Thua Thien-Hue gets 72,000 USD for wildlife conservation

Thua Thien-Hue gets 72,000 USD for wildlife conservation

QĐND – Tuesday, January 05, 2010, 19:54 (GMT+7)

The People’s Committee of Thua Thien-Hue province has recently received a foreign-funded project on building a preservation zone for Sao La deer (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) and other endemic cloven-hoofed animals.

The project, worth 72,495 USD, is co-funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Vietnam and Cambridge University . It will be conducted in the province until July 2012.

The project is expected to save the life of and facilitate development of Sao La deer and several endemic animals that are extremely at risk of extinction such as Truong Son Muntjac, douc langur, white-cheeked gibbon and some other newly-discovered species.

Source: VNA

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Over 22,000 households in Hanoi escaped from poverty

Over 22,000 households in Hanoi escaped from poverty

QĐND – Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 21:44 (GMT+7)

A conference on December 28^th of the Hanoi poor support steering board to review the city’s 2009 poverty reduction was chaired by Deputy Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, Dao Van Binh.

During the year, the city deployed a number of specific measures to support the poor in the locality, including granting gifts to poor families in the Lunar New Year festival, providing credits, training courses, launching agricultural promotion programmes and so on.

As a result, 105,934 poor households were financed to improve production and business; 2,500 labours from poor families were provided with jobs; 3,989 homes were built for the poor; and thousands of poor people were given medical insurance for free.

According to reports, 22,262 households have escaped from poverty in 2009 and the rate of the poor households in the city fell to 6.09 per cent, down 1 per cent against the plan.

The city set a target to reduce 22,500 more local poor households in 2010.

Source: HNM

Translated by Thu Nguyen  

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228,000 foreign tourists visit Vietnam in October

228,000 foreign tourists visit Vietnam in October

QĐND – Monday, November 02, 2009, 20:24 (GMT+7)

228,000 foreign tourists visited Vietnam last month, down 25.1 percent against the previous month, according to the National Administration of Tourism. 

Tourists sharply decreased from the main markets, by 24.2% from the Republic of Korea, by 26.3% from China and by 18.8% from Thailand.

The country welcomed 3 million of foreign tourists in the first nine months of this year, a drop of 16 percent compared to the same period last year

With the 3^rd Asian Indoor Games taking place in Vietnam, the tourism industry is expecting to reach its set goal of attracting 3.7-3.8 million foreign tourists by the end of this year.

Source: VOV

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Around 40,000 Vietnamese die of cigarette-related diseases per year

Around 40,000 Vietnamese die of cigarette-related diseases per year

QĐND – Friday, October 30, 2009, 20:48 (GMT+7)

A seminar on building a non-smoking city was held on October 28^th in Hue by the People’s Committee of the central Hue city and Vietnam Public Health Association.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Vietnam is currently one of the countries with highest rate of smokers in the world, with 56% of males and 1.8% of females engaged in the unhealthy habit.

The number of deaths from smoking-related diseases is currently estimated at about 40,000 people a year in Vietnam, which is four times the number of deaths from traffic accidents.

Source: TPO

Translated by Vu Hung

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Authorities seize 32,000 tonnes of coal

QUANG NINH — Authorities in the northern province of Quang Ninh have impounded around 32,000 tonnes of coal smuggled across the border in the first six months of this year, estimating the value of the coal at more than VND10.5 billion (US$589,000).

They have also busted around 240 illegal coal mines, confiscated 30 vessels used for smuggling coal by water, and 450 other vehicles.

Up to 10 million tonnes of coal were smuggled across the border to China annually during 2006-08, causing losses of VND4.5 trillion ($281.25 million) to the State coffers, provincial leaders said, vowing to crack down on groups or individuals found engaged in illegally mining or transporting coal.

The year 2008 alone saw 57 cases, with 260 individuals brought to court. Dozens of coal workers in Quang Ninh had been sacked or punished in recent months, they said, with seven employees from Mao Khe Coal Co Ltd and four from the Dong Vong Co punished.

Domestic coal prices, subject to Government price controls, were 30 per cent lower than the prevailing export price, driving an increase in illegal mining and smuggling, said Pham Minh Chau, head of the export department of the Viet Nam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin).

The Government last month agreed to allow Vinacomin to gradually increase domestic coal prices in an effort to limit smuggling.

Vinacomin was expected to produce a maximum of 61.4 million tonnes of coal annually by 2015 and import another 25.5 million tonnes to supply coal-fired power plants nationwide.

Viet Nam, with an estimated 42 billion tonnes in coal reserves, exported more than 13.5 million tonnes of coal in the first seven months of this year. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Japan to donate 75,000 USD to Vietnam Red Cross

Hanoi (VNA) – Japan will grant more than 75,000 USD to the Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) Society to help it provide medical checks-up and treatment for patients across the country.

A contract on the non-refundable aid was signed in Hanoi on Sept. 4 by the Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam , Mitsuo Sakaba, and VRC President Tran Ngoc Tang.

Mitsuo Sakaba expects that the project will improve access to health care services for people in Vietnam ’s remote areas.

According to VRC, the Government of Japan has over the past years funded many healthcare projects in Vietnam , including the upgrading of the Bach Mai, Cho Ray and Hoa Binh Hospitals .

In addition modern equipment, Japan has also sent its experts to assist the health sector in personnel training.-

Petrol prices fall by VND1,000 per litre

Customers at a Lang Son petrol station. Customers have expressed happiness about the negligible reduction in petrol prices made yesterday morning. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI — As world oil prices have eased since the end of last month, the Ministry of Finance yesterday slashed domestic petrol prices by VND1,000 per litre.

The prices are now VND18,000 per litre for A92 gasoline, VND18,300 for A95 and VND19,000 for kerosene.

Diesel, trading at VND15,950 per litre, will continue to be determined by the market. For this commodity, 70 per cent of losses will be compensated by the Government and 30 per cent shared among consumers.

Petrol import duty for the commodities remains at zero per cent, according to the ministry.

The Ministry of Finance on July 21 announced an unexpected rise of 31 per cent in domestic petrol prices, the highest increase ever, to cope with world oil price hikes. Oil hit a record high of US$147 per barrel in mid-July, putting a heavy burden on the State’s budget as well as on local petrol businesses.

Oil prices have now dropped about 23 per cent from last month’s peak as a result of falling US crude demand. Crude prices on Tuesday reached a three-month low of $112.3 but approached $117 yesterday after US gasoline supplies fell more than expected in a weekly government report.

General director of the Viet Nam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) Bui Ngoc Bao said with current prices on the domestic and world market, petrol dealers have made profits.

Bao calculates that petrol importers can now make a profit of VND4,500-5,000 for a litre of A92 gasoline and VND2,000 for a litre of oil.

“The price adjustment is necessary to help ease pressure on companies’ production and business activities as well as people’s lives,” said deputy minister of finance, Tran Xuan Ha.

“The news excites us,” said Vu Quang Thanh, head of a Petec gas station in HCM City. “Purchasing power at our station has dropped about 20 per cent since last month’s petrol price hikes of 30 per cent.”

Consumers expect more

“It’s good news but the price adjustment is not very significant,” said Tran Quang Duc, a motorbike taxi (locally called xe om) driver in Ha Noi who spends around VND30,000-45,000 ($1.8-2.7) a day on gasoline.

“A cut of VND2,000-3,000 would excite people more,” said Tran Hoang Duong, a student from the Foreign Trade University. “Petrol prices were raised to VND19,000 per litre when the world oil price reached $135 a barrel; now that oil is around $115 a barrel, a cut of VND1,000 is not enough.”

“I’m very glad to hear the news,” said Hoang Hai Thu, a housewife. “But I wonder when or if prices of other commodities will drop; the prices of goods remain high despite petrol price declines.”

Why only VND1,000?

“Petrol dealers still suffer big losses overall,” finance deputy minister Ha said, adding that losses have mounted to hundreds of billions of dong in the first seven months of the year.

Firms still have significant volumes of petrol in stock, imported when world oil prices skyrocketed. A sharp cut in retail prices now would cause them even more difficulties.

“The way I look at it, any price cut is good,” Ha said. “A drop of VND1,000 per litre is not significant to each individual, but means quite a lot to society at large in the context of the Government’s efforts to curb inflation.

“The adjustment is good for August’s consumer price index [CPI],” he said. “I believe prices in the general market will go down, particularly transportation costs.”

Ha said the ministry would ask transportation firms, including taxi firms, to adjust their charges. Taxi companies in both Ha Noi and HCM City in late July raised fares by 15-20 per cent while some coach companies raised them 8-30 per cent to cope with the unexpected petrol price hike.

“If world oil prices continue to fall, we will consider reasonable adjustments in domestic prices,” he said. “But I must stress that the domestic petrol price is not simply based on world oil prices but on many factors, controlling inflation being of top priority.”

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said the ministry was considering establishing a petrol market stabilisation fund. “The matter is how to raise capital sources, especially when the Government still has to compensate large sums to petrol dealers,” he said.

Tu said dealers should follow domestic as well as global market developments more closely in order to have more effective import plans that minimise fallout from price fluctuations.

Despite the petrol price cut, Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific and Vasco will apply fuel surcharges of VND50,000-180,000 ($3.1-11.2) per one-way ticket for local flights from today, as approved by the Government last Friday.

The Ministry of Finance in late June removed the import tax levied on fuel for the aviation industry in a decision aimed at helping domestic airliners reduce losses during the period of rising fuel prices. “But airliners are still facing difficulties,” Ha said. —

1,000 storm-proof houses built for the poor

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) has almost completed a 1.2 million project to build 1,000 storm-proof houses for the poor in provinces regularly hit by disasters.

The project, implemented in response to an appeal of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has so far constructed 900 solid houses in 13 provinces nationwide where a large number of people lost their home to storms and floods in 2007, VRC expert Nguyen Huu Thang said.

The provinces include Hoa Binh and Son La in the north and central coastal provinces from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen.

The remainning 100 houses are expected to be completed by the end of August.-