Ho Chi Minh Highway opens for traffic after floods; Vietnam launches second foreign affairs TV program; University students, youth detained in peer killing; Qualcomm launches computer labs project to help rural schools

Flooding in northern central rivers receded to a level 1 on October 25 with a formerly closed section of the Ho Chi Minh Highway re-opening to traffic on October 26.

Authorities said local residents had recovered quickly following a recent bout of heavy rains, floods and landslides in central area. The heavy rains were caused by a tropical low-pressure circulation combined with a cold front.

In Thua Thien-Hue city Province, hundreds of workers used nine excavators and dozens of trucks and cranes to repair landslide sections on the highway in A Luoi District. They began work on October 23 and finished over the next two days.

In Quang Binh Province, numerous sections of the highway have also been cleaned up.

Volunteers in the province, including teachers and local residents in Le Thuy and Quang Ninh Districts, began clean-up efforts at schools October 25. Students were able to return to schools the next day.

Vietnam launches second foreign affairs TV program

A television program aimed at promoting Vietnam and attracting foreign investment and tourists, will hit the airwaves next month on Vietnam Multimedia Corp.’s VTC10 channel.

Program creators say the show aspires to provide a comprehensive view of the country for foreigners while correcting distorted information. It also strives to connect overseas Vietnamese with their homeland.

The 24-hour program, including daily news, features on Vietnamese culture, and documentary films, will be broadcast over the Internet and to cable and satellite channels in the US and other countries. It will be provided in both Vietnamese and English.

The Directorate of External Information and the representative of VTC10 reported the plan to broadcast the program to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Quy Doan last week.

Vietnam Television’s VTV4 was the first Vietnamese channel to be broadcast outside of the country in 1998.

Qualcomm launches computer labs project to help rural schools

Qualcomm of the US announced the October 26 launch of its Wireless Reach project to establish computer labs at rural Vietnamese schools.

The wireless labs, each with 20-25 computers, come complete with 3G CDMA broadband Internet connectivity. Each classroom will serve as many as 50 students during a class period with students learning basic computer skills and other subjects including English, math and science.

“Access to online resources and educational materials can have a life-changing impact on students, said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm.

“Not only will they have connectivity that enables access to learning materials and communities for the first time, but they will also have the opportunity to gain specialized skills and training.”

Six wireless labs have now been established in Can Tho City in the Mekong Delta.

Through the provisioning of affordable, high-quality and reliable Internet connectivity to schools where landline access is limited or unavailable, the wireless lab project strives to help students bridge the digital divide and addresses the goal of universal access and opportunity in education.

700 computers donated to rural communities

The ceremony to hand over computers to Nghe An, Thai Nguyen, and Tra Vinh provinces in Vinh City on October 22.

More than 700 computers were donated on October 22 to Nghe An, Thai Nguyen, and Tra Vinh provinces which were selected to trial a project to increase computer use and Internet access in Vietnam.

The computers will be installed at rural post offices, libraries, and schools in these provinces.

The project is funded with US$2 million by the American Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and carried out by the Ministry of Informatics and Communication.

It will be implemented in other provinces and finish by July next year.

University students, youth detained in peer killing

Police inspect the scene where a college student in Quang Binh Province was killed by fellow students at a university dormitory.

Three college students and a young man suspected of killing a fellow student in Quang Binh were placed under the charge of provincial police Monday for further investigation.

According to preliminary investigations, Nguyen Van Cu, a 21-year-old student of Quang Binh University died shortly after being hospitalized last Tuesday with injuries caused by his schoolmates for not letting a girl leave a Vietnam’s Women Day party at their dormitory, the newswire Vnexpress reported.

The People’s Procuracy of Dong Hoi, the capital city of the central province, has sent its findings on the four suspects – Pham Van Than, Dinh Hoang Sang, Nguyen Tien Vuong – all 20 years old and studying at the university, and a local youth Phan Anh Tuan, to the provincial police for further investigation.

Dong Hoi prosecutors had already announced the detention of the four young men in connection with the killing.

They are accused of attacking Cu and causing severe injuries when the latter teased a girl and refused to let her leave room 31B at the Dai Phong dormitory in Quang Binh University.

Cu suffered brain damage and succumbed to his injuries later, police said.

Teenage gangs plunder with impunity in Phu Yen

Dang Van Binh of Phu Yen Province shows his net fence that was cut through by a gang of teenaged robbers.

Residents of the sandy Hoa Hiep Trung Commune were used to leaving their vehicle outdoors, but now they chain even the bronze incense holders inside their homes.

Even these steps can be in vain, though, as marauding teenage gangs break into homes and steal all kings of property apparently without fear of reprisal.

The residents of the commune located in the south-central province of Phu Yen say that for the last several months, they live in constant fear of being beaten and robbed, but the police are yet to take their complaints seriously.

The police have played down the danger so far saying the residents are overreacting to a non-serious threat.

Luong Khiem said some robbers broke into his house through the roof when there was no one at home and took copper lamps placed on the family altar.

“The lamps at my neighbors’ had been stolen so I’d chained mine, but they cut through the chain.”

The gangs are not even afraid of raiding the houses of commune officials to steal dogs and other animals.

Dang Van Binh, a commune councilor, said a group of five to seven 14-17 year old youth cut two net fences around his home and took away ducks and chicken.

“When our family saw them, they threw stones at us and threatened us with knives.”

Binh said the gangsters visited each local family and warned them of “troubles” if they reported to the police or the province government.

Another resident, Nguyen Phong Binh, said his house has been invaded and robbed five times at night by a gang who introduced themselves as “White Rose”.

The gang even robs jewelry from people in daylight but no one dares to chase after them, Binh said.

He recalled once the group was about to steal from his neighbor and saw him at his gate. “They told me to go to bed and leave them alone but I said I had work to do outside, so they hit me and threatened to kill me.

“We are lost,” Binh said. “We don’t dare to leave home for work during the day and we’ll be shaking indoors when those kids drive around.

“We beg Dong Hoa (District) police to help bring peace to our neighborhood.”

Binh also named some of the attackers – Uc, Thu, Tri, Nguy, Duoc, and Han, with the last mentioned being treated at Phu Yen General Hospital with injuries from a tree.

Le Xuan An, police chief of Dong Hoa District, told Thanh Nien the residents are just fearful of some teenagers who party and get drunk most of the time.

The residents are hoping and waiting for a more serious response from the Phu Yen police and government.

School head sacked for operating illegal funds

A primary school principal in the Mekong Delta province of Long An was dismissed Sunday for allowing illegal funds to operate within school premises.

Nguyen Tri Hai, principal of the Tan An Primary School in the province’s capital city of Tan An, not far from Ho Chi Minh City, was earlier terminated as secretary of the Communist Party unit of Ward 2.

Investigations found 15 different kinds of funds were operating at the school, most of them illegally.

A fund set up for printing exam questions charged each of the school’s 1,700 students VND5,000 (US$0.28) a year while the printing cost was already included in the tuition fee. The fund was found to have collected nearly VND20 million by June.

Another fund that collected rent from hiring the ground out for the school canteen was used to pay for vacations taken by school teachers instead of education and training purposes as required.

Hai has been demoted and transferred to teach at another primary school in the area.

Central highlands gang kills father in broad daylight

A seventy year old man was killed and his two sons seriously injured in Da Lat after an armed gang attacked them on Saturday morning.

Hoang Ngoc Vi, 33, and Hoang Ngoc An, 31, both construction workers, were having breakfast near their home in the Central Highlands town, Lam Dong Province when around ten young men called them out and assaulted them with knives, swords and canes.

Their father Hoang Ngoc Lo rushed to intervene but the 70-year-old was killed on the spot by many stab wounds to his heart while his sons were rushed to Lam Dong General Hospital.

Doctor Le Qui Son at the hospital said Vi’s liver was pierced and An received two cuts to his head.

Eyewitnesses said they dared not step in as the gang was too dangerous. Many of the fled the scene on ther motorbikes before the police arrived.

Preliminary investigations reveal the involvement of some co-workers of Vi in the gang, police said, adding they were investigating the cause of the dispute.

Traffic police car hits motorcyclist in Thanh Hoa

A traffic police car hit a motorbike in Thanh Hoa Province on Saturday.

A traffic police car crashed into a motorbike in the northern province of Thanh Hoa Saturday, severely injuring the bike driver.

Pham Khac Chuong, an official of the Thanh Hoa General Hospital, was driving on Tran Cao Van Street when a car belonging to the Ngoc Lac District traffic police hit him suddenly from the side, according to local eyewitnesses. Chuong was admitted to the general hospital with serious injuries.

Hanoi gas station caught cheating customers

A gas station in Hanoi has been found using electronic chips to skew fuel meters in its favor.

Residents in Thanh Xuan District complained of price cheating at the Kim Giang station, run by the Hanoi Petrol Fuel Joint Stock Company (HNPETROL), a month ago.

Inspectors from the Market Management Bureau and the Hanoi Department of Standard and Quality Measurement then found the chip distorting meter readings at the station and Kim Giang’s manager, known only as Nga, confessed that the chip ensured that meter readings would be higher than the actual amount of fuel pumped to customers’ vehicles.

Nguyen Truong Giang, an official from the Hanoi Standard And Quality Department, described the cheat as “original” because the chip directly affected the pump meter without having to be attached to a central control system.

A local resident said the station also mixed its gasoline with kerosene, making it hard to start vehicles after filling up.

Nguyen Duy Ban, a market management official involved in the inspection, said the quality of gasoline at the station would be tested as well.

HNPetrol is also running a station on Tran Khat Chan Street, where customers also complained that the price reading on one pumped had jumped suddenly from VND38,000 to VND50,000 without explanation.

PV