Foreign songs with foolish Vietnamese lyrics, choice of young singers?

VietNamNet Bridge – Instead of buying exclusive Vietnamese songs like their seniors did, many young singers pay copyright royalties for foreign songs and replace the foreign words with silly Vietnamese lyrics.

Singer Phi Nga who bought Korean Wondergirls' "So Hot".

The pioneer in this trend is Bao Thy, who started her singing career on the Internet. Bao Thy performed Pussycat Dolls’ “Button”, which is translated into Vietnamese as Lang Quen (Oblivion), Lenka’s “The Show”, which becomes Thien Than trong Truyen Tranh in Vietnamese (An Angel in Cartoon) among other songs.

Following Bao Thy are May Trang troupe, singer Phi Nga, Wanbi Tuan Anh and Noo Phuoc Thinh.

A show organiser advised a young singer: “To become famous quickly, you should sing some Korean or Chinese songs. Vietnam has so many singers, local song writers can’t produce enough good songs for them.”

Chinese and Korean songs are favoured by many young singers, for example May Trang with So Hot and Nobody, Minh Quan and Noo Phuoc Thinh with Because I’m Stupid, a song from a popular Korean TV series, Thanh Thao with Hollaback Girl, Stronger and Luu Huong Giang with Maria.

Singers often introduce these songs through the Internet or perform them on the stage, not on their albums.

It is thought that when Vietnam joined the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, it would be very difficult for Vietnamese singers to buy foreign songs, so once they owned them, singers would advertise their songs noisily like Ho Quynh Huong and My Tam did in the past. According to Ho Quynh Huong, it was very hard to buy the copyright of Ruslana’s Wild Dances.

Singer Bao Thy.

However, Bao Thy and Phi Nga’s cases show that it is very easy to buy foreign songs with Vietnamese lyrics and at cheaper prices than Vietnamese songs.

Actually, foreign songs performed by Vietnamese singers have sweet melodies and are popular, but the Vietnamese lyrics are quite silly and funny.

For example, “So Hot” of South Korean’s top girlband Wondergirls becomes, with Phi Nga, “Seven Times to Love”. Some joke that the song is only long enough to tell about seven love affairs. If it was longer, perhaps Phi Nga would have named it 10 or 15 Times to Love.

Thanh Thao also paid copyright royalties for famous foreign songs like Hollaback Girl and Stronger and replaced the English lyrics with English-Vietnamese lyrics, for instance: “and now ta cung ben nhau, da xa khong con chi ma, I don’t want to be a bad girl”.

A song with an “amazing” name, “Ca Thang 4” (April Fool), turns out to be “Four Minutes” performed by Madona and Justin Timberlake; Sieu Nhan Bay (Flying Superman) is Haru Haru by the Korean band Big Bang.

It is a normal thing to buy foreign songs and replace their lyrics with Vietnamese lyrics, but more thought ought really to go into the words.

PV

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Hanoi eco-group replaces plastic bags with banner-bags

09:55' 23/07/2009 (GMT+7)

Hanoi-based 3R club members and students of Hanoi University of Technology pose with eco-bags on the school’s campus. VietNamNet Bridge - A group of young volunteers in Hanoi are improving the environment one bag at a time with an inventive form of recycling. The members of Hanoi-based 3R Club (Reduce – Reuse – Recycle), have found a new use for old street banners. They can be made into eco-bags which are reusable and play an important role in raising public awareness to reduce the use of plastic bags. Launched in March, the project “Please, give me an eco-bag” started with a public call for old banners and canvas sheets to make into eco-bags, head of the project Dinh Thi Lan Ngoc says. 3R members wash the old banners then take them to the Thanh Nha Center for the Disabled, where 68 workers recycle the scrap material into useful shopping and school bags. The 3R team designs each bag using half a square meter of material. Ngoc says they chose canvas for the eco-bags, because many banners are left hanging around the city getting damaged by the weather and going to waste. “If we can use canvas to make ecobags, we’ll reduce waste from advertising while raising public awareness about environmental protection,” she says. So far, the two-year project has been conducted at Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi-Amsterdam High School, Thanh Cong Market, and organizations under the city’s Department of Natural Resources with students and housewives as its main targets. According to Ngoc, during the first stage that will finish in January next year, they have hosted different activities to inform consumers of the dangers of plastic bags and promote their recycled bags. They attended neighborhood meetings in Ba Dinh District, where the project was piloted to hold games and raffles using the eco-bags for prizes for housewives. They also cooperated with the National Economics University to organize music and green fashion shows for students, and invited them to attend the canvas-for-eco-bag exchange program. At Hanoi-Amsterdam High School, the 3R crew together with the Green Hanoi Ams Club presented the bags to students and called for them to save all the banners from school activities to exchange with 3R. “We don’t dare to think about big changes, because the project is really small,” Ngoc had said in an interview with a local newswire. “Our aim is to raise public awareness about reducing plastic bags as much as possible, and using bags of other materials instead.” She says the club plans to cooperate with supermarkets to distribute and promote eco-bags to consumers for the project’s second stage. Beautiful bags Tran Thien Duc, who is in charge of the voluntary team under Hanoi University of Technology, says his school holds many outdoor activities, so they had lots of old banners to exchange with 3R for eco-bags. “Honestly, when we received the eco-bags, I was so surprised how the waste canvas was turned into such beautiful bags of various shapes displaying the school’s logo and the youth union’s badge,” Duc says. The bags will be distributed to the volunteer team so they can use them to promote environment protection at Hanoi’s suburban communes in the summer, he adds. “Students love new stuff, so we find it easy to approach them,” Ngoc says. But she notes that it’s not so simple for many who are used to plastic bags. While the project has more than one year to go, Ngoc’s club has already earned respect and appreciation from others. “We appreciate the young people’s enthusiastic volunteer spirit for the community,” Chu Thi Thanh Nha, director of Thanh Nha Center for the Disabled, says. “By working with them, the disabled can learn new skills and make nice products.” The 3R Club was established in December 2007 with more than 100 young members to implement 3R initiatives under the 3R Hanoi (3R-HN) project sponsored by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. So far, it has hosted many activities, including three Mottainai festivals where people can come and exchange or sell old things for charitable funds, gaining great attention from the public and the media. VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

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University entrance exam marks low, why?

VietNamNet Bridge – As the marking of exam papers is two-thirds finished, experts now can say for sure that university entrance exam marks will be lower this year than last year. But what is the reason? Tough exam questions or the poor capability of students?

Mathematics and history will see low marks

Teacher Nguyen Hong Chau, who has been marking mathematics exam papers for Thang Long University for one week, said that the most common marks are 2.0-2.5, while there are a lot of zeros. The highest mark she has seen so far is 8.25. There are not many 6-7s, while there are many below average marks.

At the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences under the Hanoi National University, Bui Vu Anh, a lecturer of Mathematics Faculty, said that no examinee of either A or B groups has got 10 marks for mathematics so far.

Anh predicts that the examinee who gets a 5.5 or 6 for mathematics can cherish the hope of passing the exam to enter the university.

According to Le Huu Lap, Deputy Director of the Post & Telecommunications Institute and Technology, over 4,000 mathematics exam papers have been marked, while papers that scored 3-4 account for the biggest proportion.

The Hanoi University of Industry said that it has finished marking group-A’s exam papers, while its president Hoang Van Dien said that most examinees got low marks. There are only six or seven examinees who got 6-7s among every 40 examinees. The university last year required students to get 17-20 marks to be enrolled into the university.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Si Khanh, Deputy Head of the Training Division under the Vietnam Trade Union University, said that low marks have also been seen on history exam papers.

My Giang Son from Saigon University has also reported the bad quality of history exam papers, saying that the low result of mathematics and history exam papers may lead to lower required marks this year. According to Son, there are not many above average marks in history and no examinee has got a 10.

More satisfactory results for geography and physics

While universities have reported low marks for mathematics and history, they have reported more satisfactory results for geography and physics.

Khanh from the Trade Union University said that in history, there are many 8-9s, but there is no 10 mark.

The required marks for students to get into the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences are expected to be 0.5-1 marks lower than last year.

The Hanoi Foreign Trade University expects to keep the required marks at the same level as last year or only a bit lower, because many examinees have got high marks for literature at 7.0-7.5

The Banking Academy has reported 20 percent of examinees getting 9s and 10s for physics, while only four percent of examinees have got 9-10s for chemistry.

Who to blame? Questions or examinees?

A mathematics expert said that A and D group exam questions this year proved to be very long. This, he said, has resulted in the low marks for mathematics.

Moreover, he said, the question about inequality was really very tough; therefore, there will be not many 10 marks for mathematics.

The literature questions for C group have also been thought as ‘having problems’.

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Two days, three die at Vietnam’s highest building

VietNamNet Bridge – An occupational accident occurred on July 22 at the construction site of the Keangnam building in Tu Liem district, Hanoi, which will be the highest structure in Vietnam, killing one and injuring another. The day before, two workers died after falling from the 13^th floor.

The construction site of the Hanoi Landmark Tower project.

According to police, the first accident happened at 10 pm, July 21, with two workers aged 43 and 22. They died immediately after falling from the 13^th floor.

The second accident was recorded at 4 pm, July 22, with one death and one injured. The names of the victims and the reason for the accident have not been released.

The Hanoi Landmark Tower project, invested in by South Korean group Keangnam, was launched in 2007, at a cost of $1 billion, the biggest project in Hanoi at that time.

This project comprises a twin tower of 48-storeys, totalling 918 apartments and a 70-storey building.

In late 2008, as many people were doubtful about the feasibility of the completion of this project, the investor Keangnam affirmed it would finish the construction in October 2010.

According to Keangnam, Hanoi Landmark Tower will be the highest building in Vietnam and the 17^th-highest in the world.

The Hanoi Construction Department’s chief Bui Van Chien said that it is serious to have two occupational accidents occur at the same place within a few days.

The department’s experts inspected the construction site today, July 23.

VietNamNet/VNE

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GM to pay closing dealers about $600 mln

General Motors Co. said Wednesday it will make cash payments of nearly 600 million U.S. dollars to the more than 1,300 dealers it plans to close by the end of next year.

The file photo taken on May 30, 2009 shows the exterior of a General Motors (GM) dealer in Michigan, the United States. GM, once the world's largest and most powerful auto maker, exited Chapter 11 protection Friday after a 40-day reorganization July 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Gu Xinrong)

According to a Detroit News report, Mike Robinson, GM's general counsel for North American operations, told the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on commercial and administrative law that GM had begun making the payments on Monday and had already paid out 150 million U.S. dollars.

GM had confirmed previously that it was offering wind-down payments of up to 1 million U.S. dollars per dealer.

By the end of next year, GM plans to have between 3,500 and 3,800 dealers, down from about 6,100 this year.

U.S. Congress is considering several bills trying to stop the closing of GM dealers and force the reopening of the Chrysler dealers. The House last week approved a spending bill that includes a provision seeking to reverse the dealer closings.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

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SBV denies plan to issue compulsory bonds

VietNamNet Bridge – The State Bank of Vietnam has affirmed that it does not have a plan to issue compulsory bonds to withdraw cash from circulation as it has been rumoured.

Director of the Monetary Policy Department under the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Bao told Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam that this is just a rumour and that the central bank has no intention to issue any such bonds.

“The State Bank of Vietnam is following a flexible monetary policy with clear orientations for every period. All the new policies and adjustments will be made public to ensure the transparency in information exposure,” Bao said.

The rumour might have come from the recent information that the State Bank of Vietnam will tighten control over credit growth in the last six months of the year.

Local newspapers recently have reported that the central bank is considering taking necessary measures to prevent inflation from returning. The information may have led to the belief that the central bank might try to withdraw cash from circulation by compulsory bonds, which is what it did in 2008 to reduce the cash volume in circulation.

The bank has also lowered the targeted credit growth rate to 25-27 percent instead of the previously set 30 percent.

In fact, in its recent instructions, the State Bank of Vietnam has asked credit institutions to push up mobilising capital and expanding credit to support the national economy, while focusing on funding projects on production and business expansion.

Regarding concrete policies, the central bank has recently released a decision allowing commercial banks to use Government bonds in foreign currencies as collateral for VND loans, giving banks more opportunities to access capital sources. The State Bank has also promised to give capital support to commercial banks, if necessary, through the open market.

In 2008, the State Bank on March 17 issued 20,300 billion dong worth of compulsory bonds (the compulsory buyers were commercial banks) in order to withdraw cash from circulation (the high volume of cash in circulation was then considered the main reason behind the high inflation). However, experts say that the circumstances in 2008 were far different from the current situation and that such a bond issuance does not need to be repeated presently.

Commenting about the newly set credit growth rate of 25-27 percent, some experts say this is a ‘reasonable limit’, but it is not very important.

A finance expert said that it is not really necessary now to set a fixed rate for credit growth.

“I understand that the central bank is setting the limit in anticipation of inflation returning. However, credit growth is just one factor. I think it is more important for the central bank to direct where the credit goes and how the capital is used,” he said.

Agreeing on this, Secretary General of the Vietnam Banking Association said that the 30 percent credit growth rate should not be considered ‘hot’. The thing that banks need to pay attention to now is capital use efficiency, while they should not inject too much money in stocks and real estate.

General Director of Viet Nam Thuong Tin Bank Cao Van Duc, on one hand, said that the targeted 25-27 percent credit growth rate proves to be suitable to the current conditions of the national economy. However, it is also necessary to pay attention to the method that helps obtain the goals.

Duc also said that it is unreasonable to set the same targeted credit growth rate of 25-27 percent to all banks. He believes that it would be better to apply different credit limits to different banks based on their specific circumstances.

Meanwhile, some bankers said that credit would not grow rapidly in the last months of the year even if no credit limit were set. A lot of banks have nearly fulfilled the yearly credit growth rates (fulfilling 70-90 percent), which means that they are not under pressure to push up lending. Moreover, it is not easy to mobilise capital for lending.

VietNamNet/TBKTVN

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VN official asks for Chinese counterpart’s help in detained fishermen case

Mr. Chu Vinh Tien.

VietNamNet Bridge – The head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Ministry’s Aquatic Resources Development Agency on July 22 delivered a message to his Chinese counterpart asking for his intervention in the case of the Vietnamese fishermen who were arrested by Chinese patrol forces several weeks ago.

“On behalf of Vietnam’s Northern Fishery Association Committee, I protest the act of the Chinese patrol forces and I ask you to petition for the unconditional release of the Vietnamese fishermen,” the Vietnamese official, Chu Vinh Tien, wrote in the message.

Vinh also asked his Chinese counterpart, who is the chairman of the Chinese Fishery Forces, to instruct this group to obey regulations of the Tonkin Gulf Fishery Cooperation Agreement, the UN Convention on Law of the Sea 1982 and the Declaration of Behaviour in the East Sea signed by Vietnam, China and related countries.

On June 16, Chinese fishery patrol forces detained three Vietnamese fishing boats and 37 sailors while they were catching fish in the water area of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands.

The three captains were forced to sign a fine decision totalling 210,000 Chinese yuan, equivalent to 31,000 US dollars.

12 fishermen and two boats were held while the remaining boat and fishermen were sent back to Vietnam to arrange the money.

On June 22, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi, asking for the immediate release of the 12 fishermen and 2 fishing boats. Quang Ngai province authorities confirmed that they would not allow the fishermen to pay the fine.

Fishing boats in Ly Son Island District, the central province of Quang Ngai.

The head of the Vietnamese Fishery Development Agency also asked his Chinese counterpart to combine with Vietnamese agencies to hunt for the strange vessels that sunk two Vietnamese fishing boats on May 19 and July 15. This is the first time the agency has officially asked for China’s cooperation to seek the strange boats.

Vinh told VNE that the above proposals need to be accepted before the 6th preparatory meeting of the Vietnam-China Fishery Committees in August 2009. “If China doesn’t agree to the above proposals, Vietnam will not participate in the meeting,” Vinh said.

The Vietnam-China Fishery Meeting has been organised annually since 2004 to review fishing activities in the common fishing ground of the Tonkin Gulf. Vietnam currently has nearly 1500 fishing boats licenced to catch fish in this area, which accounts for one-third of the total area of the Tonkin Gulf.

On July 22, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry made a statement about the fishing boat from the central province of Quang Ngai, Vietnam, which was hit and sunk on July 15 while catching fish in the Vietnamese sea.

According to the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Le Dung, the Vietnamese government pays special attention to the safety of its fishermen. Competent agencies have been urgently trying to identify the strange vessel.

“On July 16, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry sent diplomatic notes to some countries in the region, informing them about this case and asking for their cooperation to identify the strange boat to ensure safety for fishermen and marine safety,” Dung said.

VietNamNet/VNE

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We can take the Americans to the WTO court – and win!

VietNamNet Bridge – A leader of the Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) judges that Vietnam’s complaint to the WTO against US barriers to Vietnam’s shrimp has a good chance to succeed.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Dung, VASEP deputy chairman

Since 2005, Vietnam’s shrimp exports to the United States have been subjected to anti-dumping duties. In that year, the US Department of Commerce, responding to a petition by the US shrimp industry, calculated that Vietnamese producers were ‘dumping’ their product into the American market, a finding that has been upheld by two subsequent ‘administrative reviews’ in the US.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Dung is a VASEP deputy chairman, and an expert on World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Talking with VietNamNet, Dung emphasized that the WTO is a level playing field where all players must play by the rules. Members can appeal to the WTO if they see other members breaking the rules.

VietNamNet: What will happen after Vietnam files its complaint with the WTO about the three unreasonable practices the US has used against Vietnamese producers?

Dung: After Vietnam complains to the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body, the two parties have sixty days to settle the issues through direct consultation.

After studying the US antidumping duty on warm water frozen shrimp, Vietnam has appealed on three points, the zeroing method used to calculate dumping margin; the compulsory security payment and method of defining the dumping margin for voluntary defendants; and the imposition of a country-wide rate.

If the US admits these calculation methods and regulations are unreasonable, the complaint will be settled and the US will have to stop using the unreasonable practices. Though few complaints at WTO are settled in the consultation stage, the situation may be different with the shrimp case. All the by other countries against the US relating to shrimp were ended in the consultation stage.

VNNet: Could you please tell us more about Vietnam’s complaints?

The zeroing calculation method, a practice that the US has been using regularly in many antidumping lawsuits, is particularly objectionable. The American Commerce Department just calculates dumping margins for products found to be higher than the “standard” price. But if related products have higher prices than the “standard” one, the margins are automatically listed as “zero,” not as negative.

It is clear that the zeroing calculation method results in a higher dumping margin. When Thailand, India and EU complained to the WTO about it, the US admitted it was wrong. However, a WTO decision is not automatically applied to all countries and so Vietnam is still subjected to the zeroing method.

In the second administrative hearing with Vietnamese shrimp exporters, the US still used the zeroing method to calculate duties. For example, they only selected two compulsory defendants for review and imposed the same rate of zero percent. Our other enterprises, the ones that were not chosen as compulsory defendants, should also have enjoyed the tax rate of 0 percent (which was the average of the duties levied on the two enterprises). However, the US, citing the zeroing method, imposed a 4.57 percent duty on the rest of our enterprises.

If Vietnam succeeds in its appeal, the US will have to pay back the duties it has collected from our Vietnamese exporters.

VNNet: Didn’t VASEP once appeal to the American Court of International Trade about the tax calculation method?

Dung: Yes, it is true that VASEP once sued DOC for the wrong method of calculating anti-dumping duties without success. However, the CIT is an American court, and of course it protects the US interests. The situation will be different when we bring the lawsuit to the WTO.

VNNet: Is it risky for Vietnam to bring a case to the WTO for the first time, though it does not yet understand international laws really well?

This will be an ‘exercise’ for government agencies. Vietnam didn’t join WTO just to wait for other countries to file complaints against it. Next we’ll have to defend our floating glass industry, and some others.

There is nothing to worry about. WTO has concluded that the US was wrong in applying the zeroing method in precedent cases. I can see high possibility of Vietnam winning the case.

If we need to hire lawyers, I think we should hire a non-US law firm.

VNNet: What’s the best time to file our complaint at the WTO, bearing in mind that the third and fourth US administrative reviews are coming up?

At any time, and the sooner the better. VASEP urged that the Government file a complaint in October 2008. The longer we delay, the more Vietnamese enterprises will suffer.

In the worst case, if the US refuses to accept a WTO judgment against it, we will calculate our losses caused by the US shrimp duties. Then we are entitled to retaliate, using other measures to make the US bear the same value of losses. Vietnam could impose penalty duties on any of our imports from the US. Why not on beef, for example?

Ha Yen

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Vietnam ranks 6th in Asia in mobile phone users

VietNamNet Bridge – With 73.2 million mobile phone subscribers by March 2009, Vietnam holds sixth position for the number of mobile phone users in Asia.

China and India secure the first and the second positions, with 644.8 and 391.6 million subscribers. The two countries account for 1.04 billion subscribers of the world’s total number of 4.15 billion.

The third largest mobile market in Asia is Indonesia, with around 144.6 million, followed by Japan.

In fifth position is Pakistan, followed by Vietnam with around 73.2 million users by late March 2009.

The seventh is the Philippines with 71.7 million, followed by Thailand 62.7 million, Bangladesh 46.3 million and South Korea 46.2 million.

The top ten countries for mobile users in Asia have 3.48 billion people and 1.68 billion mobile users.

VietNamNet/ICTNews

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Nation at high risk for rapid spread of H1N1 flu

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Health yesterday, July 21, warned of the high risk that the A/ H1N1 flu could spread, especially during the upcoming winter weather which would provide favourable conditions for the virus to develop.

"The health sector has found 61 teachers and pupils from the Ngo Thoi Nhiem Private High School in District 9, HCM City, to be positive for the virus. The number of patients will rise high in the coming time". (Photo: VNN)

A flu report to the Prime Minister said the A/H1N1 flu virus had spread quickly into the community. It particularly noted two flu clusters that were recently found in Viet Kieu hamlet, Xuan Hiep commune, Xuan Loc district, Dong Nai province and at the Ngo Thoi Nhiem Private High School in District 9, HCM City.

As of yesterday, 84 of the country's A/H1N1 positive patients were relatives of overseas Vietnamese patients who had returned to Dong Nai from the US.

"The health sector has found 61 teachers and pupils from the Ngo Thoi Nhiem Private High School in District 9, HCM City, to be positive for the virus. The number of patients will rise high in the coming time," said Director of the Preventive Medicine and Environment under the Ministry of Health (MoH) Nguyen Huy Nga.

"Signs have shown that the A/H1N1 flu pandemic has spread into the community," said Nga.

Viet Nam has begun to see signs of A/H1N1 flu in the community more than 50 days after the first reported case. So far, all patients have been isolated, closely monitored and effectively treated for quick recovery.

Health experts have warned that when the A/H1N1 flu spreads widely into the community, Viet Nam will face challenges in its control. An increasing number of patients and even fatalities are unavoidable. In particular, people suffering from chronic diseases, weak immune systems, the elderly, children, pregnant women and obese people are vulnerable to the flu.

At present, the health sector is focusing its activities on closely monitoring patients, isolating suspected cases and treating positive patients in a timely manner. The health sector has made efforts to prepare sufficient drugs, hospital beds, medical facilities and isolation areas for a pandemic, according to Nga.

The MoH yesterday confirmed 35 new A/H1N1 flu cases, bring the nation's total to 443 cases and no fatalities since the onset of the threat. Of all cases, 328 have been discharged from hospitals and the rest are stable, resting in isolation and undergoing treatment.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported a total of 139,556 A/H1N1 flu cases, with 781 fatalities, in 139 countries and territories worldwide.

Bird flu, too

At a workshop held yesterday, representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also called for raised awareness about avian influenza in humans among civil servants, workers and their managers.

"One of our challenges is how to help workers and managers understand methods for preventing avian influenza themselves and to actively combat the disease," said Director of MoLISA's Labour Safety Department Doan Minh Hoa.

At the event, participants agreed that so far avian influenza prevention at the work place had focused primarily on communication activities rather than specific measures or comprehensive strategies to curb the disease.

"We should set up policies for avian influenza prevention activities, and insurance policies and wages for workers who are unable to go to work because of the pandemic," added Hoa.

Avian influenza prevention for workers will be integrated into MOLISA's labour safety programme.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

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First int’l Salsa festival in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – Salsa dancers from many countries and Vietnamese salsa fans will group up at the first Salsa Holidays from July 30 to August 1 at Sheraton Hotel, Hanoi.

Three special guests of Salsa Holidays: (from the left) Reyno, Sharon Parkir and Gupson Pierre.

Salsa entered Vietnam several years ago and has quickly developed. In the first international Salsa festival in Vietnam, fans will see the presence of three special foreign guests, who will perform with international and Vietnamese dancers.

The first is Gupson Pierre from Canada, Chairman of Attitude Dance Studio. This is a leading dancer in the world and a talented trainer who has won many prizes at highly-reputed dance competitions in the world.

The second is Sharon Parkir from Australia, a lecturer of the Salsa Melbourne Institute, who has taught Salsa in many famous dance centres worldwide.

And the third is Reyno from Indonesia, who is the founder of the Salsa Fresca and the champion of the Salsa Indonesia Championship.

Besides enjoying impressive shows by international and Vietnamese Salsa dancers, Salsa Holidays will be a chance for young people to register for Salsa courses taught by famous foreign dancers.

VietNamNet/VNE

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Vietnam ranks second at int’l Muay Thai tourney

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam won four gold medals to finish second at the six-day Pre-Asian Indoor Games Muay Thai Tournament, which concluded in Ho Chi Minh City on July 20.

Thailand took first with five golds, while Vietnam and Laos secured four golds each at the tournament attended by 79 boxers from Thailand, Mongolia, India, Laos, Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam.

Thailand, Vietnam and Laos dominated all 13 weight categories of the Thai boxing event.

Vietnamese athletes have been acquainted with the sport only for a short time but have made a good impression thanks to their quick adaptation and varied combat techniques.

Santiphap Intarapharnt, President of the Asia Federation of Muay Thai, said Vietnamese boxers have good basic technique and modern ways of fighting but need additional practice to improve their stamina and their ability to withstand attacks in competitions.

He predicted that Vietnam will grab some gold medals at the 25th SEA Games and medals at the upcoming Asian Indoor Games.

After this tournament, the Vietnam national Muay team will train for two months in Thailand before competing in the Asian Indoor Games to be held in Ho Chi Minh City.

VietNamNet/VOV

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Colourful Bac Ha fair

VietNamNet Bridge - Bac Ha fair opens every Sunday in Bac Ha district, the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai. The fair is known for its cultural identity of ethnic minority people.

The fair attracts not only domestic tourists but also many foreigners who come to look for colourful brocade, skirts of Mong ethnic minority people and specialities of the mountain region.

These Chinese tourists are looking at wooden and silver jewellery and other souvenirs

These brocade skirt made by Mong ethnic minority people are sold up to several Vietnamese million dong.

These brocade handbags are the favourite of many young city ladies

This kind of pig or called “lon man” is sold well here.

Rice wine is indispensable in Bac Ha fair.

At the end of the market is a place for trading cattle.

A foreign tourist stops a while before taking more photographs

After the fair, people normally have noodle full with fat meat and hot chilly.

Bac Ha fair attracts tourists with its wild and uncommercialised beauty but no one can assure that this identity will be preserved for next years.

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Making splash

VietNamNet Bridge - A private water puppetry troupe will, for the first time, present the traditional art at an international festival in Japan.

An art form unique to Vietnam that makes waves wherever it goes will reach the shores of Japan this week.

Two tons of equipment including dozens of puppets and even a pool had been shipped to Japan several weeks ago to present to Japanese audiences, especially children and the youth, authentic water puppetry performances.

Seventeen members of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Rong Vang (Golden Dragon) Water Puppet Theater will take part in the Kijimuna Festa 2009, a prestigious art festival for children and young audiences held in Tokyo and Okinawa.

The delegation, comprising of one producer, three directors, six musicians and seven actors, will present 18 performances spread over seven shows from July 20 to August 6.

Huynh Anh Tuan (photo), owner of the Golden Dragon theater, told the Tuoi Tre newspaper the performances will introduce Vietnamese customs, folk activities and daily life in rural areas. The dragon and phoenix dances, rearing of ducks, fishing and boat racing are some of the scenes that will be enacted.

Traditional music including cheo (northern folk opera) will accompany the performances, bringing to the audiences another fascinating, long-established folk art from Vietnam, Tuan said.

The shows will also feature the famous legend of King Le Loi (1385-1433) and the Sword Lake in Hanoi.

Legend has it that the king had been lent a magic sword by the Golden Turtle God to defeat the Chinese Ming invaders in the 14th century, and after he accomplished the task, he returned it to a turtle in the lake, giving it its name.

Happenstance

The Kijimuna Festa organizers, while making a survey of Southeast Asian traditional arts in November 2007, visited HCMC and were attracted by Golden Dragon’s performances, Tuan told media in a press briefing last week.

They invited the theater’s managers to attend last year’s event to learn about the festival, Tuan said.

“I’m very happy and proud to present Vietnam’s unique water puppetry to young Japanese audiences.

“I hope spectators will be amazed by the vivid wooden puppets and the technique of decorating them with lacquer,” he said.

Water puppetry has been showcased to foreign audiences many times but only through tours by state-owned troupes like the Central Water Puppet Theater and the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater.

Luck played a part in helping Golden Dragon break the tradition, Tuan said, as the festival organizers came to the theater’s performances by chance during their November trip.

The Japanese had also visited other theaters in Vietnam before selecting his, Tuan added.

“Maybe they liked the colorful and festive atmosphere of Golden Dragon’s shows.”

Kijimuna Festa is an annual art festival held in Okinawa in the summer, mainly to entertain children and young audiences and introduce them to different kinds of art forms including dramas, puppetry and music, as well as exhibitions and comics.

The festival is open to participants of all ages, from below 5 to 12 and above with a wide range of activities tailored for each age group.

Organizers also aim to promote cultural exchanges between nations with various seminars and workshops held during the event.

This year’s event will be held in Okinawa and Tokyo with 63 performances from 13 countries and territories including France, Australia, Taiwan, Cambodia, Vietnam and hosts Japan.

Tuan said he admired how Japan spent money and effort to introduce the younger generations to art.

“Japanese children are so blessed, being educated to appreciate beauty and art from a young age,” Tuan said.

“I think we need to learn that from Japan.”

Puppeteer of the show

Tuan has dedicated most of his art managing career to entertain young audiences and rescuing water puppetry from falling into oblivion in modern times.

The IDECAF Theater – a familiar venue for HCMC drama lovers established by Tuan in 1997 and located inside the Institute of Cultural Exchange with France – has dedicated much time to children’s plays and produced hits for the younger audience almost every summer.

“I love seeing young faces light up with joy at art works meant especially for them,” Tuan told Thanh Nien Daily in a recent interview.

He collaborated with the Cultural Labor Palace in opening up the Rong Vang Water Puppet Theater, Vietnam’s first private water puppet theater, at 55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St., Dist. 1, in 2007.

“Several water puppetry groups had been formed around the country, but they all ended in failure. Many, therefore, considered my decision to begin the theater risky and irrational.

“But I don’t fear difficulty. I love water puppetry and I believe it’s a traditional Vietnamese feature that must be preserved by all means.”

Since its opening, the theater has received some 200 visitors per night, half of which are foreign.

In Vietnam, traditional water puppetry was originally performed in rural villages in the Red River Delta some 1,000 years ago.

It was not until 1958 that water puppetry was first displayed in Hanoi and the first state-run puppetry group was established to serve public audiences in 1973.

Vietnamese water puppetry was introduced abroad for the first time in France in 1984. Since then, this original art has traveled to many places around the world including the US, Mexico, Korea and Japan.

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

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Vietnamese researcher produces chipset tester

VietNamNet Bridge – A chipset which has not been tested is priced at $0.15. It is $350 after being tested successfully. Intel has said it will buy into the chipset tester designed by a researcher from the Sai Gon Technology University.

Le Phuoc Lam introduces the chip tester.

Le Phuoc Lam’s project named “Manufacturing chip testing equipment used in chip technology training” has been checked and taken over by the HCM City Department of Science and Technology.

Lam’s equipment includes hardware to receive orders from computers and perform the test, the wafer, the box to connect tested chipsets and the software to run it on computers.

Lam said that testing the chipset is one of the most important steps in producing chipsets, affecting the production costs of chipsets.

A chip that is not tested is priced $0.15. The price is $350/chipset after it is tested. In the world, there are chip testers serving the chipset manufacturing industry, priced at around $2 million, not chip testers for training. To hire a chip tester, the charge is $125,000 to 175,000 per hour.

Sai Gon Technology University’s vice director Le Hiep Tuyen said that they will invest more in this project to improve some functions and then manufacture the testers to serve chip technology training in Vietnam.

Intel Vietnam is willing to combine with the Sai Gon Technology University to develop this equipment. The firm will also buy testers to provide for some Vietnamese universities for training activities.

VietNamNet/Dat Viet

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University entrance exams to be marked by July 31

VietNamNet Bridge – Universities have said that they have sped up on marking exam papers in order to finish the work by the end of the month. It is expected that exam papers will see lower marks this year than last year.

Exam papers expected to see fewer marks

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan on July 17 paid a tour to universities in HCM City to supervise exam paper marking.

Representative from Saigon University said that this year proves to be the hardest year so far in terms of organising exams and marking exam papers. Some 33,000 students sat for the exams, which means there are 110,000 exam papers that need to be marked. The university said it began marking papers on July 15 and expects to complete the work by July 25.

The HCM City University of Education only began marking its 43,000 exam papers on July 17 and expects to finish the job within 10 days.

The noteworthy thing is that many universities have predicted that exam papers this year will see lower marks than last year.

An university said that it had just marked two papers it chose at random, and both the papers were below average for literature.

Other universities have reported low marks for mathematics.

According to Nguyen Tien Dung, Head of the Training Division under the HCM City University of Technical Education, no exam paper has got 10 for mathematics. There are a big proportion of papers that are below average in mathematics but there has been no zero.

Lam Truong Thoai, Head of the Training Division under the HCM City National University, has also predicted that marks for mathematics will be lower than in 2008, while having reported a high percentage of below average papers, including a zero. There has been no paper with a 10; the highest so far is 9.75.

Difficult to find teachers to mark exams

Universities have complained that the fee to mark exams is unexpectedly high this year.

The HCM City Open University, for example, pays 6,000 dong per paper, while the HCM City University of Education pays 8,000 and non-state universities pay up to 10,000 dong.

Universities have had to invite teachers from high schools to mark exam papers as well in order to meet the required pace.

Required marks expected to be lower than last year’s

The Hanoi Medical University, University of Foreign Trade, University of Civil Engineering and Thang Long University have predicted that the required marks to get into the universities will be lower than last year’s.

In 2008, the Hanoi Medical University was the one which set the highest required marks (28.5 for three subjects). However, the university’s President Nguyen Duc Hinh said that as the exam questions this year were more challenging than last year’s, the required marks are expected to be lower.

The Hanoi Foreign Trade University last year required students to have 28 marks to be enrolled in the university. The required marks may be the same or 0.5-1 mark lower than the last year’s level, according to Head of Training Division Le Thi Thu Thuy.

VietNamNet/VNE, DT, TP

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HCMC employers funnel insurance money into their own pockets

10:23' 22/07/2009 (GMT+7)

A worker collects his social insurance compensation at an insurance agency in Ho Chi Minh City. VietNamNet Bridge - Thousands of workers in Ho Chi Minh City are working without health and social insurance policies as employers illegally pocket chunks of their salaries meant to pay for mandatory insurance. The city’s Social Insurance Agency, which is also in charge of health insurance, told Thanh Nien Monday it was filing a lawsuit against more than 40 businesses for neglecting to pay more than VND200 million (US$11,230) each in insurance fees. The agency reported they had failed to collect a total of VND62 billion ($3.48 million) of health and social insurance fees from nearly 200 companies that had ignored payment. In Vietnam, workers pay 3 percent of their salary each for both health and social insurance policies and employers are required to deduct the money from salaries to pay the insurance agency directly. Agency director Cao Van Sang said the companies in the lawsuit had ignored payment although they had signed a commitment to pay the fees after several inspections and collection efforts by the agency. This lawsuit includes the highest number of companies the agency has ever filed suit against since its first case in late 2007, the agency reported. Nguyen Dang Tien, head of the agency’s inspection section, said the agency had rejected negotiation efforts as the companies had been using talks to delay payment, he said. He said several companies had requested negotiations as a way to extend payment deadlines, adding that nearly all the firms had blamed salary hikes and the global recession for the delays. The agency also rejected offers by some of the companies to pay just parts of their fees, he said. Tien also said many companies were aware of the lawsuit but had continued pocketing the insurance fees collected from workers without paying a single dong to the insurance agency. He said besides losses to the state budget, the lack of payments also meant that workers would not be entitled to their rightful benefits, especially when they fall ill or get injured. Lax rules “Regulations have not deterred, but only encouraged violations,” said Dang Quang Dieu, deputy head of the Law and Policy Bureau under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor. He said the actions taken to enforce the payment rules were too lax. “The measures are inadequate: the maximum fine of some dozens of millions of dong is issued against those who ignored billions of dong in insurance fees.” He said health and social insurance violations would have serious and long-term negative consequences on workers. Stricter penalties, including criminal charges, were needed as a deterrent, he said. Nguyen Van Tien, chief inspector of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, also said that many violating companies had agreed to pay the fines without paying the insurance fees. “Some showed their business’ bank account figure to prove they had no money,” he said. “But they have other bank accounts to deposit money and we were unable to inspect those.” VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

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Credit tightening will not affect stock market

VietNamNet Bridge – Information about banks tightening loans for securities investments would have raised concerns that this would negatively influence the stock market – if the information had been released one year go. However, this is not the situation at this moment.

Information about banks tightening loans for securities investments would have raised concerns that this would negatively influence the stock market – if the information had been released one year go. However, this is not the situation at this moment

In principle, the tightening of credit means that investors will not have as much money to make securities investments. Therefore, it is understandable why people are worried that the tightened credit will affect the stock market.

The State Bank of Vietnam has sent documents to commercial banks, asking them to reserve capital for production and business, while limiting credit for consumption, real estate and securities investments.

In fact, the stock market has been influenced by the credit tightening policy for the last month, when the State Bank of Vietnam announced it would inspect banks’ credit activities. This was considered a move that heralded the policy on tightening credit to fund securities investments.

Since the move, banks have been controlling their loaning for securities investments, stopping providing loans and checking outstanding loans. Dau tu chung khoan reporters found out that there is still ‘room’ at securities companies to loan to securities investments. Most borrowers have sold stocks to pay debts back to banks. Other investors, fearing risks, dare not borrow money for investments at this moment.

The activities of loaning and borrowing money to inject in securities investments at this moment are not as hot as they were one month ago, when securities companies’ loan limits had nearly run out. At that time, short-term investors rushed to borrow money just for two weeks to make surfing investments.

Experts believe that the credit tightening will not affect the stock market because investors themselves are cautious when borrowing money at this moment. Currently, investors only borrow money for several days to make payments. For example, when restructuring their investment portfolios, investors want to purchase some share items but they still cannot sell other items to get money, so they borrow money from banks to make payments.

However, experts still believe that the tightening of credit will affect investors.

Investors understand that the State Bank of Vietnam is tightening credit because it wants to keep control over the stock market and does not want to see the stock market develop too hotly.

Experts have applauded the policy on tightening credit for securities investments, saying that it is a good policy for the market now.

As banks will reserve capital to fund production and business, listed companies in particular and businesses in general will benefit from the loans.

The State Bank of Vietnam has slashed the interest rate for compulsory reserves of commercial banks at the State Bank, a move that should be seen as a method to encourage money to be put into circulation.

VietNamNet/DTCK

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