A campaign called Undetectable = Untransmittable was launched on Wednesday in HCM City to persuade people living with HIV to take antiretrovirals as prescribed by doctors to reduce the virus load in their body to undetectable levels so that they do not transmit it to their sexual partners.
The campaign seeks to improve public awareness of early HIV tests and ARV therapy, and reduce discrimination against people with HIV.
Proper treatment will help them live longer and have children, according to health experts.
According to Dr Tieu Thi Thu Van, head of the HCM City HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre, though ARV therapy does not cure HIV/AIDS, it helps people with HIV reach and maintain an undetectable viral load, which makes the risk of passing the virus negligible.
So health officials should counsel people with HIV and ensure they take treatment, she said.
A young person gets an HIV test at a medical camp in HCM City. Photo: Gia Loc
The campaign ending on September 30 is being carried out by the HCM City HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre in co-operation with the Vietnam-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Viet Nam Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS.
It is receiving technical assistance from the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam, a collaboration between the Harvard Medical School and two of its affiliated teaching hospitals, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
To meet the growing demand for organic foods, retailers are scouring for producers and also planning to invest in organic agriculture themselves.
Vinamit Joint Stock Company has recently begun to sell a range of organic farm produce through Big C supermarkets.
Nguyễn Lâm Viên, general director of Vinamit, said this is part of their co-operation to promote sales of organic produce.
The company supplies 15 different vegetables, five to six fruit varieties and organic rice to six Big C supermarkets in HCM City now, but in future plans to distribute to all Big C stores in the country, he said.
It also plans to supply temperate vegetables and fruits and organic pork and chicken in future, he said.
Viên said the company also supplies some organic vegetables to Co.opmart under the Co.op Organic brand.
Vinamit sells a total of 300-500kg of vegetables a day. If demand increases, it plans to increase output accordingly, he said.
A Big C spokesperson said the supermarket also sells organic vegetables and fruits supplied by other distributors and the number of suppliers in the market is rising steeply.
“Big C would to like to tie up with producers who have international organic certificates.”
Last year, Saigon Co.op began distributing four groups of organic products meeting international standards – rice, vegetables, basa fish fillet and black tiger shrimp – under its Co.op Organic brand name in HCM City.
The company has a 300ha organic farm in Cà Mau Province whose produce is certified by the USDA, JAS of Japan and the EU.
Phạm Trung Kiên, deputy general director of Saigon Co.op, said there is great demand for organic products.
The entry of more players would make the market more competitive, and consumers would benefit, he said.
Saigon Co.op is looking for more suppliers, including overseas, to diversify supply, he said.
Đoàn Diệp Bình, head of PR and events at LOTTE Mart Vietnam, said: “Demand for organic products is expected to increase because demand for safe and high-quality food products is on the rise.
“Lotte Mart stores are selling many organic products, including OrgaGro organic rice. We plan to expand the list of organic items.”
A recent survey by the High Quality Vietnamese Product Business Association found that food safety continues to be a major concern for Vietnamese consumers and they are willing to pay for products that are good for their health.
Vũ Kim Hạnh, chairwoman of the association, said organic foods have become very popular in Việt Nam. A study of organic producers estimated the current market capacity at VNĐ3.5 trillion (US$153.5 million) a year.
I’ve been living in Vietnam a while now, relatively speaking. Longer than I expected, in fact. When I tell anybody new to town how long I’ve been here for, they always raise their eyebrows and give me a suspicious look, just as I used to do when I first arrived.
I never planned to still be here (over 6 years and counting…), though I have some friends who’ve stayed much longer. The first year here felt very long indeed. I did what most single foreign men do when they arrive in Vietnam. I became a sort of ‘playboy’. I thought it was cool then, but now I’m ashamed of that behavior, although it was a difficult habit to break.
Vietnamese women can be very beautiful but are not perhaps accustomed to the ‘ways of the west’, so it can be easy to take advantage of this situation. However, once I saw some other foreign men, who were typically quite charmless and unattractive, doing the same thing, I immediately stopped and threw myself into the gym instead.
But I wasn’t completely saved from that selfish lifestyle until I met my girlfriend. We made each other really laugh a lot, which is quite unusual I think with the culture barrier. Luckily her English was quite good too, because my Vietnamese skills are so horrible. I learn languages quite easily, and have never struggled anywhere else. But Vietnamese is so utterly dependent on accurate tone, it drove me mad (I often say beware of anybody fluent in Vietnamese, they must be either perverts or spies!). I even started to suspect, in my expat paranoia, that locals were pretending to misunderstand my words just to annoy me!
Expats often complain about Vietnam and the way it’s different from their home countries. But it obviously makes life easier to just accept any differences and remember the many positives (no country is perfect anyway). You only need one type of wardrobe in Vietnam, there is much less crime, it is cheaper (unless you shop at Vincom Center or something), scenic, and the cities have a frantic yet laid back atmosphere that I feel is unique to Asia, if not the world (and I’ve travelled most of it).
Zooming around on a motorbike can be dangerous but I’ve seen more accidents in England than here and it gives a real sense of freedom. Ho Chi Minh City in particular has a ‘small town’ feel (even though it’s huge) which I love. It’s like a friendly village but with millions of people you can bump into. My friend once likened hanging out here to being in prison (but in a good way), in that “nothing ever happens, but anything can happen!” I want to.
Being an expat, it’s easier to make a good life for yourself in Vietnam. I have almost too many friends, a nice apartment, a good job (I’m a ‘travelling teacher’, rather than a ‘teaching traveller’), lots of hobbies and everything feels quite easy. However, one thing I probably lack, and it’s a big thing, is a strong local connection. Even after all this time, I find the cultural divide quite exhausting to overcome, at least compared to other countries I’ve stayed in. I have very few Vietnamese friends and I am now living the lifestyle I used to frown upon, that of the ‘expat bubble’. Can I just blame my battle with the language for this?
But as far as bubbles go, it’s a great existence, and I have Vietnam to thank for that.
To be honest, one of the only things I truly dislike about life here is some of the expats! That might appear somewhat ironic, but the neo-colonial attitude of some foreigners here angers me, especially as many of them were clearly not ‘cool’ in any way before they came out here. Now suddenly they can be seen strutting about, taking advantage of local hospitality and often looking down on a culture that they don’t even try to understand.
Perhaps it is a feature of expat life to become more selfish or disconnected from ‘reality’, as most foreigners living here are away from family and other responsibilities or restrictions of home. It can take some effort to ‘give a little back’ and not just always be ‘taking’ from Vietnamese society, but in my own personal experience anything I have tried has been well worth it. Skyping my critical mother once a week has also helped keep my feet on the ground a little more!
Vietnam deserves the respect of every visitor and we shouldn’t forget that we are guests in this beautiful place. This country has overcome the most incredible hardship after the apocalyptic American war. To think how far it has come in just a short time, with such a friendly population (especially in the countryside), well, it makes me wonder if some other nations could have recovered so well by comparison.
HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is enacting policies to aid businesses in the supporting industry by encouraging investment, networking between firms and banks, and creating special zones.
The municipal People’s Committee has approved 15 investment projects related to the mechanical, plastic and food industries, with total investment of 938 billion VND (41.3 million USD), 581 billion VND of which would be supported by the government in the form of paid interest on loans, according to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade.
A city multi-disciplinary team has also appraised nine projects, at a total of 943 billion VND (41.5 million USD). Two of them have been approved by the city.
The HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA) is working with related authorities to form supporting-industry zones in Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone and Le Minh Xuan 3 Industrial Zone.
Nguyen Phuong Dong, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, said that to provide space for businesses to operate, HEPZA was also building factories at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone and Linh Trung 1 Export Processing Zone.
Factories in the former are already being rented, while those in the latter are expected to start construction within this month.
In addition, the Department of Industry and Trade is working with the State Bank of Vietnam – HCM City Branch to connect banks with businesses and encourage credit unions and financial institutions to offer credit packages to businesses in the supporting industry.
Also, in accordance with Circular 29/2018/TT-BTC issued by the Ministry of Finance to manage funding for supporting industry development, nation-wide cities and provinces including HCM City can use state funds to provide financial aid to companies and organisations so they can organise exhibitions and conferences on attracting investment.
Accordingly, the companies and organisations in the city would be given up to 70 percent of the total costs for such activities, or up to 12 million VND per participant, as well as help in promotion and brand registration, up to 50 million VND per brand.
Also, according to the circular, the costs for sending business delegations to events in other countries will also be covered up to 70 million VND per participant, depending on the country.
In addition, the costs for appraisal, counselling and certification for businesses in the supporting industry would be fully covered by the State Budget.
All of these efforts are part of HCM City’s plan to develop its supporting industry. The city targets meeting 45 percent of national demand for manufactured inputs by 2020 and 65 percent by 2025.
The supporting industry has not grown as quickly as others, affecting the city’s economic development as a whole.-VNA
Vietnamese businesses lack a proper strategy to build brands, a survey by British brand consultant Mibrand has found.
According to a report by VNS, an online survey last month of 200 small and medium-sized firms in Ha Noi and HCM City in many sectors like IT, finance and banking, retail, insurance, healthcare, and dining services found most of them building their brands by themselves but without having the tools for it.
Among the biggest problems Vietnamese firms face when building brands are the lack of an instruction toolkit and standard methods to assess outcomes, Phung Thai Duong of Mibrand said.
Some companies do hire a professional agency or consultancy to help with the branding, but face challenges like high fees, the outside experts not having a thorough understanding of the company’s situation, and inability to evaluate the outcomes since they are not provided the tools for it, he said.
“Businesses should only hire an agency for branding once they have scaled up. For newly established businesses and start-ups, it is not a good choice.”
Nearly 90 per cent of the firms in the survey said they were in need of a branding strategy but developing it was not an easy task.
The reasons include not all members of the management understanding the significance of branding and the marketing team’s lack of practical experience in developing a long-term plan for branding, making it hard to persuade the management to spend money on marketing activities.
An executive from Golden Path Academics Viet Nam, which operates in the education sector, said when the company was established in 2011 its marketing and communication activities were done “quite simply” without any strategies making it hard to find customers.
It had also lacked expert branding strategists, the executive said.
Lai Tien Manh, director of Mibrand, said to have an effective long-term branding plan businesses need to position and reposition their brands, acquire branding experts, and constantly improve branding behaviours based on assessing and measuring the effectiveness of communication and marketing activities.
He said the last task can now be done with the help of Branding 4.0 Toolkit and Brand Beat Score developed by his company.
“These tools offer a solution to companies for building and managing brands. They also help companies address challenges related to communications such as helping them develop ideas for long-term communications strategies.”
Companies should develop a branding strategy that meets the needs of their target consumers and business activities and also helps improve the marketing team’s capacity, he added.
The Laguna Lăng Cô integrated resort in central Vietnam is expected to have a casino by 2022, after being awarded the first casino license to be issued by the Vietnamese government in 10 years.
At the recent Vietnam-Singapore Business Forum 2018 in Singapore presided by the Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the license was presented by chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Cao to executive chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings Ho Kwon Ping. TTG Asia reported
This license issuance kicks off the second phase of development at the Banyan Tree-operated resort. Said Ho: “Many hotel investors and development funds have been awaiting the casino license and the selection of a casino operator before finalizing their investment into (the property’s second phase).”
The five-year-old property is undergoing an expansion from 2018 to 2022, expected to see investment capital increase from US$875 million to US$2 billion.
Laguna Lăng Cô’s first phase of development, with an investment value of US$285 million, comprises both Banyan Tree and Angsana hotels, a 18-hole championship golf course designed by Nick Faldo, luxury private villas and residences, convention facilities, recreational activities and beachfront land for six more hotels, part of a 280ha project.
International news channel France 24 has strengthened its presence in Việt Nam, after gaining new distribution agreements with five operators in Việt Nam.
Thanks to these agreements with VTVCab, Viettel, HTV-TMS, Clip TV and K+, the channel has expanded the broadcast of France 24 in English across the country considerably, reaching an additional 2.2 million households.
Since November 2016 the channel has been available through FPT Telecom and the VNPT Media Corporation. The channel is now available in 3.75 million households in Việt Nam, representing some 27 per cent of Vietnamese households equipped with a television set.
To celebrate its expansion, the channel will broadcast a special programme about Viet Nam worldwide today. At 11.45am, on the exclusive Focus programme, a five-minute report entitled Vietnam Becoming a Major Player in Asian Football will be presented.
Following the news bulletins the channel will show two reports about the country: The Vietnamese E-commerce Boom, and Réhahn Croquevielle, Vietnam Through the Lens. The latter is about a French photographer living in Việt Nam, who opened the “Precious Heritage Art Gallery” in Hội An, showcasing his photos of the country’s 54 ethnicities.
Speaking at a press conference on May 23 in Hà Nội about France 24’s expansion, Chairwoman and CEO of France Médias Monde, Marie-Christine Saragosse, said: “With a presence in 183 countries on five continents, and more than 62 million viewers, we hope the special Vietnamese programme will introduce more about Việt Nam to those who do not know much about your country.”
Also attending the event, director of France 24, Marc Saikali, said that the channel will focus on producing more programmes to attract Vietnamese viewers.
“We will also produce more reports and increase the broadcasting time of programmes about Việt Nam. We will definitely enhance the presence of our reporters in Việt Nam as well,” he said.
From its newsroom in Paris, France 24 gives a different perspective on global affairs all over the world. With 35 nationalities including Vietnamese working in the newsroom and 160 correspondent bureaus all over the world, the expression of diversity, confrontation of viewpoints and debate are central to the channel’s programming.
Alongside the broadcast of FranSce 24 in English, the channel plans to broadcast its French programmes in Việt Nam in the near future.
Vietnamese woodwork is making a mark worldwide, from furniture in five-star resorts to first class flights.
With high quality and reasonable price, made-in-Vietnam woodwork has made its presence felt in luxury interior design projects worldwide.
Last year, a team of 70 workers from Vietnam of design and construction company AA Corp were sent to the Caribbean to construct the interior of the luxury Park Hyatt St. Kitts resort. The $16 million project included components on interior design, millwork and loose furniture.
Dubai based airline Emirates, the largest in the Middle East, also used Vietnamese-made woodwork for the interior of their first class cabins.
“The U.S., Japan, Dubai, Singapore, Myanmar and Laos all have premium constructions with signature material from Vietnam,” said Nguyen Quoc Khanh, chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA).
Premium hotel and resort corporations in the world such as Starwood, Accor, IHG, Marriott, Hilton and Fairmont all want to select Vietnamese businesses to design and construct the interior of their buildings, Khanh said, adding that these companies like made-in-Vietnam wood products because of their high quality and reasonable prices.
With world class craftsmanship, Vietnamese wood businesses can now offer complete five-star woodwork instead of just selling individual products, said Nguyen Chanh Phuong, CEO of Danh Moc Limited Company, which designs kitchens.
Approaching the high-end segment of the market is what local businesses have been aiming for years, Phuong said, adding that with improved customer service and advertising, Vietnam can penetrate even further into the premium market.
Vietnamese wood companies also need to thrive to achieve better product value instead of running after revenue goals and export targets, said Tran Viet Tien, CEO of Lavanto Home Décor, which manufactures a variety of home products.
Businesses also need to invest more in automation, human resources and design to reach new heights, Tien said.
Vietnam is currently world’s top five exporter of wood, behind China, Germany, Italy and Poland. Last year, Vietnam exported $8 billion worth of wood and forest products and the country aims to reach a $9 billion target this year.
Four months after returning to trade on the stock market, once famous milk brand Hanoimilk once again faces the risk of compulsory delisting for being late with its audited financial reports.
According to the Hanoi Stock Exchange’s document sent to Hanoi Milk JSC (Hanoimilk, code: HNM) on May 14, the company has been delaying submitting its audited financial reports during the past three years (2015-2017). Last July, the trading of the company shares was suspended for similar reasons.
The document also stated that Hanoimilk may be delisted from the stock exchange in accordance with the government’s Decree No.58/2012/ND-CP on detailed regulations and guidelines for the implementation and amending some articles of the Law on Securities.
Talking about the risk of compulsory delisting, Hanoimilk’s representative said: “We are working with the Hanoi Stock Exchange to resolve this issue.”
After this information was published, Hanoimilk’s stock fell sharply. As of May 23, 2018, the company’s stock was at VND2,700.
Hanoimilk used to be one of Vietnam’s leading milk brands with the capacity of 40 million litres of milk per year. Newswire vnexpress.vn stated that according to a non-official report, the firm once made up 28 per cent of the pasteurised milk market for children and 9 per cent of the domestic milk market.
After focusing on the IZZI pasteurised yogurt brand, Hanoimilk even planned to diversify its products, including powdered milk, condensed milk, and fruit juice, to compete with other domestic and foreign milk enterprises. In addition, the company wanted to utilise the plan’s success to enter a joint venture, franchise, and lease the brand.
After focusing on the IZZI pasteurised yogurt brand, Hanoimilk even planned to diversify its products, including powdered milk, condensed milk, and fruit juice, to compete with other domestic and foreign milk enterprises. In addition, the company wanted to utilise the plan’s success to enter a joint venture, franchise, and lease the brand.
At its annual shareholders’ meeting two years ago, Hanoimilk still had the ambition to maintain its position as one of the top three milk enterprises in Vietnam and a leading nutritional product manufacturer for children.
However, after more than 10 years of being listed on the stock exchange, Hanoimilk has produced the opposite results by commonly reporting falling profits due to bad sales.
Hanoimilk’s annual shareholders’ meeting in 2018 will be held on June 30. Falling sales and issues related to the Hanoi Stock Exchange may be the main content of the meeting.
Regarding its bad sales, the representative also told that Hanoimilk is overcoming this difficulty.
Newswire vnexpress.vn quoted Hanoimilk’s leaders as saying that negative growth was a result of external factors such as the fierce competition between milk companies. In addition, its limited financial potential has affected marketing and promotion activities, which in turn curbed revenue.
Founded in 2001 and officially coming into operation in 2003, Hanoimilk JSC used to be one of Vietnam’s leading dairy enterprises with branded dairy products IZZI, Yotuti, and Hanoimilk 100 per cent fresh milk.
Pham Quoc Cong walks two kilometres to use the bathroom because his 2.2 meters-squared house isn’t big enough to have one.
But, he says, it’s a price worth paying to be able to live on a prized plot in downtown Ho Chi Minh City where he can readily find work.
He lives with six relatives in a closet-sized space bursting with clothing, toys, a fridge, a bunk bed, a rice cooker, papers, groceries, toilet paper and other household items.
That leaves little room for sleeping so he spends most nights outdoors on a cardboard-lined lounge chair, which can be tricky in bad weather.
“It’s really hard during the rainy season to find a dry place. If I can’t, I just sleep standing up the whole night,” said the 49-year-old manual labourer who has lived in the one-room home since 1975.
The ‘micro-house’ dwellings are dotted throughout Vietnam’s bustling southern hub, occupied by families clinging to tiny plots of land in a city developing at breakneck pace.
Tucked away in winding alleys, nestled under new condo developments or sandwiched between street food stalls and shops, they are easily missed by the unattentive passerby.
But Cong says his home in the vibrant District 3 neighbourhood could sell for as much as $22,000 thanks to rising land prices.
Even so, like many others living in micro-houses, he says he wouldn’t swap his prime location for a few extra metres of space.
“We’re used to this area. If we move elsewhere we can’t do business,” said Cong, whose sisters and niece make a living as vendors in the city centre.
Photo: AFP
‘Rather die than move’
Many of the mini-homes sprung up as larger housing plots that were whittled down by new, wider roads and other developments in the city.
Some may have started out on rice paddies during the period of French rule and ended up as squatter land, said Mel Schenck, an American who is writing a book about modernist architecture in Ho Chi Minh City.
There is no data on how many micro-houses exist today, and Schenck says they may eventually disappear from the rapidly transforming city.
“There’s constant change going on, and I think in the long term that’s a good thing, so if some of these disappear then that’s what happens,” he told AFP, while acknowledging their “picturesque value”.
Land disputes are routine in the city, with downtown dwellers accusing city officials of underpaying for plots that are then sold on to developers for hefty sums.
That worries Nguyen Van Truong, who lives with five relatives in his 6.7-square-metre plot underneath a luxury highrise condo.
The 62-year-old supports his family doing odd jobs in the area but doesn’t earn enough to buy a larger house in a more affordable part of town. He lives in fear that the government could force him out.
“I don’t think we’d get that much compensation because the house is too small. We don’t know where to go,” he said, hanging his clothes outside the small space packed with belongings.
“If given the choice… to move elsewhere or remain in this tiny house, I’ll choose to stay. I’d rather die than be forced to leave this spot.”
While numerous banks raise service fees on online and mobile banking as well as ATM withdrawals, more and more people choose e-wallet apps for comfort and freedom.
Nguyen Dong (Nha Be district, Ho Chi Minh City) said he uses e-wallet MoMo to pay online for utilities, internet, and his mobile phone bills every month. He even uses this app to pay when going out with friends or family. Recently, when numerous banks have been adjusting service fees, he uses e-wallet more frequently.
“The e-wallet provides several integrated services, such as buying movie tickets, air tickets, taking up consumer loans, and insurance policies. We can collect points and receive discounts just by using the e-wallet. Some e-wallets even give bonus e-money to users who invite friends,” said Vu.
Pham Minh (Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi) uses the Vi Viet app to pay her bills online. It is very comfortable and free of charge for all transactions.
CafeF.vn quoted leaders of some banks confirming that customers are turning towards e-wallets to pay bills, shop, and among others. E-wallet also provides some extra services to compete with banks’ internet and mobile banking services. Notably, it is very easy to register new accounts via smartphones.
There are around 20 e-wallet apps on the market currently, such as Vi Viet, MoMo, Payoo, Baokim, MobiVi, Nganluong, and Wepay. Several banks also intend to develop e-wallets to match market demand.
Nguyen Ba Diep, vice chairman of MoMo, said that this year the company focuses on the $20-billion Vietnamese tourism market. Holiday-goers can directly book air tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, travel and health insurance, as well as a whole range of other services on Momo. The app has six million users and expects to get 50 million users by 2020.
Meanwhile, LienVietPostBank has just signed an agreement with two Japanese companies to develop solutions of human resources management and wage payment via the Vi Viet app. This app has 2.2 million users and over 19,000 points accepting payments nationwide.
Although e-wallets have great potential, very few apps survive for long. E-wallet companies said that they have poured hundreds thousands of dollars into their apps but saw little returns. This is not always enough to cover the initial expenses. Thus e-wallet developers suffer from losses.
Vietnam holds great potential for e-payments, including e-wallets, but users do not trust these apps enough to put much money in them. Thereby, market shares and survival are a longer-term game spinning on trust and the ability to eke out the smallest gains until the market turns more benevolent.
According to economist Can Van Luc, the development of e-wallets is an indispensable side-effect of the technology boom, and numerous financial technology companies are being established.
The retail price of biofuel E5 RON 92 increased by VND500 to VND19,940 (USD0.87) per litre on May 23 following a joint decision of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Industry and Trade.
According to the ministry’s adjustment, the price of RON 95-III also rose by VND600 to VND21,511 per litre, while the prices of diesel and kerosene went up by VND587 and VND523 to VND17,694 and VND16,440 per litre, respectively.
The ministries of Industry and Trade and Finance said that they reviewed fuel prices every 15 days to adjust the prices in accordance with fluctuations on the world market.
This increase is attributed to the rise in global oil and petrol prices following political instability in the Middle East and a sharp drop in petrol supply from Venezuela.
The price of RON 92, which is used to produce biofuel E5, increased from USD81,890 in the previous adjustment to USD89,780 per barrel on May 22 – the highest level in the last few years.
Internet users in Vietnam faced up to 4,035 cyber attacks in the first five months of this year, according to the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) under the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Among the figure, up to 2,661 were hacked; 766 were malware attacks and 608 were phishing attacks.
VNCERT said that in 2017, Vietnamese internet users suffered from 13,382 cyber attacks with malware and hacking attacks accounting for the majority.
Earlier this year, up to 41,000 computers in Vietnam were affected by the video_3622.zip virus through Facebook Messenger. When internet users click on the link they will be directed to a site where the virus would be downloaded onto their computer.
The biggest danger of this new virus is that hackers could use the victim’s friend list to continue spreading.
Another case more than 139,000 computers in Vietnam were attacked by the W32.AdCoinMiner virus.
At Security World 2018, Hoang Phuoc Thuan, Head of the Department of Network Security at the Ministry of Public Security, said that every year, authorities found dozens of state secrets had been leaked on the internet. He, however, added that the real figure may be much higher than the reported figure as many cases have not yet been detected.
VNCERT also reported that over VND12.3 trillion (USD547 million) in damage was caused by computer viruses in Vietnam occurred last year, an increase from VND10.4 trillion in 2016.
Students from Tran Phu Elementary School in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai are treated at the hospital on May 21, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre
More than 40 students of an elementary school in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai have been hospitalized after drinking milk tea during a party marking the end of their school year.
The students, who are from class 3B at Tran Phu Elementary School in the provincial capital of Quang Ngai, were admitted to the local pediatrics hospital at around 10:00 am on Monday.
The kids had drunk milk tea in their classroom before having stomachache and feeling nauseous, said Vu Thi Binh, vice-principal of the school.
They were having a party in the classroom to celebrate the end of the school year, Bình continued, adding that the drinks were bought from a shop named ‘Uyên Chip Chip’ ơn Ngô Quyền Street.
The milk tea was bought from a local shop named ‘Uyen Chip Chip.’ Photo: Tuoi Tre
Following prompt treatment at the infirmary, the conditions of the students have stabilized.
Doctors stated that their symptoms included stomach pain, nausea, and fever, indicating food poisoning.
After being notified of the situation, local authorities have collected the drink samples and carried out an inspection of the store.
According to Nguyen Van Oai, head of the Quang Ngai Department of Food Hygiene and Safety, the shop has been suspended from operation.
Local authorities work with leaders of the school. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The owner did present legitimate paperwork for the business, but officers discovered several violations of regulations on food safety at the venue, Oai elaborated.
A further decision will be made after test results are in, which takes approximately five days, the official continued.
In late October 2017, nearly 500 students from two elementary schools in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang were admitted to the hospital for food poisoning after drinking chocolate milk, which was provided free-of-charge as part of a campaign to encourage sport and physical exercise.
Examinations later showed that their drinks contained Staphylococcus Aureus, also known as golden staph, a type of bacteria that can cause serious food poisoning.
Solid proof the muntjac is still around. LEIBNIZ IZW, WWF VIETNAM, USAID SONG THANH NATURE RERSERVE
It’s called a muntjac, and the last time it appeared was nearly two decades ago.
IN 1994, SCIENTISTS RESEARCHING IN Vietnam first documented the elusive large-antlered muntjac in the semi-evergreen Vu Quang Nature Reserve, in the province of Ha Tinh. The creature’s shoulder height measures roughly 26 inches, it weighs roughly 66 to 110 pounds, and lives around the Annamite Mountains that border Laos.
For years, the tiny deer has been drastically absent because of illegal wire-snare hunting. So, when the researchers from Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and WWF-Vietnam caught a photo of a male and female muntjac, there was much to celebrate.
To honor the occasion, they plan to enhance camera-trapping efforts. The last record of the muntjacs wandering the Annamite region was in the 2000, which worried many scientists and conservationists. The fear was that the critically endangered mammal was close to extinction, but the rediscovery is small win for those who want to witness the deer’s stride in Vu Quang Nature Reserve.
“Finding these rare and beautiful species gives new hope for Vietnam’s precious biodiversity treasures,” said researcher Nguyen Van Thanh in a statement.
