Vietnam’s computer case praised on int’l online forums

VietNamNet Bridge – A computer case created by Do Duc Thang, 44, from HCM City is among the best four computer cases chosen by the US Extreme Tech website.

Working in the construction industry, Thang is very keen on computers and he assembled his own PCs. In early 2008, Thang created a computer case inspired by the US movie “Pirates of the Caribbbean: Dead Man's Chest”.

This work took him nearly 2 months and around 1.5 million dong ($90). Thang’s case was praised by many readers when he posted pictures on Techpower Up site. He decided to participate in the computer case creating competition of Extreme Tech in April 2009.

The competition ran for four weeks to choose the best four cases of four weeks. Thang was the winner of the fourth week.

Let’s admire the case in photos:

VietNamNet/VNE

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Vietnam organises super flu drill

VietNamNet Bridge – The Hanoi Department of Health and the Preventive Health Centre of Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi on June 13 conducted a simulation of an A/H1N1 flu emergency response.

The simulated case was an individual returning home from a super-flu-hit country and getting a fever.

VietNamNet captured the rehearsal.

The supposed case is an individual returning home from a super-flu-hit country and getting a fever.

Local health workers were immediately present at the site to quarantine the area.

A health worker took the temperature of the individual.

The person was determined to have a body temperature of over 38oC. Immediately, the person’s family members were provided with respirators and medicines.

The person was brought to the hospital for treatment.

And also her family members.

Health workers sprayed chemicals to decontaminate the patient’s house and the surrounding area.

Health workers decontaminated themselves before leaving the site.

The patient at the hospital.

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Blink with rhythm of modern life

VietNamNet Bridge – The exhibition of nine contemporary artists entitled “Blink” marks the return of San Art, an independent, non-profit, artist-run exhibition space in HCM City, in its new location at 3 Me Linh street in Binh Thanh district.

The exhibition introduces 19 artworks of various media by nine young artists from Hanoi and HCM City, ranging from painting and photography to performance and works on paper that illustrate the young artists’ search for “a visual language beyond the consumer art-object” and their quest to use everyday life as inspiration.

“The title expresses how the exhibited works capture the fast-changing picture of this city,” said Dinh Le, one of the four overseas Vietnamese artists that run San Art.

Nguyen Thanh Luan joins the event with “Reasoning”, a pop art Maga work. Huong in Flowers and Uyen in flowers by Tran Minh Duc and No Name 5, No Name 13, Hair Saloon and Fashion Shop by Lam Hieu Thuan are digital printing artworks.

Nguyen Thi Bao Ngoc’s Saigon 1 is a painting, using various materials. Nguyen Si Tuan contributes Green Peace, an installation artwork while Bui Anh Phong introduces Afternoon Sleepwalking, an oil painting.

Nguyen Anh Tuan’s 45-minute performance art caught the eyes of many young viewers, including foreigners.

Dinh said the group tries to attract young artists who might not have an opportunity to exhibit elsewhere.

“There’s obviously limited space for artists in the city, and just imagine the number of young artists who graduate from art school and disappear from the art scene,” he said. “We want to change that.”

San Art, which opened in October 2007, is perhaps the only artist-run space in Vietnam and is funded by private donations and external grants on a project-by-project basis and from the sale of exhibited works.

Dinh said the group has enough funding to stay for a year in the new location, which features a larger exhibition area and a reading room. They plan to organise several presentations and talks by visiting artists from abroad.

The exhibition runs until July 24.

Nguyen Anh Tuan’s 45-minute performance art caught the eyes of many young viewers, including foreigners.

Hương in Flowers and Uyên in Flowers by Tran Minh Duc.

Saigon 1 by Nguyen Thi Bao Ngoc.

TN/Le Tam

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SPORTS IN BRIEF 16/6

Ha Noi dominate sepak takraw tournament with two golds

Ha Noi men’s and women’s team won gold medals at the National Sepak Takraw Championship in Bac Ninh province on Sunday.

The women’s team beat Public Security team 2-0 in the final at Sports College No 1’s Gymnasium, while the men’s team edged HCM City to win the gold.

Minh eyes top badminton ranking at Indonesia Super Series

Vietnamese top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will compete in the Super Series Indonesia this week, which he has set his sights on a top ten placement of World Badminton Federation’s rankings.

Minh, who shocked world No 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the second round of the Aviva Singapore Super Series on Thursday, failed to beat Chinese Bao Chunlai in the round of eight on Friday.

As draw, the HCM City-born athlete will meet P. Wancha of Poland in the first round today.

VN juniors grab 76 golds at aged-group chess champs

Vietnamese chess players bagged total 76 gold medals to take top in tally at the Southeast Asian Aged-groups Chess Championships in Hue City on Sunday.

The championships drew 254 chess players from 10 countries in the region competing in six aged-groups of between under-8 and under-20.

Players contested in the boys’ and girls’ in the event of standard chess, rapid and blitz.

According to Viet Nam Chess Federation, Viet Nam will host the World Chess Championship qualifiers – 3.3 Zone next month, of which two winners of the men’s and women’s will qualify for World Championship.

Viet Nam contest six sports at Singapore Asian Youth Games

Viet Nam will send 32 athletes to compete in six sports at the Asian Youth Games in Singapore on June 29, the National Sports Administration said on Sunday.

The team will compete in table tennis, shooting, athletics, swimming, bowling and diving events. At the event, athletes will also battle for their berths at the Youth Olympics to be held in Singapore next year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

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Investment in Phu Quoc: the paradise still far away

VietNamNet Bridge – Five years have passed since the day Vietnam put forward the plan on building and developing Phu Quoc Island into a large global tourism and trade exchange centre. But it seems that nothing considerable has been accomplished yet.

Only four projects operational

To date, the island development programming remains controversial. A lot of projects have been registered, but investors have made no moves. Many big infrastructure items on the island are unfinished. The Duong To International airport project, which kicked off construction in 2008, still has not finished main items, including a resettlement area.

According to the Phu Quoc Island Investment and Development Management Board, 33 investment projects have been licenced by Kien Giang People’s Committee. The projects are expected to cover an area of 1,157 hectares with the total capital of 31 trillion dong. 174 other projects have gotten agreement in principle, expected to cover an area of 7,855 hectares.

On October 5, 2004, the then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai signed a decision approving the master plan on developing Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang province with outlook until 2020. The master plan said that Phu Quoc will be developed into a big and modern international tourism and trade exchange centre in Cuu Long River Delta, which will be gradually turned into a large regional and global tourism and trade centre. By 2010, there will be several high-quality tourism and entertainment complexes, attracting 300-350,000 travellers a year. It is expected that by 2020, it will receive 2-3 million travelers.

However, only four of the licenced projects have become operational, namely Berjaya Long Beach, Veranda, Cataco and Miramar resorts.

Eighty-eight projects of the said 174 projects which have got agreement in principle have not followed stipulated investment procedures for many reasons.

The projects registered by big names including Swiss Tructsse in cooperation with Vietnam’s Vinaconex (the Euro2 billion project on finance and tourism centre), the US-based Rockingham Group (the $1 billion high-grade tourism and entertainment complex), Starbay Veitnam ($1.8 billion Starbay resort complex) have not moved farther than asking for land.

Earning money from project trading

Hearing about the great potentials of Phu Quoc Island, a lot of people have rushed to lobby to get the right for investment in projects and rushed to commit fraud, totalling several billion dong.

Trinh Van Trung, former Head of the Economics Division under the Kien Giang People’s Committee, was arrested after reportedly receiving 500 million dong from Xa Huong Company and promising to allocate forest land to the company for a tourism project.

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Hue honours pottery, lacquer and phap lam

VietNamNet Bridge – The third Hue traditional handicraft festival opened on June 12 in the central city of Hue with the nam “Pottery, Lacquer and Phap Lam”, attracting over 100 craft villages in Vietnam.

Among them are famous names like Phuoc Tich pottery village in Hue, Bat Trang pottery village in Hanoi, Chu Dao pottery in Hai Duong, Bau Truc pottery in Ninh Thuan, and Go pottery from Binh Thuan province.

The festival also features lacquer art of the Hue royal court, lacquer products of craft villages in Hanoi and Binh Duong.

Collections of pottery items fished out of the Red River, Mekong River, and Huong Giang River are also displayed at the festival.

Hue’s phap lam ceramics, which are decorated with semi-precious stones and rare metals such as gold, sliver, or bronze, are also introduced.

Bat Trang pottery, Hanoi.

Cay Mai pottery of the 19th century.

Pottery items fished out from rivers.

Go pottery items, Binh Thuan province.

An artisan was making an Apsara dancer statue.

Objects fished out from rivers.

Ancient phap lam pieces.

A ceramic artwork by late artist Do Ky Hoang.

Chu Dau ceramics.

Bau Truc ceramics.

A work by Le Ba Dang.

Ha Thai lacquer, Hanoi.

Thanh Duong

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More businesses join forest protection network

VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Forestry and Trade Network, which aims to preserve natural forests, on June 12 admitted three wood processing companies as members.

The Vietnam Forestry and Trade Network's experts (photo: WWF Vietnam).

The Vietnam Forestry and Trade Network (VFTN) was established in 2005 by the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN), WWF’s worldwide initiative to eliminate illegal logging and improve the management of valuable and threatened forests, the Vietnam Timber and Forestry Association and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The network had its first four members in 2006 and three more in 2008. The three latest members are the Khai Vy Group, Tri Tin Co., Ltd and Duc Nhan Group.

“By facilitating trade links between companies committed to achieving and supporting responsible forestry, the GFTN creates market conditions that help conserve forests, while providing economic and social benefits for the businesses and people who depend on them,” said VFTN coordinator Le Khac Coi.

"We are very enthusiastic about participating in the VFTN,” said Doan Van Trang, Khai Vy’s chairman. “We hope that our participation in this forum will help raise the awareness of responsible, sustainable forestry activities.”

Vietnamese exports of wood products have tripled since the mid-1990s, making the manufacture of wooden furniture for export one of the fastest-growing industries in the country. The more than 1,200 companies involved in timber processing require approximately 2 million cubic metres of wood per year.

Increased timber imports are feeding the industry, and the resulting footprint that Vietnam leaves on the forests of other nations could be destructive. By helping processors to find legal and sustainable sources of wood, the VFTN will play a valuable role both in Vietnam and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

There is great potential to build sustainable forestry within Vietnam using certification as a key tool. The VFTN provides a supportive framework by which forest managers can work towards credible certification. In addition, it facilitates links with a global network of responsible buyers, helping to stimulate a vibrant Vietnamese forest industry.

The services and market links provided by the VFTN will help Vietnamese state forest enterprises to comply with current Vietnamese government reforms, which aim to modernise state-owned enterprises and help bring them into the increasingly competitive global market.

Vietnam is the 24th FTN to join this rapidly-growing network, which is active in nearly 30 consumer and producer nations throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Over 400 companies have made commitments to responsible forest management and purchasing of forest products, including major retailers such as IKEA, Carrefour, and B&Q.

VietNamNet/VNE/WWF

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HCM City witnessing rented room thirst in exam season

VietNamNet Bridge – Students have begun flocking into HCM City to seek boarding houses to stay during the exam season. However, rooms for lease are running out.

Rooms for lease are running out

Lai, the owner of a boarding house on Nguyen Van Cu road in district 5 near the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, said that he has no rooms left to lease. He said that previously he collected 400,000 dong from a client a month in rent, including water and electricity. However, the leasing fee has been raised to 500,000 dong per client since the beginning of June.

Other boarding house owners on Nguyen Van Cu and Tran Binh Trong streets also say that they have raised rent because it is now the ‘high business season’.

Le Thi Hue, the owner of a boarding house on Ly Thuong Kiet street in Tan Binh district, said that she prefers leasing rooms by day rather than by month because she can earn more money. If she leases by month, she can earn 600,000 dong/room/month, while if she leases by day, she can collect 30,000 dong per person per day and can put many people in the same room.

Le Thanh Tai, a student from Lam Dong province, who has been staying in HCM City for a couple of weeks to prepare for the university entrance exams, related that at first, he tried to find a room to rent in Thu Duc district because it is near the university he wants to study at. However, Tai could not find a room to lease there and finally had to stay in a house in Go Vap district, which is very far from the centre.

Tai is now sharing a narrow 12 square metre room with three other people and each of them has to pay 20,000 ($1.1) dong per day. Tai said he cannot find anywhere that offers a lower leasing fee.

Phi Nhat Nam from Binh Thuan and his four friends, who are preparing to sit for the exams to get into Le Hong Phong Gifted School, said they had to lease a room near the school at 3 million dong, or nearly $200, a month. Tai said that as they do not have motorbikes, they have to pay a lot to rent a room near the school.

It seems to be impossible to find ‘soft price’ rooms at this moment to rent. Pham Thi Lan Huong from Binh Phuoc province, who is taking the exam to enter the HCM City University of Law, said that she has asked for support from the team ‘Giving strength in the exam season’. However, she dares not dream of finding a low-fee room to rent.

Thu Duc district is the area where students who register to take exams for the HCM City Agriculture and Forestry University, HCM City Technical Education University and HCM City Economics University like staying. In previous years, students could register to stay at the dormitory of the HCM City National University. However, the dormitory is not open to students until early July.

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Modern underpass opens in Hanoi, and then closes…

VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi’s Kim Lien underpass, the most modern underpass in Vietnam, opened this morning, June 16. However, it was closed after two hours because of flooding.

Only two hours after the underpass was opened this morning, it was closed because of flooding caused by a big rain.

Nguyen Sy Bao, director of the Hanoi’s key projects management board, the investor of the Kim Lien traffic centre project, explained to VietNamNet that the major pumping system was not in operation yet.

The pumping system at the construction site of the Kim Lien traffic centre had to be used, so it took one hour to pump out the flood water.

Bao said that once the major pumping system becomes operational, the underpass will not be flooded in big rains like the one this morning.

He emphasised that the close of the underpass after two hours of opening was only because of flooding, not any technical problem.

Meanwhile, Takagi, JICA’s high-ranking advisor, told VietNamNet that the underpass being flooded was not an abnormal thing.

Kim Lien underpass is one of the last components of the project on transportation infrastructure development for Hanoi supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It is the most modern underpass in Vietnam with 140m reinforced concrete box culvert structure and 405m reinforced concrete retaining wall structure.

The work was built by Japan’s Taisei Corporation under the supervision of the Japan Bridge and Structure Institute, which also drew up the detailed design for the project. Kim Lien underpass is a section of ring road 1 in Hanoi.

Within the framework of the project on transportation infrastructure development for Hanoi, which is funded by a Japanese official development assistance (ODA) loan worth $130 million, the construction of Kim Lien underpass and other components including flyovers at Nga Tu Vong and Nga Tu So intersections, mini bypass at the southern end of Thang Long Bridge and Huu Hong dyke road, Kim Lien-O Cho Dua Road and 16 pedestrian flyovers aim to eliminate major problem areas in the city’s transport system.

The underpass was temporarily blocked off with barriers.

VietNamNet/VNE

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