Workers lay out stone tiles on the pavement of Nguyen Trai Street, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi. (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Hanoi streets are getting a facelift: authorities have begun paving degraded streets with natural stone as part of a project to beautify the city and improve safety for walkers and drivers. The city will pave 936 streets with natural stone in 12 districts across Hanoi from now until 2020. The move comes as the city’s pavement continues to degrade, hindering pedestrians and other commuters as well as worsening the city’s image, according to local authorities. By choosing only one material to pave all across the city, the city hopes to ensure consistency and avoid the current mix of stone materials around the streets.  According to experts, the natural stone’s biggest asset is its reliability. They said it should … [Read more...]

VietNamNet Bridge – Two people died after a fire broke out at a house in Chuong My District’s Xuan Mai Town on Monday morning. A fire broke out at a fire-storey house in Ha Noi, claiming two lives. — Photo soha.vn The fire started on the first floor of the five-storey house at around 1am, and then spread to the whole house. A large number of fire trucks and firefighters of the Ha Noi Department of Fire Fighting and Prevention were present at the scene.  Firefighters managed to save seven of the nine people from the house. The two victims were stuck in the house and died of suffocation, according to the police of Chuong My District. It took the firefighters nearly one hour to extinguish the fire.  According to the firefighters, the first floor of the 70sq.m house was used to store automobile … [Read more...]

The second action month for labour safety and hygiene will take place from May 1-31, 2018 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The second action month for labour safety and hygiene will take place from May 1-31, 2018, with Ho Chi Minh City hosting the launching ceremony and national-scale activities. The information was revealed at a meeting by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in Hanoi on September 20 to review the first action month for labour safety and hygiene from May 1-31. Participants said that a wide range of activities were held during the action month such as implementing the Law on occupational safety and hygiene, taking measures to prevent occupational accidents and diseases, and opening relevant training courses for workers. During the month, occupational accidents decreased by 0.38 percent and the number of fatalities and … [Read more...]

Hanoi hopes to learn Denmark’s experience in urban development (Illustrative image. Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi wants to learn experience from Denmark in addressing environmental pollution, traffic jams, and clean water shortages.  Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung expressed his wish at a meeting with Secretary of State of the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate (MEUC) Thomas Egebo in Hanoi on September 20. Chung said in the near future, Hanoi will implement three important targets, including high-quality human resources, infrastructure investment, and administrative reform. Egebo said Denmark will chair a European conference on clean energy and meetings on urban matters in May 2018. The Danish Embassy in Vietnam is organising a workshop on sustainable solutions for cities in December 2017, … [Read more...]

Readers enjoy books at last year’s Hà Nội Book Fair (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Books are one of humanity’s oldest communications technologies, and this year’s Hanoi Book Fair seeks to highlight their role in the digital age with the theme “Books and Start-ups”. The annual fair, which runs from September 22 to 26 at Thang Long Imperial Citadel, will gather 200 stalls of book companies, publishing houses and distributors nationwide. The book fair will introduce books on start-ups, foreign books and a wide range of books issued by Vietnamese publishers. E-books and reading technology for digital devices will be highlighted as well. Events include seminars, discussions and conversations between readers and authors. These dialogues will focus on start-ups, reading culture, and effective reading skills. Representatives of … [Read more...]

Raise the flag: H​anoi Pride advocates for an end of prejudice, discrimination, shame, and invisibility faced by LGBTQ people (Photo courtesy of organisers) Hanoi (VNA) - Hanoi Pride 2017, the country’s most anticipated event for the LGBTQ community, opened on September 18 and runs until September 24 with a series of exhibitions, discussions, film screenings, a bike rally and walking march. The capstone events of the sixth annual Hanoi Pride - the bike rally, parade, and Pride Festival - will bring together almost 1,000 LGBTQ community members and allies. Since the first celebration in 2012, Hanoi Pride (formerly Viet Pride Hanoi ) has become an annual event calling for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community in Vietnam, a country in which … [Read more...]

VietNamNet Bridge – As many as 19 of the 43 industrial clusters in the capital city of Ha Noi do not have waste water treatment plants, an inspection by the municipal People’s Council has found. Untreated waste water from the Trieu Khuc Village, which specialises in recycling plastic in Thanh Tri District’s Tan Trieu Commune, is discharged directly into the ponds and canals, polluting the water sources and emitting a foul smell. – VNA/VNS Photo  The inspection also found that among those which were operational, only half of the waste water treatment plants worked effectively. Plants at eight clusters have not been operated or operated properly, although their construction has been completed, namely those in Bat Trang Cluster in Gia Lam District, Duyen Thai Cluster in Thuong Tin District, and Nguyen Khe Cluster in … [Read more...]

Hanoi and Vientiane share experience in propaganda work (Source:www.hanoimoi​.com.vn) Hanoi (VNA) – Officials from Hanoi and Vientiane’s commissions for information and education shared experience at a workshop in Hanoi on September 19. They discussed political thought education and professional experiences as well as the promotion of youth cooperation and the role of press agencies in communication activities. Head of the Hanoi Party Committee’s Commission for Informational and Education Nguyen Van Phong asked the two sides to increase exchanges and raise public awareness of ties between Vietnam and Laos. Head of the Vientiane Party Committee’s Commission for Propaganda and Training Khemphet Phengduongchan said Hanoi and Vientiane share many similarities in development.  She noted that with a population of about 800,000 people … [Read more...]

A painting by artist Ruchika Wason Singh (Source: internet) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - A solo exhibition by Indian artist Ruchika Wason Singh in Hanoi introduced her new approach to accommodation and migration - one of the biggest problems in the world today.  Titled Project Habit/At, the exhibition features nearly 20 artworks made around 2013. Instead of portraying scenes where people sit in crowded places in buildings, Singh takes a look inside each person living in metropolitan areas. Behind the modern and flashy lights of cities, a symbol of wealth and prosperity frequently advertised in the media, lies the problems of fitting in, the complexities of immigration/ migration, the separation of public space and the inequality between social groups. Instead of being happy for having met all the basic needs in life, people tend to feel depressed and … [Read more...]

Workers at the ​Lang station of the C​at Linh-​Ha Dong elevated railway (Photo: baogiaothong.vn) Hano​i (VNA) - The planned pilot run of the first elevated train in Hanoi next month will be delayed amid lagging construction progress and financial difficulties. The railway connecting Cat Linh and Ha Dong was initially scheduled to have its pilot run in early October before it officially opens to the public in the second quarter of next year. But Transport Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong admitted after a survey trip to the project last week that it was "almost impossible" to meet the deadline as several sections of the railway project were still under construction. The railway’s subcontractors said that the main contractor - China Railway 6th Bureau Group - was late in paying them and responsible for letting the construction falling behind … [Read more...]