HCM CITY (VNS)— The HCM City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank) has signed an agreement with Manulife to distribute the life insurer's products through its branches. The deal turns HDBank into a one-stop shop for customers' financial planning and needs. Initially, only the bank's HCM City branches will sell the insurance products, but soon more branches in other places will too.-VNS … [Read more...]
Japanese archaeologist who devoted life to Viet Nam killed on motorbike
HA NOI (VNS) — Japanese archaeologist Nishimura Masanari has died in a motorbike accident on Highway 5 from Ha Noi to Hai Phong on his way to an archaeological site. Nishimura, 48, who is known here as Ly Van Sy, was born and grew up in Shimonoseki City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. A graduate of Tokyo University's Archaeology Department, he first came to Viet Nam in 1990 for a project in the central province of Nghe An. In November 1998, Nishimura discovered a piece of the mould used to cast bronze drums dating back to the 1st-3rd century, the only one of its kind excavated in the country. The object is an important piece of evidence for the research of Vietnamese bronze drums. Both his postgraduate and doctorate theses were about Vietnamese archaeology and its ancient civilisations. A member of the Viet Nam Archaeology Institute, Nishimura was the founder of the Foundation for Safeguarding the Underground Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia. Together with his wife Nishino … [Read more...]
People with disabilities struggle through daily life
VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Minh Hao, 22, used his arms to climb the stairs at a supermarket in District 9 with great difficulty. The market was not wheelchair friendly, so he had no choice. After he climbed all the stairs to enter the supermarket, he felt tired and did not have much interest left in shopping, Hao said. It was the first time Hao was shopping in person at the supermarket. He had been dependent on his roommates earlier. A student of the Post and Telecommunications Institute of Technology in District 9, Hao said he needs to visit other stores to buy necessary books, but is unable to do so. There are few bookstores that a wheelchair bound person can access, and these are far away from his dormitory, he added. Like Hao, 29-year-old Nguyen Thanh Tung, who moves around on crutches, finds it very difficult to enter buildings with many stairs. "Like other people, I also need to go shopping for myself," Tung said, adding that he does not want to bother his relatives to … [Read more...]
Couple offers life savings to build bridge for fellow villagers
VietNamNet Bridge – Few people, especially those in their 60s, would pour most of their savings into a public project. But war veteran Le Huu Dac and his wife Bui Thi Tuyen, who live in the northern province of Phu Tho, did just that. After seeing many people fall out of small boats during the flood season on the Bua River in Tan Son District, the couple said enough was enough. They were going to do something about it. Dac and Tuyen, who have cultivated and sold tea for dozens of years, spent a total of VND400 million (US$14,200) on the bridge in 2001. "I believed the bridge would save hundreds of people from drowning," Dac said. At first, they asked for permission from the local authorities and villagers, and then found a design consultant in Vinh Phuc District to come up with a design based on Dac's ideas. With help from the villagers, the Minh Thuan Bridge, which links the two communes of Minh Dai and My Thuan, was completed in early 2002. The bridge was made of wood, … [Read more...]
Blind people shown life through a sensory lens
VietNamNet Bridge – Huynh Huu Canh has never touched a camera, simply because "how can you use a camera if you can't see?" That reality is now a thing of the past. Canh and seven other blind and visually impaired adults in the southern province of Binh Duong have been trained in sensory photography techniques to create, take and experience the world of photography. The project is part of the 2013 Photovoice project – How has my life changed? carried out by the Institute for the Study of Society, Economy and the Environment (ISEE) in conjunction with a number of social organisations. It provides cameras and other equipment that the visually-impaired and blind people need. After two days of technical training, the ‘sensory photographers' take photos, record videos, or even paint to depict what is going on in their own lives and communities. The experience has enabled Canh to become more confident. "I was happy and excited about taking pictures, but also scared. I was … [Read more...]
New technique finetunes quest for life on other worlds
PARIS – European astronomers said on Friday they had devised a technique to detect water in the atmosphere of planets orbiting other stars. Using a telescope in Chile, they teased out a tell-tale infra-red signature from water in the atmosphere of a gassy planet called HD 189733b, which orbits its star every two days and is hot enough to melt steel. The work is another technical breakthrough in the fast-moving field of exoplanet research, they said. A total of 723 planets have been spotted outside our own Solar System since 1995, according to the website http://exoplanets.org, while NASA (http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/) puts the tally at 879. Several thousand findings by the specialist Kepler orbital telescope await confirmation. So far, no exoplanet spotted has the potential to be a home away from home for us humans. It would have to be a rocky planet, rather than a gas one, orbiting in a balmy zone which would enable water to exist in liquid form and thus nurture life as we … [Read more...]
Life devoted to helping invalid families
Meeting of minds: Labour Hero Tran Hong Quang talks with General Vo Nguyen Giap in a meeting of war invalids. — File Photos Veteran Tran Hong Quang is director of a State-owned enterprise and one of the youngest delegates to attend the World Young Farmers Conference. He received the Labour Hero Award for his contribution to the nation. Do Phu Tho reports. In 1971, Tran Hong Quang volunteered for the army during the fiercest period of the Anti-American War. Leaving his hometown of Hai Phong City's Vinh Bao District along with other young men, Quang was sent to the battlefield and fought in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign (1974-75) to liberate South Viet Nam. Unfortunately, he was seriously wounded which led to serious health issues. Although he was offered nursing, he decided to go home on his own. With his parents' support, Quang bounced back from his wounds and quickly returned to normal life. He attended a local school and later became a public employee. In the early 90s, he was … [Read more...]
Exhibition celebrates life’s symphony
VietNamNet Bridge – About 20 paintings and installation pieces displayed on the footpath in Ha Noi's Ly Thai To Street are a symphony of different tones. Five exhibitors tell their own stories through their works. Sculptor Phan Phuong Dong from HCM City displays the work Going Through Winter, which is hung on the wall of the Music Publishing House, showing a group of flying bicycles, comprised of 22 frames, which are painted red and white. Christmas lights are installed under the work, creating a street symphony. "The bicycle frames remind me of the period where everyone rode them," Dong said. "When I went to pagodas, I saw people worship white and red horses so I used those colours to worship the time people had bicycles." Dong spent three years collecting the bicycle frames and this is the first time he has displayed his work on the street. Under the installation, there are 20 paintings by four young artists, … [Read more...]
Simple life and hard work key to longevity
Happy birthday: The family gathers around Huynh Van Lac, 110, and Nguyen Thi Lanh, 106 in HCM City. — VNS Photos Tran Hoai Nam The Viet Nam Records Book Centre has recognised Huynh Van Lac, 110, and Nguyen Thi Lanh, 106, of HCM City's District 12, as the oldest couple in Viet Nam. Do Ba-Quoc Thinh reports Huynh Van Lac, now 110 years old, lost his father when he was only six and helped his mother raise his four siblings with little time to focus on his social life. Lac, who lives with his wife, Nguyen Thi Lanh, 106, in HCM City, was a hard-working boy and became a skilful farmer from a young age, growing rice, vegetables, orchard trees and tobacco. Lac met Lanh, who's brother was a tobacco seed trader and they were married six months later. The couple's fourth daughter Huynh Thi Hoa said her mother loved her father after seeing how devoted he was to his own mother. They were married at the ages of 28 and 24, which then seen as quite late and Lac said he understood the … [Read more...]
Hue hospital saves life of French tourist
Doctors from Hue Central Hospital in the central province of Thua Thien Hue have saved the life of a foreign tourist suffering from sudden cardiac arrest. Hue Central Hospital where a French tourist was saved after a heart attack. — Photo bvtwhue.com.vnBernard Henneau, a 71-year-old Frenchman, was hospitalised on October 13 with pain in the abdomen and chest.While doctors were giving him a check-up, the patient suffered sudden cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. His blood pressure dropped to zero and his upper body turned purple.Dr Nguyen Cuu Loi, deputy director of the hospital, said cardiac specialists had massaged his chest and brought him back to life.Doctors then performed coronary stent surgery on the patient, installing a temporary cardiac pacemaker.After two weeks of mechanical ventilation, the patient’s health became stable and he was discharged from hospital. — VNS … [Read more...]