VietNamNet Bridge – Khuat Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of Traffic Safety, has been cycling to work for the past seven years. As someone who deals with the country’s traffic problems, he feels the need to set an example through his modest efforts to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution in Ha Noi. However, Hung’s choice is an anomaly, as evidenced by the choked roads of the rapidly changing capital city, with motorised scooters zigzagging their ways through dense swarms of traffic. The city’s vehicle inventory includes around 5.5 million motorbikes and 600,000 cars. With the bus system only meeting 10 per cent of demand by the metro area’s 10 million residents, these six million individual vehicles serve more than 80 percent of the need. Vu Van Vien, Director of Ha Noi’s Transport Department, says that if 60 per cent of all available cars and motorcycles in the city travel simultaneously at 20km/h, the space needed … [Read more...] about Hanoi crafts ambitious plan to ease traffic stranglehold
Dc metro red line
EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR Oct. 1-15 (daily updated)
HCMC – Exhibition “From Phố Phái to Houses Facing the Street” Opening: Sun 13 Oct, 6 pm Exhibition: 13 Oct – 13 Nov 2013 Eight Gallery Lafayette Building, 8 Phung Khac Khoan st., Dist 1, HCMC You are invited to the exhibition “From Phố Phái to Houses Facing the Street” by artist Nguyen The Son. “The houses with their faces to the street (the Nha Mat Phos) speak clearly. They symbolize the power of money – and yet, every facade has a reverse side. The part you don’t see right away… Where are the stars and the real heroes of everyday life? With a second, closer look at the relief-like photographs (embossment photos) in Nguyen The Son’s installation we see people passing by on motorcycles. Families, workers, mothers with their children. Outfitted with the products of progress, their movements mirror the tempo of the times, and even the variety of motorcycles testifies to economic change. He places … [Read more...] about EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR Oct. 1-15 (daily updated)
Social News 1/10
Hanoi authorities seize 20 iPhone 6 The Market Management Unit No 1 under Ha Noi's Market Management Department yesterday seized 20 iPhone 6 smartphones from a man living in Dai Kim commune of Hoang Mai district. The man, named Hoang Ba Thuc, did not have any papers to prove legal possession of the 20 smartphones, which are worth a total of VND 500 million. Thuc admitted that he had bought the phones from HCM City via express service in order to sell them illegally. Captain of the Market Management Unit No 1 Nguyen Dang Khoa said that his unit was making further investigations in the case. More trees to be cut down in HCMC Many trees along Ton Duc Thang Street in HCMC’s District 1 will be felled or moved to other places to make room for construction of Thu Thiem 2 Bridge. Nguyen Khac Dung, head of the Greenery and Public Park Office under the Department of Transport, told the Daily that the city will chop down 84 big trees and relocate 37 others but will keep 151 out of a … [Read more...] about Social News 1/10
Mosquitoes’ rapid spread poses threat beyond Zika
As the world focuses on Zika's rapid advance in the Americas, experts warn the virus that originated in Africa is just one of a growing number of continent-jumping diseases carried by mosquitoes threatening swathes of humanity. The battle against the insects on the streets of Brazil is the latest in an ancient war between humankind and the Culicidae, or mosquito, family which the pests frequently win. Today, mosquito invaders are turning up with increasing regularity from Washington DC to Strasbourg, challenging the notion that the diseases they carry will remain confined to the tropics, scientists documenting the cases told Reuters. Ironically, humans have rolled out the red carpet for the invaders by transporting them around the world and providing a trash-strewn urban landscape that suits them to perfection. The Aedes aegypti species blamed for transmitting Zika breeds in car tires, tin cans, dog bowls and cemetery flower vases. And its females are great at spreading disease as they … [Read more...] about Mosquitoes’ rapid spread poses threat beyond Zika