Vietnam's per capita income should be USD7,000: economist

An economist from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said Vietnam's GNI per capital should be USD7,000, but that ineffective management has hindered Vietnam's growth.

A report from the World Bank, called "Doing Business 2014" indicates that Vietnam's GNI per capita is currently USD1,400. Olin McGill from USAID said Vietnam's GNI per capital should be around USD7,000 but the actual figure is lower because of weak management and cumbersome administrative procedures. According to him, the longest time it should take to pay taxes is 300 hours, yet firms in Vietnam have to spend an average of over 800 hours.

The time necessary to comply with all required procedures to export goods across the border is about 21 days. According to McGill, this amount of time is too long and increases the cost of trade. He added that, if the now separate processes for business and tax registration were to be merged, it would save a large amount of money for businesses.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, Acting Head of the Central Institute for Economic Management agreed, commenting that, if the time it takes to export were reduced, Vietnam's GDP could see an increase 30%.

Despite a weak business environment compared to neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, foreign development investment into Vietnam has remained stable. Le Cao Doan from the Vietnam Institute of Economics said, "It may behoove enterprises to lobby the authorities to alter business policy to create a more hospitable economic climate."

As an example, Doan pointed out that that investments were being poured into the Formosa steel project in Ha Tinh Province even though Vietnam has a high levels of inventory of steel and the real estate market has not recovered.

He said, "Some enterprises also take advantage of our weak management to evade taxes. In the end, we will gain nothing but pollution and outdated technology without the proper reforms."

HCM City’s traffic congestion seen worsening

More roads in HCMC will be closed or narrowed to make room for upgrade and construction projects, leading traffic congestion to worsen in many parts of the city.

The HCMC Department of Transport on July 21 said work on five major projects would begin in the coming time.

The department said a project to upgrade an eastern belt road section from Phu My Bridge to Inter-provincial Road 25B is being carried out to fix the deteriorating road surface until August 30. The East-West Highway section in District 2, now called Mai Chi Tho Road, is also being repaired and upgraded until December 28 this year.

During the upgrades of the two road sections, vehicles are banned from Luong Dinh Cua and Nguyen Thi Dinh streets. The alternative route is Mai Chi Tho – Cat Lai port (or Mai Chi Tho - Dong Van Cong) – Mai Chi Tho – Luong Dinh Cua or Nguyen Thi Dinh).

In the past week, traffic construction has been ongoing on the approach road to Phu My Bridge. The department warned of more jams in the east of HCMC in District 2 when the East-West Highway section is under construction and around the hours when containers trucks transport goods to and from Cai Lai Port.

Construction work at the intersection of National Highway 1A and Road No.2 has affected traffic since July 12 and the situation will remain unchanged until work is complete on October 3 next year.

Traffic jams are forecast on the streets in HCMC’s District 1 when work on Metro Line No. 1 begins later this month and lasts around two years. During this period, vehicles will be prohibited on some street sections in the downtown area and cars will not be allowed to park on Nguyen Hue and Le Loi boulevards.

The water drainage project is being implemented at the Le Duc Tho Road section from Le Hoang Phai Street to Ba Mien Canal in Phu Nhuan District until September 12 this year. Vehicles are banned from Le Duc Tho  Road and the alternative route is Thong Nhat – Nguyen Van Luong – Nguyen Oanh or Le Hoang Phai and vice versa.

Dau Anh Phuc of the HCMC Department of Transport said as implementation of the projects will result in traffic congestion at many places and affect people’s daily activities, the agency has mapped out alternative routes in the hopes of easing traffic jams around the construction sites.

Vaccinations for hepatitis B drop

The number of children receiving hepatitis B vaccine within a day of being born has fallen sharply, said professor Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

Hien warned that the low rate meant it would be difficult to control any outbreak of hepatitis B.

In the first six months of this year, only 20 per cent of new-borns in the country received the vaccine, whereas the rate in 2012 was 75 per cent and last year was 56 per cent.

Hien said that the rate of children receiving the vaccine fell sharply after three children in the central province of Quang Tri's Huong Hoa District died after receiving it last year.

The tragedy happened when a nurse at Huong Hoa District General Hospital was asked by a doctor to administer the vaccine to the babies last July.

When she went to collect the vaccine from the refrigerator, there was a power cut and she mistakenly picked up the wrong medicine, an anaesthetic called Esmeron.

The refrigerator was meant to be used solely to store the hepatitis B vaccine, but a doctor, Le Truong Son, used the refrigerator to store the anaesthetic without telling anyone.

When given in sufficient time, the vaccine can reduce transmission of the disease from mother to child by 85-90 per cent.

Hien said that giving new-borns hepatitis B vaccine was a global campaign. In Viet Nam, the work has been carried out for 30 years.

He said hepatitis B was a safe vaccine and was not contra-indicated for children born prematurely. The rate of accidents after injection is one or two cases per million doses.

Most airlines have been accused of dodging compensation for passengers held up by delayed or cancelled flights, a Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam (CAAV) inspection team said yesterday.

Figures from the CAAV show that between July 13-20, more than 890 out of 3,415 flights were delayed, accounting for 26.12 per cent of total. The number of cancelled ones was 76, making up 2.18 per cent of total.

The CAAV inspection team reported on the findings from a survey of flights at Viet Nam's three international airports, Tan Son Nhat in HCM City, Noi Bai in Ha Noi and Da Nang between July13 and 20.

CAAV deputy director and head of the inspection team Vo Huy Cuong said that the team found shortcomings on service quality, which could have delayed or led to the cancellation for flights.

During the inspection at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on July 14, VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific experienced delayed flights, but did not apologise to passengers or offer any compensation.

Some passengers who had to wait for hours for a reconnecting flight did not even receive a meal while waiting.

The team found signs of understating delay periods to avoid having to pay for meals.

Both carriers had no staff in charge of resolving unexpected issues on that day.

In terms of delayed and cancelled flights, the team found that at Noi Bai airport, the preparation work on flights before 8am was poor. There were few reports about flights forced to change their routes through bad weather, Cuong said.

At Tan Son Nhat International Airport, passengers who went to the domestic boarding gate were often crushed in the rush at peak hours.

Cuong said there were also delaying problems caused by runways, parking lots, and plane elevators.

For example, some planes took 20-30 minutes to leave the runways at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

He said poor cooperation between agencies, businesses and units also contributed to the issue.

Cuong said the inspection team would ask the CAAV to establish an ad hoc group to find the key reasons for the delays.

The team has asked airlines to re-calculate flying times and report to the CAAV before August 15.

The team also asked the CAAV to quickly verify the reason for the cancellations of Dong Hoi-Ha Noi flight on July 11 and July 17 because some reports suggested they were cut for profit reasons.

Cuong said the team asked the CAAV to organise one more inspection on the three airports next week.

English teachers share innovative methods

Nearly 1,000 teachers from HCM City primary schools exchanged ideas about English teaching at a conference held yesterday.

Innovative teaching methods at primary schools were discussed, including teaching English using traditional Vietnamese tales, story telling and reading, reading circles, and teaching English through activities such as weather reports.

Nearly 70 per cent of primary-school students in the city learn English in school, he said.

Bomb from war found in Quang Binh

A team from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) defused and removed a bomb from a construction site at Long Dai Commune in Quang Binh Province yesterday.

The bomb, weighing around 150 kilogrammes, with an active fuse, was unearthed during excavations at the ferry station construction site in the commune.

The bomb was defused and removed safely for detonation.

Names of food code violators announced

The Viet Nam Food Administration (VFA), has released the names of seven companies that violated regulations on advertisement of functional food and 10 others for violating food safety standards.

Tran Quang Trung, director of VFA, said the administration had collected a total fine of VND211 million (over US$10,040) from the violating companies during inspections during the first half of the year.

Hannex Ltd Co, Thuy Ta Joinstock Company and An Ky Ltd Co are among those fined for violating standards in preserving food additives.

Coach catches fire inside Hai Van Tunnel

A coach carrying 35 passengers from Da Nang City to Thua Thien-Hue Province caught fire inside the Hai Van Tunnel yesterday morning.

The driver failed to extinguish the blaze with the help of a mini fire extinguisher. The Hai Van Tunnel Management and Operation Company detected the incident via the security camera and sent fire engines to get the blaze under control after 40 minutes.

All the passengers of the coach, including five children, were rescued, while eight vehicles and 95 people also managed to escape from the tunnel.

Hanoi battles new outbreak of dengue fever

Eight people have been diagnosed with dengue fever in the latest breakout of the mosquito-borne tropical disease in Yen Hoa ward, Cau Giay district, Hanoi, said Nguyen Nhat Cam, director of Hanoi Preventive Medicine Centre.

The city has recorded 86 cases of dengue fever since the beginning of the year, a decrease by half compared from same period last year, according to statistics from the Hanoi Preventive Medicine Centre.

The complicated development of a new outbreak with numerous patients forebodes an epidemic is likely to reoccur in August, September and October. Last week, the city also recorded a rise of 11 new cases of dengue fever over the previous week.

Cam said the most effective preventative measure is eradication of mosquitoes and larva as there is no available vaccine for the disease. In the future, drastic measures will be undertaken to stamp out the epidemic in the city.

Da Nang launches e-government system

The central city of Da Nang on July 22 launched its e-government system after seven years of development, becoming a pioneer in handling administrative issues online.

The system comprises a range of infrastructure, policies, and mechanisms of information technology (IT) and communications, and IT manpower resources.

The city's synchronous and updated e-government system will allow greater transparency and efficiency among State agencies while minimising bureaucratic delays, said Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications Pham Kim Son.

It also helps connect all city agencies, grassroots administrations and online public services, he added.

Last August, Da Nang launched its IT infrastructure system, which includes a Metropolian Area Network (MAN), wireless internet, a data centre and a centre for human training and research on IT applications.

So far, the city has offered wireless internet free services, with a maximum of 20,000 connections at major centres and streets, including living quarters, schools and beaches.

These services are available at tourist sites, hospitals and shopping malls, apart from bus and railway stations, airport and entertainment complexes.

Da Nang is one of the biggest cities developing concentrated information centres, after Hanoi and HCM City.

With the construction of the 341-ha Da Nang IT park in April 2013, US investor Rocky Lai & Associates Inc expects to turn it into a hi-tech industrial development modeled after the Silicon Valley in the US and Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan, targeting to attract small, medium and large companies engaging in technology-intensive industries.

HCM City primary schools to utilise TOEFL Primary

The HCM City Department of Education and Training revealed plans for implementing TOEFL Primary, throughout the City’s primary school system in the 2014-2015 academic year at a seminar on July 22.

TOEFL Primary is a series of highly researched tests designed specifically to develop and evaluate young learners (primary school students) English proficiency and thinking skills both academically and socially.

Nguyen Quang Vinh, head of the department’s Primary Education Division said the enhanced English programme has been introduced at primary schools in the city since 2000.

The programme has been tremendously successful with around 300,000 primary students having participated, Vinh said. During the seminar, teachers shared experiences in teaching English for primary students through diverse activities such as maths and science, culture and story-telling.

In addition, representatives from IIG Vietnam – an officially-authorised unit of the Education Testing Service (ETS) introduced issues related to TOEFL Primary and committed to supporting teachers in teaching primary English.

Summer camp for OVs youth kicks off in HCMC

Over 60 Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) students from 10 countries around the globe are attending a youth summer camp which opened in Ho Chi Minh City on July 22.

On opening day of camp, the youth participated in a wide variety of interesting activities including the offering of incense to a statue of late President Ho Chi Minh and a challenging chess competition with students from Nguyen Dinh Chieu School for Blind Children.

They also learned about Don ca tai tu (southern folk music) with Prof. Dr Tran Van Khe, held an exchange with 171 naval soldiers and joined in traditional games in Vung Tau city.

The youth camp, organised by the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs in co-ordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union, lasts through July 25.

Requiem to commemorate fallen soldiers

A requiem will be held at the Culture-Tourism Village of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups in the outlying district of Son Tay on July 27 to commemorate war heroes who dedicated their lives to the nation.

At the event, which is part of activities to mark the 67 th anniversary of the War Invalids and Martyrs Day, Buddhist monks and nuns will also chant prayers for the souls of the deceased in the recent military helicopter crash in Hoa Lac district.

On July 22, Deputy Minister of Public Health Nguyen Viet Tien visited and presented gifts to wounded soldiers at Thuan Thanh nursing centre in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

The centre is now home to over 1,000 seriously-wounded soldiers across the country, 90 percent of them are now confined to a wheelchair while the rest suffer limb and facial lesions.

In the southern province of Hau Giang, 30,000 war heroes received gifts, each worth 100,000 – 300,000 VND (4-14 USD). Over 14,700 who rendered services to the nation were presented with the State President’s gifts, each valued at 200,000 – 400,000 VND (9-19 USD).

The provincial Department of War Invalids and Social Affairs also visited and granted gifts to over 1,300 disabled soldiers and their relatives.

The locality will honour 208 as heroic Vietnamese mothers.

Similar activities are underway in the southern province of Binh Phuoc.

The same day, the Military Command in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong joined with Dak Nong newspaper and Prudential Vietnam to offer free health check-ups and medicines to nearly 200 families of ex-revolutionaries and the poor.

In the coming days, they will also hand over books, stationeries and scholarships to outstanding students living in need.

In the meantime, activities honouring soldiers and officers who sacrificed their lives for the national liberation are taking place across the country.

Thousands of Ca Mau rural households access clean water

A project partly funded by the World Bank is expected to ensure clean water for 4,500 rural households in the southernmost province of Ca Mau as it comes to an end this October.

The Ca Mau Clean Water and Environmental Hygiene Centre reported that the project has a total investment of 88 billion VND (4.2 million USD), 61 billion VND (2.9 million USD) of which was financed by the WB.

In more than one year of implementation, it has built water facilities in six rural communes, supplying clean water for local daily lives and production.

There are 82 rural communes in the province, but only 42 of them have gained standard access to clean water.

Ca Mau is promptly implementing six other programmes from now to 2017 to supply clean water to the rest 40 communes.

It plans to mobilise 350 billion VND (16.7 million USD) from international organisations for the programmes, worth 500 billion VND (23.8 million USD) in total.

Workshop marks trade union’s founding anniversary

The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) and the Party Central Committee’s Theory Council jointly held a workshop in Hanoi on July 22 on the occasion of the 85th founding anniversary of the VGCL - the national trade union organisation.

The event focused on clarifying great contributions by the organisation to Vietnam’s revolutionary cause, as well as challenges and measures to increase the efficiency of its operation.

Reports delivered by VGCL President Dang Ngoc Tung and other speakers at the event stated that over the past 85 years, the VGCL and trade union organisations at grassroots levels have made the protection of legitimate rights and interests of workers and labourers nationwide their main task.

At the same time, trade unions also encourage and assist their members in enhancing their professional skills, while educating them on law and patriotism.

The speakers affirmed that the VGCL’s 85-year history proves that it is the only organisation capable of representing and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of working people in the country.

Besides sharing their experience in trade union activities, participants also suggested trade union organisations should coordinate with ministries and sectors in the process of making, revising and enforcing laws and policies on labour and workers.

The VGCL now has around 8 million members.

Fallen soldiers laid to rest in An Giang province

A reburial was held at the Doc Da Bac Martyrs’ Cemetery, the Mekong Delta province of An Giang , on July 22 for the newly-found remains of 183 Vietnamese soldiers who laid down their lives during the US war.

The remains were among the 187 sets of bones found during an eight-month search. The remaining four were brought back to their home villages.

Search teams found 123 sets of remains at border areas in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts and 64 in Cambodia . Only seven of them were identified.

Colonel Pham Quang Trung from the An Giang Military High Command said the remains of thousands of soldiers who fell down in the province and Cambodia during the war are still unaccounted for.

He said the search faces an array of difficulties as landscape has changed and a lot of witnesses have passed away.

Scholarships accompany children to school

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Children Support Fund Council, on July 22 presented 150 scholarships to students in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa, as part of the “Together with children to school” programme.

Of the recipients are 110 from low-income families while the rest are offspring of officers and soldiers who are safeguarding the nation’s sea and island sovereignty. Each scholarship is worth 3 million VND.

Launched in September 2012, the programme has granted scholarships worth nearly 19 billion VND (897,200 USD) to more than 6,500 children in 48 out of the 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

The Vietnam Children Support Fund has raised over 4 trillion VND (188.67 million USD) to assist more than 28 million disadvantaged children over the past 22 years, said Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep.

According to the ministry, more than 200,000 children in Vietnam drop out of school each year with reasons varied, including to live too far away from school, with many from remote and mountainous areas having to walk around 5-10 km or even further to reach their school.

Nearly 1.5 million children are living in disadvantageous living conditions and more than 2.5 million others are likely to fall victim to economic difficulties.

Oceanography sector active in international integration

The oceanography sector should active join the country’s international integration process, said Dr. Vo Si Tuan, Director of the Institute of Oceanography under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, adding that the sector has engaged in international cooperation since its early days.

Vietnam’s oceanography sector came into being with the establishment of the “Indochina Department of Oceanographic Fishery” in September 1922 under the decision of the Governor-general of Indochina.

The department was the predecessor of the Oceanographic Institute of Indochina (established in 1930) and the Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography (founded in 1952), which is currently the “Oceanography Institute.”

Immediately after its formation, the department organised research trips on the ship De Lanessan to the Gulf of Thailand in 1925, the Gulf of Tonkin in 1925, and Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos in 1926 and 1927. It also set up 572 stations for periodical survey, including a permanent station in Hoang Sa archipelago.

From 1925 to 1953, seven survey trips to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa were organised, focusing on geography, geology, hydrodynamics, sea creatures and maritime resources potential.

Vietnam also teamed up with other countries to carry out multilateral scientific research in the Gulf of Thailand and the southern waters in the framework of the NAGA (1959-1960) and the CSK (1965-1977) programmes. The NAGA programme resulted in 17 research works on hydrological physics, geology and biology, while the CSK issued seven atlases, and more than 400 reports on surveyed data, among others.

In addition, during the 1960s, the country cooperated with China and the Soviet Union to conduct surveys in the Gulf of Tonkin, collecting a large volume of data on hydrometeorology, environment and natural resources.

From 1981-1985, Vietnamese experts were joined by their Soviet Union counterparts in survey trips on board the Berill and Kallisto ships of the Soviet Union to waters offshore the southern central, southeastern and western regions, and Truong Sa archipelago.

Between 1986 and 1990, more trips were organised on board the Shirshow and Ocean ships of the Soviet Union to collect oceanographic data on Vietnam’s continental shelf and offshore waters in the East Sea.

Vietnam started a bilateral cooperation on marine research with Germany in 2003 which lasted until 2009. During the period, a total of 17 survey trips were organised, focusing on research on upwelling and related phenomena in Vietnam’s southern waters.

As part of the policy on regional integration, Vietnam has also worked with the Philippines to carry out the Joint Oceanographic and Marine Scientific Research Expedition in the East Sea ( JOMSRE) since 1996. Under the programme, the two countries’ scientists, diplomats and military officers conducted four joint surveys in 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2007 in waters surrounding islands in the Truong Sa archipelago.

Cooperation with Russia has resumed, with several joint surveys made in 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

The country has also joined Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand in a project funded by the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (GEF). The project aimed to avert the environmental degradation in the East Sea and the Thailand Gulf and build action plans for each of the involved countries and a regional strategic action plan.

Candles to be lit to remember war heroes

Candles will be lit at 3,000 cemeteries nationwide on July 26 in a collective moment to commemorate heroic soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice to the national liberation, and to mark the 67th anniversary of the War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27).

The candle-lit honour event hosted by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union turns to the seventh year this year.

In the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, nearly 1,000 students will offer incenses and light candles at graves of 2,000 war heroes.

While in the central city of Hue, tribute will be paid to 2,100 fallen soldiers.

On the occasion, gifts will be presented to heroic Vietnamese mothers in Ha Giang. Some 500 heroic mothers and ex-revolutionaries will also enjoy free medical check-ups and treatment.

Nguyen Thai Binh and Vu A Dinh scholarships worth (1,600 USD) will go to 50 outstanding students of families that rendered services to the national liberation.

Similar commemorative activities will also be held in Thua Thien-Hue and Ho Chi Minh City.

Among cemeteries dedicated to war heroes nationwide, the Truong Son National Martyrs Cemetery is the resting place of 10,263 fallen soldiers hailing from across the country.

Meanwhile, over 10,000 soldiers who laid down their lives during fierce battles in the American war were laid to rest at the Road 9 National Martyrs Cemetery.

Vietnam driver involved in April accident that killed French couple innocent: police

Police in southern Tien Giang Province have concluded that the driver of the tree-watering truck involved in April’s accident committed no fault in the fatal accident that left seven people dead, including a French couple, and 10 others injured, police said.

According to the police’s conclusion that was issued Monday, driver Tran Thanh Phong, 35, of Ben Tre Province, was driving a Thao Chau Company bus with 14 passengers, including the French couple, from the province to Ho Chi Minh City on April 16.

Before the accident occurred, Phong was driving the bus at 92 kph in the 80-100 kph lane.

His bus was only 30-40 meters behind another bus, while the distance required for safety is 100 meters, police said.

Therefore, when the other bus switched to the 60-80 kph lane to avoid the tree-watering truck in front of it, Phong failed to do the same and crashed into the truck from behind, causing the deadly accident.

At that time, the truck, managed by the HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway Management Center, was traveling at only 10-15 kph.

Such a low speed is less than the minimum speed required for vehicles to travel on the expressway, but tree-watering trucks are allowed to travel on expressways, under the Vietnam Road Traffic Law, police said.

There is no evidence to prove the watering truck committed a fault in this case, police concluded.

Meanwhile, evidence shows that Phong “violated the regulations on operating a means of transport,” but as he already died in the accident, police did not carry out legal proceedings for the case.

The HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway Management Center and Thao Chau Bus Company came to an agreement with the families of the dead victims, to whom they paid compensation for their loss.

Regarding the two French victims – Loreal Jacques Jean, 64, and his wife Loreal Boussiron Nicole, 60 – police did not invite their families to come to Vietnam to discuss reparations with the center and the company.

Instead, police allowed the center and the company to settle an insurance compensation with the foreigners’ families.

At an earlier meeting with competent agencies from Tien Giang Province, a representative of the French Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City asked about procedures to take legal action against the truck driver.

In reply, the provincial police said that if the Consulate General does not agree to the police’s conclusion, it could take legal action in accordance with the laws of Vietnam.

13,873 traffickers arrested in first half

Police forces uncovered 9,214 drug trafficking cases and arrested 13,873 traffickers in the first six months this year, reported Deputy Minister of Public Security, Lieutenant-General, Le Quy Vuong in Hanoi on July 22.

He was speaking at a national online conference, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, of the National Steering Committee for Crime Fighting and Prevention.

Police officials seized 246,039 kilogram heroin; 103,462 kilogram synthetic drugs & 302,048 drug tablets; and 656,893 kilogram marijuana, said Mr. Vuong.

Drug trafficking and transport in the border area between Vietnam and Laos were very complicated. Criminals were armed and willing to fight against the police when being spotted, added Vuong.

On July 19, while besieging an armed gang who was transporting the banned substance, the police faced fierce opposition killing one official and injuring another.

In the end, two of the criminals were annihilated, three were arrested and 108 heroin cakes, guns and other exhibits were seized, he concluded.

Deputy Director of HCMC Police Department Phan Anh Minh said that they had found some subjects transporting drug in large volume from the north, showing increasing demand in the city.

Quang Nam authorities seek earthquake forecasts

Quang Nam provincial authorities have asked other agencies to help with an earthquake forecast for the region around Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant, which has experienced repeated quakes recently.

On July 27, authorities in Quang Nam Province said they had sent official requests to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, the Institute of Geophysics and Vietnam Electricity (EVN).

In the documents, they asked these agencies to carry out research to make an assessment of the hazards posed to the area by earthquakes before proposing any solutions to the prime minister.

The municipal authorities also said they would make public information about the hydropower plant and the earthquakes that have affected it. Since May, there has been a series of quakes near Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant in Bac Tra My District.

About 10 occurred in June and early July. The strongest was on July 8, measuring 3.6 on the richter scale, and the latest, on July 17, was 2.5 in magnitude.

It is said that water levels at the plant's reservoir have been low, however the frequency of the earthquakes is not diminishing, which worries those living in Bac Tra My District.

In 2012, a number of discussions were held concerning the earthquake problem at Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant. According to experts, Song Tranh 2 was left vulnerable to damage from earthquakes as a result of an ill-conceived water storage system. Last year, municipal authorities held earthquake readiness exercises for all residents.

Mobile operators deny responsibility for cellular spam

Investigators who busted a large cellular spamming case, said that mobile network operators should take some responsibility because they profit from the junk messages.

Ministry of Public Security's Anti-Hi-tech Crimes Police Department (C50) and police from Dong Da District, Hanoi recently broke the case.

A man named Le Ngoc Tien hired individuals to set up three separate companies so he could send out spam ads to mobile phones using the carriers Vinaphone, Mobiphone and Viettel.

Most of the texts are for gambling and fortune-telling services. When the user replies to a text message, VND500 to VND15,000 will be subtracted from their account. From June 2013 to June 2014, millions of spam texts were sent out, bringing in around VND22 billion (USD1million).

After this case, police decided to expand their investigation and discovered a company called Thien Ngan, which had a similar spam scheme.

According to advertisement contracts, the network operators would earn 55% of the total revenue from such schemes. When the investigators asked the operators to take responsibility, they answered that enforcement would be impossible because millions of text messages would have to be sorted through and read before they send them on to users.

Colonel Le Hong Son, Head of Anti-Hi-tech Crimes Police Department, said the Ministry of Information and Communication should place tighter regulations on operators or the consumers would be the ones to suffer.

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