In the next two years (2011-2012), around 50,000 pupils will be provided with adequate nutrition as well as medical and dental care to improve their health.

The US$524,000 project, sponsored by the US Wrigley Company Foundation is part of the health education development programme being carried out by the same foundation and the Children Relief Organisation in China, Kenya, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The carrier started its operation out of Hanoi for the first time on February 27, with two Boeing 747ERF flights per week, from Shanghai to Hanoi on Sundays and Thursdays. 

The new service from the Red River Delta area to Amsterdam includes stopovers in Chennai, India and Dubai. 

"Hanoi has evolved into one of Vietnam's major industrial centres," said Gabriela Ahrens, Jade Cargo's Executive Vice President of Products & Sales. "With our new connections, we are expanding our customised product to accommodate the increased demand in Vietnam, especially from the high-tech industry." 

This further strengthens the airline's dense network in South East Asia. Jade Cargo currently serves 25 destinations worldwide from its hubs in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Tianjin in China, with an emphasis on routes to Europe, India and the Middle East.

French, Vietnamese professors receive honourary degrees

Professor Ngo Bao Chau from the University of Chicago in the US and Professor Annik Suzor-Weiner, former vice president of Paris-Sud University in France, were awarded with honorary doctorate degrees at Ha Noi National University on Tuesday, March 8.

Director of Ha Noi National University (HNU) Mai Trong Nhuan said the degrees were to recognise the scientists' excellent scientific achievements as well as their remarkable contribution to boosting the development of the co-operative partnership between HNU and foreign counterparts.

Professor Annik Suzor-Weiner, a physicist who was promoted to highest rank in 2005, was among the first to establish and develop the training and research partnership between Paris – Sud University and HNU in 2005. Her tireless efforts have helped forge a successful and close tie between Paris-Sud University's Department of Science and HNU's College of Technology.

They have built joint training programmes for masters degrees and Ph.Ds in several fields, including micro-nano technology and information technology.

Professor Ngo Bao Chau was an outstanding alumnus of Ha Noi National University. After becoming the first Vietnamese citizen to receive the Fields Medal, the most coveted prize in mathematics, last summer, he became the school's pride.

Chau is now working at the University of Chicago's Department of Mathematics. His research focuses on algebraic geometry, group theory and representative theory. Prior to his professorship at Chicago, he worked at Paris-Sud University and the United States Institute for Advanced Study.

Sharing his working plan with students of HNU, Chau said he would continue to pursue his passion, mathematics, by taking the position as director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics in Viet Nam and by encouraging scientists overseas to contribute to Viet Nam's scientific development.

Rural patients receive top care

Nearly 1,500 patients have received direct treatment at hospitals in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai thanks to a Ministry of Health project that has been rotating highly-trained medical professionals between central areas and rural hospitals.

In the past, patients in rural areas had to be transferred to central hospitals where doctors and medical facilities are more available.

Project 1816 has been in operation since September 2008 with the aim of narrowing the gap in the quality of treatment between localities, transferring medical technology and training staff in mountainous and remote areas while reducing overcrowding at provincial and central hospitals.

Over the past two years, eight central hospitals, including Hospital E, Bach Mai and the National Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynaecology, have sent to Lao Cai Province hundreds of medical staff, who have trained local doctors in a variety of medical techniques and performed over 4,500 operations.

Lao Cai Hospital No 1 last year welcomed 18 highly-trained medical professionals from central hospitals.

Head of the hospital's Planning Department Bui Chi Nam said, "Thanks to help from the professionals, local patients can benefit from high-quality techniques, for instance, endoscopic surgery."

Staff from Hospital E have also trained local doctors from Lao Cai Hospital No 2 in a technique to remove gallstones.

In just three months, 60 gallstone operations were carried out successfully.

Director of Lao Cai Hospital No 2 Nguyen Ba Hue said, "Treatment quality at the hospital has improved and the number of patients transferred to central hospitals has decreased by 30 per cent."

Phan Thi Hoa, a resident from the remote commune of Coc My in Bat Xat District, said, "Local residents and I hope that more doctors will come here more often so that people suffering from serious diseases do not have to go far for treatment."

Dao Thi Hieu from Thuong Ha Commune said her son had received excellent treatment from provincial doctors and recovered quickly from his illness.

Capital city urges businesses to save power

Municipal authorities have asked the city's shops, restaurants and other services to reduce the number of lights they use in peak hours in an effort to meet the Government's plan to reduce power cuts.

Vu Quang Hung, deputy general director of Ha Noi Electricity Company said that lights would be turned off on all big advertising billboards, unless there were special requirements.

He added that the city would regulate lighting in parks and flower gardens in an attempt to conserve power in the evening, except for holidays and big events.

Restaurants, hotels and other services that utilised a lot of power would be monitored to ensure they adhered to the plan, he added.

Under the requirement, households have been asked to limit the use of power-hungry equipment during peak hours, and encouraged to use energy-efficient lights, including compact and fluorescent light bulbs.

Enterprises in the capital have been asked to develop effective production plans, minimising the use of power-hungry equipment and turning off unnecessary lighting out of hours.

Administrative units have also been asked to build and promulgate regulations on power saving, maximise their use of natural light, and minimise the use of air conditioning.

The city's electricity companies will co-ordinate with People's Committees to inform members of the public of planned power cuts via radio.

History park needs cash for land clearance

The National Historical and Cultural Park management has asked the HCM City People's Committee to advance VND590 billion (US$26.8 million) for buying land from around 1,000 households and clearing them.

Nguyen Van Ut, head of the department in charge of compensating land owners in District 9, said the project is running behind schedule due to delays in site clearance caused by many people's refusal to sell land because of low compensation rates.

The 395ha park – with 368ha in District 9 and 27ha in Di An District, Binh Duong Province – will have four main sections representing the four significant historical periods and is expected to be finished by 2020.

Two female scientists honoured with Kovalevskaya awards

The Vietnam Kovalevskaya Awards Committee has presented its 2010 awards to Dr Luong Chi Mai and Dr Nguyen Thi Loc.

Lao hamlet, citizens honoured for helping Vietnam

The Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee has decided to decorate Ka Uong hamlet and 414 people in Sekong province of Laos for their contributions to Vietnam’s resistance war against US invaders.

US religious societies present wheelchairs to AO victims

The US Promised Land Protestant Community Church and the Vineyard Church present 350 wheelchairs to Agent Orange victims in the southern province of Ca Mau from March 5-9.