Energy saving – message of Earth Day
Various activities took place worldwide to mark Earth Day (April 22) and many new records were set on the occasion.
In Norway, a man invented a super-low cost solar energy panel that can be made for US$5. Creating low-cost products is an important way to limit the wasteful use of natural resources.
The importance of energy-saving was brought home in Ho Chi Minh City where the price of clean water reached record levels over the past two days as local people had to buy clean water at a price of VND200,000/cubic metre (US$11/cubic metre), which is considered the highest price in the world. The lack of water for daily use in HCM City was attributed to electricity cuts in some water plants. Furthermore, many water pipes were broken due to under-ground construction projects.
Vietnamese people are already familiar with Earth Day as its message has been disseminated widely. However, while energy saving solutions have been honoured in the most well-off communities in the world. The poorer people of Vietnam seem to delight in setting extravagant records entailing the waste of food, such as the largest noodle bowl, the largest pizza and the largest roasted cinnamon pork. These activities used hundreds of tonnes of food at a time when the World Food Organisation (FAO) has estimated that one billion people in the world are still facing hunger.
Energy saving is the most significant message of Earth Day. Let’s save the Earth.
Vietnam funds trade union training centre in Laos
Vietnam has handed over a trade union officials training centre in Vientiane, to the Lao Association of Trade Unions.
The Lao Minister of National Defence Duangchay Phichith, Chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) Dang Ngoc Tung and officials from the Vietnamese embassy in Laos attended the centre’s opening ceremony.
The four-floor centre which has an investment of US$1 million, was funded with US$800,000 from the VGCL.
Once operational, the centre will provide personnel training for trade union organisations in Laos’ state agencies and economic departments.
Vietnamese students win US science contest
Nguyen Le Ngoc Thao Quyen and Tran Khoa Dieu Anh from the Horizon International Bilingual School in Ho Chi Minh City, won gold medals at a science competition for high-school students held between April 15-20 in Houston, Texas.
Two other students from the school took bronze medals at the contest, called the International Suitable World Energy, Engineering and Environment (I-SWEEEP), which attracted high-school students from 59 countries around the world.
Over 373,000 houses donated for poor ethnic minority people
After four years of implementing the Government’s Decision 134 on some policies assisting poor ethnic minority people with the production land, houses and clean water, the localities nationwide have completed the construction of over 373,000 houses for ethnic minority households.
40 provinces have deployed the provision of production land, 53 provinces has assisted poor ethnic minority households, with clean water.
Over 1 million farming households have been provided with 2,300 tonnes of seeds and 65,000 breeding animals and thousands of essential infrastructure works have been built after three years of implementing the Government’s Programme 135, the second phase, on assisting communes in extreme difficulties.
These figures were announced at a Government conference to review the implementation of the Decision 134 and Programme 135 on April 21.
Addressing the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung highly appreciated the results of the implementation of the Decision 134 and Programme 135 and asked ministries, branches and unions at central and local levels to focus on assisting poor ethic minority people with production land, houses, clean water and investing in construction projects on infrastructure to help poor ethnic minority people develop production coupled with the implementation of the Resolution of the 10th National Party’s Congress and the Resolution of the 7th plenum of the Party Central Committee on agriculture, rural areas and farmers and the effective implementation of projects on production development and assisting poor people according to the Government’s Resolution 30a.
Plans on healthcare to cope with disasters in 2009
The Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu, has issued a decree to ask health establishments to make plans for healthcare to cope with disasters in 2009.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Health asked hospitals, medical and pharmaceutical universities to prepare adequate prescriptions and medicines and participate in rescue operation when necessary.
Especially, before May 1st, localities and units must make plans and submit measures to move medical stations in case of flood to ensure the safety of patients and healthcare workers, as well as minimize damage to medicines, chemistry and medical equipment caused by disasters.
In addition, hospitals from the district level to the central level must establish teams to be on duty when disasters occur.
Plan to help poor pay medical bills
The Mekong Delta Region Health Support Project, in co-operation with the Ministry of Health and the US-based RASS company, plans to raise funds to help pay for health insurance for the near-poor.
The funds would pay full insurance costs for three years through 2011.
Currently, 80 per cent of the payment for health insurance for the near-poor in 13 of the local provinces is paid by the State and the Mekong Delta Region Health Support Project.
The RASS company will raise funds to support the remaining 20 per cent of the cost. The project will affect nearly 900,000 people in the region.
RASS will hold its first fund-raiser on June 2 in Can Tho City. It plans to hold two fund-raising campaign a year through 2011.
Hundreds of students suffer from dermatitis
More than 250 students living in the A1 dormitory of the Can Tho University suffered from skin rashes in the past week.
The reason for the breakout was determined to be kien ba khoang (kind of ant), said lecturers from the university’s agricultural faculty. The ant often adheres to the skin and releases a kind of substance which creates a rash and itching.
The disease does not spread between people, according to doctors from the Can Tho Dermatology and Venerology Hospital.
Locusts descend on Phu Tho Province
A swarm of locusts destroyed 56ha of a bamboo forest in Doan Hung District, in the northern province of Phu Tho over the past 10 days.
Young locusts nested on the bamboo trees with a density of about 3,000-5,000 locusts in one nest. They ate all the tree leaves and killed the trees, said experts from the provincial Plant Protection Division.
The division supplied local residents with locust poison and six spraying machines to destroy the pests.
Erosion threatens safety on mountain
Extreme erosion has threatened the lives of more than 30 households in Tay Tra District in the central province of Quang Ngai, according to the Tra Trung People’s Committee.
Continuous heavy rains since the beginning of the year have washed out a section of the mountain 50m in length, 20cm in width and several metres in depth, said Ho Van Tinh, deputy chairman of the committee.
Local authorities are creating a plan to resettle affected households before the flood season hits this year.
Police confiscate thousands of books
The Ha Noi Police on Monday confiscated more than 3,800 pirated books from a bookshop on Lang Street, Dong Da District.
Most of the books were popular novels, according to the city police.
The owner of the shop, Nguyen Van Vinh, 39, failed to show any business or printing licences. He admitted to buying the books at cheap prices and selling them at three or four times his purchase price.
PV | 
