Children learn how to use a makeshift bamboo raft during the Huan luyen quy tu (Training Coddled Children) trip by Hong Bang Tourist Company.

“I learned that however talented a person is, they can’t be successful or lead a meaningful life without good ethics and teamwork,” the teenage girl said.

Tam had taken part in a one-week camping trip at the Ho Chi Minh City Cadet School in Cu Chi District as part of a program organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Culture House.

A teenage boy from District 1 also said the program had changed his outlook on the world.

“It’s the first time I thought about making plans for my life. I learned that things like money are not the purpose, but only the means,” the boy, who wished to stay unnamed, said.

The course, Teen Nang Dong @.com, literally means Active Teen @.com, which plays off the common name given to the generation of Vietnamese in their late teens and early twenties: the “@” generation. Several others camps like it, each offering their own experiences and skills-training, have sprung up across the southland.

Many experts have expressed delight in the new trend of skills-based summer camps.

Ho Thieu Hung, former director of the city’s Department of Education and Training, said it was good that parents paid more attention to life-skills training for their children.

Vietnam’s education system is too academic and ignores things like life-skills, he said.

“Society has realized the problem.”

Boot camp

Launched on June 16, the one-week Teen Nang Dong @.com trip took 104 students between 13 and 19 years old through regimented military-style physical training (anyone late or failing certain tasks would have to do push-ups) that also employed group discussions and responsibility over daily chores as community-building exercises.

Divided into groups of six, each sharing one cabin, the kids also had to do all daily housework, including laundry, on their own. The experience was the exact opposite of their home life, where their mothers often do everything for them, said several of the kids.

Some nights, instructors would awake the squads for “midnight operations” in which their eyes would be covered for a single file walk through the forest. All they could do for guidance was put their hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them.

Expressing themselves

While the teenagers found the military drills difficult but rewarding, they found the social-skills training sessions and discussion groups enjoyable.

One session addressed how to control one’s feelings and emotions, a significant challenge for most teenagers. Instructor Tuong Vy asked the students to draw pictures symbolizing different feelings.

She then divided them into three groups to discuss the feelings and how best to express and cope with them. When talking about anger, Vy grabbed a balloon and popped it suddenly.

“We should not keep negative feelings pent up inside,” she said.

Step-by-step she gave them lessons on how to think positively and how to act calmly and rationally through a host of games.

Bui Thanh Liem from the HCMC Youth Culture House said the trip aimed to equip the teenagers with awareness, discipline and the skills to live confidently as well as use teamwork.

“We focus especially on social and psychological skills like controlling feelings, overcoming crises and preventing abuse,” he said.

No place like home

The Center of Culture and Sports for Southern Teenagers recently held another one-week trip in the beach town of Phan Rang.

Joined by 80 students between 10- 16 years old nationwide, the Hi Teacher camp took kids to the countryside in the central province of

Ninh Thuan, with a focus on sharing with the kids knowledge about culture and nature.

The children were divided into groups of between three and five to live with local Cham families.

They got up at 5:30 a.m. every day to follow their hosts to the market and then to do the cooking, washing and other housework.

Twelve-year-old Do Tan Khai from the central town of Quy Nhon, said he had never done those things.

“It’s the first time I ever did laundry. It was so exhausting that I ended up stomping on the clothes with my feet to wash them,” Khai said.

Tran Sy Son from Hanoi also said he had never done any housework. “But now I feel much more grown-up and love my parents more than ever after the trip.”

Besides being asked to do housework chores, the students also had chances to learn about Cham culture through making pottery, weaving, and planting grapes.

They also learned to appreciate the natural environment and how to best protect it through nature outings.

More to be done

Nguyen Dac Vinh, head the Vietnamese Students Association, said although the trend in life-skills training is spreading from HCMC through the country via camping strips and outdoor retreats, the excursions currently meet just 10 percent of the demand for such activities.

With fees of about VND 1 million (US$56.21) per trip, only middle class Vietnamese can afford the camps, while lower income students are also in need.

Huynh Van Son, dean of the Psychology Department of the HCMC University of Education, was concerned that the trend may be temporary, as not all parents and youngsters were aware of how important proper life skills were.

He was also worried that as the number of such camps expands, proper human resources, such as well-trained instructors, may fall by the wayside.

VietNamNet/TN

Cu He (L) vies for the ball with Vo Ba Hung in a veterans’ match in Ho Chi Minh City recently.

In a way, it was his zone. He was very quick and able to get around opponent defenders in small areas and score lots of goals from difficult positions.

Sinh was the elder of two brothers who represented Saigon and the South Vietnamese team in the sixties and seventies.

He was a top striker of the Hai Quan club and the South Vietnam team, while his younger brother He made a great impression as a defensive midfielder and center fullback for various teams in his football career.

Now 62, Sinh says, “I played nearly ten years for the South Vietnam squad and I can’t remember how many goals I scored.

“But what I remember most is that I was very fast in the opponents’ penalty area.”

Sinh was the best scorer in the 1973-74 season in the South Vietnam championship and the best striker again in 1976 when his club Hai Quan won the Cuu Long championship.

Sinh scored the equalizer in the final against Tong Cuc Duong Sat before Thanh Cang scored in the winner to earn Hai Quan the championship.

Sinh said, “I remember that Tong Cuc Duong Sat took the lead early in the match and its defenders played tough.

“But Cu He, Thoi Vinh and Thanh Cang played actively behind me. They kept feeding me in that match and in a quick combined operation, Cang made a neat pass to me and I equalized.

“We combined well again for Cang to do the scoring the next time and we won the title.”

Sinh also remembers he scored against South Korea at a military tournament in Thailand in 1971 to help the South Vietnam squad win the championship.

He was also in the South Vietnam squad that shared the Petra Sukan championship in Singapore in 1971 with India when the two teams drew 0-0 after 90 minutes and agreed to share the title.

Sinh later retired soon after 1976, because the injury he had suffered in late 1974 made it impossible for him to continue to make on significant contribution.

Recently, he migrated to the US with his family. Yet Sinh hopes he will “come back to play on the HCMC’s veteran team one day.”

Both Sinh and his brother He were in the South Vietnam squad that participated in three consecutive Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games from 1969 till 1973. They won the silver medal in 1973.

Sinh and He were also part of the Hai Quan team that won the Cuu Long championship in 1976.

Younger ‘Cu’ as a versatile player

Sinh’s brother He was born in 1953, six years before Sinh. Cu He played for the South Vietnam squad from 1967 till 1975.

The team coach from Germany, Karl Heinz Weigang, found Cu He could control the ball really well, so he assigned him to different positions, often as a defensive midfielder and a center fullback.

Cu He played so superbly at an Asian junior tournament in the Philippines in 1967 that the media then reported the Nan Hua club in Hong Kong wanted to buy him.

He was also very good in the match that South Vietnam played against German club Hertha in 1975. But the Vietnamese team lost 1-2 to the German rivals.

Cu He is likely the only player of the time to play for three big teams in Saigon from 1976 till 1984.

“I played for different teams because of different reasons. I reluctantly left Hai Quan because the team was penalized for involvement in a match fixing scandal in 1976.

“I went home to play for Phu Khanh but then I missed Ho Chi Minh City football so much that I came back to play for Saigon Port in 1979 and stayed until 1982 when the coach of So Cong Nghiep, Tran Tuong Lai, wanted me to strengthen the back of the team and support striker Khanh Hung upfront.”

Despite being a defender, He managed to score some important goals in his career. The one he remembers most was in a match in which Saigon Port beat Cong An Hanoi 3-1 in 1979.

“Xinh scored two goals and I scored the other after getting around three defenders,” He said.

After he retired, Cu He returned to his home in Cam Ranh District to train its young players in 1984 and 2003 but he didn’t stay long.

“Things have changed. In the past, coaches just tried to teach the players strategies and skills.

“Now, you need more than that. If you don’t receive ‘support’ from officials, you can’t do the job of coaching very long.”

So Cu He now contents himself by playing football with veteran friends.

VietNamNet/TN 

According to the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam sent 31,000 workers abroad in the past six months.

VietNamNet/VNA

An armload of kids: toddlers follow grandpa Man whenever he comes home.

A man in his later years braves his own disability to tend to the young, but he receives no salary and uses money from his own pocket for others’ expenses. He adopts children abandoned by their own parents, and never marries but ends up having a bigger family than he ever imagined.

Such stories of generosity are rare, but not at the Tu Tam Nhan Ai (Humanity) Shelter located in an isolated area in Binh Duong Province’s Thuong Tan Commune, about a two-hour drive from HCM City and a ferryboat ride across a river.

One of a handful of homeless octogenarians confined to their beds.

The shelter, sitting alone surrounded by fields, is an enclosed cluster of five simple houses that constitute an entire world for a group of needy but vulnerable souls — from newborns to 90-year-olds — whose troubles have required separation from the harshness of life outside.

As you approach the area, there’s no hint that the houses are a social shelter – no office space or manager’s room but only an unadorned space with beds for elderly volunteers to sleep overnight. Several stone benches are available to receive guests.

“We started with just two shabby concrete cottages about four years ago,” says Nguyen Minh Man, a native of Binh Duong Province, who opened the

One of a handful of homeless octogenarians confined to their beds.

shelter and is its owner and manager.

For the first two years, the 65-year-old gave up his bed indoors and slept outside under a hanging canvas so that others could stay inside. But now, with the new expansion, Man has a solid roof over his head.

Life savings

“I’ve spent everything on the shelter, drawing on my lifetime savings,” says the war veteran. “That’s why I could only build little by little, depending on how much I earned at different times.”

He renovated two of the five buildings, spending VND480 million ($27,000) of his own money to do so.

Man, who suffered a head wound during the American war, sources all of his monthly of VND20 million ($1,100) income from his invalid’s pension, profits from a rice store and an apartment rental in District 9.

The amount is enough to sustain the shelter, apart from volunteer contributions. “They have families to care for. I have none,” he says, smiling.

His income supports up to 70 people, including the homeless, elderly men and women paralysed by strokes, pregnant women who have been abandonned, rerebral palsy patients, and individuals with mental disabilities.

Man says every bottle of soy sauce and pinch of salt are saved to make ends meet, but he often ends up borrowing or buying on credit when patients need hospitalisation or parts of the houses need repair.

“Unlike other charities funded and run by religious, governmental or non-governmental organisations, mine is probably the first and only one in the country that is a one-man job,” he says. “Donors aren’t willing to travel to a secluded place like this.”

Man says he also lacks fundraising experience and is too busy juggling all of his jobs to pursue grants or donations.

Good karma

The shelter, however, tries to give residents as much as it can, including “funerals organised right on the grounds for any person who dies,” says Nguyen Van Thanh, a friend and war comrade of Man’s.

Thanh helps out at the shelter with five others who contribute their time and money to keep it running.

“The daily chores are shared between the residents,” he says, adding that the healthy residents help the sick and bedridden, while the mentally stable help those who are severely mentally ill or physically disabled.

Man says such kind-heartedness displayed at the home may stem from his karma, as a Buddhist monk once told him.

“It’s kind of in my blood and I was born to do what I’m doing without a second thought,” he says.

He recalls how he was touched seeing street children waiting for leftovers from others to feed themselves and how he felt an urge to help the needy, given his own rough childhood.

At first he gave them hand-outs, but then later found them jobs or gave them shelter at factories where he served as manager.

“My giving grew into something much bigger,” says Man, adding that he had no lofty plans in the first place and everything came to him gradually and naturally.

Now that he’s older, he knows he’s on the right track and has dedicated the rest of his life to his calling since he “can’t take all the cash and properties to my grave.”

“I think a human being is just like a bottle of perfume: let it give out its sweet smell until the bottle is empty and just dispose of the bottle,” he says.

As for the young mothers and babies, Man says his thick skin can protect the kids from the malicious scandals that circulate about him and the girls.

“If they’re left out there, I believe the kids will grow up ill-nourished, uneducated and end up as thugs or rascals that pose more burdens to society,” he explains.

The young mothers, most of them workers whose boyfriends were so poor that they shrugged off responsibilities, were desperate and considered abortion.

Remembering his wartime experiences as a medic, Man recalls the dangerous methods doctors used to get rid of their babies. “They pump water into themselves to suffocate the feotus before taking it out. That will haunt you forever.”

Beloved grandpa

Walking around the grounds and the houses, Man, who is called ong noi (grandpa) by the kids, is often surrounded by a handful of toddlers and pre-schoolers, imploring him to hug or pick them up.

“They’re like that every time I come home,” he says. “Hearing the kids’ babbling is gratifying to me and I don’t feel lonely at all. I tell the girls to do this and that and sometimes scold them for not taking good care of their children, as if they were my own daughter and grandchildren.”

When the babies are strong enough, Man says he will let the mothers leave the shelter so they can work and earn money.

When he opened the shelter, local residents and authorities branded him deranged, given that he was using up all of savings and had a wartime wound.

“Why doesn’t he spend his money for himself? What drives him to help others and clean up all their sh – ?”, recalls Man of the neighbours’ taunts.

But, defying the naysayers, he acquired a license so he could function legitimately as an organisation. In fact, his bad reputation had the unintended effect of leading some people to his shelter.

Some of the current tenants, Man says, were found wandering on the streets and then driven to the shelter, some were sent in by their families who were too poor to support them, and some just came by themselves.

“The more they come, the more worried we are that we can’t afford to cater to all of them. However, we have no heart to turn anyone down,” he adds.

Life’s margins

When darkness falls in the evening, the residents get under their mosquito nets for a good night’s sleep. For some of them, there is no tomorrow and they only await the end. They know nothing about the outside world and the world knows nothing about them.

“I miss my mum and my two brothers a lot,” says Kha, an 18-year-old girl who has epilepsy, and was sent to the shelter to avoid her violent stepfather. “Mum says she will come.”

In one house next to the mothers and babies’ ward, a group of severely mentally ill men and women lives. Crammed with beds into a narrow space, the entire space has a rank smell because patients often relieve themselves on the spot.

In another house, Nguyen Kim Chi, 20, whose cerebral palsy has shrunk her legs, says she spends her time reading Buddhist teachings and wishes uncle Man good health so that he can help more people like her.

Nearby, a grey-haired lady wakes up in a desolate room, startled by visitors at that time of the day, while another woman can remember nothing about her home or her family.

“I want to go out to work to lessen the burden on uncle Man and to buy stuff for my baby,” says a young mother from a faraway northern province.

Man says his biggest wish now is to build a decent ward for the severely disabled so that hygienic and living conditions are improved.

Confronted with a prospect of an influx of newcomers, he says after months of thinking he has arrived at a solution: selling all his property in HCM City and spending the money on the shelter’s expansion.

In anticipation of his core income being disrupted, Man says he’ll begin to farm on his site to provide food for the shelter’s residents. “I’m glad I’m still strong enough to carry on the job, but when I’m gone who will take over?”

VietNamNet/VNS 

“The living place of two herds of around 40 gayals was discovered in the park two years ago”.

VietNamNet/VNA

Photo: VNA

WB helps upgrade Mekong delta major cities

Congress on establishing overseas business association

More than 100 overseas Vietnamese business people from many countries in the world will take part in a congress on establishing the Overseas Vietnamese Business Association, to be held in Hanoi on August 9-10.

Representatives from domestic financial organisations and economic groups will also attend the event, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese said.

The congress will be a forum for businesses to share experiences and to discuss investment, production and trade opportunities in Vietnam and abroad.

It will also allow businesses to hold dialogues with relevant authorities and local experts relating to issues of mutual concern.

The Overseas Vietnamese Business Association aims to assist and create favourable conditions for its members to undertake investment, production and trade activities in and outside the country.

At present, more than 200 expatriate businessmen and businesses have registered to be members of the association.

VietNamNet/VNA

VietNamNet/VNA

The number of registered foreign employees surged to 1,700 within the first six months of this year, or nearly 70% of 2008’s figure.. (Photo: VNN)

However, the department has failed to put under control a large number of unlicensed foreign workers, which poses a threat on labor and social security in the city.

There are around 50,000 foreigners living the HCMC at present with thousands believed working in the city without work permits. Meanwhile, the city has only punished 569 foreign violators and expelled 168 African nationals in the first half of this year, said Le Thanh Binh, deputy director of the HCMC Police.

Information from law enforcement officers shows that at least 5,000 unregistered foreigners are working at companies and workshops.

The labor department has inspected 171 companies in the city so far this year and imposed a total fine of VND75 million on 14 enterprises for violation of foreign labor regulations. Under prevailing rules, unskilled foreign workers are not issued work permits in the country.

Some enterprises have tried to evade the fine or repeat the violation as the punishment is deemed too soft, chief inspector Huynh Tan Dung said on Wednesday.

The city government will asked departments of labor, public Security, planning and investment to put strict control on foreign workers in the future. “We will disseminate regulations on foreign worker management and inspect 400 companies with foreign employees,” Tam of the labor department said.

These departments will also inform each other of laborer figures each month to have timely solutions. The Department of Construction will inspect contractors hiring foreign workers while the Immigration Department will not extend visas for unlicensed workers.

Vietnam has loosened regulations on foreign worker employment after entering the World Trade Organization. As a result, foreign unskilled laborers are coming en masse into the country, Tam said.

Relevant departments have also met more problems to monitor the workers. They were hired by foreign contractors to work at construction projects or are staying here on tourism visas.

“Pou Yuen Co. Ltd in Binh Tan district was uncovered to register just 300 out of 900 foreign workers. The unlicensed employees have been working in the company for a long time,” Tam said.

He added that some foreign family-owned companies even hire their relatives although they are not qualified to work in Vietnam.

VietNamNet/SGT

In return, the clients will get a solution package for server hosting services featuring Intel’s advanced 45nm Quad-core Intel Xeon processor X3330. This package will be available for registration nationwide from July 1 till August 31 for customers.

Three solution packages offered to enterprises are Co-Basic with a monthly rental fee of VND1.8 million and 500GB data transfer per month, Co-Advance with a monthly rental fee of VND2.8 million and 750GB data transfer per month, and Co-Premium with a monthly rental fee of VND3.8 million and 1,000GB data transfer per month.

The customers can also enjoy a free-of-charge firewall function in the FPT Telecom system, have access to the latest Intel server platform, and attend Intel support solution seminars.

Dang Van Phuoc, deputy director of FPT Elead, said on Wednesday that given the economic downturn, enterprises should carefully weigh expenses for online activities such as website, email.

FPT Telecom has four data storage centers nationwide with a band-width connection with other Internet service providers reaching up to 50 Gbps locally and 20 Gbps internationally through China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

Its latest center opened in Tan Thuan Processing Zone in HCMC’s District 7 last week.

VietNamNet/SGT

Candidate for the position of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Yukiya Amano of Japan attends a board of Governors meeting at Vienna’s UN headquarters June 15, 2009.  (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)

The IAEA General Assembly is scheduled to approve Amano’s appointment in September, and he will succeed the incumbent IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei on Dec. 1.

The IAEA, founded in October 1957, has now 146 members with its headquarters based in Vienna, Austria.

Since its establishment, the agency has considered nuclear verification and safeguard, nuclear security, and nuclear technology transfer as the three pillars of its work.

El Baradei, from Egypt, first served as the agency’s chief in 1997, and was re-elected in 2001 and 2005. His third term would be due at the end of this year. Last year, El Baradei stated he would not serve a fourth term.

During El Baradei’s term, Iraqi, Korean and Iranian nuclear issues have been under international focus successively, while Libyan and Syrian nuclear-related issues have also aroused great concern in the international community.

A series of events have made El Baradei the most eye-catching director general ever.

Due to his outstanding contribution to the prevention of nuclear proliferation, El Baradei and the agency shared the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

With the development and changes of the international situation, how to deal with the contradiction between non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear power has become the biggest challenge facing the IAEA.

On non-proliferation, the IAEA is facing demanding tasks such as clarifying the outstanding issues concerning the Iranian nuclear program, completing the verification of the Syrian suspected facility, and bringing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) back to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

In addition, with the increasing security problem of the energy supply and the exacerbating global warming, the nuclear power, as one of the alternative energy sources, is receiving more and more attention.

In 1986, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union had a tremendous impact on the world’s nuclear power development. In more than 20 years afterwards, the United States did not construct any new nuclear power plant, and Germany’s new plant failed to be put into operation due to strong anti-nuclear forces in Europe. Some countries including Austria still refused to develop nuclear power at all.

Now many countries begin to re-consider utilizing the nuclear power. The United States has planned to build a new nuclear power station, while some European countries including Britain, Italy and France also have intentions to expand the use of the clean energy.

Meanwhile, more and more developing countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, even Vietnam and the Philippines begin to show interest in the nuclear power. The nuclear power has become increasingly popular in the whole world.

With this trend, the risk of abusing nuclear materials and nuclear technology and in turn the risk of nuclear proliferation is also on the rise.

Therefore, the IAEA is facing the task of how to guarantee nuclear security and effectively prevent nuclear proliferation while actively promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

However, on this issue, developed and developing countries have their own different focuses. Developed countries requested the IAEA to assume the tasks of non-proliferation and safe keeping, emphasizing the responsibility and strict restrictions of developing and utilizing nuclear power, while developing countries claimed the IAEA should, besides advocating non-proliferation, also focus on assisting developing countries in the development and peaceful use of nuclear energy under equal conditions.

On the future budget of the IAEA, developed countries such as the United States and Britain required the agency to achieve a zero-growth budget, while developing countries demanded the agency’s budget should actually guarantee the need especially in the areas of development assistance.

On the surface, the election of the new director general seems to be a race between Japanese Amano and South African Abdul Minty, but actually it reflected the absence of mutual trust between developed and developing countries, as both sides each were seeking a “spokesperson” for their own interests.

Therefore, how to not only promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy but also comprehensively and effectively prevent nuclear proliferation on a fair and equal basis will be the core issue to be solved by the IAEA in the future.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), delivers a speech in Beijing, capital of China, July 3, 2009. The global think-tank summit opened here on Thursday has attracted more than 900 scholars, experts and representatives from business circle around the world to discuss remedies for the global financial crisis and the future development of the world economy. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

But the effects of the two countries’ efforts should not be overstated, Zhou said.

Another scenario was the U.S. households’ saving rate rose and the United States did not need as many Chinese exports as before. Thus China would suffer production overcapacity and enter a period of low growth, Zhou said, adding that this was what China should avoid.

The third scenario was U.S. households’ saving rate rose and China’s consumer consumption grew but not high enough, while China invested more in urbanization, leading to dwindling surplus savings and savings outflows, Zhou said.

“This is also an acceptable option. It would support future consumption and employment through building urban infrastructure, housing and service industry,” Zhou said.

Zhou said the worst scenario was all the efforts failed and the global economic imbalances persisted and trade protectionism grew worse.

Zhou believed a feasible way out for China might be the country expanded consumption and improved urbanization, but would still have surplus savings because its saving rate base was too high.

“I hoped more China’s surplus savings could flow to other developing countries,” Zhou said, adding that it could boost global production rate and maximize revenue allocation.

Zhou said it was impossible to redress imbalances with simple tools and more attention should be paid to micro causes that lead to financial crisis while focusing on macro levels.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

Flood submerges houses at the Xinyuan village in Ruijin, a city of east China’s Jiangxi Province, July 3, 2009. More than 60,000 people have been transfered due to the flood caused by heavy rainfall in south Jiangxi Province. (Xinhua/Song Zhenping)

The rain damaged 178,000 hectares of crops, caused 8,231 houses to collapse, and incurred a direct economic loss of 1.31 billion yuan (191.7 million U.S. dollars).

By 3 p.m. Friday, average rainfall in the province was 97.4 millimeters, while the maximum topped 540.8 millimeters in Niedu town of Chongyi County. The province, for the first time in history, issued the highest level of rainstorm alarm on Friday.

People walk on a flooded street in Guilin, a city of southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, July 3, 2009. Due to heavy rainfall, the water level of Lijiang River which passes Guilin reached 147.5 meters at 17:00 pm on Friday, 1.8 meters over the alert level. Some scenic spots in Guilin City has been closed. (Xinhua/Chen Ruihua)

Many reservoirs were swollen because of the rain, among which six were discharging water, while levels in the rest were under the alarm line.

In Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, four were missing and 11,845 were evacuated. The torrential rain also damaged 12,440 hectares of crops and killed 53,300 head of cattle.
 

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

The volunteers will evaluate information and advise people on rules to improve safety.

The volunteers will evaluate information and advise people on rules to improve safety. More than 90 per cent of railway accidents are at crossings.

Hue orphans get free swimming lessons

Around 150 orphans from charity centres in Hue on Wednesday began a six-week swimming course organised by British charity Hue Help.

The course, also sponsored by the Thua Thien-Hue Province Union of Friendship Organisations and the city’s Sport Centre, aims to provide basic swimming skills for the orphans.

VietNamNet/VNS

EC approves scholarship programme for Vietnamese students

The European Commission has approved two proposals for partnership projects under the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) for the academic year of 2009-2010.

Around 9 million EUR will be granted for these two projects in which 71 Vietnamese students and scholars will participate, as part of regional and multilateral networking between higher education institutions in Europe, Southeast Asia and Central Asia.

These networks will contribute to joint education and research in relevant thematic fields such as engineering, business, agriculture, social sciences and also build models and procedures for knowledge and technology transfer and business related initiatives.

The EMECW was initiated for Asia in 2005 as a complement to the Erasmus Mundus programme which provides grants to consortia of higher education institutions from Europe and from third countries which together draw up a mobility scheme.

Mobility schemes selected through annual Calls for Proposals comprise individual mobility for students and academic staff.

Since 2004, over 300 Vietnamese students and scholars have been awarded with scholarships of Erasmus Mundus and Erasmus Mundus Cooperation Window programmes.

Humanitarian programme for disabled launched

A programme to help the disabled integrate into the community was launched in the northern port city of Hai Phong on July 2 by several local enterprises.

The “For Equality and Communal Integration” programme is in response to the decade of the disabled in Asia and the Pacific in the 2003-2012 period.

Vo Thi Hong Anh, director of the Bao Chung Vision Impaired Joint Stock Company and director of the programme, said the programme will focus on improving the disabled’s access to education, vocational training and suitable jobs, thus gaining full equality and integration.

According to the Institute for Social Research, Vietnam has bout 5.4 million disabled people. Of them, about 41 percent have never held a job and only one quarter of the disabled over 15 years old are in employment.

Moreover, the country has not yet had any college or university programmes for the disabled and some vocational training programmes in localities a small scale, which partly helped the disabled.

Young overseas Vietnamese learn mother tongue through tourism

The Ho Chi Minh City Association for Liaison with Overseas Vietnamese said that it will organise a tourism-cum-Vietnamese learning programme for young overseas Vietnamese from July 27 to August 10.

Under the programme, the participants will learn how to cook Vietnamese food and attend 10 extracurricular sessions on communication in Vietnamese at the Duc Ba Church, Thao Cam Vien Zoo and Can Gio tourism site.

They will visit central Binh Dinh province – the land of martial arts to see Tay Son traditional martial arts, visit the Emperor Quang Trung Museum and the Ham Ho tourism site and enjoy central highlands’ ethnic music.

Apart from these activities, the association will collaborate with the city’s Communist Youth Union to organise summer camps for them in Ho Chi Minh City, southeastern Dong Nai province and southern coastal Ba Ria-Vung Tau province from July 21-24.

At the events, they will offer incense to Hung Kings, present gifts to children with disabilities and meet with local youths. The overseas Vietnamese will also visit the Minh Long porcelain company and tour the mango garden tourism site in Dong Nai province.

VietNamNet/VNA

The street carnival took place along Nguyen Hue, Hung Vuong, Tran Hung Dao and Nguyen Trai streets in Tuy Hoa city in Phu Yen province. (Photo: VOV)

The event took place along Nguyen Hue, Hung Vuong, Tran Hung Dao and Nguyen Trai streets in Tuy Hoa city.

The carnival attracted thousands of people on the streets and actors, musicians and singers from ethnic minority groups such as the Cham, Bana and Ede gave some amazing performances.

The city leaders hope that the traditional ethnic cultural festival will be successful to the 400^th founding anniversary of Phu Yen province and national tourism year in 2011.

VietNamNet/VOV

England striker Michael Owen (L) is pictured after a medical at Bridgewater Hospital, in Manchester, northwest England.

Michael Owen has joined English champions Manchester United on a two-year contract, the club announced here on Friday, in a remarkable turnaround for the injury-prone striker.

England forward Owen, 29, a free agent after his Newcastle contract expired last week, underwent a medical at a Manchester hospital on Friday before returning to United’s Carrington training ground to complete the shock deal.

The move came after the only clubs interested in signing the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker appeared to be Stoke and Hull - both teams for whom staying in the Premier League is an achievement in itself.

Owen underwent an examination Thursday on the knee injury which sidelined him for much of his time at Newcastle.

Britain’s newspapers Saturday could not decide if Owen’s surprise move represented another canny swoop by Sir Alex Ferguson — or a waste of money on an injury-prone player.

“He simply cannot sustain a run of games,” the Daily Mail said. “He plays, he gets injured, as an ankle heals, a groin muscle rips. When he returns, a knee ligament goes.”

But the Guardian hailed the signing of a “proven poacher” which Old Trafford had lacked since the days of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The paper also highlighted Ferguson’s history of gambling on players such as Eric Cantona — who ended up becoming an Old Trafford legend — and Laurent Blanc.

The Daily Express thought Owen could be used “as a more than useful back-up striker to Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov and one whose presence buys Ferguson a bit of time while he develops young talents such as Federico Macheda”.

Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright wrote in the Sun that Owen had seemed to “lose his desire” in recent years.

“He needed a kick up the backside and Alex Ferguson will provide that,” Wright wrote. “He is going to United to salvage his career for club and country.”

Ferguson, who has seen both Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez leave Old Trafford in the close season, insisted signing Owen did not represent a gamble on his part.

“Michael is a world-class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level and that has never been in question,” said Ferguson.

“Coming to Manchester United with the expectations that we have is something that Michael will relish.”

It has been reported that Ferguson has signed a pay as you play deal with Owen, whose weekly wage at Newcastle was believed to have been as high as 120,000 pounds (197,000 dollars).

Owen, who scored just 10 goals for the Magpies as they were relegated from the Premier League last season, said he’d been as stunned as anyone by United’s interest in him.

“I had just begun to talk to other clubs when out of the blue Sir Alex phoned me on Wednesday afternoon, invited me to have breakfast with him next morning during which he told me that he wanted to sign me,” Owen revealed.

“I agreed without a moment’s thought. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I intend to seize it with both hands.”

He added: “I am now looking forward to being a Manchester United player and I am fortunate that I already know so many of the players here.

“I missed pre-season last year and am pleased that I will be starting at Carrington from day one.

“I want to thank Sir Alex for the faith he has shown in me and I give him my assurance that I will repay him with my goals and performances.”

Owen joined Newcastle from Real Madrid in 2005 but his time at St James’ Park was blighted by a litany of injuries, including foot, concussion, knee, thigh, groin, ankle and calf problems.

Former Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear, who had to quit the club last season because of heart problems, rarely enjoyed having a fully-fit Owen during his time with the north-east club.

But Kinnear, who made his name as a player in the 1960s with Tottenham, was in no doubt of Owen’s quality.

“I like to think I played with one of the best strikers in the world in Jimmy Greaves and Michael has similar attributes,” Kinnear told Sky Sports.

“He’s a great pro, he’s very dedicated, he’s a really nice lad and I’m sure Alex will get the best out of him.”

Source: AFP

A handout image released by the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History shows ‘Banjo’ Australovenator wintonensis

Fossils of three new species of dinosaurs have been discovered in Australia, including a meat-eater larger than Velociraptor from the Jurassic Park movies, suggesting Australia may have a more complex prehistoric past.

The two plant-eating and one carnivore dinosaurs, the first large dinosaurs unearthed since 1981, were found in Queensland and date back 98 million years to the mid-Cretaceous period.

“It not only presents us with two new amazing long-necked giants of the ancient Australian continent, but also announces our first really big predator,” paleontologist John Long, head of sciences at Museum Victoria said on Friday.

Paleontologist Ben Kear at La Trobe University in Melbourne said the discovery will pave the way for new studies on Australian dinosaurs and their environments.

“Australia is one of the great untapped resources in our current understanding of life from the Age of Dinosaurs,” Kear said. “The discoveries…will definitely reinvigorate interest in the hitherto tantalizingly incomplete, but globally significant record from this continent…”

Australia’s dinosaur fossil record has been extremely poor compared with North America, South America and Africa.

The new dinosaurs were unearthed during joint Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum and Queensland Museum digs at Winton in outback Queensland.

SLASHING CLAWS

The meat-eating theropod dinosaur has been called Australovenator (nicknamed Banjo after Australian bush poet Banjo Patterson) and the two plant-eating sauropod dinosaurs are Wintonotitan and Diamantinasaurus

“The cheetah of his time, Banjo was light and agile. He could run down most prey with ease over open ground,” said Scott Hocknull, lead author of the dinosaur discovery, published on Friday on PLos One (www.plosone.org/home.action).

“His most distinguishing feature was three large slashing claws on each hand. Unlike some theropods that have small arms (like T Rex), Banjo was different. His arms were a primary weapon. He’s Australia’s answer to Velociraptor, but many times bigger and more terrifying,” said Hocknull.

“Banjo” sheds light on the ancestry of the largest-ever meat-eating dinosaurs, the carcharodontosaurs, a group of dinosaurs that became gigantic, like Giganotosaurus, he said.

The two herbivore dinosaurs were different kinds
of titanosaur, the largest type of dinosaur ever to have lived.

Wintonotitan was a tall animal which may have fitted into a giraffe-like niche, while the stocky Diamantinasaurus was more hippo-like, said Hocknull.

Two of the dinosaurs were found buried together in a 98-million-year-old “billabong” or waterhole.

“Billabongs are a built-in part of the Australian mind because we associate them with mystery, ghosts and monsters,” said Hocknull, referring to Patterson’s poem Waltzing Matilda, which tells of a “swagman” or bushman who jumps into a billabong and drowns after police try and catch him with a stolen sheep.

Hocknull said hundreds more fossils from the dig were still to be prepared and there was more material to be excavated.

Source: Reuters

U.S. Republican vice- presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin waves to the crowd after U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain delivered his concession speech in Phoenix, November 4, 2008.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate in 2008, said on Friday she will resign this month, an unexpected move that could signal a run for higher office.

Palin took no questions after a brief news conference in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, members of her state Cabinet by her side. She gave no indication of her future plans.

“I’m not seeking re-election” in 2010, Palin said, adding she would transfer authority to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell on July 26.

“We are not retreating, we are advancing in a different direction,” she said. “We know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time.”

Palin, Arizona Senator John McCain’s surprise pick as his running-mate in the 2008 presidential race, rallied the party’s conservative base but alienated others who believed she did not have the experience to be vice president.

She has been mentioned as one of the top three Republicans who could vie for the party’s presidential nomination in 2012. Those mentioned most often include Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

“I plan on talking to Governor Palin very soon. She is an important and galvanizing voice in the Republican Party. I believe she will be very helpful to the party this year as we wage critical campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey,” Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement.

Palin, 45, said she did not want to waste time on “political blood sport” and cited public criticism of her actions and her family since the 2008 campaign.

“You are naive if you don’t see a full-court press right now on the national level picking apart a good point guard,” Palin said, using a basketball analogy.

“She closed a chapter in Alaska politics on a very weird and bizarre note,” former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles, a Democrat who served two terms, said in a telephone interview.

“Friends or foes alike would have never thought
that she would be a quitter, but that’s what she did today.”

WHAT LIES AHEAD

The announcement at the beginning of a three-day holiday weekend, with little Washington news expected, gave Palin wide access to the airwaves and could make for a strong start at gaining public attention.

Republican strategist Sophia Nelson said in the online publication Huffington Post that Palin vowing to work for change “from outside government” was “code for ‘I’m running for president.’”

Other analysts wondered if it was a smart political move.

Andrew Halcro, a Republican who ran against Palin in 2006, said he did not think resigning would help her chances.

“If she was trying to transition to the national stage, there was a much better way to do it,” he said.

Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer said Palin’s future in public life depends on the reason she stepped down.

“If there is any evidence that the decision was a result of political problems or looming scandals, she is done,” he said.

“The Republican Party already feels to be in a moment of crisis,” after losing the presidency and control of Congress to the Democrats. He noted that in 2008 “she revealed many weaknesses … limited policy knowledge, association with fringe groups, weak performances on television and more.”

Palin faced criticism and ridicule from Republicans and Democrats alike during the 2008 campaign after embarrassing television interviews that raised questions about her knowledge and experience.

During the campaign, the mother of five revealed her unmarried 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant but planned to marry the baby’s father. The couple split in March.

Palin was cleared of wrongdoing in an abuse-of-power probe into the firing of Alaska’s public safety commissioner.

In May, Palin signed a book deal to tell her own story, for an undisclosed sum, with News Corp’s HarperCollins.

Palin established herself as a party outsider by promoting a natural gas pipeline project opposed by Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski. She ran against the governor in 2006, defeated him in the primary, and then won the general election.

The project to ship abundant North Slope gas reserves to U.S. markets has been dimmed by the economic recession and a sharp dip in natural gas prices.

Source: Reuters

Protestors bang on drums, gongs and metal plates at a demonstration in front of the Bank of China building in Hong Kong, China, in June.

Hong Kong investors in notes linked to failed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will balk at a reported compensation offer of 60 to 70 cents on the dollar, a group representing individuals who bought the securities said.

“This would mean the bank wouldn’t have to be responsible at all,” said Chan, whose organization represents investors who’ve bought the notes. “If you do the math, the notes’ collateral is probably worth about 60 to 70 percent right now.”

Lenders including BOC Hong Kong Holdings Ltd. and Bank of East Asia Ltd. sold a total of HK$13.9 billion (US$1.8 billion) of so-called Lehman-linked minibonds, which collapsed in value after the US investment bank failed last September. A Hong Kong Monetary Authority probe has found evidence that banks sold notes to elderly, poorly educated and mentally ill people, and investors have held almost nine months of daily street protests claiming the securities were marketed as low risk.

Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the Securities and Futures Commission, declined to comment on whether the commission has received any proposal from the banks when probed by lawmakers at a public hearing Friday. Clarina Man, a spokeswoman at BOC Hong Kong, also declined to comment.

Financial institutions may suffer losses of as much as HK$1.5 billion in the proposal, Friday’s Sing Tao report said.

Compensation paid

Sun Hung Kai Financial Ltd. and KGI Asia Ltd. finished buying back notes they sold at prices equal to the principal invested, the SFC said on Thursday. The two local brokerages are the only minibond vendors who have fully refunded investors, with Sun Hung Kai paying about HK$86 million and KGI about HK$1.5 million.

The securities watchdog is unlikely to accept the banks’ proposal, according to yesterday’s Sing Tao report. The SFC is demanding that banks follow Sun Hung Kai and KGI and repay the full principal, Sing Tao said.

Separately, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s de facto central bank, will send 68 reports on its investigation into banks’ selling method to the Legislative Council before July 15, Raymond Ho, chairman of the committee set up for investors’ minibond complaints, told reporters at a briefing Friday.

Source: Bloomberg

Living on the edge: The Nai (Deer) Cape in the Mekong Delta town of Ha Tien

Captivated by the beauty of the scene, the deer stood transfixed, forgetting it had to return to the sacred forest.

Established 300 years ago, Ha Tien boasts many scenic spots. The second biggest town of Kien Giang Province is about 90km from Rach Gia, the provincial main town, and is a must-visit locale.

The Phu Tu Islet, Thach Dong (rock cave), and Chua Hang (cave pagoda) are just a sampling of the treats the town has to offer, but the Nai (Deer) Cape is a spot that is likely to dominate memories of the place.

Part of a mountain, the Nai Cape is 4km away from the town center. It stands at about 100 meters above sea level, facing the sea, resembling a deer’s head with a raised snout, giving rise to the famous legend. On the mountain peak is a lighthouse built in the late 19th century.

The two beaches at Nai Cape are quite shallow and safe for bathing. The No Beach is located by a fishing village and bustles with activity, while Bang Beach is quieter and more suitable for bathing.

Beside the beaches is a small market which sells a variety of seafood at reasonable prices. Palmyra milk, a specialty of the southwestern frontier, is available here for VND5,000 (US$0.30) a glass.

A well-furnished tourist resort, built by Mui Nai-Ha Tien Tourism Services Joint Stock Company, provides guests with diverse services. The 1,200m long slideway from the top of the mountain is a special treat for the sportingly inclined.

A mud bath at the beach is recommended as for your skin.

Souvenirs to help you remember this picturesque town are also available in several locations.

Reported by Diem Thu

The convention, which took effect in 2005, introduced a comprehensive set of standards, measures and rules for countries to strengthen their legal and regulatory regimes against corruption.

It also called for preventive measures and criminalization of the most prevalent forms of public and private graft.

Implementation of the agreement “will complement and strengthen Vietnam’s ongoing efforts to reduce corruption,” the UN statement said.

Jairo Acuna-Alfaro, a UN anticorruption policy adviser, said Vietnam has now committed itself to regularly reporting to the international community on how it is implementing the pact.

“Vietnam already has a comprehensive legal framework to fight corruption in place but implementation of the framework is weak and uncoordinated,” Acuna-Alfaro said.

“With the reporting that is now required, gaps and loopholes in the legal framework can better be spotted and, over time, be addressed properly.”

More than 140 countries have already signed the anti-corruption pact.

Source: AFP