| High-quality Vietnamese
goods fair opens in HCMC
The High-quality Vietnamese Goods Fair 2011 kicked off in Ho
Chi Minh City yesterday with over 300 companies participating in the event. All the 300 companies will display and sell their
commodities in 1,000 stalls set up in the Phu Tho Indoor Sports Center in
District 10. During the six-day fair, there will be a competition on
“Creative marketing during inflation” for the participants. Co-organized by Sai Gon Tiep Thi Newspaper and the
association of high quality Vietnamese goods businesses, the fair will last
until May 2. Workers Month 2011
launched in Hanoi The Vietnam
General Confederation of Labor (VGCL) launched Workers Month 2011 and
celebrated the 125th International Labor Day (May 1) at Bac Thang Long
Industrial Zone in Hanoi
on April 27. The VGCL mobilized trade unions at all levels nationwide to
organize Workers Month 2011. Activities
throughout May will focus on the coming National Assembly and Peoples’ Council
elections and will increase supervision of the implementation of policies on
legitimate rights and interests of workers and supporting workers during
difficult circumstances. After the ceremony, Deputy President Nguyen Thi Doan
inaugurated a social activity centre for workers in the industrial zone. Trade
unions from the agricultural and garment sectors organized a small fair to sell
essential goods such as cookingstuffs and housing tools to meet the demands of
workers in industrial zones. Essential goods were sold at discount rates to workers
in the industrial zones. Workers make up only 21 percent of society’s labour force
and are only 11 percent of the population but they create more than 60 percent
of the total products in the country. Vietnam launches no-tobacco week The Health Ministry’s National Programme on Tobacco Affect
Prevention on April 25 launched the “National No Tobacco Week” in response to
the World No Tobacco Day (May 31). All ministries, sectors, organisations and people have been
urged to join hands in creating a tobacco-free environment in public sites,
workplaces and at homes,and mass media agencies have been called to disseminate
widely information on the harm of tobacco to health. The World Health Organsation (WHO) has selected the theme
“Implementing WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control” for 2011 and gave
out five measures to encourage the effective prevention of impacts of tobacco
at countries participating in the convention. Those measures are creating a non-smoking environment,
increasing tobacco tax, printing health warnings on cigarette boxes, banning
tobacco advertisements totally and creating sustainable financial sources for
the fight against tobacco effects. Vietnam has considered those
measures as priorities in its tobacco control. Smoking is one of leading reasons causing diseases and
deaths in the world. According to a survey in Vietnam in 2010, as many as 47
percent of men are smokers, putting the country in the group of 15 nations with
the highest rate of male smokers. Discoverer of HPV
vaccine to speak at seminar Professor Ian Frazer, one of the scientists to discover the
vaccine against cervical cancer, will deliver a speech at a seminar on May 5 at
the Medical Center
on 215 Hong Bang Street
in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City. Professor Ian Frazer, Director of the Center for Immunology
& Cancer Research and President of the Australian Cancer Council discovered
the first vaccine to protect against cervical cancer, along with his associate
Dr. Jian Zhou. The vaccine against cervical cancer, developed by Professor
Frazer and Dr. Jian protects young woman against four strains of the Human
Papilloma Virus (HPV), which is the cause of 70 per cent of cervical cancer
cases. Worldwide, more than 54 million doses have already been administered to
girls aged 13 to 17. Professor Frazer continues to work on vaccines that treat
people already infected with HPV and distributes the much-needed vaccine to
women in developing countries. The seminar will promote innovative research approaches to
finding the causes of cancer, encouraging best practices in scientific
research, international collaborative approaches to developing the cervical
cancer vaccine and improving awareness of the vaccine. At the seminar, the “Catching Cancer” documentary will be on
view, featuring Nobel Laureates and world experts, including Professor Ian
Frazer, as the front-runners. “Catching Cancer” is a fast-paced investigation of the
causes that trigger cancer. It combines intimate personal stories and
intriguing scientific facts to reveal how finding a hidden mole, such as a
virus, is no reason to panic, but rather a reason to celebrate. Mr. Graeme Swift, Australian Consul General, Professor Vo
Tan Son, Director of HCMC University Medical Center (UMP) and Professor Do Dinh
Cong, Chief of Department of Science & Training are the chief coordinators
of the seminar organized by the Australian Consulate-General and the HCMC
University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMP).
Vietnam,
Cambodia
cooperate in fighting wildlife trade Competent Vietnamese and Cambodian agencies jointly opened a
workshop in the southern province
of Tay Ninh on April 27
to share information and discuss measures to combat illegal trade in wildlife
in border areas between the two countries. The two-day event is part of the “Tiger Future: Integrating
Conservation into Landscapes” project funded by the World Bank through the
Global Environment Fund. “The workshop will support a number of mechanisms for
regional cooperation that are already in place, and strengthen these existing
processes to detect and prosecute violations,” said Sulma Warne, Coorinator of
the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC’s Greater Mekong Programme. Two similar workshops will be held for law enforcement
officials in Vietnam and Laos in late
May. According to Dr. Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Director of the
Vietnam Administration of Forestry, the illegal wildlife trade is increasingly
becoming a regional challenge, requiring countries to work more closely
together. Although both Vietnam
and Cambodia
have made efforts to halt illegal trade in wildlife on their side of the
border, coordination between the two countries has been limited, he stressed. The most important regional cooperation mechanism in
fighting illegal wildlife trade to date is the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement
Network (ASEAN-WEN) with the participation of 10 member states, including Vietnam and Cambodia. Truck loses trailer,
causing jam on Ca Pass A truck carrying rice grains was traveling on the Ca
Mountain pass in Hoa Xuan Nam
commune, Dong Hoa district, Phu Yen province at 8.30 pm yesterday when its
trailer came apart, causing congestion on National Highway 1A. The trailer blocked the entire road and no car could pass. As it happened in the evening, the rescue team had to unload
all rice bags before moving the trailer. Thousands of cars had to stop for miles on both ends of the
mountain pass. Many drivers and passengers had to sleep on the street. Not until 5.30am today did the truck get towed away. Around 6am, cars lined up for 10 kilometers from Phu Yen
province’s Dong Hoa district to Khanh Hoa province’s Van Ninh. They were moving
at a snail’s pace. At 8am, traffic through Ca mountain pass was still very
slow. Vietnam
donates 8 tons of goods to Japan
Vietnam’s
8 tons of goods as support to Japanese victims of quake and tsunami on March 11
will arrive at the Narita Airport in Tokyo
today, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said. Upon arrival, the goods will be handed over by the ministry
to the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan
to be delivered to victims as soon as possible. Japan
previously suggested Vietnam
give victims in-kind donations, especially garments and household items, the
ministry said. Two weeks after receiving the suggestion, the ministry
started to prepare the goods, which have been purchased with the money
contributed by Vietnamese people to Japanese victims through a campaign
launched by the Vietnam Red Cross Union. Company fined
US$3,500 for sending spam SMS The Ministry of Information and Communications has decided
to impose a VND70 million (US$3,500) fine on the Hanoi-based company EMOBI for
sending spam SMS to users’ cell phones to advertise their services. Particularly, EMOBI is fined VND40 million for sending ads
SMS without recipients’ agreement; VND20 million for fortune-telling services
and VND10 million for gambling services on cell phones. Businessman swindles
$5 mln, flees Vietnam
Nguyen Duc Dung, director of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Hung
Dung Trading Co., Ltd., and his wife allegedly appropriated over US$5 million
and a car last year. However, they are now at large after fleeing from Vietnam last
month. The Ministry of Public Security has indicted Dung, 36, from HCM City’s
Binh Chanh District, and Nguyen Thi Bao Chau, his wife. The total amount allegedly appropriated by the couple is
about US$2.5 million, VND39 billion ($1.9 million) and a Toyota car. In addition, the ministry suspected him and his wife to have
signed a number of loan contracts worth hundreds of billions of dongs at some
banks. According to the ministry’s investigators, in July 2010, the
couple borrowed VND400 million ($19,500) from Tran Cong L., from HCM City’s Go
Vap District, after handing over a Toyota car to L. as a mortgage for the loan. Dung later borrowed the car from L. and displayed it at
Dung’s showroom and then managed to sell the one car to two others for $68,000
and $57,600. Dung additionally borrowed VND8.5 billion ($415,000) from L.
Also last year, Dung borrowed from Quang Mau H., of the city’s
Tan Binh District, three plots of land worth 315 taels of gold ($577,300) to
use as security for a loan. After getting the loan, Dung disappeared. Recently, after receiving some accusations against Dung,
police got to know that the couple and their children left Vietnam on
March 19, 2011. To date, nine individuals have reported Dung’s swindling
acts to the ministry. The ministry is expanding their investigation into the
large-scale swindling case. Cops indicted for
torturing woman to unconsciousness Prosecutors have ratified charges against two police
officers for allegedly torturing a woman held on theft suspicion last November
in Nha Trang city. Tran Ba Tuan and Nguyen Dinh Quyet, of Nha Trang police
department are suspected of using torture to force Tran Thi Lan, 41 to confess
to a theft. According to investigators, on November 28, 2010, a man
reported he lost US$1,700 and VND7 million and suspected the thief is Lan –
their housemaid. Tuan and Quyet were put in charge of the case. On that date, the two investigators took Lan to an
interrogation room and according to witnesses, used a rubber stick to beat Lan,
slapped at her face many times, used a notebook to pound on her head. At 2pm the same day, the two continued the ‘questioning’.
Lan eventually gave in and admitted to stealing the money and hiding it near
her rented room. When Tuan and Quyet failed to find the stolen money at that
location, they returned and continued to beat her. The next day, Nha Trang police issued an arrest warrant and
detained Lan. At 9pm 30 on November 30, Lan was found unconscious and
rushed to Khanh Hoa General
Hospital. Many wounds and severe bruise marks were found on her body,
especially her thighs, arms and chest, Thanh Nien reported. She was discharged a week later on December 7. Police later found that that Lan did steal some clothes from
her boss worth around US$320. However, they failed to find evidence linking her
to the initial cash theft. After the incident, Lan’s daughter Diep Cam Nhung, 20 sued
the two cops. Nhung told prosecutors that “my mother was splashed water
into her face, beaten by electric rod and clubs ⦠It angered me. I sue them for
abusing my mother”. Thousands of pirated
books seized in Hanoi
Police and market management authorities in Hanoi Wednesday seized thousands of pirated
copies of 70 best-selling foreign books from two bookshops. They found them at Nam Lien’s three outlets on Duong Lang Street
and Thinh Trang on Nguyen Trai
Street. The books included “Men are from Mars, Women are from
Venus,” “ Zig Ziglar’s “Secrets of Closing the Sale,” “Seeds for the soul,”
“Chicken Soup,” and “How to stop Worrying and Living.” First News, a city-based publisher which has the Vietnamese
copyrights for these books, said it would take the violators to the court. The authorities stepped in following a complaint from First
News after it had found the pirated books being sold publicly. Over 9 pct of
prostitutes infected with HIV Over 9 percent of prostitutes in Vietnam will have HIV infection in
2012, a conference has revealed. According to statistics released at the conference about HIV
prevention and community reintegration for prostitutes held yesterday by Ho Chi
Minh City’s Department of Social Ills Prevention (DSEP), prostitutes have the
third highest rate of HIV infection after drug users and homosexual men. Prostitutes are aware of their high risk of HIV infection
but seldom seek public health services or safe sex practice programs, DSEP
said. 5 injured in
container blast in HCMC A 40ft container in Tan
Cang Port,
Cat Lai Ward, District 2, Ho Chi Minh
City blew up yesterday, severely injuring 5 workers. Eyewitnesses said two porters Nguyen Van Bay and Le Van Muon
were working near the container when it suddenly exploded, causing them and
three other unidentified workers serious injuries. According to Ngo Quang Chung, an official of Tan Cang
Company, the explosion occurred when the container was being repaired. After being taken to Cho Ray Hospital, Muon is now out of danger. The
other four are still being hospitalized. Tay Ninh to open more auxiliary border gates The southwestern province
of Tay Ninh has decided to open three
more auxiliary border gates and 10 paths along the boundary bordering Svay
Rieng and Kompong Cham provinces of Cambodia . The move aims to facilitate travel and trade for local
residents as well as to enhance the friendship between the provinces. The provincial People’s Committee has entrusted the
Department of Foreign Services to finalise all necessary procedures so that
local authorities can officially sign with their Cambodian counterparts. Tay Ninh and border provinces of Cambodia have to date opened two
international border gates on the common borderline, namely Moc Bai – Ba Vet
and Xa Mat – Trapeng Plong, four main and 10 auxiliary border gates. Two-way
trade through these border gates reaches almost 1 billion USD each year. Hanoi Don Juan nabbed
for stealing from girls Police in Hanoi’s
Dong Da district yesterday (Tuesday) arrested Ha Trong Dac, an 18-year-old
handsome man, for deceiving and stealing from several young women he met. On April 21, Ha Trong Dac used an alias to approach
23-year-old Vu Thi T. online. They agreed on a rendezvous and he later took her
out to enjoy fried chicken on Lang
Ha Street. They rode on her motorbike Yamada Serius. When the two were dining, Dac told the woman he had some
unexpected problem back home and took her bike and rode off. When she called him, the handsome Dac turned rogue and told
her to give him VND10 million (US$500) as ransom. After bargaining, he agreed to cut by half the money and
instructed her to hand the money through a passenger car parking in Luong Yen
station. The woman contacted police and Dac was captured at the site.
At the police station, Dac admitted he had been trying to
befriend several women, most of whom are college students, on the Internet. He would take them out for shopping, promising a romantic
evening. And while his newly-found girlfriends were trying on clothes or when
they were inattentive, he would snatch their properties and ran away. Dac has succeeded in 15 cases, stealing 9 motorbikes and 6
mobile phones. In addition, Dac once impersonated a police officer to flirt
with a woman hailing from Thai Nguyen province. On the first night they made out in a hostel, he managed to
steal his partner’s gold ring and sold for VND3 million. Afterwards, he
apologized and returned to her house. But the apologizing Dac soon after stole her laptop and
VND600,000. Police found out that Dac is involved in a ring that sells
stolen motorbikes. His two accomplices Nguyen Thanh Binh and Dao Duy Khanh also
have been arrested. Locals knife
officials over land encroachment Two men who illegally built on publicly land stabbed a commune
government’s head and deputy police chief in the northern Hai Phong City when the officials requested them
to halt the construction. Vu Van Ban, 55, from Kien Thuy District, earlier ignored
requests by local authorities to stop building a house on the public land lot
in Doan Xa Commune. On Monday, when Pham Hong Cuong, chairman of the commune
People’s Committee, asked Ban to halt the construction, the latter jumped up
and stabbed him in the neck with a knife. Pham Van Oanh, deputy chief of commune police rushed out to
help and received a stab in the stomach by Ban’s 19-year-old son, Vu Thien Thap
De Nhat. Father and son have been arrested. 2 workers killed in
Soc Trang warehouse collapse The warehouse in Soc
Trang Province
where a gutter collapsed yesterday, killing two workers and injuring two
othersA rain gutter collapsed in a paddy warehouse that is under construction
in Long Phu District, Soc
Trang Province,
yesterday, killing two workers and leaving three others injured. There were more than 10 workers at the construction site at
the time of the accident. Tran Van Tai, 21, a local, was found dead in the debris
while Bay, Nhut and Na – also locals – were severely injured and taken to Soc Trang General Hospital. Na succumbed to his injuries later that night. Nhat remains in hospital while Bay has been discharged. The province Department of Agriculture and Rural
Development, which is building the warehouse, paid a compensation of VND3
million to the families of the dead and VND1 million to the injured workers. The department will hold a meeting with relevant agencies
this afternoon to identify the cause of the accident, Quach Van Nam, its
director, said. Nguyen Thanh Trai, director of Tan Binh Company of Soc Trang
town, the construction contractor, said his company would pay all the expenses
related to burial and treatment of the victims. It would also provide financial support to their families,
he added. Hoang Van Xuan, deputy director of the Soc Trang
Construction Department, said the gutter may have collapsed because it had been
overloaded with bricks. But he did not rule out poor construction quality as the
cause. Cho Ray doctor and
accomplices receive severe jail sentence
The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples’ Court sentenced a former doctor
from the central Cho
Ray Hospital
to 15 years imprisonment on April 24, for faking prescriptions and stealing
billions of dong worth of prescribed drugs in 2009. Dr. Luu To Lan, along with 11 of her accomplices have been
accused of “abusing power and position” by faking prescriptions and stealing
VND4 billion (US$198,000) worth of drugs. Dr. Luu To Lan alone received VND1.1
billion (US$52,600) by selling drugs.
The 15-year sentence is 5 years shorter than proposed by the city
Peoples’ Procurer. Luu Thi Lieu, 27, a medical representative, Nguyen Thi Thu
Ba, 54, a medical staff member from Tan Binh Hospital and Huynh Quoc Thai, 50,
a Cho Ray pharmacist received 6 years imprisonment each. Dr. Tran Dinh Tuy, 41, and Pham Thi Duyen, 29 (from a
hospital in District 7) were sentenced to 3 years each. Nguyen Thi Mai, 51, a Cho Ray Pharmacist; Vui Xuan Chien,
29, a medic from Thu Duc District General Hospital; Nguyen Son Lam from Dong
Nai Children Hospital; Hoang Van Tien from Thong Nhat General Hospital of Dong
Nai province; Pham Minh Hung from General Hospital in Thu Duc and Luu Quoc Bao
from General Hospital of Binh Phuoc province, each received suspended sentences
of 18 months to three years. The court also requested the hospital and the HCMC Social
Insurance Agency to improve management, control and supervision of medical
examinations and treatment. Insurance surveyors in the hospital must write
letters acknowledging their wrongdoings as the fake prescriptions were being
made for a long time, while supervisors were unaware. Between January and April 2009, Lan and her coterie took
advantage of the lax hospital management in treating health insurance policies
by faking 1,168 prescriptions for health insurance holders, who in fact never
came to the hospital for an examination. She connived with some doctors, nurses and employees of Cho
Ray and other hospitals in the country to bypass regulatory procedures to write
false prescriptions to non-existing patients and appropriate drugs to resell
later. From March to May 2009, Pham Thi Duyen collected 200
insurance cards of workers in industrial parks and processing zones in the city
along with 217 false hospital transfer forms, assisted by Dr. Tran Dinh Tuy, to
allow Luu Thi Lieu to make fake documents. For this crafty work, Duyen and Tuy received VND98million. Vui Xuan Chien gave Lieu 57 false insurance cards and
hospital transfer forms from which Lan was able to steal VND400 million. Huynh Quoc Thai helped Lan to fill information of false
medical record from computers and provide information for a total 1,004
prescriptions. Lan paid him over VND200 million for this handiwork. Lan and her accomplices sold the drugs to pharmacies at two
thirds of the market value and split the money with her accomplices keeping the
major share for herself. Law catches up as
woman preys on kindness A woman was arrested and fined a few days ago in Ho Chi Minh City after
she pretended to collapse with some foodstuff she was carrying to prey on the
kindness of passers-by and extract money from them. Tuoi Tre was reported of the case and secretly witnessed the
scene with police from start to finish last Sunday morning on Saigon
bridge. Dang Thi Ky,
57, from the central province
of Quang Ngai – as Tuoi
Tre discovered later at the police station — intentionally overturned her
large vessel full of tofu soup and began to sob while pretending to scoop up
the food from the street. Within an hour dozens of people had stopped by and given her
VND700,000 (US$33), clearly much more than the value of the food. Each passer-by gave her at least VND20,000, some even
VND50,000 and VND100,000. After an hour of “crying,” she packed up her things and went
to sit under a tree in the park at an end of the bridge. There she smoked and
counted the money she got. Then she took on a xe om (motorbike taxi) to head off to Bui Dinh Tuy street
in Binh Thanh District. Officers said she usually does her act from 10:30 am to noon
in places like Thi Nghe bridge where traffic is heavy. Vo Van Trai, chief of police of Binh Thanh District’s Ward
22, said she would be fined at least VND2 million ($95) for cheating. It is becoming increasingly common to see people cheating
others by pretending to be seriously sick while lying on sidewalks along busy
streets or near hospitals, he added. Boy found drowned at
Dam Sen Park A six-year-old boy was yesterday found drowned in a tank in
Ho Chi Minh City’s Dam Sen Culture Park one day after he was reported missing
from his school trip. Nguyen Dinh Nhat Huy, an autistic boy, visited Dam Sen with
his teacher and friends from An Phuc Primary School Rehabilitation on April 25. The boy lost sight of the others at 1 p.m. Afterward, Dam
Sen staffs went searching for him and found his body in a tank in a
construction site on the morning after. Dam Sen promised to pay for the boy’s funeral and insurance. The police are further investigating. Source: Tuoi Tre/
VNA/SGGP | 
