Two more Hanoi-HCM City flights

17:03' 07/11/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Low-cost carrier Pacific Airlines has announced it received a Boeing 737-400 on November 16 and it will supply two more flights between Hanoi and HCM City, raising the total to nine/day. The new flights between Hanoi and HCM City are coded BL794 and BL800, starting at 8.30 and 13.30, and the corresponding flights coded BL795 and BL801, taking off at 11 and 14h everyday. The airline said it would cancel some flights in the next several days for routine aircraft maintenance in cooperation with engineers of Boeing. However, passengers on these flights will be arranged on substitutes. Meanwhile, the government has asked the Ministry of Defence for 14.3ha of land to expand the parking lot of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City. Tan Son Nhat serves around two-thirds of the total foreign visitors travelling by air to and from Vietnam. This year, the airport will welcome around 11million passengers. It will be expanded to serve 15-17 million passengers by 2010. Viet Nam Net

Pristine beauty of a submerged forest

10:28' 08/11/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - In the midst of south Vietnam's Mekong Delta lies a watery, 20-ha primeval indigo forest bursting with reeds, rushes and water lilies. Visitors will be enraptured by the primitive beauty of the Xeo Quit forest – a region bordering the My Long and My Hiep communes in Dong Thap Province. This culturally historic area was once a revolutionary base for resistance forces in the wars against the French and US armies, but today the ecologically diverse forest is a popular tourist destination. Sampan boat trips run regularly through the vast swampy marsh under an immense canopy of dense cajuput trees. Tour guides wearing traditional loose-fitting blouses and bandanas navigate the canoes skilfully throughout a maze of tree roots covered in multi-layered brown bark. The air is cool and humid with the fragrance of cajuput flowers wafting among the vegetation. Every so often a moor-hen sings out while Kingfishers fly off into the luxuriant jungle of trees. Although the area was largely devastated during the war, by 1975, more than 100,000 ha of forest still remained; covering parts of Long An, An Giang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau provinces; and thanks to restoration efforts, much of the diverse ecological system has been re-established. At points along the canals, however, the dug-outs, and thatched houses of the liberation army can still be seen. Leading out of the estuaries, the "Kingdom of Rice" is an area alongside the Mekong's canals where large schools of river fish swim and several types of rice-eating birds like to flock. The banks are home to harvest mice, snakes and turtles that can appear and disappear at a blink of an eye. Locals make good use of this diverse natural landscape in creating specialty food dishes like Dong Thap Muoi (harvest mouse baked with chilli and citronella) and snake stewed with spices. Brave tourists are welcome to try these indigenous delicacies for themselves. For those with less daring palettes, there are other delicious local dishes like sprouts of lotus with baked fish dipped in seasoning. After sipping rice wine, one can lie back in a hammock and contemplate the exotic tranquillity of the area. Xeo Quyt is also an ideal meeting-place for artistic camps. The intriguingly beautiful forest is considered a great source of inspiration for photographers, artists and sightseers alike. (Source: Nhan Dan/Thanh Nien)

1,200 foreigners to cruise cross Vietnam

10:38' 05/11/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - About 1,200 international tourists travelling on Costa Allegra cruise ship will dock Saigon Port on the morning of November 5, said Saigontourist who is going to host the trip. These tourists, mainly from Britain, Spain and Italy, will travel from Saigon to Da Nang, Hue ancient city and Hoi An ancient town – two world cultural heritage sites of Vietnam. This is the second ship to Vietnam of the Costa Crociere cruise firm in 2007-2008 season, starting from October 2007 and lasting until June 2008. For the first 10 months of the year, Saigontourist has welcome 36,200 cruise tourists to Vietnam, an increase of 87% against the same period last year. The travel company is expected to welcome 11 cruise ships at Ha Long Bay, 15 ships at Ho Chi Minh City and 18 ships at Da Nang in November, said Le Quang Thang, head of the cruise department of Saigontourist. (Source: Nhan Dan)

I get wet

17:03' 12/05/2005 (GMT+7)

TGL – Brooding skies and shotgun thunderclaps: when the skies open the full throttle of a tropical storm, the last place you want to be is on the road. Don’t get caught in the open. (Photo: Pham Vu Quang) For Elliott Samuels, who misses this kind of thing. Early evening, at home watching Riding Giants on DVD. It’s the tail end of a long weekend, and I’m trying to summon the body powers required for my upcoming kung fu session. There’s big wave action on the screen, and big wave sound with it, yet that low rumble that’s shaking the house by its very foundations gives me a sneaking suspicion that a fairly freaking serious storm is about to rain hell on the city. I meander out to the balcony, where a quick glance at the bruised skies confirms that if I’m going to get to this session, I’d better get while the getting is dry. These early summer storms whip themselves up into a terrifying level of wrath at a tremendous pace. Like flights of headless dragons they swirl and scud across the sky, bent on unleashing torrential rains to wash away any who stand beneath. And that’s when you get ‘the fear’. What if I don’t make it before the sky breaks? Well, you have a place to be, and woe be damned if a little H2O is going to stop you getting to your destination. But a little careful planning is required. Leaving the house, I slip into my wet weather riding shoes, neoprene slip ons, almost like the water joggers those damned safety kids all wear. I collect my plastic riding poncho - the one with the special clear headlight panel in the front – it hasn’t been used in a while and sure smells like it was put away wet. I move my bag from its side saddle, low slung position into backpack mode. With a tentative glance at the sky, I wheel my bike out of the house. The road into town is dark, the sky above in flux, ready to tear itself in half and recreate the big wave surf right here on the road. Overhead, lightning flashes and thunder barks like the sudden crack of a shotgun. Everyone on the road has one ambition: get where you’re going, and get there now. The road seems strangely orderly, with nobody pulling surprise u-turns, no stray pedestrians in centre road no mans land. Everybody is getting where they’re going, and getting there now. Traffic is moving fast, safety thrown to the surprisingly icy wind because it’s better to be dry than mollycoddle over petty concerns like “driving to the conditions”. The storm is to the east, just over there, ready to drop its payload off just around the next bend. Next bend, another, another and it’s not even showering yet. I’m on the edge of this massive storm and I just might make it. At Long Bien things logjam, crossing traffic refusing to yield to the straight through, and while the thunder cracks I’m as impatient as those around me to push through the cross current and get on my way. Minutes pass, thunder cracks overhead and my motorbike’s clutch plates overheat, give out, bike stops. Who cares, push it through, rolling with one foot on the tarmac. Just don’t get caught out here in the open. Rain here is no pleasant relief from the summer heat. It blinds you, hurting your skin as it pelts like small icy stones. No, not at all like hail - its 40 degrees cold. Ten seconds in it and you’re drenched. It murders your cell phone and bludgeons all the precious stamps in your passport. Plain sailing for a few more streets, but around Hoan Kiem Lake the winds howl, blowing leaves and dust in my eyes. I can’t see but I drive faster anyway; the thunder is more urgent now. Round the lake and the raindrops come, few now and just a few blocks to go. I know I’m not going to make it. Two more blocks and the clouds unfold – race to the nearest tree, shelter while I strap on my plastic poncho. It stinks to high hell inside it, push my head through, gulp air, tuck it under my ass, and I’d be rolling already, but there’s an opportunist right in front of me trying to hock one of those 10 cent shake and bake, cling film raincoats that shred to pieces when you put them on. Two more bocks and I’m there. I park my bike knowing full well of the floods to come. Whether the waters will rise above the exhaust pipe and bleed all through my engine, only time will tell. Inside, third floor, but there’s no holding out the water. The session is spent waving a quarter staff around while trying desperately not to slip over too near the other student who is wielding a large metal sword. It’s an open, covered studio, and skimpy curtains barely hold out the torrents. In five minutes I’m soaked. In ten minutes we have to shut down the fans; water on the cables and covering the floor, and us packing deadly weapons, this could get nasty really fast. Peeking from the windows occasionally we see the poor sods caught out in it, pushing their bikes through the knee deep waters in the intersection outside. Cars sit dormant in haphazard positions, lights out, dead. The rain may have stopped, but the waters won’t recede. I’ll be out there soon enough. Leaving the building and the ground floor is awash. Small waves move out as one ground floor dweller tries to sweep the water out with a broom, but bigger waves roll back as cars pass in the street outside, their wake firing straight down the alley, bringing in all manner of flotsam - sticks, plastic bags, a wooden ancestor worship shrine. My bike stands on the footpath, chain deep in water. I hope it starts. The parking attendant cum small bar operator for elderly piss heads gesticulates wildly from beneath his plastic slicker. “I know, I know. You don’t wanna be out here in the swash zone looking out for my bike. It’s okay, it probably won’t go anyway.” I give him his VND1000 and he vanishes inside. I’m trying to figure out what to do about my bike; will it go? Can I remember where the curb is under the water? There are five roads that run off this intersection – which way should I go? A teenage girl stands nearby, surveying the carnage. I ask her which direction I should go, and she stares at me with a “Go where?” look on her face. My bike starts and I ride off down the pavement, slowly, trying not to kick up too much wake. The old drunk who hangs around that corner is still wearing his fedora, still clutching a plastic water bottle full of rice wine. He waves it at me. “You want some?” I’m busy, I tell him, and he draws a line with his finger across the water: this way out. Around the corner, two blocks down, each intersection flooded with people trying to negotiate each other and keep their machines running. A tree lies across the road, an SUV trying to edge around the end, but there’s a power pole in the way. There’s a downed power line, I’ve gotta ride over it, freaky thoughts on the nature of water and electricity. Assume it’ll be ok. Drive on. I’m taking random turns, assuming that heading away from Hanoi’s multitude of lakes and towards the dike is a good bet. Eventually I come to an empty street. The next intersection flooded, looks deep. But I’ve forded rivers on this bike – keep the engine running and you can ride through anything. Keep the engine running, keep the… It’s a lot deeper than I thought. My bike putters to a stop and I can almost hear it sucking the water in through every leaky engine pore. I’m screwed and I know it. I got myself in this position: sitting astride my waterlogged bike in a darkened downtown intersection, a light drizzle falling, it’s oddly quiet. A truck roars into the intersection from my left, its wake rising like something at Mavericks. A girl riding into the intersection from the other direction hits it head on and is washed overboard. She and her bike disappear underwater. I stand on the seat of my bike and brace for the wave. It splashes on the tank, whipping up and wetting my rolled up shorts. I’m struck by how absurd all of this is, while resigning myself to pushing my bike out and figuring out how I’m going to fix it. As I push my bike through the intersection, the distraught girl tries to collect her floating belongings. I’m thinking about a day like this a few years back, one an afternoon rainstorm flooded bia hoi corner. Some painters, caught unawares by the rain, left their cans and brushes sitting on a door step. The waters rose, the rain stopped, and all looked like it would pass uneventfully, until the wake of a passing car knocked the cans over, putting a white slick across the water’s surface. When I happened on the scene a few minutes later, there was a line marking the waters lapping height, like the pink bath scum in Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat. Out of the water I push my bike up onto the access ramp to someone’s house, and kick it over until the water stops squirting out of the exhaust pipe. I spend the next hour, with more sweat than rain running off my face, trying to get the damned thing running again. Water water everywhere so let’s ruin four sparkplugs and bruise our feet kicking it over a thousand times in footwear that earlier seemed so sensible. On the ride home - hands black with grease, clothes wet, temper frayed – the air is cool, the higher dike streets almost dry already. People negotiate downed power lines and fallen trees like there’s nothing out of the ordinary going on. After all, it could very well happen again tomorrow afternoon. Source VNN

Da Nang offers multilingual tourist info screens

10:40' 05/11/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Downtown Da Nang will set up four LCD screen-based multi-language tourist information stations next year. Tourist destinations, traffic information, entertainment and accommodation in the central coastal city will be displayed on LCD screens. The first two first multi-language tourist information stations will be placed at the Da Nang International Airport and at the Cham Museum. (Source: VNA)

Enjoyment for a day

11:20' 06/11/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Ben Thanh Tourist has launched a series of one-day, weekend tours to serve foreigners, overseas Vietnamese and young people in HCMC who have limited time for traveling. Tourists attempt to catch fish in the farm in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang. The six tours, which depart from HCMC on Saturday and Sunday mornings, will take in attractions in Can Gio District, the southern coast of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh and Tien Giang, returning to HCMC in late afternoon. The one-day tour to Tay Ninh - Cu Chi, which is already a popular destination for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese, will include Ba Den Mountain, located in the cultural and historical relic complex of Tay Ninh Province. At 986 meters, this is the highest mountain in the south. Other attractions on this tour are Thanh Long cavern, Kim Quang cavern, Gio cave, Tay Ninh Holy See, the headquarters of the Dadaism religion, and the Cu Chi tunnels, which were used as an underground base for Vietnamese soldiers in the American-Vietnam war before 1975. The tour to the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang will give tourists a unique opportunity become amateur farmers for a day as they try their hand at fishing in the canals. They can also participate in some of the daily activities of local people, enjoy some don ca tai tu (amateur southern opera) performances or go for a walk around the gardens for some sightseeing. Ben Thanh Tourist has two options for visitors who want to visit the coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. One of the tours includes a swim at Vung Tau beach and a visit to local attractions such as Niet Ban Monastery, Thang Tam Temple, and Ba Ria or Long Thanh markets to buy seafood, and other products. The second tour is to Binh Chau Resort, located in the Binh Chau primeval forest, where tourists can relax by soaking in the mineral hot springs. The one-day tour to Giang Dien waterfall in Thong Nhat District, Dong Nai Province, around 45 kilometers from HCMC, is especially popular with young people because of the many adventurous activities there, including riding tandem bicycles, taking a train ride or paddling in a boat, and playing football. One can also jump from stone to stone arranged neatly in a long line across the streams, possibly reminiscent of childhood games, or enjoy an afternoon nap in the grassy area among plants and flowers. The last of the six tours is a guided tour of Can Gio District, southeast of HCMC, which covers 71,000 hectares, one-third of the city’s area, of which 33,000 hectares is a nature reserve. The district has been recognized as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. The tour includes a visit to Monkey Island where one can have fun with playful monkeys and a boat trip through the Sac Mangrove forest. (Source: SGT)

Pop singer to represent Vietnam at Asian concert

09:09' 14/08/2007 (GMT+7)

Lam Truong (the third from the top on the left row) appears on the festival’s poster VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese singer Lam Truong will perform alongside other well-known Asian singers at the 2007 Asia Song Festival to be held at Seoul stadium in the Republic of Korea on September 22. According to organisers, tickets for the festival, which is considered one of the greatest musical events of the year on the continent, can be downloaded free from the festival’s official website that will be launched some time this September. Lam Truong is the only singer from Vietnam that will be present at the event alongside such names as Lee Hyori, Super Junior and SG Wannabe from the Republic of Korea; famous boy band F4 and Cheung Amei from Taiwan; as well as others from China, Hong Kong and Thailand. According to Sin Hyeon-taek, Chairman of the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, the purpose of the event is to help contribute to Asian cultural exchanges. (Source: KBS, Dan Tri)

We must take care of each investor: Planning and Investment Minister

09:26' 14/08/2007 (GMT+7)

Minister Vo Hong Phuc VietNamNet Bridge – At least 40 projects worth tens of billions of USD are coming to Vietnam. Vietnam has been preparing to welcome these new sources of investment. Talking to the press, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said: “In the past one year, especially since Vietnam has joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), many big economic groups in the world have come to Vietnam with very large projects. Among them are new investors from the Middle East, such as Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, who have expressed the determination to invest billions of USD into Vietnam. We expect that in the coming time those investors will become strategic investment partners of Vietnam. I think this is a rare opportunity for the country and we need to quickly grasp this opportunity. One of the moves proving the government’s determination to attract this source of investment is that the Prime Minister has instructed ministries, agencies and provinces to quickly carry out solutions to further draw foreign investment. Could we ‘digest’ this amount of capital when administrative formalities are still stuck, infrastructure is overloaded and human resources are facing a shortage? Administrative formalities in investment management have been decentralised to localities but in fact, some localities still cause investors problems. To solve this problem, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has set up special task forces to assist provinces, especially with some large-scale projects. The Ministry will join hands with localities to speed up those projects. This method has been applied for projects of Japan’s Matsushita group and recently Taiwan’s Foxconn. The Ministry is determined to do its best to help those groups invest in Vietnam as quickly as possible. I think that investment promotion in this situation dictates that we have to follow each investor and each project to support them, not to call for investment in general. Investors complain that sources of manpower to build enterprises in the fields of hi-tech and high-grade service zones are in short supply. We have asked the Prime Minister to permit, in some cases, investors to bring workers to Vietnam to build specific works. The new sources of investment aim at hi-tech and service projects so what do we have to do to welcome this source of capital? Recently foreign investors have shifted their capital sources to industrial projects with high contents of technology instead of cheap labour as in the past. Among them are hi-tech groups like Compaq, Foxconn, Intel and Matsushita. We must have specific measures to attract this source of capital. Representatives of those groups highly praise the young human resources of Vietnam, who have been trained. However, Vietnam needs to improve the contingent of vocational training teachers. Human resource training will be the key to attracting investment in hi-tech industries. Some provinces are racing to attract foreign investment at any cost, accepting even projects that can cause pollution. Do we accept this situation? I think selecting investment projects is very important. We don’t attract investment at any cost. We have to refuse projects that negatively impact the environment. Competition to attract investment, in my opinion, is a good trend but all provinces must have the same policy on land, taxes, etc. We can’t let each province have its own policy. (Source: Tuoi Tre)

Nature experience in Ninh Thuan

12:35' 03/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Ninh Thuan Festival 2007, organized by the central province of Ninh Thuan, will take place from August 15-21. Vinh Hy Bay view from the boat. Many festivities and new tours have been planned, and to mark the occasion HCMC-based Vietravel tour operator has launched a three-day and two-night tour to the province. The first tour will start tomorrow, the second on August 10, and the last tour is scheduled for August 17. Travelers on the final tour will have more chances to join many activities of the festival such as the food culture and red wine festival, the traditional dragon boat racing, and the beauty contest for sheep. Other activities include all-terrain vehicle racing, the national volley ball contest, walking for disabled children, Cau Ngu festival (a traditional festival of fishermen), arrow shooting contest and folk music show. By arrangement with HCMC-based Vietravel tour operator, tourists can visit Ca Na Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the Central region, Bau Truc traditional pottery village, Po Klong Garai Temple of Cham people, and Vinh Hy Bay, a virginal bay of the province. Around 42 kilometers from Phan Rang Town in the northeastern part of Ninh Thuan Province, the bay is surrounded by white sand banks and a chain of stones. There are no hotels or guest houses, just some canvas for tourists, but the bay is a good place for swimming, fishing and browsing the coral reef. Seeing the landscape of multi-shaped mountains, exploring the colorful coral by glass bottom boat and enjoying the sea winds will make the trip worthwhile. Fisherman in the fishing villages will display their fishing skills for tourists and guests can learn how fishermen make salted and dried fish. They may also try their own hand at fishing and any caught fish can be grilled on the boat for visitors. The more adventurous could climb the mountain wall, or take part in a number of activities there. Po Klong Garai Temple, around 9km northwest of Phan Rang Town, and Bau Truc traditional pottery village, about 10km south of the town, are the last attractions of the tour. At Po Klong Garai Temple, visitors will hear about the religious beliefs of Cham ethnic people, and Bau Truc, one of the oldest pottery villages in Southeast Asia is a place for visitors to learn about the talent of Cham people in pottery making. The tour costs VND1.68mil per tourist. For further information, contact the company at 190 Pasteur Street, District 3, HCMC, tel: (08) 822 8898. (Source: SGT, Viet Nam Net)

How many storeys will the $500mil Keangnam hotel have?

17:10' 03/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The $500mil hotel, a work to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long’s establishment, has not been kicked off yet because it remains unclear how many storeys the hotel can have. Hanoi to have one more five-star hotel Cau Giay District in Hanoi South Korea’s Keangnam group should have started the construction of the five-star hotel in the Cau Giay new urban area in Hanoi on July 29 (on the same day, the ground breaking ceremony for the $65mil five-star hotel Crown Plaza on Le Duc Tho Road in Tu Liem district took place). Keangnam group was one of the two best candidates for the project to build the $500mil five-star hotel on X2 position on Pham Hung Road (near the National Convention Centre). The licence was finally granted to Japan’s Riviera. Hanoi authorities, wanting to keep both potential investors, decided to allocate another land plot to Keangnam to develop the five-star hotel on the E6 land plot in Cau Giay new urban area. Several months ago, when granting the licence to develop the five-star hotel, Hanoi Mayor Nguyen Quoc Trieu asked the investor to implement the project soon. However, the project could not be kicked off as soon as previously planned as state management authorities still have not said how many storeys the hotel could have. According to Ha Jong Seuk, Chief Representative of Keangnam in Vietnam, as the management authorities did not show the land site map for the project, Keangnam had to build different construction designs to be submitted to the Ministry of Construction and Hanoi authorities for approval. Initially, Keangnam suggested an 80-storey hotel, but the Hanoi People’s Committee said that the buildings in the complex must be less than 60 storeys. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Construction said that the construction of high-rise buildings should be encouraged in the new urban areas. Deputy Minister of Construction Tran Ngoc Chinh said that the urbanisation pace in Hanoi had been quickening, construction demand, increasing, while the land fund was limited. The five-star hotel complex is expected to be located in the Cau Giay new urban area, and at the intersections of many key transport routes; therefore, a complex with modern architecture and with the height of 47-70 storeys would be fine. Currently, the Hanoi People’s Committee is still consulting relevant ministries and branches and has not made a final decision on the number of storeys of the complex. And for the time being, the project still cannot be kicked off. (Source: DTCK, Viet Nam Net)

Brief biography of 22 ministers

17:19' 03/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – On August 2, the National Assembly approved the appointment of five Deputy Prime Ministers and 22 Ministers and heads of ministerial level agencies. Of the 22 ministers and cabinet members, ten are appointed for the first time and 12 have assumed key posts at ministries and ministerial level agencies. New Government has five Deputy Prime Ministers Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and members of the new government. Here are the brief biographies of the 22 cabinet members: 1/ Minister of Defence Phung Quang Thanh Born in 1949 Native land: Vinh Phuc Province Education: Bachelor of Military Sciences Mr. Thanh is a member of the Party Central Committee, a Politburo member, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Defence. 2/ Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh Born in 1949 Native land: Kien Giang Province Education: Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Politics Mr. Hong Anh is a member of Party Central Committee and the Politburo, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Public Security. 3/ Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem Born in 1944 Native land: Hanoi Education: Doctor of Metallurgy Mr. Khiem is a member of the Party Central Committee and the Politburo and Deputy Prime Minister. In June 2006, the National Assembly approved the appointment of Mr. Khiem as Foreign Minister. He is deputy of the 10th, 11th and 12th National Assembly. Minister of Defence Phung Quang Thanh Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan 4/ Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan Born in 1950 Native land: Hai Duong Province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Tuan is a member of the Central Party Committee, deputy of the 10th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. 5/ Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong Born in 1953 Native land: Vinh Phuc Province Education: Associate Professor, Doctor of Law Mr. Cuong is a member of Party Central Committee and deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is currently Deputy Minister of Justice. 6/ Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc Born in 1945 Native land: Ha Tinh Province Education: Bachelor Mr. Phuc is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Planning and Investment. Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh 7/ Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh Born in 1955 Native land: Nam Dinh Province Education: Master of Finance – Budgetary, Business Administration Mr. Ninh is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Finance. 8/ Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang Born in 1953 Native land: Hai Phong City Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Hoang is a member of Party Central Committee. He is now Secretary of the Party Committee of the northern province of Lang Son. 9/ Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat Born in 1956 Native land: Nam Dinh Province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Phat is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is now Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung 10/ Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung Born in 1950 Native land: Da Nang City Education: Metallurgy Engineer Mr. Dung is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is now the Minister of Transport. 11/ Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan Born in 1949 Native land: Hai Duong Mr. Quan is a member of Party Central Committee and is now the Minister of Construction. 12/ Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen Born in 1950 Native land: Ha Tay Province Education: Doctor of Economics, Master of Geology Mr. Nguyen is a member of Party Central Committee. He is now Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment. Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen Minister of Information and Communication Le Doan Hop 13/ Minister of Information and Communication Le Doan Hop Born in 1951 Native Land: Nghe An Province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Hop is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Culture and Information. 14/ Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan Born in 1954 Native land: Ben Tre Province Education: Master of Finance – Credit Ms. Ngan is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. She is currently Deputy Minister of Trade. 15/ Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh Born in 1952 Native land: Da Nang City Education: Engineer of Aviation Measurement, Bachelor of Law Mr. Tuan Anh is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is currently Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong 16/ Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong Born in 1948 Native land: Hanoi Mr. Phong is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is currently Minister of Science and Technology. 17/ Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan Born in 1952 Native land: Tra Vinh Province Education: Professor, Doctor of Cybernetics. Mr. Nhan is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 10th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Education and Training. Mr. Nhan is also appointed to be the new Deputy Prime Minister. 18/ Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu Born in 1951 Native land: Bac Ninh Province Education: Bachelor of Health, Doctor of Sociology Mr. Trieu is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee. Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Giang Seo Phu Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Giau 19/ Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Giang Seo Phu Born in 1951 Native land: Lao Cai Province Education: Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Politics Mr. Phu is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Central Organisation Committee. 20/ Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Giau Born in 1957 Native land: An Giang province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Giau is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is now Secretary of the Party Committee of Ninh Thuan Province. 21/ Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate Tran Van Truyen Born in 1950 Native land: Ben Tre Province Education: Bachelor of Law Mr. Truyen is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 10th and 12th National Assembly. He is now Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate. Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate Tran Van Truyen Director of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc 22/ Director of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc Born in 1954 Native land: Quang Nam Province Education: Bachelor of Economics Mr. Phuc is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th National Assembly. He is now Deputy Director of the Government Office. (Source: National Assembly’s website)

Spam email in Vietnam

17:54' 30/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Advertising email marketing services on a website of Vietnam. VietNamNet Bridge - Spam mail delivery service has been professionalised in Vietnam. In Hanoi, tens of companies publicly announce they provide this service to clients. Those companies are ready to help their clients to send spam emails to a million mailboxes a day. They also sell mail delivery software products and lists of millions of e-mail addresses of Vietnamese people and even the software to make forged websites to illegally collect e-mail addresses at very cheap prices. If one makes the mistake of registering his email addresses on some email lists to receive news at some websites, he will need 5-10 minutes or more each morning to delete spam emails. Complaints from offices about spam email, especially those in Vietnamese language, are becoming more and more common. Spam email delivery: from free to professional service “Our company now has a promotional programme: providing free of charge a software product to send advertising e-mails to 10,000 email addresses every day. This software can deliver advertising e-mails very fast, with high rate of success. We also have professional e-mail delivery software which is much better!” A young man named T advertised the above services of his company, which is based in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, and specialises in services related to advertising via email, to VietNamNet reporters. At the website of this company, services offered by this firm include selling email address lists, sending advertising emails of large number, selling professional spam email delivery software. This website advertises that their software can send from 30-50 million spam emails a month. The price of such software, according to the young man, is less than VND500,000 (US$30). By searching on Google, VietNamNet reporters found tens of other companies with addresses and telephone numbers which stated they provided spam email delivery solutions which are ‘very professional’. VietNamNet reporters called the phone number on one of the websites and a young girl confirmed that it was the number of a limited liability company in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi. When the reporters said that they wanted to advertise a personal website, the girl confirmed: “The most effective means is sending e-mails”. According to her, some male students who presented websites to their girlfriends paid several hundreds of thousand dong to send spam mails to advertise those websites. “We have around 10,000 email addresses. They are classified to serve different requests of customers. Our professional email delivery software can send emails with 100% success, which are not hindered by Vietnamese Internet service providers. The price for this service is only VND400,000 ($25),” the girl said. Solutions to collect email addresses As a new advertising service, many companies are offering solutions to collect email addresses without paying attention to the owners of email addresses. A limited liability company advertises that it sells software to search for email addresses for VND500,000. This software can search email addresses by key words, for example email addresses with @hn.vnn.vn. This company is also ready to search for email addresses in narrower fields, for VND100/email address. Many illegal software products have been commercialised by IT companies to collect email addresses. These software products are installed on the homepages of websites, which ask visitors to register their email addresses to receive news or become members. They then automatically classify email addresses into different groups based on the information that email address owners provide. Most websites and forums don’t commit to keep the email addresses of their members secret so many people accidentally provide their email addresses for spammers when they participate in online forums. Who knows? So I’m not scared Playing the role of an employee of a private company, a VietNamNet reporter met with the salesman of spam email delivery software of an IT company in Hanoi. The reporter said that his newly established company wanted to advertise their operations through email but the company wanted to be sure that email advertising solutions that it bought were legal. “What law? What rule is there about it? Nobody in Vietnam bans you from sending advertising emails. Moreover, our software allows you to add any email address to the sender status so nobody can know that you are the spammer,” the salesman said. Who suffers? Internet users, of course! In 2005, one of the Internet service providers in Vietnam was named on the list of senders of huge numbers of spam emails. Companies that use services of this ISP could not send emails abroad because their mails were barred. Thus, the user is the sufferer. “Recently, the number of spam mails in Vietnamese has boomed, causing many troubles and losses for our company. Sometimes the network of our company is blocked and we can’t send emails because of spam mails,” said Viet, the deputy director of a company in Hanoi. Spam mails not only inconvenience users but also affect the operations of many organisations since their networks are jammed by spam emails. Not only users but also ISPs and Internet resources are affected by spam emails. This worry has become a fact as spam email delivery services are offered on many websites. Vietnamese Internet users are waiting for measures from management agencies to control spam emails. Viet Nam Net

Having babies: effective way to avoid imprisonment

17:50' 30/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Nguyen Thi Thoan and Do Thi Bao VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Thi Thoan from the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai publicly deals drugs but she is not arrested because she is always pregnant. There are many female drug traders who are sentenced but not in prison because they are busy having children like Thoan. Arrested so I must have baby Many female offenders use motherhood for a legal defence. In many cases, they have been sentenced but for some reason they are allowed to be out on bail. When the verdicts take effect and they must go to jail, legal agencies can’t send them to prison because those female offenders are pregnant. To avoid going to jail, many female offenders have children without stopping and nobody can touch them. Though there are no official statistics about this subject of female offenders, the number is quite large. In Lao Cai province, there are around 50 women of this kind, all of who are drug traders. The most ‘famous’ case is Nguyen Thi Thoan, a primary teacher in Lao Cai province, who publicly deals drugs but police can’t arrest her because she is always pregnant. Every time police invite doctors to examine Thoan, she is always pregnant at around 4-5 months and police, thus, must wait for three years. But when her verdict comes into effect, Thoan continues to be pregnant. This woman has stated: “If you arrest me, I’ll have more babies.” Lai Chau province has Do Thi Bao, a drug criminal who is also a ‘child delivery machine’. Notably, though she is not married she continuously has babies. In HCM City, there is also a female drug trader who has delivered 7-8 children to avoid being arrested. Another case, a female offender named Dieu Thi Huong, who can’t have children, has adopted abandoned children to dodge the law. How to deal with them? Some legal experts said that this problem results from a gap in the law. According to Article 88 of the Penal Action Code, women who are pregnant or have small babies of less than 36 months are not put in prison except for the cases in which their out-on-bail can hinder investigation. This is a humanity policy of the Vietnamese state for pregnant women and those who are nurturing small babies of less than 36 months, but this policy has been abused by offenders. According to Article 55 of the Penal Code, the prescription for a verdict is five years for those who are sentenced to three years in jail or less, ten years for those who are sentenced to 3-15 years in jail, 15 years for those who are sentenced to 15-30 years in jail. Under documents guiding the implementation of the Penal Code, the prescription of a verdict is applied for verdicts that are effective but are not implemented due to being forgotten or being lost. In case the verdict is temporarily canceled for some reasons, after this time the defenders must perform the verdict. However, offenders who are sentenced to less than three years in prison and are ill or have babies can enjoy sentence cancellations many times. If the time of cancellation is equal to the prescription of their verdict and during this period they don’t commit a new offence they will be exempted from imprisonment. This is the gap that has been abused by offenders. According to Phan Tanh, vice presiding judge of the HCM City People’s Court, this situation has stirred discontentment in the public but there is no way to deal with it because ‘that’s the law’. Viet Nam Net