The city's government has ordered the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment not to approve the demand from Vietnam Waste Solution Company (VWS) to import uncategorized waste for a trial operation of its waste separating plant.
Early this week, VWS, investor of the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex in Binh Chanh District that receives 3,000 tons of trash every day, had shocked the public by refusing to use the huge amount of garbage discharged to Da Phuoc but insisting on using the imported waste for their separation test.
VWS said the the domestic waste, which is not separated into recyclable and non-recyclable, "failed to meet the plant's requirements" as only recyclable waste including papers, paperboards, uncut plastic packaging and some scraps that are yet to be categorized are suitable.
The request is against the environmental law, which stipulates that waste must be cleaned and separated before imports.
To protest, VWS said the waste would become useless in serving the separation test if it was categorized before imports, adding that the import was just temporary.
Hence, the municipal People's Committee has approved the demand as recommended by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, but required that waste must be cleaned and categorized before imports as per the environmental law.
But the approval has raised public concerns over the futility of importing the waste since it would be separated before imports and thus would serve no purposes in testing the waste separating function.
Journalist-burning wife acted alone: indictment
After prolonged investigations and much hearsay, police on Thursday finally filed murder charges against Tran Thuy Lieu, 40, for burning her husband, journalist Le Hoang Hung, to death in January in Long An province.
But the indictment says that Lieu acted alone, rejecting speculation that her extramarital lover helped her in the evil deed.
The indictment has been sent to the provincial People's Procuracy for approval.
Lieu pleaded guilty to burning Hung on February 20, 20 days after Hung died in hospital.
According to final investigation results, there is insufficient evidence to link the murder to Lieu's extramarital lover - Nguyen Van Tam, former head of the province's Market Management Team No. 5.
Previously, the police said that Tam had instructed Lieu on how to report to police about her crime.
Spokesman of the Procuracy Cao Minh Tri said the agency would re-examine the entire case before it decides on either approving the indictment against Lieu or requesting the police to make additional investigations.
Lieu told the police that Hung had beaten her many times on suspicion she committed adultery. Due to anger at this, she decided to kill him from revenge.
On January 17, Lieu bought a rope and tied it onto the banister on the first floor. She then rolled the rope up and hid it into a corner of the balcony.
She said she did to create a fake crime scene to distract police's attention.
At 0 am January 19, when Hung was sleeping alone in his bedroom on the floor, Lieu went out to the banister and let the rope fall down to the ground. She then returned to her room to take a bag of petrol, a newspaper, and a lighter before walking into Hung's room.
She poured the petrol onto the mattress, set fire to the newspaper and then threw it onto the mattress on which Hung was sleeping. She immediately returned to her bedroom.
When Hung was on fire and rushed into Lieu's room screaming for help, she and two her daughters took him into the toilet to put out the fire with water before taking him to the Long An General Hospital.
Hung was then transferred to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and died there on January 29. He was 51 years old.
Hung was a journalist of Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper and covered social, underworld gang and anti-corruption cases.
Five kids drown in Thua Thien Hue
Earlier, at 6pm Thursday, Le Thi Hang came home from farming work when she could not see her three children but found their slippers on the bank of a pond nearby in Thuy Phu commune, Huong Thuy town.
She shouted for help. Neighbors dived down and found many dead bodies holding tight to one another.
By 7pm, five bodies had been retrieved including Hang's three children – Nguyen Thi Cam Van, 11 years old, Nguyen Thi Phuong Nga, 9 years old and 6-year-old Nguyen Van Thang.
The other two victims are Nguyen Thi Diem My, 10 and her sister Nguyen Thi Kim Hang, 8, children of a neighboring couple.
The five did not know how to swim.
Besides the slippers, a basket containing feeds for ducks was also left on the pond's bank.
Since Hang's eldest child - Van - was in charge of feeding ducks, it is conjectured that she slipped into the pond while feeding ducks. The others could have jumped down to save her.
Hang's family is very poor. Her dilapidated house is just 20 square meters.
"We only have three children. All of them are good pupils", cried Nguyen Minh, father of the three perished kids.
A neighbor told Tuoi Tre that the family is so poor their kids rarely took pictures.
So far, no photos of the perished kids have been found for their funeral.
Party official sacked for using fake diploma
The secretary (i.e head) of Huong Toan commune Communist Party Committee in Thua Thien Hue province has been sacked for using a fake diploma.
Truong Van Dung was also dismissed as Party Committee member on Thursday, confirmed Le Duc Dan, head of the district Inspectorate Committee.
But Dung objected, saying the punishment is too strict.
Back in 2005, Dung borrowed the high school degree from Pham Huu Thuan, 27 and erased Thuan's name, took out Thuan's photo and other personal details.
Dung then wrote his own name down, attached his own photo and claimed the degree was his.
To validate the degree, Dung solicited the help of Tran Khiem Hai, vice President of the commune People's Committee [local government] who illegally notarized the fake degree's multiple copies.
Khiem is now under investigation by the Inspectorate Committee.
In other news, inspectors earlier this month found out that the director of the State Bank of Vietnam's branch in Bac Lieu province - Mr. Ho Thai Nguyen - does not have a high school diploma.
However, Nguyen has miraculously managed to obtain a university degree.
Nguyen claimed that he did graduate from high school but lost the diploma.
However, he failed to inform which educational institution issued his high school degree.
Overturned truck looted in Quang Binh
Hundreds of people early Thursday morning rushed to the National Highway 1A in Dai Trach commune in Quang Binh central province to collect fruits and vegetables that had fallen off an overturned truck.
The incident reportedly blocked the road for hours.
Eyewitnesses said the vehicle numbered BKS 47P-2149 was heading for the north when it unexpectedly turned over, causing all the fruits and vegetables to fall out.
In a similar incident on the afternoon of June 6, many residents living near An Duong Vuong roundabout in Ho Chi Minh City flocked to the street to collect money after a motorist was robbed and a lot of banknotes fell out of his torn bag.
On the afternoon of March 31, around 5 or 6 women didn't help the victim whose five-storey building located on No. 47 Huynh Thuc Khang in Hanoi's Dong Da district collapsed but even fought one another to get metal scraps.
UNIDO helps VN implement Stockholm Convention
The application of best available techniques (BAT) and the best environmental practices (BEP) to reduce the unintentional production of the persistent organic pollutants (POP) in Vietnam's industrial sector was discussed at a seminar in central coastal Da Nang city, on July 29.
A two-year project on the theme was carried out with technical assistance from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) at a cost of 800,000 USD, provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Under the project, pilot projects were implemented in rubbish burning, cement and paper production and the steel industry.
UNIDO's technical assistance aimed to develop essential human resources and infrastructure for the implementation of the Stockholm Convention to reduce and cut POP.
The project was combined with Vietnam's national strategies to develop sustainable industry and clean production and improve people's health and environment.
The two-day seminar was briefed on the results of the BAT and BET application in incinerators and cement kilns.
Participants also assessed the technology to clean up dioxin and studied the impact of the recycling of uncontrolled electronic waste on the environment and people's health./.
Americans grant nutrition aid for children
The Internourish group of the US on July 27 handed over 378,000 doses of vitamin to the central province of Quang Ngai to benefit over 3,000 malnourished children.
The aid was made under an agreement signed between the provincial administration and the US organisation, aimed at ensuring a good supply of micro-nutrients for malnourished children and educating parents in child-care knowledge.
An Giang prepares for Khmer Sports Festival
A 1,000-seat competition house was inaugurated in Tinh Bien district, the southern province of An Giang on July 28 in preparation for the upcoming 5 th Southern Khmer Culture and Sports Festival.
The work, covering 2,000 sq. m, consists of indoor and outdoor games components. The indoor games part is capable of hosting competitions of seven to ten sports at a time.
The 5 th Southern Khmer Culture and Sports Festival is slated for December this year.
Vietnam commits to ensure food security, nutrition
Vietnam has affirmed its strong commitment to the Colombo Declaration and Strategy to develop aquaculture in Asian countries towards food security, nutrition and economic development.
Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam made the affirmation in his speech delivered at the Meeting of Asian Ministers in Charge of Aquaculture, opened in Colombo , Sri Lanka , on July 28.
Tam and other Vietnamese delegates joined discussions on sustainable development of aquaculture for food security, nutrition and economic development.
The meeting was jointly held by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) in coordination with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of Sri Lanka.
On the sidelines of the event, Deputy Minister Tam held talks with Sri Lankan Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Rajitha Senaratne on boosting bilateral cooperation in fisheries following the 2010-2013 working plan signed by the two countries in Hanoi in October 2009.
The two sides agreed to initially focus on farming lobsters, seaweeds, sea cucumbers, and brackish water prawns and setting up a joint working group to quickly and effectively realise what had been agreed.
Hepatitis at alarming rate in VN, Asia-Pacific
Over 20 percent of Vietnamese population or 18 million people are suffering from hepatitis B and C.
This was announced by Prof. Pham Hoang Phiet, President of the Ho Chi Minh Liver and Gall Association at an Asia-Pacific conference on treatment of hepatitis B and C in Ho Chi Minh City on June 18 and 19.
Phiet added that one fifth of the infections are serious cases, which requires appropriate treatment.
A report at the conference also said that 75 percent of cases of hepatitis B in the world are in Asia-Pacific. This disease is the leading cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer and the 10th leading cause of death worldwide. About 15 percent to 25 percent of chronic Hepatitis B patients would die from liver diseases.
According to the Asia-Pacific Institute of Liver Diseases (APASL), hepatitis C is a large problem of public health in the region. The infection rate of hepatitis C in Japan , China , Taiwan and Vietnam is between 12 percent to 58 percent.
Organized for the first time on a regional scale, this conference brought together over 750 doctors and experts in hepatitis treatment from 16 countries and territories, including China, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Laos, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the US, the UK, Italy and Switzerland./.
Low vaccination rate puts hep-B target 'out of reach'
The World Health Organisation has warned Vietnam and eight other countries in the Western Pacific that they would not be able to reduce the hepatitis B infection rate in children to less than 2 percent by next year due to their low vaccination coverage.
It had pledged to support the nine countries – Cambodia , Kiribati , Laos , Papua New Guinea , the Philippines , Samoa , Solomon Islands , and Vanuatu being the others – that face significant challenges in combating the disease.
The major cause of the low vaccination rates is the large number of births that occur at home without skilled birth attendants, making it difficult to deliver vaccines and other care services, it said.
The countries target reducing the hepatitis B rate in children to less than 1 percent in future.
Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, said reaching the targets is crucial and doable.
"Focused, concerted action is essential, especially in the countries that continue to suffer from high rates of mother-to-child transmission," he said.
The region accounts for almost half the global incidence of hepatitis B while having only a third of the population.
More than 90 percent of countries around the globe are now including the vaccine against hepatitis B in routine childhood immunisation programmes, giving babies life-long protection.
July 28 has been designated as World Hepatitis Day, serving as an opportunity to promote specific actions towards controlling the disease.
Youth to submit ideas on ways to save costs
Young people's creative ideas should be taken into consideration and put into action to help the "Vietnamese Youth Take Action to Save Costs" campaign achieve success, according to speakers at the campaign's launch workshop held in Ha Noi yesterday.
The workshop saw the attendance of representatives from the Communist Youth Union, State agencies, young entrepreneur groups and an economic institute, who shared their experiences in saving money, energy and time from daily and office lives.
"A youth-centred campaign should be characterised by the youth's creativity," said Bui Truong Giang, deputy director of the Viet Nam Institute of Economics.
Such creativity was reflected in a number of young people's saving practices, especially in those aimed at helping society such as the "A Cup of Tea for the Community" campaign, implemented by the Ha Noi University of Science and Technology.
The campaign calls for weekly contributions equal to the cost of a cup of iced green tea (VND1,000-2,000 or US$0.05-0.1). While this seems to be an insignificant amount of money for some, according to Le Hieu Hoc, secretary of the university's youth union, it could gradually contribute to a considerable fund.
Hoc said that, with a total of 25,000 students, the university can save up to VND25 million (more than $1,160) per week, and VND1 billion (more than $46,500) per school-year as part of its campaign.
The fund will be used to help the university's disadvantaged students who suffer from financial or social limitations.
In addition to its community work, certain daily saving practices and administrative reforms such as the "paperless office" model applied in the Institute of Economics discourages printing and saves paper.
According to Nguyen Doan Thang, administrative head of the Viet Nam Young Entrepreneur Association, online meeting is another effective method to save money, energy and time.
In addition to sharing ideas, workshop attendees discussed the effectiveness of existing ideas in reducing costs.
Hoc said that the university's youth union had drafted a "saving handbook" for the next generation of students to raise common funds and save daily costs.
According to Phan Van Mai, secretary of the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, smaller group reports on campaign results should be submitted on a monthly and quarterly basis for review.
Rolling out rural internet 'tricky'
Rolling out broadband internet services in rural areas has been no means feat, necessitating comprehensive policies, according to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Tran Duc Lai.
As part of the ministry's strategy, by 2020, 100 per cent of communes nation-wide will be able to connect to multi-service broadband internet.
"I believe the Telecommunication Department, responsible for implementing the broadband strategy, will face a lot of difficulties in drawing up and rolling out its plans," Lai said.
He said that, based on experiences gathered from other countries, initial investments would come solely from the State budget before transferring to ICT enterprises, but that this pattern would prove impractical in Viet Nam.
"A possible approach would be to engage local ICT players in rolling out the plan while the Government plays the role of regulator for smooth and effective implementation," Lai said.
Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung suggested putting the right to operate 4G services up for sale with money earned going to investment.
Lai confirmed that the VND7 trillion (US$340 billion) Viet Nam Public Utility Telecommunication Fund project only looked at broadband in the present tense.
"The speed of 256kb per second that we are striving to establish is not the broadband speed in the real sense, internet connections in rural areas mostly achieved via 3G mobile coverage," he said.
However, in the long run, the development of broadband internet should be more sustainable and should include higher speeds, Lai added.
According to the multimedia penetration survey conducted by the ministry last year, while optical fibre cables have reached 96 per cent of communes, 32 have not been connected to telephone and internet networks.
Sweet 'Japanese tea' in Sa Pa proves harmful to health
A herb known as 'Japanese tea', which has been mistaken for a sweet tea called Stevia and long sold as a speciality in Sa Pa, contains toxic chemicals that may harm its drinkers, Sa Pa District People's Committee has announced.
Vice Chairman of the committee Nguyen Ngoc Hinh said that the sweet herb Stevia could have beneficial effects for people with diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure.
But that kind of tea doesn't grow in Sa Pa. The sweet tea sold in the town at VND80,000-100,000 (US$4-5) per kilogram is actually 'Japanese tea', he said.
The herb was grown for the first time in Sa Pa and Bac Ha towns in northern Lao Cai Province and Tam Dao Town in northern Vinh Phuc Province in 1992, after a contract was signed between Japan's Honso Company and the National Institute of Medicinal Materials.
The herb, with the scientific name Hydrangea macrophylla Seginge var thunbergii Makino, was planted to produce non-nicotine tobaccos. A disagreement over prices ended the contract in 2001, but the herb continued to develop well in Sa Pa.
"These herb trees produce about 5 tonnes of dry leaves every year. Thus, 28 households growing the trees pack and sell its dry leaf as the town's typical product with the advertisement of bringing good health for drinkers," he said.
'Japanese tea' has the same taste and shape as its beneficial cousin, but contains high levels of toxicity. Results from the National Institute for Medicinal Materials' study in 2007 showed that a dosage of 37.5g per kilogram was lethal.
When these results came to light, the selling of 'Japanese' tea' was banned in the town.
Hinh said he contacted Honso Company for further information about the herb. A representative of the company affirmed the tree was imported from China and it was used in anti-fungal and mould chemicals.
The committee has seized and destroyed several kilograms of 'Japanese tea' sold at the markets, but their campaign has not yet been effective because the herb is still legal to grow.
Hinh said that the committee contacted Viet Nam Traditional Materials and Products Processing-Exporting Co Ltd, which has agreed to purchase the rest of the 'Japanese tea' from 28 households at the price of VND50,000-60,000 ($2.5-3) per kilo.
These households had committed to cut down the trees after this transaction, he said.
Worms, diarrhoea blamed for stunted growth, low IQs
iarrhoea and enteric infections were two of the main factors that led to stunted growth and lower IQs in children, and proper hygiene could prevent this, said the deputy director of the National Nutrition Institute, Nguyen Thi Lam.
Doctor Ha Vinh from the HCM City Tropical Diseases Hospital said scientific research carried out over 10 years on Brazilian children had shown that during the first two years of a child's life, parasitic worms could have such an effect that it was highly possible that by the time they reached the age of seven, they would be 4 to 6 centimetres shorter than their peers.
This combination of parasitic worms and diarrhoea would result in a total growth shortfall of 8.2cm.
She said after removing the intestinal parasites, children would still probably suffer from cognitive decline later in life. "Helminth infections can decrease IQ scores by 10 points," she added.
Doctor Lam explained that when children were affected with helminth infections, they were subject to protein losses via the gastrointestinal tract and a reduction in the ability to absorb nutrients to feed the brain. "That's why the cognitive function is impaired," she said.
Widespread cases of hand-foot-mouth disease at the moment with its side effect of acute encephalitis were having a long-lasting impact on child patients. "What is worth noticing is the cognitive deficit may be permanent," Lam warned.
However, parents still didn't have the right attitude when it came to dealing with communicable diseases, they only focused on treatment rather than preventive measures, overlooking the fact that even if their kids recover, there may be long term effects.
"Unlike other illnesses such as fevers and coughs which result in weight loss, diarrhoea, enteric infections and hand-foot-mouth disease may lead to irreversible damages," Vinh said.
Ngu Duy Nghia from the National Institute of Hygiene Epidemiology said keeping our hands clean was of crucial importance to combating disease, and it is actually not that difficult to do.—
Vaccine helps control foot- mouth disease
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Thursday signed a decision to provide 100,000 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccine and 15,000 litres of disinfectant to the central province of Quang Ngai.
The decision comes in a bid to prevent another outbreak of the disease.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, which started last September infecting 133,000 cattle, had been put under control.
Police deny child kidnapping rumour
Deputy Chief of the Dong Hoi City Police Le The Thai has denied rumours that many local children have been kidnapped.
Thai confirmed that there was only one case of a two and a half-year-old child, reported missing on June 15, whom police were currently searching for.
Struggling mangrove forests make comeback in Tra Vinh
The coastal district of Duyen Hai in the southern province of Tra Vinh, where large areas of mangrove forests were destroyed to plant coconuts and breed shrimp, has recovered its mangrove forest with the help of local households.
Duyen Hai, which has a coastal line of 55km and has the largest area of submerged forest in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province, planted 200ha of new forest last year, according to the district Forest Protection Bureau.
Of that figure, 110ha were planted with capital from the Government for its project to plant 5 million hectares of forest nationwide. Local households contributed funds to plant the other 90ha.
In recent years, local households have contributed funds to re-plant mangrove forests in an area under aquaculture cultivation, mostly for shrimp and crab farming.
Duyen Hai now has more than 6,140ha of mangrove forest, with forest coverage at coastal areas reaching nearly 40 per cent.
Previously, thousands of ha of land were deforested for coconut and shrimp farming.
Mangrove forests declined from 19,000ha in 1975 to 5,429ha in 1992.
To deal with deforestation, district authorities and the district's Forest Protection Bureau have mobilised local households to grow new forests and participate in protecting existing forests.
Over the past five years, the district has offered 20 training courses on techniques to plant various kinds of mangrove trees.
It has encouraged local residents to plant nearly 757ha of new mangrove forests.
In addition, local residents have also contributed their own funds to afforest mangrove on 344ha of land.
Besides encouraging local households to plant new mangrove forests, the district authorities have also allocated a total of 330ha of existing mangrove-forested land for 250 local households to protect.
These households can earn an average revenue of VND25 million (US$1,200) per hectare a year from farming shrimp and other aquaculture species in mangrove forests and from harvesting products from mangrove forests.
The district has also set up 31 forest management teams, which have been operating effectively.
In addition, the district will work with the province's sub-department of Forest Protection to invest VND9 billion ($420,000) for a project to preserve the ecosystem of the 200-ha mangrove forest in Long Khanh Commune during the 2011-20 period.
The Long Khanh mangrove forest is an eco-tourism site with many species of fauna and flora.
According to the Forest Protection Bureau, the forested areas in the district, however, are still small and scattered, and there is a shortage of people who can act as managers of the forests.
Coffee farms hit by falling berries
More than 60,000ha of coffee plantations in the Central Highland province of Dak Nong have been hit by early falling berries over the past month, leaving local farmers hundreds of billions of dong out of pocket.
Around 30-40 per cent of berries have fallen, and the harvest is likely to be thousands of tonnes less than expected.
Local farmers have tried a number of methods to stem the tide, but to no avail.
Nguyen Bao Hai, a farmer from Duc Minh Commune, Dak Mil District planted 2.5ha of coffee and expected to harvest five tonnes per hectare. However, he too detected the disease on his farm two weeks ago.
"The coffee berries also fell in previous years, but the number was small, this year too many have fallen," said Hai.
Hai sprayed plant protection substances on his crop but they had little effect.
Experts from the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said one of the reasons for the issue was that fertiliser prices had recently increased, so farmers were using it sparingly.
The trees were also being attacked by pseudococcus, a type of mealy bug, and on top of that, there had been more rain than in previous years, which combined with the high humidity, had made the berries' stalks rotten.
Dak Mil District has the highest coffee area and productivity in the province, with more than 18,000ha and productivity of 2.3-2.8 tonnes per hectare.
Trinh Nguyen Vu, branch director of the Dong Xanh Co Ltd in the district, said that the coffee farms had been hit by anthracnose whose scientific name is Coletotricum.
The disease spreads quickly on the wind in high humidity. It appeared in the province a month ago but local farmers did not discover it in time and it spread.
"The disease can be treated within three or four days if it is discovered early," said Vu.
To treat the disease, farmers can use plant protection substances such as Napcuper 200cc or Mapgreen 200cc. The substance should be mixed with water and sprayed directly onto the trees, he said.
The Dak Nong Plant Protection Department asked district plant protection stations to help local farmers' associations to apply proper measures to treat the disease.
In the first stage, experts should advise farmers to put down enough fertiliser and spray plant protection substances to limit the number of falling berries.
source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/
Last update 31/07/2011 01:30:00 PM (GMT+7)
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