Indonesia supports funding of Asian Beach Games

Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesia will fully support the funding of the first Asian Beach Games in Bali from October 18-25, Coordinating Minister of People’s Welfare and Poverty Alleviation Aburizal Bakrie has said.

It was reported earlier that the funding still lacked about 18.82 million USD out of 32 million USD. According to the minister, Indonesian President has ordered ministries, governors and mayors across Bali to give support the event.

The opening ceremony of the event would feature arts and cultural performances, he was quoted by news agencies as saying after a cabinet meeting on September 8.

Forty one countries and regions with 3,000 athletes have confirmed their participation in the games. Others four teams are expected to register later, bringing the total delegations to 45 with 6,000 athletes, according to the Bali Asian Beach Games Organising Committee (BABGOC).

Seventeen sports will be featured in the games, namely handball, kabaddi (traditional Indian team sport), pencak silat, sepak takraw, beach soccer, beach volleyball, beach wrestling, bodybuilding, dragon boat racing, jet skiing, marathon swimming, paragliding, sailing, surfing, triathlon, windsurfing and wood ball.-

New Zealand, Malaysia resume FTA negotiations

Sydney (VNA) – New Zealand will resume negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with Malaysia next week, ending more than two years of hiatus, Prime Minister Helen Clark has said.

The negotiations began in 2005 and were put on hold in April 2006.

During the period, Malaysia worked on its own FTA with the United States and New Zealand focused on its trade agreement with China .-

Laos reports bird flu outbreak in Luang Prabang

Lao agriculture officials have confirmed that samples taken from dead ducks in Nambak district of Luang Prabang province tested positive for avian influenza, the Vientiane Times reported on September 9.

Officials say they plan to cull more than 7,000 birds in the red zone (outbreak area), which covers four villages, in an attempt to contain the virus, it said. About 3,000 birds have been culled so far and authorities are closely monitoring the situation to see if further culling is necessary.

The outbreak was first suspected on August 27, when 18 ducks died on a private farm in Nambak district. By September 2, the farm owner reported the deaths of 353 ducks. Officials began testing for the H5N1 virus on September 4, the paper said.

Bird flu outbreaks have occurred in Laos since 2004. The most serious outbreak occurred in 2007 when two human fatalities were confirmed in Vientiane province and the capital.

Earlier this year, an outbreak of the virus occurred in Luang Namtha province and authorities there culled thousands of birds to halt the spread of the disease.-

Cambodia: NRP not be part of new government

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia’s government spokesman Khieu Kanharith has said that though the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) is considering taking the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) as a partner in the government, the royalist party will not be part of the new government.

The government will be formed shortly following the first meeting of the National Assembly on September 24, but it will be made up of officials just from the CPP and FUNCINPEC, Khieu Kanharith, who is also the country’s information minister, was quoted as saying by local media.

Khieu Kanharith said the CPP has not yet seriously considered the NRP as a partner because the royalist party has not yet announced its support for the CPP political platform.

However, NRP’s officials were quoted as saying on September 4 that the party is not seeking a coalition government deal, denying earlier reports that it wanted a partnership with the CPP.

NRP spokesman Suth Dina said the party’s priority was securing the return of its leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who remains in self-imposed exile in Malaysia, where he fled in 2007 under a cloud of legal troubles.

According to official election results, the CPP won 90 of the National Assembly’s 123 seats, more than enough to form a government on its own while the NRP won two seats in parliament in the July 27 general election.-

One person killed in Indonesian earthquake

Jakarta (VNA) – One person was killed, 60 others were injured and tens of houses were damaged in Lahat town of South Sumatra province after a 5.6-magnitude quake hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island on September 9.

Twenty five houses and one health clinic were damaged by the quake, which had an epicenter at 51 kilometres southwest Tebing Tinggi of Bengkulu province and 10 kilometres underground, according to news agencies.

Ten of the 60 were seriously injured and were being hospitalized, Rustam Pakaya, chief of Indonesian Health Ministry Crisis Centre was quoted as saying.

Relief workers from Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province, had already been on the site of the accident, Pakaya said.-

Worst flash floods Malaysia’s Pinang and Kedah

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – At least one people was killed and some 1,000 others were forced to move to higher ground due to the worst flash floods that hit Pinang and Kedah states of Malaysia last weekend.

Ten landslides had also been reported leading to road closures.

Pinang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said he would be meeting several agencies to ensure aid to victims and also seek additional allocation from the federal government for flood mitigation projects, according to Bernama news agency.

“The federal government had only approved 380 million ringgits (11 million USD) for the project,” Lim was quoted by Bernama as saying. “This is inadequate as about 1 billion is needed for the entire project,” he said.

The 380 million ringgit allocation was to upgrade and rehabilitate two rivers, namely Sungai Pinang (130 million ringgits) and Sungai Junjung (125 million ringgits), and two other areas — Bukit Tambun (50 million ringgits) and Valdor (50 million ringgits).

In northern state of Kedah, some 1,565 people from Yan, Pendang and Kuala Muda were evacuated to flood relief centres.-

TAQ0909.008 Thai court ruled PM Samak to resign over TV show

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Constitutional Court has said that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej must step down because he violated the constitution by hosting TV cooking shows while in office.

The court said that PM Samak had “violated Article 267 of the constitution” that bans ministers from being employed or having any business dealings outside government and that “his position as prime minister has ended”, according to news reports.

The courted added that PM Samak’s entire cabinet must also resign, but ruled they could remain as a caretaker administration for 30 days until parliament elects a new prime minister.

However, Samak is not barred from standing again for prime minister, and his People Power Party said they will re-nominate him as new PM in the parliament voting.-

City farmers lose land, revenue to reclamation

HCM CITY — The loss of farmland, the environmental pollution and a dearth of market outlets for farm produce came to the fore as HCM City farmers gave vent to their deep anxieties last Sunday.

The farmers were speaking at the monthly “Talk and Act” meeting organ-ised to bring local authorities and residents together and address the latter’s concerns.

Speaking at the meeting held in Cu Chi District, Le Minh Tan, chairman of the Cu Chi District People’s Committee, acknowledged that the reclaiming of land for industrial parks had left many farmers bereft of their most vital production resource.

The district has 320,000 farmers, but the rate of those with idle time between harvests is as high as 55 per cent.

Tran Van Them, a resident of the district’s Phuoc Hiep Commune, said many farmers in his neighbourhood had stopped farming on their fields after the place was zoned to become a residential area.

“These farmers have to live on money borrowed from the bank, while they wait for their compensation”.

The city now has 116,000 ha of agricultural land, mainly in the five outlying districts of Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Nha Be and Can Gio.

Duong Van Nhan, deputy chairman of the HCM City Farmers Association, said rapid urbanisation had severely affected agricultural production in the districts.

“More and more agricultural land are left idle because of suspended zoning plans,” Nhan said.

Pham Phuong Thao, chairwoman of the municipal People’s Council, said the city had a policy to scale down the development of industrial parks and golf courses to save land for agricultural production.

Residents also raised their deep concern about environmental pollution and how it had affected agricultural production.

Farmer Truong Van Sam of Binh My Commune, said productivity in his village had fallen because of environmental pollution caused by nearby companies.

“Earlier, one ha of land in my village could produce 6-10 tonnes, but this has dropped to 3-4 tonnes as the companies release waste water directly into the environment.”

Most canals and rivers in Cu Chi District were polluted with the wastewater released by factories, and this had adversely affected agricultural production, several farmers noted.

The meeting also heard that farmers were finding it difficult to find a stable market for farm produce while the prices of inputs increased sharply.

Vo Thanh Phong, a representative of the Tien Phong Pig Rearing Co-operative, said it was difficult to find a stable outlet for the co-operatives’ pigs as the price of live pigs had fallen.

“If the co-operative sells at a low price, it will suffer losses,” he said.

Tu Minh Thien, director of the Agricultural Consulting and Supporting Centre under the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city’s farms could only meet 30 per cent of the city’s demand so there was no need to fear about outlets for their produce.

“Supermarkets are willing to buy farm produce from farmers, but the question is whether or not individual farmers or farm co-operatives can supply produce of the quality and quantity required,” Thien said.

He advised individual farmers and farm co-operatives to co-operate with each other to ensure stable quality and quantity of their produce.

This would assure them of stable markets for their produce, he said. —