even though the Government pays at least half of health insurance expenses for those living near the poverty benchmark, nearly 90 per cent of them still haven't got access to them or benefit from the services," said director of the Ministry of Health's Health Insurance Department Tong Thi Song Huong.

The health insurance participation rate among people living just above the poverty line is even less than 1 per cent in Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh, and in Dien Bien only 150 out of 4,500 near-poor households have registered for health insurance services, according to the SIA.

Head of the SIA's Department for Health Insurance Policy Implementation Pham Luong Son explained that the situation in many provinces was down to bad management that only listed poor households but hadn't focused on making a list of people close to the poverty line.

SIA Deputy Director Pham Minh Son said that 53 out of 63 provinces and cities hadn't implemented health insurance services for those living near the poverty line.

"People living near the poverty line still have to pay around VND270,000 ($13) per person per year for health insurance. The expense is a burden for people who still struggle to make ends meet," said Son.

According to Son, many rural and mountainous health insurance users do not know how to use the service, or are afraid due to complications and slow procedures.

Huong said that many people, including medical staff, did not know the benefits that subscribers were entitled to.

"Some medical staff do not fully understand the health insurance law, that's why they fail to provide patients with necessary information", said Huong.

SIA also reported that around 2 million among 10 million children under six years old had not been issued free health insurance cards due to mismanagement.

Children under six and the poor are subject to free health insurance cards under Government regulations.

SIA statistics say that health insurance service have covered nearly 51 million people, accounting for 60 per cent of the country's population and an increase of 11 million people compared with 2008.

1 killed, 12 injured in oil tank explosion

An oil storage tank exploded at a dried shrimp factory in the southern province of Kien Giang early yesterday morning, killing 1 worker and injuring 12 others.
The oil tank, which was used to boil shrimps, exploded while workers were working at the factory, which is owned by Ngo Van Ha and located in Ngach Commune, Kien Luong District, Kien Luong Town.
The explosion severely injured 13 workers, who were taken to Kien Giang General Hospital for emergency treatment. One of them, 18-year-old Truong Ngoc Tien, died on the way.
Three workers who were burnt 70-80 percent were transferred to a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for intensive care, said Nguyen Van Son, deputy director of Kien Giang General Hospital.
Of the six remaining at this hospital, 3 were burnt 40-60 percent and the rest were slightly burnt, Son said.
An inspection made after the deadly accident showed that the exploded tank was home-made and didn’t meet technical requirements and was thus unsafe to use, said Le Hung Linh, vice chairman of Kien Luong District’s People’s Committee.

In addition, the factory does not meet industrial safety requirements and employs workers without labor contracts, Linh said.
He said local authorities had supported the deceased worker’s family with VND3 million (US$146) and each injured worker with VND1 million.

Hue citizens stop vans to protect road

Hundreds of people in Huong Thuy District in central Thua Thien - Hue Province used stones, trees, tires and recycle bins to prevent vans from taking Provincial Road 7 yesterday, July 4.

Local residents said this road, which received 4,000-5,000 vans everyday, has been seriously polluted with dust and noises.

They have reported to problem to relevant authorities but no action has been taken.

As of yesterday afternoon, tens of people were guarding the road to bar vans from entering.

Hundred of vans were stopped while other kinds of vehicles were allowed to pass through as usual.

Vietnam, China cooperate in housing projects

The Ministry of Construction is going to negotiate with the China Development Bank to cooperate in providing further credit for low-income housing projects.

The Ministry of Construction has set up a working group and a team of experts to implement a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on low-income housing projects with the China Development Bank. The working group is in charge in preparing contents, drawing up negotiation process, and supervising the implementation of cooperation between the two sides.

Earlier, the two sides also signed a MoU on providing credits for low-income housing projects. The Ministry of Construction said that the country now has 37 projects worth VND3,600 billion, which are designed to provide housing for 64,000 people.

The two sides agreed to provide businesses with further credit to carry out housing projects for low-income earners.

Malaysia to legalize undocumented immigrants

Starting this July 11, the Malaysian government will carry out a 6-month amnesty and legalization program for foreign citizens who are illegally living and working in the country, said the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia.
About 1.2 million foreign people, including 3,000 from Vietnam, are illegally working in Malaysia, said Nguyen Hong Thao, the Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia.
During the course of the program, illegal workers who voluntarily register for repatriation to their home countries will be granted an amnesty and will not be subject to a trial for illegally staying and working in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, those who have a stable job and are sponsored by their employers will be allowed to continue working in Malaysia.
Vietnamese workers can apply for repatriation at the Vietnamese Embassy at 4 Persiaran Stonor, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, the Ambassador said.

Seminar help raise discrimination awareness

A seminar was held in the southern province of Dong Nai from July 4-5 to raise awareness of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Co-organised by the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Vietnam, the seminar introduced the contents of CEDAW and Vietnam’s laws and policies on protecting women’s rights, as well as discussing issues around marriage of Vietnamese women to foreigners.

According to the UNHCR in Vietnam , in every place and culture, females were always the most vulnerable people. In the world, over half a million women died through pregnancy complications and tens of millions of baby girls were killed through abortions for gender selection each year.

Four million women and girls were traded annually and at least 1 million girls were forced to become sex workers, said the UNHCR.

In Vietnam , gender inequality in economics, education, culture and information and family life was common, especially in rural and ethnic-inhabited areas.

In addition, the rate of abortions, especially for teenagers and young women, remained high.

In 2010, about 300,000 Vietnamese women registered to get married to foreigners and 10 percent of the marriages failed.

MoLISA and UNHCR suggested that Vietnam should focus on the enforcement of existing laws and policies on gender equality and the wide dissemination of CEDAW and the Law on Gender Equality in the languages of ethnic minority groups to complete the National Strategy on Gender Equality between now and 2020

The country should have measures to change patriarchal attitudes and preconceptions on gender roles and increase women’s access to reproductive health care services, as well as prioritise comprehensive measures to abolish all forms of violence against women and girls.

After the two-day seminar in Dong Nai, similar events will be held in the central province of Ninh Thuan and the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang.

Big fire near Trang Tien Plaza in Hanoi

A huge fire broke out from a house located at No. 16 on Hang Bai Street in Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi near Trang Tien Plaza at 11:30 am yesterday, July 4, panicking the whole area.

The Plaza’s business activities are said to be affected by the fire.

Hanoi authorities have mobilized two fire trucks along with dozens of firefighters to the scene to extinguish the blaze shortly after.

It took them around 30 minutes to put down the flame.

The fire also blocked the road for hours.

According to some eyewitnesses, a household electric circuit may be the cause of the fire.
Police are investigating.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre