SCI-TECH IN BRIEF 15/4

23:13' 15/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Remains of American GIs on the way back to the U.S. from Viet Nam (filed photo) (Photo: SGGP)
US MIA soldiers return home
The remains of US missing-in-action servicemen have been handed over to the US at Da Nang International Airport .
The remains were uncovered at an excavation site in central Vietnam and transferred to the US by the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP).
A repatriation ceremony was held on April 14 in the presence of US Ambassador Michael W. Michalak, US Army Lieutenant and Commander of Detachment Two Colonel James Saenz and representatives from the VNOSMP and the US Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC).
The ceremony marked the 106th post-war handover of remains from Vietnam .
Since 1975, remains of 883 US soldiers have been identified with 627 from Vietnam . The US says it appreciates Vietnam ’s cooperation and assistance in field operations.

Khmer ethnic people enjoy New Year festival

A jubilant atmosphere covers the whole Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang as nearly 400,000 local Khmer ethnic people celebrate their traditional New Year Festival Chol Chnam Thmay.
The Chol Chnam Thmay Festival, which begins after the year’s first harvest, fell on April 13-15 this year.
The celebration featured many cultural programmes, including performance of traditional dances and musical instruments.
This year’s festival became more excited since the local Khmer people have enjoyed a bumper harvest, according to Lam Ren, Head of the provincial Department for Ethnic Groups.
The provincial authorities also visited and presented gifts worth more than 1.5 billion VND to the local Khmer people on this occasion.
In the Mekong Delta province of An Giang province, nearly 90,000 Khmer ethnic people also welcomed this year’s Chol Chnam Thmay Festival in happiness after gaining an abundant crop.

Call for energy efficiency

Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) says saving power is the best way to cope with the severe shortage of electricity.

EVN Deputy General Director Nguyen Manh Hung said administrative agencies and offices have been asked to reduce 10 percent of their yearly power expenses.

Production, trading and service organisations were also asked to limit electricity usage in rush-hour.

At the same time, the group has set up a network of 1,000 shops selling power-saving light bulbs.

During the dry season’s months, EVN expects to raise generation capacity to 31.7 billion kWh, an increase of 4.8 billion kWh compared to last year.

It plans to mobilise electricity from newly-built power plants such as Ca Mau 1-2, Nhon Trach 1, Tuyen Quang and the expanded Uong Bi. The corporation will also purchase power from China .

At a recent extraordinary cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai called for the acceleration of key power projects to ensure they begin operating no later than May 1.

According to the National Centre for Power Moderation, the country spends an average 180.4 million kWh of power per day, with the highest peak in February at 206.1 million kWh, an increase of 16 percent over the same period last year.

College and electrical cooperation ink contract

The Lilama Technical College 2 (Lilama 2) and a US electrical company have signed a training cooperation contract.

Under the contract, the Lincoln Electric company will provide software, new technology and subsidised welding equipment to the college. It will also provide further training to the college’s teaching staff.

The agreement also makes Lilama 2 the first school this year to be admitted to the American Welding Society.

Founded in 1985, Lincoln Electric is considered a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of robotic welding systems and plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment.

Headquartered in Cleveland , Ohio , the company has 39 plants in 19 countries and a worldwide network of distributors and sales offices covering more than 160 countries.

Lilama 2 was the first Vietnamese school to be a member of the UK Skills.

FUYO scholarships for Vietnamese students

The FUYO Foundation has awarded 20,000 USD worth of scholarships to 80 poor but outstanding Vietnamese students.

The scholarships encourage and support outstanding students in their study at universities in Vietnam .

The presentation ceremony was held by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Hanoi on April 14.

The FUYO Foundation, established in 1997 by the FUYO corporation of Japan , has presented scholarships worth 110,000 USD to nearly 600 Vietnamese students.

Vocational school for the disabled begins construction

Ground was broken for a vocational school for Agent Orange victims in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province on April 13.

The school is built at a cost of more than 200 billion VND on nearly 6 ha in An Ngai communes, Long Dien district.

The school with a total floor space of 5,000 sq.m. will include 36 classrooms and five workshops, a dormitory capable of accommodating 500 students and a 300-bed medical clinic.

The school will give training on computer-based office work, electronics, weaving, embroidering, and printing.

Tra Vinh builds nearly 10,000 houses for the poor

The southern Tra Vinh province has built close to 10,000 houses, 88 water supply projects for over 9,000 households and agricultural use, worth hundreds of billions VND.

The funding was sourced from Programme 134, designed by the Government to support poor households, which has created a facelift in the Khmer ethnic villages in Tra Vinh province.

Thousands of Khmer families have been provided with new houses, safe water, electricity and cultivated land. The programme also helped children of Khmer people attend school.

This year, Tra Vinh province will build 2,564 new houses for the poor, spending 20 billion VND from the programme.

The Government has also allocated 9 billion VND for the province to build seven water supply stations, 15 water supply systems, 2,380 water tankers and 2,000 water meters. It will also spend a further 13 billion VND to make more agricultural land available for the Khmer ethnic minority people.

Bac Lieu builds houses for poor Khmer ethnic households

The southernmost province of Bac Lieu has built over 4,500 houses for poor Khmer households over the past three years under the Government’s programme 134 to support poor people.

Mass organisations and socio-economic establishments in the province also built an additional 1,700 houses for Khmer people, helping improve their living conditions.

During the annual Khmer New Year Festival, Chol Chnam Thmay, which falls on April 13-15, local officials has been paying visits and presented gifts to Khmer pagodas and people.

Bac Lieu province is home to over 65,000 Khmer people. They live mainly in Bac Lieu town, and Hoa Binh, Vinh Loi and Hong Dan districts.

Whirlwinds strike northern border provinces

Whirlwinds and hailstones ripped through northern border Lai Chau and Bac Kan provinces on the evening of April 13, injuring tens of locals and removing roofs from hundreds of houses.

Lai Chau Provincial Hospital Deputy Director Lo Van Chau said 20 people were rushed to the hospital’s emergency section after the storm.

The whirlwinds pulled down or damaged dozens of houses in Lai Chau town and destroyed electricity transmission lines that caused blackouts lasting hours.

Meanwhile, more than 600 homes in Na Ri district, Bac Kan province, were unroofed and six others completely collapsed.

The calamity left two local people in Na Ri district injured and another in Cho Don district missing. Nearly 200ha of rice and 200ha of maize in the two districts were damaged.

Local authorities of Lai Chau and Bac Kan provinces are helping the victims of the storms.

Collective tomb found in southern province

A resident in Cho Gao District, southern Tien Giang Province discovered a collective tomb holding the remains of 17 people, while digging to build his house’s foundation last week. Local authorities have retrieved the remains and brought them to the headquarters of Luong Hoa Lac Commune’s People’s Committee.

Director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Manh Cuong said the place where the remains were found is close to the former site of the French Ben Tranh Prison of the French colonial resistance war.

Cracked gas pipe puts karaoke bar in flames

A fire broke out at Do Quyen karaoke bar in Ha Noi’s Ngo Sy Lien Street on Saturday, collapsing the bar’s entire second floor.

Losses were estimated to be hundreds of millions of dong.

Some people caught in the fire said the gas pipe of an air conditioner in the third floor was cracked and the staff unintentionally threw cigarette ash on the floor.

An employee at the bar was hospitalised for suffocation after jumping from the third floor to escape the fire.

Japan donates Braille printers to city blind

The Japanese Government on Friday handed over five Braille printers worth nearly US$80,000 to the HCM City Association of Blind People.

The donation, three to the association and two to Thu Duc District’s Vocational Training Center, will help produce some 3,300 Braille learning and teaching materials to serve 4,000 visually impaired people in the city.