Culture sports

Hanoi (VNA) – A culture week highlighting the terraced rice fields in Hoang Su Phi district of the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang is set to take place on September 4-30, announced the provincial People’s Committee.

The event, the sixth of its kind, will feature a cultural festival of Mong ethnic people residing in the province and off-road races in Vinh Quang township, along with a paragliding contest over the fields.

It will also re-enact a market in the mountainous regions and introduce products and socio-economic achievements of the local people at an exhibition.

The week, aiming to develop and promote values of the national heritage site of the terraced paddy fields, is viewed as a typical cultural event of Ha Giang and a draw for tourists.

Local authorities will keep a close watch on COVID-19 developments to decide on a suitable schedule and organisation of the event in a bid to ensure safety for participants.

Spanning across six communes of Hoang Su Phi, the terraced fields were recognised as a national heritage site in September 2012.

The harvest season in the district falls in September and October, creating a breathtaking scene that attracts tourists to Ha Giang province every autumn./.

VNA

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam won one gold and one silver medal at the Asian Taekwondo Championship which closed in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 17.

Truong Thi Kim Tuyen won gold in the women’s 49kg category. The No 1 seed defeated No 2  Mannopova  Madinabonu  of Uzbekistan 25-24 in the final.

It was Tuyen’s second Asian title in a row after her first in the 46kg class three year ago held in Vietnam. She is the first Vietnamese fighter to have won the continental competition. Madinabonu also took part in that event and grabbed a bronze.

Tuyen received a bye in the first round. She beat Munisa Oimatova of Tajikistan, No 9 seed, in the quarter-finals and No 5 Hung Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals. Hung and Tuyen will have a chance to fight again next month as both have qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo.

On June 16, Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet pocketed a silver in the women’s 57kg class. The unseeded player shocked No 4 Laetitia Aoun of the hosts 12-0 in the quarter-finals before beating No 1 Chen Yu-Chuang of Chinese Taipei 5-4 in the last four. Chen previously knocked Tuyet out of an Olympic qualification tournament last month.

Tuyet however fell 28-11 to No 3 Kim Yu-jin of the Republic of Korea in the final.

Ho Thi Kim Ngan, who was seeded No 4 in the women’s 53kg pool, had an unsuccessful event as she was eliminated in the first round by Ghazal Soltani of Iran.

The Asian championship, which was on June 14-18, lured nearly 340 athletes from 28 countries and territories competing in 16 pools for both men and women.

Vietnamese players will fly to Kazakhstan to continue their training until July 10 when Tuyen and her coach Kim Ki-tae take part in the Tokyo Games./.

VNA

HCM City (VNA) – The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on June 17 announced that the second hearing for the case of law violation involving the land lot at 57 Cao Thang street being exchanged for the land lot at 185 Hai Ba Trung street in the city will take place from July 13-19.

The hearing, which was scheduled for May 26 to June 2, was delayed to June 22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, social distancing measures are being applied in HCM City until the end of June, forcing the trial to be suspended again.

In this case, Duong Thi Bach Diep, Director of the Diep Bach Duong Real Estate Co., is among the key defendants in the trial, and is charged with “fraud, appropriation of assets”.

Nine other defendants in the case are charged with “lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences,” including former Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai; former Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Finance Tran Nam Trang; former Director of the HCM City Light Music Centre Vy Nhat Tao; former Director of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thanh Rum; former Deputy Director of the department Le Ton Thanh; former deputy heads of the municipal People’s Committee Office Huynh Kim Phat and Le Van Thanh; former Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment Dao Anh Kiet; and former Deputy Director of the department Nguyen Thanh Nhan.

According to the indictment, the 185 Hai Ba Trung land lot, owned by the State, was the headquarters of the Light Music Centre under the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In 2007, the centre’s then director Vy Nhat Tao contacted Diep to cooperate in upgrading the headquarters.

Diep then proposed exchanging her land lot at 57 Cao Thang street for the 185 Hai Ba Trung land lot, as she owned the land lot at 179 Hai Ba Trung street and wanted to build a five-star hotel complex there.

The property swap was approved by Nguyen Thanh Tai. During the process, Diep used the land use right certificate for 57 Cao Thang as collateral to borrow money from Agribank – HCM City branch.

After being granted a land right use certificate for the property at 185 Hai Ba Trung, however, Diep did not use it to replace the collateral at Agribank to hand over the property at 57 Cao Thang to the Light Music Centre as committed. Instead, Diep used the 185 Hai Ba Trung land lot as collateral for a loan at Southern Bank (now Sacombank) and so far was not able to repay the debt.

The indictment stated that Tai permitted the property swap while he was not responsible for handling and reorganising State assets.

On March 5, 2010, Tai signed a document sent to relevant units approving the exchange of the two land lots, without any request to check and clarify the legal status of the 57 Cao Thang land lot, causing losses of State assets .

The other defendants showed a lack of responsibility in carrying out their duty, thus facilitating Diep’s fraud and appropriation of assets.

The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on March 26 decided to return dossiers of the case for further investigations as new evidence and details were found./.

VNA