Election day candidates

HCMC Book Street

In addition, an event of Book Copyright will be also organized on the website Book365.vn from April 19-22 with the participation of local and foreign publishing houses.

A book festival is held at Hoa Lu Stadium in HCMC.

A new book on Hanoi in the past is released by the Kim Dong Publishing House.

By Quynh Yen, Mai An – Translated by Kim Khanh

Addressing the launch, Deputy Minister of Information and Telecommunications Hoang Vinh Bao said this marks a start of a series of events of this year’s Vietnam Book Day, a day to celebrate the reading culture nationwide.

Via the events, the organisers want to inspire a love for books among people around the country, encourage them to read more and make reading their habit, he said, adding that it will help spread the reading culture among the community.

A host of events, including a display of books about Ho Chi Minh City, a launch of books on digital transformation, and talks with renowned writers and poets, are scheduled on the Book Street from April 18 – 22.

Meanwhile, an online book fair is underway at book365.vn, featuring more than 70 domestic publishers and over 20,000 book titles. An online festival on book copyright will also take place from April 19 – 26, attracting around 50 domestic and international publishing houses.

Then Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Decision No 284/QD-TTg on February 24, 2014, designating April 21 as Vietnam Book Day, in order to encourage a reading culture among the public.

* China and the United States agree that stronger pledges to fight climate change should be introduced before a new round of international talks at the end of the year, the two countries said in a joint statement on Sunday.

* The United States has ordered its non-essential staff in Chad to leave the African country as rebel fighters approached the capital on Sunday after early election results showed President Idriss Deby on course to extend his three-decade rule.

* Iran has started the process of enriching uranium to 60% fissile purity at an above-ground nuclear plant at Natanz, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Saturday, confirming earlier statements by Iranian officials.

* A new understanding is emerging at talks aimed at salvaging Iran’s nuclear deal with global powers, Tehran’s chief negotiator said on Saturday according to Iranian state media, as China’s delegate also reported progress.

* Israel and Greece have signed their biggest ever defence procurement deal, which Israel said on Sunday would strengthen political and economic ties between the countries.

* Australia’s federal government and the state of South Australia have signed a AUD1.1 billion (US$851 million) deal to finance measures aimed at making energy more affordable and helping to curb carbon emissions.

* Mainland China reported 16 new COVID-19 cases on April 17, up from 15 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Sunday. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China now stands at 90,499, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.

* Brazil recorded 67,636 additional confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 2,929 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. Brazil has registered more than 13.9 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 371,678, according to ministry data.

* Mexico’s recorded another 4,157 coronavirus cases and 535 new deaths on Saturday, according to health ministry data, bringing the total number of cases to 2,304,096 and 212,228 deaths.

* Russia reported 8,632 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours on Sunday, including 2,252 in the capital Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,702,101. The country also reported another 389 deaths, raising the official toll to 105,582.

* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 19,185 to 3,142,262, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 67 to 79,914, the tally showed.

* Syria will hold its presidential election on May 26, the country’s parliament said on Sunday. The door for nominations will be open as of Monday for 10 days. Syrians abroad will vote on May 20.

* The French government has pledged EUR1 billion (US$1.2 billion) of financial aid for farmers who were worst affected by this month’s spring frosts and cold weather, the prime minister’s office said late on Saturday.

* The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units in France has fallen and the number of patients in hospital has also dropped, the health ministry said on Saturday, in a sign that pressure on the medical system is easing.

* More than 600,000 first and second doses of coronavirus vaccine were administered in Britain in the space of 24 hours, according to data released on Saturday.

* Italy reported 310 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 429 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections edged down to 15,370 from 15,943.

* Tunisia on Saturday announced the closure of all schools until April 30, as well as restrictions on movement, to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

* A magnitude 5.9 earthquake on Sunday struck Iran’s southern province of Bushehr, where a nuclear power plant is located, but there were no immediate reports of major damage, state television said.

Lê Quốc Phương (middle) celebrates his goal for Thanh Hóa on Saturday. Photo bongdaso.com

Football

HÀ NỘI   The 1-0 victory over Bình Định club in the V.League 1 2021 on Saturday helped Thanh Hóa maintain an unbeaten streak through four consecutive matches, and helped their players in their pockets as well.

With this win, Thanh Hóa’s chairman Cao Tiến Đoan decided to award the team VNĐ1 billion (US$43,500).

“I am very happy so I continue to reward the team to motivate them,” said Đoan.

Previously, Thanh Hóa team received VNĐ3.2 billion ($139,100) from the chairman after their victory over Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh, Hải Phòng and a spectacular draw against HCM City.

Despite being the away team, Thanh Hóa played confidently from the opening whistle. They took the lead in the 43rd minute thanks to Lê Quốc Phương’s free kick.

The pressure of Thanh Hóa and the psychology of the previous loss clearly affected Bình Định who were poor in the midfield. On the day when the stars Hồ Tấn Tài, Hendrio da Silva and Rimario Gordon didn’t play well, Bình Định struggled to create many opportunities on Thanh Hóa’s goal.

“I am very happy, I hope my players continue to maintain their spirit of competition to raise rankings in the next matches,” said Serbian coach Ljupko Petrovic of Thanh Hóa.

On Bình Định’s side, coach Nguyễn Đức Thắng said he felt sad when his team lost two consecutive matches.

“The saddest thing was that the team couldn’t score. We will have a change on personnel next games to improve our result,” said Thắng.

In other matches, Hồng Lĩnh Hà Tĩnh defeated Sông Lam Nghệ An 2-0, and Sài Gòn tied goalless with Hải Phòng.   VNS

Dầm Trầu Beach on Côn Đảo Island in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province. Photo bariavungtautourism.com.vn

HCM CITY — Dầm Trầu Beach on Côn Đảo Island in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province has been included on the list of the world’s 25 best beaches by US travel magazine Travel+Leisure .

Dầm Trầu Beach, located near the Côn Đảo airport at the edge of Côn Đảo National Park and about 4km from Côn Đảo centre, is one of the most attractive destinations on the island.

On their journey to explore the Côn Đảo Islands, tourists will be surprised by many small islands in the beautiful long coastal areas here.

With golden sand, soft swells and shady groves of bamboo and evergreen trees, it’s the kind of place to spend the day gently swinging in a hammock with a beach read and walking in the surf with a freshly hacked coconut, according to the site.

Travel+Leisure said that due to its location close to the airport, “commercial flights fly thrillingly close”, giving swimmers a chance to watch planes take off and land.

Other beaches included in the list were Clearwater Beach in the US, Saud Beach in the Philippines, Railay West in Thailand, and Elafonissi Beach in Greece. VNS

Hundreds of big and small boats quietly are anchored at Lạch Hới fishing port in Thanh Hoá Province’’s Sầm Sơn City although the first months of the year was considered as the “golden season” for fishermen. Photo qdnd.vn

THANH HÓA — Central provinces are facing a shortage of workers for the fishing industry in both quality and quantity, posing challenges to the sector as many boat owners are forced to sell their vessels and change jobs.

With a coastline of 102km, Thanh Hóa Province has a long fishing history. However, offshore fishing fleets in the province are struggling while fewer locals are involved in fishing.

The hustle and bustle in the past is absent at Lạch Hới fishing port in Sầm Sơn City, where once large baskets full of freshly-caught seafood were transported ashore and then delivered elsewhere.

Now, hundreds of big and small boats are anchored at the port, even though the first months of the year are considered the “golden season” for fishermen.

Nguyễn Văn Tuyên, director of Lạch Hới fishing port, said the number of ships arriving and leaving the port has reduced significantly in recent years.

“Our port now operates at about 35 per cent of its capacity,” he said, lambasting economic restructuring which has pushed local workers away from fishing.

Phạm Gia Sơn, a shipowner, said his family has fished for many generations.

“We used to make 3-4 fishing trips a month and need 12-14 labourers for a trip but we have faced a lot of difficulties in the past two years due to the scarcity of workers,” he told Quân đội nhân dân (People’s Army) newspaper.

Sơn said some people with years of fishing experience have shifted to other jobs.

“Although we are fully prepared to sail offshore, our ship is docked for days because we can’t find enough workers,” Sơn said, adding that there were trips that only the shipowner and chief engineer are professional and the rest are seasonal labourers.

Echoing Sơn’s opinion, Nguyễn Văn Long, director of Ngọc Sơn Seafood Processing Co.Ltd, said hiring seamen has been tough in recent years.

His company has six large ships specialising in fishing logistic services. Each trip requires 12-15 workers but they could only employ 8-10 people.

Due to the lack of labourers, the company has to hire workers from other localities, even inexperienced people from mountainous districts such as Quan Sơn, Quan Hoá, and Mường Lát.

Nguyễn Đức Cường, head of Thanh Hóa Fisheries sub-department, said the worker shortage was affecting many coastal areas of the province.

He said unstable income and hard work were causing fishermen to seek other work.

A decline in fisheries resources, the shrinking size of traditional fishing grounds and low efficiency were also problems.

There are about 1,290 offshore fishing ships out of the 7,096 total working fishing ships in the province.

The number of boats fishing near the shore has become overwhelming compared to offshore fishing vessels and overfishing near the shore has depleted marine resources. Many marine species are showing signs of strong decline and are even facing the danger of extinction.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, storms and floods and extreme weather as well as the rising cost of gasoline and labourers have led to inactive fishing boats.

A similar situation has been reported in other central provinces including Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh and Quảng Bình.

The number of labourers engaged in fishing has decreased in Nghệ An Province in recent years. Worse still, there are few seamen aged between 18 and 35 and 30 per cent of the marine workforce is more than 60 years old.

Nguyễn Văn Ước from Quỳnh Long Commune in Quỳnh Lưu District said he had joined with seven households in the commune to build a fishing boat with an engine capacity of 717CV.

However, they had to sell the ship at the end of last year for VNĐ1.7 billion (US$73,557), less than a third of the initial cost, because there were not enough seamen to man the ship.

Selling the ship meant they had to find other jobs.

Bùi Xuân Trúc, deputy head of Quỳnh Lưu District’s Agriculture and Rural Development Office, attributed the decrease in marine labour to the unreasonable occupational structure, shortcomings in exploiting and preserving seafood products after harvesting and increasing competition between localities.

“This requires fishing activities to renovate themselves to keep up with the current trend,” he said.

Coping with the labour shortage, many boat owners in Quảng Bình Province’s Bố Trạch District had to retain workers by paying their salaries in advance.

Shipowner Nguyễn Ngọc Hải in Bố Trạch District said: “It is difficult to recruit enough workers who will accompany us. Thus, labourers will get paid in advance to entice them.”

However, some people did not work for them after receiving the salary, he said.

Long-term solutions

As the shortage of labour has harmed the livelihoods of fishermen and fisheries exploitation and processing, localities in the central region have adopted solutions to deal with the problems.

Cường, the head of Thanh Hóa Fisheries Sub-department, said the province has encouraged boat owners to use modern equipment in fisheries exploitation such as sonar fishfinders and promote mechanisation in the fishing and net collection stages to boost exploitation efficiency and reduce the number of employees on the fishing vessel.

“In the short term, we are suggesting localities to have support policies for fishermen to change their jobs to ease their concern over income and livelihood.

“Special attention should be paid to reducing the pressure on exploitation in coastal areas,” Cường said.

Lê Cẩm Long, head of Bố Trạch District Agriculture and Rural Development Subdepartment, said for the fisheries to develop sustainably as well as bring adequate income to people, local authorities were directing communes to restructure occupations accordingly and expand the fishing grounds to the Trường Sa area to catch more valuable fish while reducing the pressure of exploitation in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Trần Như Long, Deputy Director of Fisheries Sub-Department of Nghệ An, said in the long-term, it was necessary to take measures to regenerate resources in the direction of both exploitation and protection due to declining marine resources.

“Only when the aquatic resources are well regenerated and people enjoy exploitation and have better income, then people will engage with the sea again,” he said.

Lê Ngọc Linh, Director of the Fisheries Sub-Department of Quảng Bình, proposed the Government study practical and long-term policies such as banning sailing during the fish breeding season and providing fuel for fishermen.

More attention should be paid to dissemination work, calling on fishermen to increase labour productivity and get training on how to exploit marine resources effectively, he said. — VNS