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Female sapper Dieu Linh has just attended a virtual ministerial meeting entitled “Maintenance of international peace and security: Mine action and sustaining peace: Stronger partnerships for better delivery,” held by the UN Security Council. She was one of the three keynote speakers at the discussion session of the meeting. Dieu Linh was born and grew up in Quang Tri, Vietnam’s central province, which suffered thousands of tons of bombs dropped by the U.S. Air Force during the war. She said fate has brought her to the work of clearing UXO. “At first, I worked as an interpreter for a Norway-sponsored mine action project. I learnt a lot about the huge consequences of war legacy in my home land. Although decades have passed since the end of the war, UXO is often found in paddy fields, up on hills and in residential areas. I recall when I was small, my friends and I picked up a number of metal pieces and played with them. With our little knowledge, we did not know the metal pieces were grenades or artillery shells. I now feel lucky as these deadly things did not boom. But not all people are as lucky as we were. Since the end of the war [1975], nearly 3,500 were killed and more than 5,000 others were wounded by UXO in Quang Tri,” Dieu Linh spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. With her strong desire to contribute to her homeland, Dieu Linh studied to become a field officer and then a field manager in 2015. Now she is the Chief of the Quang Tri Female Sapper Squad, leading 300 sappers and workers. Every day, she leads the sapper squad to detect and move UXO to safe sites for neutralization. She and members of the squad are trying their best to bring peace and safety to local people and turn UXO-polluted land – the so called “land of death” into farmland for them. Regarding her female sapper squad, Dieu Linh said, “In the past, people used to think that bomb and mine clearance was men’s job, and that women should only serve in support forces like …

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* In the wake of Denmark's decision to cease using the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, World Health Organization Regional Director for Europe Hans Henri P. Kluge on Thursday reaffirmed that the benefits of using the vaccine "outweigh the risk." * Johnson & Johnson's vaccine remained in limbo as a US health panel called for more data before making a decision on how and whether to resume use of the one-dose shot, putting off a vote for a week or more. * The Kremlin said on Thursday it would respond in kind to any new "illegal" new US sanctions on Russia and said any new measures would reduce the chances of a summit between US President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin taking place. * India said its drugs regulator will decide on emergency-use applications for foreign COVID-19 vaccines within three working days from application, as it tries to attract Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna to sell their shots. * The US economic recovery accelerated to a moderate pace from late February to early April as more consumers, buoyed by increased COVID-19 vaccinations and strong fiscal support, spent more on travel and other goods, the Federal Reserve reported. * The German economy probably shrank by 1.8% on the quarter in the first three months of this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, leading economic institutes said, as they revised their joint growth forecast for Europe's largest economy. * The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions against Russia and expelled ten diplomats in response to Moscow's alleged election interference and cyber activities. * Iran and global powers will resume talks on Thursday to rescue the 2015 nuclear deal in an effort potentially complicated by Tehran's decision to ramp up uranium enrichment and what it called Israeli sabotage at a nuclear site. * International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said she is "confident" that the IMF will distribute a new allocation of Special …

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Deposits at banks modest due to low interest rates A person arranges stacks of Vietnamese banknotes. Capital has been poured into other sectors rather than banks due to their low deposit rates According to the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors under the State Bank of Vietnam, in the first quarter of this year, the deposit growth reached only 0.54%, well below the credit growth of 2.93% and the average deposit growth of 2.28% in the first quarter of the past seven years, Lao Dong newspaper reported. At present, the rate for savings of less than six months is 3%-4%. Meanwhile, tenors of six to less than 12 months and over 12 months enjoy a rate of 3.5%-5.5% and 4.6%-6%, respectively. Although some banks have revised up their deposit rates by 0.1-0.4 percentage points, the banks’ average deposit rate in the first quarter remained some 2 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year. If the trend continues, the banking system’s liquidity will no longer be ample this year, according to Bao Viet Securities Company. Meanwhile, the General Statistics Office stated that capital had been injected into other sectors, with life insurance premium soaring 11%. Meanwhile, the securities market mobilized nearly VND55.6 trillion, surging 42% over the same period last year. Pham Lam, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors, attributed land fevers over the past few months partly to residents’ idle money and their expectations of higher prices of real estate products. According to Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of the central bank, as of mid-March, banks’ outstanding loans for the property sector grew 2.13%, higher than the current credit growth of 2.04%, despite the central bank’s close control over credit for the sector. Market rebounds, VN-Index returns to 1,250 point-level Shares settled higher on Wednesday, reversing their morning course on recoveries of materials and banking stocks. The benchmark VN-Index …

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