The over-200-page book is divided into four parts: Hoang Sa – sovereignty of Vietnam , State management of the Hoang Sa archipelago, Hoang Sa and historic witnesses, Da Nang people’s feelings on Hoang Sa.

The book also featured accounts by 24 people who lived and worked in the archipelagos during the 50s-70s of the 20th century on their time spent on Hoang Sa.

Dang Cong Ngu, Director of Da Nang city’s Home Affairs Department and Chairman of the Hoang Sa District People’s Committee, said the release of the annals aims to provide accurate, scientific and legitimate information for readers on the issues. At the ceremony, Nguyen Van Cuc, who used to work in the Hoang Sa archipelago, stressed the significance of the book in asserting the country’s sovereignty over the islands, where some of his co-workers had laid down their lives.

Pham Khoi, who worked in Hoang Sa in 1969-1970, drew a map of the Hoang Sa archipelago and presented it to the Hoang Sa District People’s Committee./.

source form: vietnamplus

Police in the central city of Da Nang have arrested a notorious thief who was allegedly involved in 13 cases of thefts and burglaries targeting state agencies in six cities and provinces around Vietnam.

On January 10, Da Nang police indicted Nguyen Tuan Vu, 35, from Vinh Phuc Northern Province on charges of “stealing assets” and detained him for four months, pending investigation.

Vu has been also charged with “escaping from prison”.

On January 7, following a tip off that Vu was traveling in a Toyota Innova to Da Nang from the north, Da Nang city’s police forces lay in wait for him and arrested him in Son Tra District at about 1:00pm on January 8.

The police seized a shotgun, 9 bullets, and VND60 million in cash from him.

According to investigators, before his arrest, Nguyen Tan Vu had two previous convictions of theft and burglary and had escaped from prison while he was serving a 19 year sentence. He had been wanted nationwide since April, 2011.

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The police say Vu had burglarized state agencies from north to south. In Da Nang alone, Vu broke into the Da Nang Department of Finance; Civil Engineering Construction Corporation No. 5 (Cienco 5); the Customs office, and other state agencies to steal assets.

At the Cienco 5 headquarters, it took Vu only five seconds to unlock a magnetic card to break into the building. He even took the lift and didn’t turn off security cameras while committing his robbery in the office.

The ‘super’ thief also committed burglaries at the houses of senior official in Dong Nai southern province; the Department of Education and Training in Vinh Phuc northern province (his homet province); the Department of Taxation; the Department of Labor – Invalids and Social Affairs; and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Thanh Hoa central province.

Investigators say Vu often drove his car to look for ‘prey’ in the afternoon, and committed his criminal acts in the evening or at night.

Vu often stole cash from the offices of directors, deputy directors, or treasures, but ignored other valuable assets and high-tech devices like Ipads or computers, they said.

source form: tuoitrenews

Central Da Nang City’s Sciences and Technology Department, in collaboration with German naturalist Ulrike Streicher, organised a photo exhibition on Monday featuring the biodiversity of Son Tra Natural Reserve.

The travelling exhibit will be held in seven schools from now to the middle of March to raise awareness about environmental protection among students.

Department director Huynh Phuoc said that the natural reserve was home to 985 species of plants, 36 animal species, 106 bird species, 23 species of reptiles and 113 species of insects.

source form: vietnamnet

Accordingly, the national flag-carrier plans to carry out more night flights in rush hours during the festival and the earliest and latest flights will depart at 5:30am and 11:30pm, respectively. Especially, from January 14 to 22 and January 24th to February 6th, the airline’s flights on major routes will conduct the whole day.

On January 21st, Vietnam Airlines will provide 111 flights on local main routes, including 44 on route HCMC-Hanoi and 22 on route HCMC-Da Nang (up to 24 and 12 flights against normal days, respectively).

After the Tet, on January 28th, it also offers 112 flights, including 39 from Hanoi to HCMC and 26 from Da Nang to HCMC.

Besides, between January 26th and February 5th, passengers on domestic flights departing from 10:00pm to 12:00pm will do check-in at the first floor, wing B (desks from 71st to 80th).

In addition, the airline also transports peach, apricot and kumquat blossoms as part of passengers’ luggage at an extra-charge of VND 150,000-350,000, depending on different routes, using Boeing 777, Airbus A330, A321 and A320 aircrafts. Further information is available at the airline’s website: www.vietnamairlines.com and its ticket boxes across the country.

source form: qdnd

This year, around 30 cars will take part in the tour. The tour will cost each car VND 167-209 million, and the proceedings will be partly given to charity.

The first tour, with the participation of 20 super cars, started in Ho Chi Minh City on August 26^th, 2011 and in Hanoi on August 28^th, and ended in Da Nang.

Having followed the Car & Passion 2011 tour, Kevin German, a freelance photo-journalist, now living in Ho Chi Minh City, wrote in his blog that when cars passed through villages, children in the villages looked at those cars with a glint of hope and dreaming; they will remember the event for a long time.

source form: qdnd

source form: nhandan

The American leading economic magazine, Forbes, has recently honoured My Khe Beach in Da Nang City as one of the six most attractive beaches in the world.

According to the magazine, the beach has met all requirements, including easy traffic and access, free admission for tourists, long and flat sand shore, sunlight and waves for sea sports, a variety of high-class resorts and international standard villas.

The Australian magazine, Sunday Herald Sun, also ranked the 900m-long My Khe Beach in the world’s top 10 Asian best beaches.

Many beautiful and well-known beaches, such as Nam O, My Khe, Tien Sa and Non Nuoc, are located in Da Nang City.

The beach became famous for smooth sand, peaceful waves, year-round warm sea water and romantic coconut-palm rows. Tourists can both swim and enjoy beautiful scenery of the Ngu Hanh Son Mountain and Cu Lao Cham Island.

source from: qdnd

2012 will be observed as the Tourism Year for the seven central coastal provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Quang Ngai and Quang Nam.

To prepare for this important year, tour operators in the region have come up with many innovations to develop tourism and create a link with other regions in the future.

Hoang Tuan Anh, minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, once said the central coastal region from Thua Thien – Hue to Binh Thuan held a special position in Viet Nam’s tourism map.

“The region has special natural resources, including the world’s cultural heritage sites and a great diversity of eco-system and environment,” said Anh.

According to the minister, the region’s tourism potentials were undertapped.

All major operators have agreed to establish a network; they considered it a vital matter for the sector’s development. Yet, up to now they have not found a really competent “conductor of the show”.

Director of the Kim Lien International Tour Operator Phan Duc Man said even now his company did not have its own trade mark to promote the company’s image in the domestic and foreign tourism market.

He didn’t know where he could get the support in the application of the trade mark.

Man suggested that tour operators in the region sit together and discuss the establishment of a regional tourism management board.

“The manager of the board should be a member from the Central Tourism Board,” Man said.

“Whatever we do is to attract more tourists to the region.”

However, in his opinion, a very important factor in tourism development is to raise the awareness of the community, including Government officials.

Director General of the Mekong International Travel Company Nguyen Minh Thu wanted to have a network established among tour operators and travel agents.

“The seamless tourism co-operation will make us strong,” Thu said

“This is the way for us to increase our benefits and reinvest in our business and make it sustainable.”

In her point of view, “Tourism is the glue that makes people feel closer to each other and enjoy a good time together. Tourism is an opportunity to sell local products.”

Cao Tri Dung, director of the Viet Nam Travel Joint Stock Company, proposed a cluster of tours in the central coastal region similar to that of the heritage sites in the region.

“The tour could start from Da Nang-Quy Nhon and end in Nha Trang,” Dung said.

He said the Da Nang–Nha Trang flight route was already in operation.

“If it is possible, the flights between Hue-Nha Trang and Da Nang–Quy Nhon should increase. This is an important factor enabling the tourists to visit more sites in the region within a few days,”said Dung.

He also suggested the development of the homestay tour to fishing villages, as many people living along the coastal line lived on fishing.

Viet Nam hopes to turn the tourism industry into an important and dynamic economic sector in 2011– a major player in the national economic development.

source from: vnanet

An agreement in principle on the project was signed by leaders of the company and the municipal People’s Committee on Oct. 19.

Under the terms of the agreement, the local authorities will allocate 1,062 ha of land and 500 ha of water surface for the investor to develop the project.

Vinpearl General Director Dang Thanh Thuy said the project has a total investment capital of 5 billion USD. In the first phase, the company will disburse 1 billion USD for construction of a five-star hotel, an international conference centre, a casino, a golf course and helicopter and seaplane parks.

Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in 2012 and for completion in 2020.

source from: qdnd