Vietnam life deadliest catch thailands ghost fishing nets help covid fight

Nguyen Thi Nhung, 39, decided to stay back in Hanoi instead of returning to her hometown for the Lunar New Year holidays ( Tet ) because she hoped to open her tea stall soon after the national break. But two weeks after the holiday ended, her hopes have been dashed as the tea stall remains banned from opening. Beginning Tuesday, indoor coffee shops in the capital city have been allowed to welcome their patrons , but outdoor ones like Nhung's tea stall, closed since February 16, will remain closed until further notice. "It is like an everlasting earthquake shaking my livelihood, but I have no choice but to cling to whatever I have and wait," Nhung said. Suffering Nhung’s fate are thousands of street food vendors in the capital city, mostly low-income residents. The Covid-19 pandemic has robbed them of their livelihood and left them in dire straits. A street food vendor in Hanoi, October 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. Le Thi Chinh, 47, who runs a xoi (sticky rice) stall near the Gia Lam Bus Terminal, has earned next to nothing since early February. The diabetes afflicted woman ticked off what she lacked. "Money to rent the house, to pay for my children's education, to buy my medicines... I made nothing last month." Her four-member family has to depend entirely on her husband, who earns around VND8 million ($349.15) per month working for a paper-making factory in Hanoi's Long Bien District. In their cramped accommodation, Chinh's pots, stove, dishes and other materials for her xoi stall lie idle in a corner. She has no idea when she will be able to light up her stove again. "I have cut our spending on food and milk for our sons. I cannot send them to my hometown because traveling back and forth costs a significant amount of money," Chinh said, adding she used to earn up to VND600,000 ($26.19) per day. All street vendors selling tea, fruits and noodles around the bus station have disappeared since the latest Covid-19 …

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Vietnam racks up $1.29 billion in trade surplus in two months The country’s trade turnover during January-February topped some 95.81 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 25.4 percent. Vietnam’s trade balance posted positive, 1.29 billion USD, in the first two months of the year, the General Department of Customs said on December 28. The country’s trade turnover during January-February topped some 95.81 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 25.4 percent. Of the total, exports amounted to 48.55 billion USD, a yearly hike of 23.2 percent, while imports were estimated at 47.26 billion USD, or 25.9 percent higher than the same time last year. Foreign-invested companies accounted for 76.4 percent, or 37.07 billion USD, of Vietnam’s total export turnover. Meanwhile, the domestic sector shipped abroad 11.48 billion USD worth of products. There were nine commodities joining the billion-USD export club, including telephones and parts (9.3 billion USD, up 22.8 percent year-on-year); electronics, computers and parts (6.9 billion USD, up 27.3 percent); equipment, machines and parts (5.5 billion USD, up 72.6 percent); footwear (3.2 billion USD, up 15.4 percent); and wood and wooden products (2.4 billion USD, up 51 percent). They made up 73 percent of the country’s export turnover. The US was Vietnam’s biggest importer as it splashed out 14.2 billion USD on Vietnamese products, or 38.2 percent higher than the amount it spent the same time last year. China came second with 8.5 billion USD, followed by the EU with 6.3 billion USD, ASEAN 4.2 billion USD, the Republic of Korea 3.4 billion USD, and Japan 3.2 billion USD. Meanwhile, the country spent big (47.26 billion USD) on imports, with foreign-invested sector purchasing 31.64 billion USD worth of products from abroad for production, up 31.4 percent, while that of the domestic sector surged 16 percent to 15.62 billion USD. In the two-month period, China was the largest exporter of Vietnam, with revenue …

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Red Spring Festival expects to collect over 4,000 blood units Young people donate their blood In his opening remarks, Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) Bach Quoc Khanh, who is head of the festival’s organizing board, said that the festival has been held annually since 2008 to address blood shortages after the lunar New Year holiday, and gradually changed public awareness of blood donation. After 13 editions, the festival has collected over 85,000 blood units and become the annual biggest blood donation event. Khanh took the occasion to express his gratitude for donators nationwide. The 14th edition is taking place from March 1-7 at the NIHBT headquarters, and three fixed places - 26 Luong Ngoc Quyen in Hoan Kiem district, 132 Quan Nhan in Thanh Xuan district, and Valley 122 of Lang Street in Dong Da district. The organizing board expects to receive over 4,000 blood units during this year’s festival, which then will be allocated to nearly 180 hospitals and medical establishments of 28 provinces and cities in the northern region. It has also made thorough preparations to welcome donors so as to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control as recommended by the World Health Organisation and the Health Ministry./. Fatal coach crash kills three, injures 4 in Dong Thap A serious traffic accident caused by a passenger coach took place on National Highway 54 in Tan Thanh Commune of Dong Thap Province’s Lai Vung District this morning, March 1, killing three and injuring four people. The passenger coach with plate number 51B-17273 driven by Tran Van Nam, aged 41, was heading from Vam Cong Bridge to Vinh Long Province when it plowed into a group of 10 bike riders and killed a rider, identified as Tran Van An, aged 59. The passenger coach continued slamming into two electric poles and a tree on the pavement, damaging the front of the coach. Local residents immediately took some injured passengers …

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