SOCIETY IN BRIEF 10/5

Published: 09/05/2011 05:00

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Education Festival 2011 promotes advanced education

The Ho Chi Minh City Education Development Festival 2011 opened on May 7 at the Phu Tho Indoor Sports Stadium in District 11, introducing advanced school education models.

Books and school equipment will be available on sale at the festival. Seminars and forums on education have also been planned as part of the festival schedule.

Students can avail of free career counseling and choice of schools.

The festival has attracted participation from nearly 100 enterprises including education centers, publishing houses and educational equipment providers.

Over 150 booths are on display at the stadium venue.

Vietnam Publishing House gave away about 6,000 sets of textbooks and 60,000 notebooks to pupils who are children of war invalids and martyrs hailing from ten southern cities and provinces. It also presented five schools in HCMC with bookcases worth over VND1billion.

The festival is being organized by the Department of Education and Training of HCMC and will last until May 10.

New charitable healthcare program launched

The Viet Nam Federation of Youth Unions along with the Vietnamese Young Doctors’ Association and Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper launched a new health care program on May 7, called “Young Doctors follow teachings of Uncle Ho -Volunteer for community health”.

Speaking at the launch ceremony in Sai Gon port in Ho Chi Minh City, Tang Chi Thuong, president of the Vietnamese Young Doctors’ Association and director of the City Nhi Dong 1 Hospital, asked young doctors across the country to come forward and commit their skills to public health services, keeping the traditions and pride of the nation alive.

Around 3,000 young medical doctors will travel to distant and inaccessible regions, including the mountainous districts, to provide healthcare to 55,000 residents in 63 provinces in a 14-day program.

After the ceremony, doctors visited the suburban districts of HCMC including Can Gio, Cu Chi, Binh Tan and Hoc Mon to offer treatment and medication to people there. Later, young doctors from Nhi Dong 1 hospital and People 115 Hospital gave medicines and gifts to 900 workers, their children and the needy at the Vinh Loc A Industrial Park in Binh Tan district. The total treatment cost was VND60million (nearly US$3,000).

Gold shop robber caught red-handed

The Hanoi police and several local residents caught a robber of a jewelry shop yesterday after he attacked a shop assistant and took away some gold.

At 4 p.m on May 7, a young man appeared at Tuan Dai Jewelry Shop in Dich Vong Hau Ward in Cau Giay District, pretending to be a customer and leaving shortly after.

A moment later, he returned and told Bui Thi Xuyen, a shop attendant, that he wanted to buy a 3-tael gold necklace. He asked Xuyen to try the necklace on him.

While Xuyen was putting the item around his neck, he suddenly strangled her and threatened to kill her. He then locked her into a back room, and took all of the jewelry items displayed on the counter and ran away.

Xuyen shouted for help and the ward police, and several local residents, seized the robber about 100 m from the shop.

The robber said he was Cao Van Kien, 34, from Hanoi’s Phuc Tho District.

He told the police he robbed the shop to have some money to repay his gambling debt.

Four arrested after brutally beating worker

Police in the central province of Nghe An on Saturday arrested four of the five men who cruelly beat Le Van Toi, a tin-mining worker last Wednesday.

The men suspected Toi of stealing from a local tin ore.

After investigation, local police detained the main culprit, 37-year-old Tran Dinh Truc, who is the owner of a company in charge of the ore, and his three accomplices: Nguyen Van Chung, Nguyen Van Phuong, and Tran Dinh Dat.

All of these four men reside in Giai Xuan Commune, Tan Ky District while Toi, 33, is a resident of Chau Hong Commune, Quy Hop district.

The police are searching for the other accomplice.

The victim’s wife, Lo Thi Hoa said her husband had been working for Truc’s company for over 2 months without any salary.

Toi told Tuoi Tre the men beat him cruelly and forced him to tell where he had hidden the tin although he told them repeatedly he didn’t steal anything.

They hit him on the back with a big stick and Truc used a thorny tree branch to slash him, Toi said.

When he fainted, the men splashed water and poured shrimp paste and salt on his wounded back. Truc even used his shoe to grind salt on Toi’s wound.

Toi said after torturing him, the men dumped him in front of Tan Hop Infirmary.

Dr. Nguyen Vinh Hanh, head of the surgery department at Northwestern Nghe An General Hospital where Toi is being treated said he suffered from external injuries including a bruised buttock, back, and chest.

First heat wave to hit central region

The National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center forecasts the central region of Vietnam to experience high temperatures of up to 37 Celsius degree today.

This first heat wave of the summer will last for 2 to 3 days, the center said.

The heat, which struck northern areas including Hanoi yesterday, has led to a sharp increase in hospitalizations, especially among children and old people, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Order restored to H’Mong community

Authorities in Muong Nhe District in Dien Bien Province have take control of a recent disturbance stirred by unidentified sources with the H’mong community.

Chairman of the Dien Bien Provincial People’s Committee, Mua A Son told the Vietnam News Agency that these sources had persuaded and even forced people, mostly women, old people and children to go to the forest for the “establishment of a H’Mong Kingdom.”

Due to severe weather and inadequate and unhygienic living conditions, many people have fallen ill and one child has died, Mua A Son said.

He said local authorities and mass organizations had sent cadres to persuade the people to disregard the call and return to their normal life. Authorities have also provided cooking and medicine to those in need.

The situation in the district has become stable and ready for the elections of the 13th National Assembly and the People’s Council at all levels, Mua A Son said.

A number of foreign news agencies have recently made groundless reports about the incident, Son added, affirming that those reports were all false and ill-intended.

Vice education director refused to pay $48,000 debt

Thai Van Long, director of Ca Mau Province Education and Training Department, says the agency has received many complaints about Lien’s failure to repay her debts.

Photo: VnExpressAfter days of evasion, Nguyen Thi Kim Lien, member the Ca Mau Province Party Committee and deputy director of the provincial Education and Training Department, has given the Committee a list of her outstanding debt totaling about VND1 billion (US$48,000), which she has failed to repay.

Lien said the list is just preliminary and incomplete as she is under stress and could not remember all of her creditors.

Thai Van Long, director of the Education and Training Department, said Sacombank’s branch in Ca Mau had provided the department with information about Lien’s debt to the bank.

The department has received complaints from 10 people who have lent Lien money which has not been paid back.

Among the individual creditors are Nguyen Thanh Viet in Dam Doi District, who lent Kien VND84 million ($4,100) in August 2010, and Nguyen thi Be Sau, from Ca Mau City, who gave Lien 3.4 taels of gold ($6,100), Long said.

Earlier, on May 5, the provincial Party Committee held a press conference over Lien’s 10-day disappearance from her office, her home, and her school where she was taking advanced political studies.

Nguyen Hong Ve, deputy head of the provincial Party Committee’s Commission of Propaganda and Education, said the Committee had set up a team to investigate and clarify the information about Lien’s evasion of debts and leaving her office without permission.

In the past several days, after Lien went away from her home in Ca Mau City, many of her creditors searched for her. One of Lien’s victims is a man named Hoang, who gave Lien two loans totaling VND250 million ($12,100) at a monthly interest rate of 5 percent two months ago.

Hoang said Lien told him she needed capital to invest in some projects to build pre-schools.

Lien also failed to make installment payments for a house she bought from Hoang Tam Property Trading Company a year ago.

The value of the house is VND300 million (US$14,500), and after Lien made a down payment of 20 percent of the house’s value to the company, she only paid only one installment later, Diep Hong Tham, deputy director of the company, complained.

Meanwhile, the house is being used as a doctor’s office for her husband Dr. Le Minh Thuan, Tham said.

From a source obtained by VnExpress, Lien has tendered her resignation to provincial authorities but her application has not been considered pending investigation’s result.

2 more nabbed in shooting of girl in Hanoi

Dong Cao Cuong, 28 and Nguyen Manh Cuong, 22, the main masterminds behind the fatal shooting early morning April 29 of a 20-year-old girl were Saturday escorted to Hanoi for questioning.

The remaining other involved in the killing is Luu Quang Duc, 24 who was arrested one day earlier.

According to initial investigation, the victim Nguyen Thi Lien owed some money to Cao Cuong and Duc.

The two sides argued and both creditors and debtor arranged to meet on Xa Dan Street to solve the debt.

Early that morning, Lien took a Thanh Cong taxi to Xa Dan Street where they were stopped by nine men from Cao Cuong’s gang riding on four motorbikes.

The taxi car then lurched and crashed into the roadside. After that, the gang smashed the car’s glass window.

One of them used a gun to shoot Lien and taxi driver Bui Manh Quan and fled the scene.

Lien died before arriving at hospital while the taxi driver survived and were taken to Viet Duc hospital.

Sand exploitation gets out of hand

Central Quang Tri authorities find it hard to stop the ruthless exploitation of the sand along the Thach Han River that has continued for the past month.

Every day, along the section of the Thach Han river that passes through An Dong Ward, Quang Tri Town, numerous boats travel by, carrying hundreds of cubic meters of sand.

“In daylight, they only take sand from the permitted area,” said Nguyen Thi Lien, who lives by this river. “But at night, they steal sand here.”

Tuoi Tre reporters spent a night watching the “sand thieves” in action and witnessed seven to eight boats came and went to dredge sand from the river.

It only took each of these boats 15 to 30 minutes to fill itself up with sand.

Phan Ngoc Quang, a local police accompanying Tuoi Tre at the scene, said it is not easy to arrest them because they always manage to escape when the police are approaching the river bank.

“Sometimes they attack us by throwing stones,” he said.

Hoang Thi Tan, head of the An Don Ward People’s Committee, said most of these sand thieves are members of the Trieu Phong River Transport Cooperative, which is only permitted to exploit sand from 8 am to 6pm in an 8-ha area along the river section that passes through Hai Le Commune.

Recently, however, some members have come to exploit sand illegally in An Dong Ward early in the morning.

Pham Thi, head of the cooperative, admitted that some members were indeed engaged in illegal sand exploitation.

But he said the cooperative couldn’t do anything about it.

Nguyen Hong Son, head of Quang Tri Town’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said it is hard to catch these sand thieves red-handed because they work at night and run faster than the police.

Son added that the cooperative’s license will expire at the end of this year.

“If they do not stop stealing sand, we will withdraw their license,” he said.

5 more arrested in Binh Duong businessman murder

The Binh Duong police yesterday arrested five more suspects in the killing of Phan Van Lan, 40, the owner of a company trading construction materials last Friday.

However, their identities cannot be revealed yet, Pham Xuan Truong, acting Chief of the Office of the provincial Police Department, said yesterday.

Last Friday the police had arrested Pham Van Dung, 38, of Nam Dinh Province, one of the suspected attackers, when he was trying to flee the scene of crime.

They had found a handcuff and a switch blade on him.

The alleged instigator of the murder, Pham Tuan Thanh, 32, is missing from his home in Hoa Loi Commune, Ben Cat District, and the police are hunting for him and others.

They searched his house and office at Hai Nam Phat Company, where he is a director.

It has emerged that Lan sold 3,000 square meters of land in Thu Dau Mot town to Thanh, a close acquaintance, for VND3 billion (US$145,600) in September 2009 and received VND2 billion as a deposit.

But later Thanh told Lan he no longer wanted to buy the land and asked for the money back. Lan returned VND1.5 billion.

In recent times Thanh had been frequently contacting Lan to ask about the remaining VND500 million ($24,300) but Lan could not pay because of some financial difficulties, according to the police.

On Friday Thanh took an armed group of 15 people to Lan’s company in two cars. Not finding him there, they went on a rampage, destroying company property.

When neighbors informed Lan, he rushed to his office and was allegedly shot in the chest by one of the attackers.

Lan died on the way to the hospital.

Yesterday the police called in Hoang Xuan Hieu, Thanh’s father-in-law, who had been present at the scene, for questioning.

Hieu, director of Hai Long Co Ltd, said he went to Thao Lan to stop Thanh but failed. On his way there in a car, he had called the local police for help but the killing occurred before officers arrived.

He has been trying to call Thanh to tell him to surrender to the police but has been unable to reach him, he said.

Hanoi police arrest Malaysian with fake ATM card

Hanoi police arrested a Malaysian Sunday for allegedly using a fake ATM card to buy expensive cell phones.

Koay Keng Chen, 22, Saturday attempted to use the card, purportedly issued by a Malaysian bank, to buy five iPhone 4’s costing VND85 million (US$4,250) from a shop in Hanoi.

But when the salespeople detected that the card was fake, he fled.

He was arrested the next day by police in Lang Ha Ward, Dong Da District.

Koay confessed to the police that he had managed to buy two iPhone’s for VND35 million ($1,750) using the fake card on Friday and sell them for USD700.

In his hotel room, the police found 14 other fake cards which he said had been brought from Malaysia.

Several go missing in Can Tho riverbank landslide

Dozens fell into the river, 4 or 5 of whom are reported missing, after a riverbank landslide occurred at the Long Hoa Market in Binh Thuy district in the southern city of Can Tho this early dawn Monday.

The affected area starting from Rach Cam Bridge is around 60 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 5 meters deep.

Five people who have been saved and taken to a hospital nearby are Nguyen Van Tret, 62, Tran Thi Nho, 35, Bui Thanh Vu, 37, Vo Bich Phuong, and another unidentified man.

Phuong, who is being treated at Can Tho Center Hospital, was reported to sustain the most serious injuries.

Nguyen Thanh Thai, an eyewitness, said: “I heard a loud rumble when the landslide happened and saw dozens of people thrashing about into the water struggling to survive.”

He immediately asked many people around for a rescue.

Meanwhile, Tre, a local resident, and his grandson fortunately escaped death after they fell into the river when they were having noodles at an eatery on the riverbank.

Three small traders - Loan, Hai Tham, and Ghi and around five market goers still remain missing.

After the incident, local authorities have blocked the site, evacuated market stalls and promptly rescued the victims.

Some years ago, many households across Rach Cam Bridge also fell into river due to a landslide, locals said.

Vietnam to launch first tsunami warning stations

Vietnam’s first two early tsunami warning stations in the central city of Danang have been completed and will be put into trial operation on May 15.

The announcement was made yesterday by Do Phong Doanh, deputy director of military-owned telecom group Viettel’s branch in Danang.

Under the permission of the Danang People’s Committee Viettel, Viettel built the two stations in Hoa Hiep Nam Ward in Linh Chieu District and at the Son Tra border station in Son Tra District.

Each of the stations has a 35 m-high antenna for wave absorption and an alarm system with a high-capacity siren speaker.

When the antenna receives tsunami signals, the alarm siren system will be activated and alert residents about the upcoming tsunami so that they can take safety measures.

In addition to these two centers, Viettel will set up 8 more stations in Danang to provide such information as how powerful and how high the tsunami is going to be, when it will come, which areas may be most affected, and which areas people should move to.

Two reported cases of pig bacterium

The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases has reported two cases contracted with a bacterium called Streptococcus suis.

MA. Nguyen Hong Ha, deputy director of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases said that of the two patients, one was from Ha Nam and was in a serious condition and receiving artificial respiration while the other patient was from Hanoi and was showing signs of improving.

According to health experts, people can contract the bacterium Streptococcus suis through eating unsafe pork or diseased pork.

Infected patients experience nausea, fever, vomiting and bleeding.

Doctors warn people not to eat diseased pigs.

In related news, the Health Preventive Department confirmed one more death of A/H1N1, bringing the total number to 12 in the country since the beginning of the year.

The latest victim was a 56-year-old man from My Tho City from the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.

The man was admitted to the provincial General Hospital on April 27. He tested positive for the deadly A/H1N1 virus. Later, he was moved to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City where he died on May 5.

Five Vietnamese hurt as Cambodia casino collapses

Five Vietnamese gamblers were injured when the roof of a Cambodian casino adjacent the Ha Tien Border Gate down south collapsed, reported VnExpress.

Doctors at Ha Tien Hospital in Kien Giang province said the five were injured on the heads, shoulders and arms while playing cards at Casino Sunday in Kampot province, Cambodia.

Casino Sunday, around 500 meters from Ha Tien Border Gate, was opened in mid-2010.

Besides this, other casinos line along this area like Casino Hà Tiên Vegas and Casino Vimarn, attracting hundreds of Vietnamese daily.

In Vietnam, gambling is strictly banned although the government allows some casinos for foreigners only.

Autopsy finds storekeeper committed suicide

Binh Duong Province Health Department’s Forensic Examination Center has determined that Pham Cong Nhut, who was found hanging in a Binh Duong Province police station late last month, had committed suicide, a source told Tuoi Tre yesterday.

Following an autopsy, the agency said Nhut had hanged himself with a telephone wire and there were neither external marks on his body nor traces of toxic substances, according to the source.

Nhut, 30, of Tien Giang province had been a storekeeper for Korean tire maker Kumho at the local My Phuoc III Industrial Park.

Kumho recently reported to the police that it had lost some 6,000 tires worth over VND6 billion (US$289,000) last year.

The Ben Cat District police had called in Nhut on April 21 for questioning about the loss.

Four days later he was found hanging.

The province police said Nhut had not been detained by the Ben Cat police but had stayed there voluntarily and even confirmed this in writing.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, Nhut’s wife, said April 25 she had received from the Ben Cat police two letters which they said were her husband’s suicide notes.

She then reported to the provincial police that the handwriting in the letters was not her husband’s.

She also gave them Nhut’s notebook as proof and asked them to find out who had really written the letters.

But the source told Tuoi Tre that handwriting experts said the confirmation letter and two suicide notes were all written by Nhut.

The handwriting experts were from the Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Science Sub-Institute and the Central Judicial Expertise Agency, the source said.

In connection with Kumho’s loss, the Ben Cat police said, they have taken in Tran Van Bay, a local, and Tran Huu Quang from Nghe An Province for inquiry.

Last night lawyer Tran Dinh Trien, head of the Vi Dan Law Office in Hanoi, said he would go to the Binh Duong police department and prosecutor’s office today to obtain more information about Nhut’s death.

Many details need to be clarified, he added.

Kien Giang family committed suicide by fire

A couple and their 3-year-old daughter in the southern province of Kien Giang were killed in what might have been a suicide by fire early Saturday morning.

Danh Manh, 33, his wife Nguyen Cam Thuy, 22, and his daughter Danh Cam Huong from My Lam Commune, Hot Dat District were found dead in bed, after the fire was extinguished.

The police found a two-liter can of petrol at the scene.

The family’s neighbors said the couple had been fighting recently.

The district police are investigating the case.

Attack on kung fu master on plane simulated

Inspectors from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam yesterday simulated the commotion on April 18 on a Vietnam Airlines flight when a passenger - a taekwondo expert - was reportedly beaten and humiliated.

They used a Boeing 777 plane and employees from the airlines, airplane security forces and two flight attendants to reenact the scene.

An airport officer played the role of assaulted passenger Le Minh Khuong, the taekwondo coach for the national Vietnamese team, who was not present at the simulation.

Witnesses including singer Quang Ha, his brother Quang Cuong and Le Hong Son who were on the plane at the time played themselves.

Movie director Tran Luc and Singapore businesswoman Eileen Tan were not present.

Ha, Cuong and Luc have agreed to be witness to defend Khuong as they said the airlines staffs are to blame. Meanwhile, Eileen Tan claimed the opposite, saying Khuong shouted at airlines attendants.

Chief inspector from the aviation agency Nguyen Trong Thang told Tuoi Tre that the agency has completed collecting evidence and information related to the case and will officially release a conclusion on who was right and wrong in the next 2-3 days.

Due to bad weather, flight VN1169 did not arrive at HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat airport at 11.45 p.m. as scheduled and was diverted to Da Nang airport where chief pilot ordered passengers to stay onboard due to the short stop.

Khuong asked to get off, but a Vietnam airlines representative from the airport refused his demand, saying that the plane would take off soon.

According to Vietnam Airlines, forty minutes later when the plane was on the runway to take off, Khuong shouted, asking the ground staff to return his boarding pass and he refused to get back to his seat and yelled at flight attendants.

This prompted the airlines to call in security, said the airlines.

In related news, Eileen Tan has just sent an SMS to singer Ha to apologize for her comment “Shut up you bloody gay!” when Ha prevented her from taking photos of the commotion on the plane, Sai Gon Tiep Thi reported.

Ha’s brother Cuong has confirmed this apology due to “slip of the tongue” but declined to reveal further details.

Ha earlier announced that he would take Eileen Tan to court if she did not officially apologize for her remark before May 1.

After the incident, Eileen Tan announced that singer Ha stood up for Khuong only to “polish his own name.”

The press later found out that Eileen Tan is director of Viking Travel and a second-level ticket agent for Vietnam Airlines. Many readers commented that she protected Vietnam Airlines only out of her business relation with the state-owned company.

Two die from Can Tho riverbank landslide

Two dead and several went missing after dozens fell into the river due to a riverbank landslide at the Long Hoa Market in Can Tho southern city this early dawn Monday.

The affected area starting from Rach Cam Bridge is around 60 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 5 meters deep.

Five people who have been saved and taken to a hospital nearby are Nguyen Van Tret, 62, Tran Thi Nho, 35, Bui Thanh Vu, 37, Vo Bich Phuong, and another unidentified man.

Phuong, who is being treated at Can Tho Center Hospital, was reported to sustain the most serious injuries.

Nguyen Thanh Thai, an eyewitness, said: “I heard a loud rumble when the landslide happened and saw dozens of people thrashing about into the water struggling to survive.”

He immediately asked many people around for a rescue.

Meanwhile, Tre, a local resident, and his grandson fortunately escaped death after they fell into the river when they were having noodles at an eatery on the riverbank.

Local authorities have retrieved two dead bodies of Vo Thi Tuyet, 78, who sold fruits and Truong Thi Hong Loan, who sold soft noodles at the market.

Two small traders - Hai Tham, and Ghi and around five market goers still remain missing.

After the incident, local authorities have blocked the site, evacuated market stalls and promptly rescued the victims.

Some years ago, many households across Rach Cam Bridge also fell into river due to a landslide, locals said.

Can Tho’s People’s Committee have donated VND10 million (US$500) each to families of the missing, and VND1.5-1.8 million to the injured.

Source: SGGP/Tuoi Tre/VNA

Provide by Vietnam Travel

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