Customers at a super market in HCM City. VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Linh HCM CITY — The resurgence of COVID-19 has hit demand for consumer goods and services in HCM City, with revenues in February falling by 6.4 per cent, according to Government data. The Tết (Lunar New Year) holidays, usually the most lucrative period for the consumer market, were in February. Retail sales of consumer goods and service amounted to VNĐ110.6 trillion (US$4.78 billion), a year-on-year increase of 4.7 per cent, a report by the city Department of Industrial and Trade said. Sales of consumer goods were estimated at VNĐ69.9 trillion ($3.02 billion), a rise of 10.3 per cent compared to the same period last year but a decline of 5.9 per cent from the previous month. Catering, accommodation and travel services took a big hit from the pandemic. The resurgence of outbreaks in the city in late January with lockdown orders in some residential areas and fears of infection discouraged consumption. In the first two months retail sales rose by 3.6 per cent year-on-year to VNĐ 228.9 trillion ($9.9 billion), the report added. —VNS …
Hà Nội police summon three male teenagers charged with sexually assaulting foreign women in Tây Hồ District
The three male teenagers charged with sexually assaulting foreign women in Tây Hồ District, Hà Nội. — Photo from Hà Nội's Police HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội Police on Friday summoned three young men suspected of sexually assaulting foreign women in the capital city's Tây Hồ District. The three are all juveniles – 15-year-old Nguyễn N.H., 16-year-old Nguyễn D.L., and 16-year-old Đinh T.Đ. – residing in Cầu Giấy District, Hà Nội. They confessed to committing the acts as reported by victims, the police said. The police are further expanding their investigation. Previously, Tây Hồ District’s authorities received reports from four foreign women saying that they have been sexually assaulted by young males driving motorbikes with covered licence plates. Tây Hồ Police said they are deploying police officers in plain clothes and setting up more surveillance cameras in some ‘target locations’ in Tây Hồ to avoid similar incidents. The same day, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoà Bình also asked the municipal People’s Committee to direct competent agencies to promptly verify reports of street harassment against women around the West Lake area that have occurred since late January throughout February, 2021, strictly handle the perpetrators, and publicise their investigation results. — VNS …
Red Dao group preserve weaving skills
Nguyễn Chiến The traditional weaving skills of Red Dao ethnic minority people in Hoàng Su Phì District, the northern province of Hà Giang, have been preserved and developed together with other features of traditional culture. In the past few years, the locality has become popular among domestic and international tourists for its spectacular natural landscape and the rich cultures of various ethnic groups including Nùng, Dao and Mông. Many of the ethnic groups plant cotton and weave embroidered cloth with a distinctive identity. Locals wear traditional costumes at a festival. VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Chiến Culture Tourism Village Nậm Hồng, in Thông Nguyên Commune, is one place where visitors can experience local cultural life and watch women use their looms. At the end of the last year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism worked with local authorities to launch a project to preserve the weaving and embroidering handicraft of the Red Dao group, equipping locals with proper materials. Sophisticated patterns on textile weaved by Red Dao women. VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Chiến According to Triệu Vàn Khuân, chairman of Thông Nguyên Commune People’s Committee, Dao people account for 67 per cent of the commune’s population. “Due to the impact of modern life, locals once used to wear clothes like the majority Kinh people,” he said. “That’s why the traditional weaving handicraft has somewhat faded.” “But since the State built the local community house, where Red Dao people gather to teach one another the weaving skills, the handicraft has recovered,” he said. “Especially, more and more locals wear traditional clothes instead of clothes like the majority Kinh group.” Elder women teach weaving skills to younger one at the village. VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Chiến Phùng Mùi Thu, a villager, said at the age of 10, she was taught skills of weaving and embroidering from the simplest to most complex tasks. Now, she has become an artisan and …
