Trial adjourned in Dien Bien Phu memorial statue scam; Salt intrusion plaguing Mekong residents; Hanoi cops suspended after death in custody; Obama picks Vietnamese-American to serve VEF

A court in the northern province of Dien Bien Wednesday halted the trial of eight people, including two former officials, for embezzlement and bribery in a VND40 billion (US$2.1 million) project to build a memorial statue.

More investigation and evidence was needed to clarify the defendants’ offences, the court said. The trial had opened Monday.

The court also ordered investigators to confirm the quality of the copper used to build the statue that was opened in 2004 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic Dien Bien Phu victory of 1954, which resulted in the French withdrawing from most of Indochina.

At the moment, inspectorates were using two conclusions reached by the Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Science Institute and the Quality Assurance and Testing Center No.1, it said.

According to indictment, Luong Phuong Cac, former vice director of the Dien Bien Province Department of Culture and Information and also former director of the project management board, and his accomplices built the statue from scrap copper instead of authentic cooper.

They also used less material than they invoiced for, causing VND8.3 billion in losses.

They were also charged with faking documents to embezzle VND242 million and offering and taking VND500 million in bribes.

Among the defendants are Le Van Vien, former vice director of the project management board; Le Huyen, former president of Hanoi Industrial Fine Arts University and Nguyen Duc Sung, a former dean of the school.

Local authorities launched an investigation after the statue developed cracks and rust soon after its opening.

No more A/H1N1 outbreaks in Vietnam

There have been no more A/H1N1 outbreaks in the country, except some isolated cases, said a health official.

At a meeting reviewing the flu epidemic situation in Hanoi on March 31, the Deputy Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine and the Environment, Tran Khac Phu, confirmed that 11,208 people in the country had been infected with the virus as of March 31 and 58 of them had died.

Regarding the A/H5N1 flu, Phu said that there were no more confirmed cases last week, and the total number of such cases so far this year stands at five, including two deaths.

The A/H1N1 virus epidemic appears to have subsided and the country has not detected any mutations in the virus, said Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tran Hien, Director of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

However, Hien urged localities to closely monitor for the A/H5N1 virus as it is still being found on poultry in several areas.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), by March 30, there had been 492 confirmed cases of A/H5N1 infection in 15 countries, resulting in 291 deaths.

Salt intrusion plaguing Mekong residents

Seawater penetration in Mekong Delta provinces is likely to rise in the coming days, causing damage to crop-growing land and fish farms, while leaving residents with a lack of freshwater for daily activities.

According to the National Hydro Meteorological Forecast Center, water levels at the upper reaches of the Mekong River will continue climbing on April 1-2, and then gradually fall in the days to follow.

When this occurs, saltwater from the ocean will likely encroach further inland.

In An Giang Province, water levels in Tan Chau town could drop to 0.25 meters while in Chau Doc town levels could decrease to 0.35 meters, 0.06 meters lower than in previous years during the same period.

Local authorities have dredged canals so that farmers can pump water for their fields and access freshwater for daily activities.

Cao Van Trong, deputy chairman of the Ben Tre Province People’s Committee, said the province would order water suppliers to stop selling to ice producers in order to give priority to households in drought areas.

To help those living in coastal areas and islands access freshwater when droughts occur, Tien Giang Province has decided to invest over VND600 million (US$30,000) in water transship pipes to households and will install 41 public water supply stations.

In the wake of the long, hot streak, people in the island commune of Nam Du in Kien Hai District of Kien Giang Province have had to rely on water supplies from inland An Son Commune, with each cubic meter of water costing VND125,000.

Hanoi cops suspended after death in custody

Seven Hanoi police officers have been suspended after it was found last Thursday that a man was died of “heavy brain injuries” one day after he was called to the police office.

Investigators on Thursday said Nguyen Quoc Bao, 33, was taken to the Hai Ba Trung District police station on January 21 after police found him carrying a knife, a pair of scissors and a note with numbers for de - an illegal game based on the state lottery, that allows players to bet any amount they want on the last two or three digits of the winning number to win up to 80 times the original wager.

But the police had repeatedly refused to answer questions about why they had detained Bao from around 5:30 p.m. that day.

“My family had many times asked the police why they had summoned my son, where he died and why his body had so many scratches and bruises,” Bao’s father Phuc was quoted by local newswire Vnexpress as saying Monday.

Phuc said they received vague responses like “the case is under investigation.”

Bao left home in the evening of January 21 to buy some toys for his 2-year-old son and didn’t come back that night, Phuc said.

The next afternoon, Hai Ba Trung District police informed him that his son had died and told him to take the body home from Thanh Nhan Hospital.

Results of forensic tests by the Vietnam Military Forensic Medicine Institute showed that Bao had been hit hard on the head, wrists and ankles with some hard object.

Bui Quang Minh, head of the criminal investigation team in Hai Ba Trung district, confirmed that Bao had been summoned to the police station and had died later.

But Minh refused to give further details or comment on the death. “We cannot provide further information as the case is being investigated and we ourselves are also under investigation.”

Truong Tho Toan, deputy head of Hanoi’s investigation team, said his unit will work with the forensic experts to find out the process leading to the injuries that killed Bao.

Nguyen Duc Chung, head of the criminal investigation office of Hanoi police, had written a note to Phuc’s family that the investigation will be objective and the police officers involved will be “strictly” punished if they are found guilty.

A similar case happened with Nguyen Manh Hung, 33, of Ha Dong District. Hung was detained in November 10 last year for stealing a car emblem. Ten days later, the police rushed him to the Ha Dong General Hospital but he died. Severe bruises were found on his legs.

Hung’s family has complained to Hanoi authorities, suspecting Hung had been tortured to death.

Ha Dong Police have denied using any kind of violence but they failed to explain the bruises on his legs.

Obama picks Vietnamese-American to serve VEF

US President Barack Obama has nominated David Duong as a member of the Vietnam Education Foundation, an independent federal agency whose mission is to boost bilateral ties through educational exchanges.

David Duong, a Vietnamese-American, is the President and CEO of California Waste Solutions. He also manages Vietnam Waste Solutions, the company’s overseas operation.

He has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Vietnamese American Entrepreneur Association, a Director on the Board of Directors for the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, and a Member of the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce.

Duong is very active in local charities and job development programs, according to a statement from the US’ Office of the Press Secretary.

Fred Hollows supports eye care in Thua Thien-Hue city

The Fred Hollows Foundation from Australia will grant almost US$547,700 to provide operations and care for eye patients in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

The project will conduct surgery on at least 1,500 patients of cataract and other eye-related diseases, said Phan Ngoc Tho, Chief of the Thua Thien-Hue Provincial People’s Committee Office.

As part of the project, as many as 35,000 local pupils will be examined and provided with counselling about eye refractions. Of them, around 1,000 poor pupils will be presented with glasses to treat their eye refractions.

The two-year project is estimated to cost nearly US$602,500, with the rest contributed by the provincial budget.

The Fred Hollows Foundation is inspired by work of the late Professor Fred Hollows, whose vision was for a world where no one is needlessly blind.

Treatment of cataract blindness has come a long way in Vietnam since Professor Fred Hollows first visited in 1992. Fred had been invited by the government to demonstrate modern surgery techniques with local doctors.

Deputy PM tells schools to go easy on tiny tots

Educational authorities should ensure kindergarten tiny tots are not forced to learn during the summer holidays even before their schools reopen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan said.

Speaking at a meeting held with education officials from Hanoi, HCM City, Can Tho, Hai Phong and Da Nang in HCM City on March 31 to review the first term of the 2009-2010 school year, he said primary schools should not hold tests for kids set to go to first grade.

He urged them to improve toilets and water supply systems at schools this year.

Do The Hung, head of the board that oversees the education departments in the five cities, said more than 3,000 standard toilets were built during the first term and water supply systems were built in 3,052 schools.

Nhan ordered the departments to create standards for “student-friendly” schools from the kindergarten to secondary levels.

More than 6,000 schools in the five cities are recognized as “student-friendly,” Hung said.

Nhan also ordered them to provide Internet connections to all schools and organise traditional cultural competitions.

The ministry was drawing up regulations for the management of international schools to provide the departments a legal basis for overseeing them, he said.

He appreciated the departments’ efforts to improve the quality of school education and working conditions for school managers and teachers and develop infrastructure.

The department reported that they adopted measures like disseminating information against dropping out of school and introducing policies to help disadvantaged students to reduce the dropout rate.

In the first term, the school dropout rate in the five cities was around 0.20 percent, Hung said.

Vietnam works with US on climate change

The US-Vietnam Climate Change Working Group began its three days of talks in Hanoi on March 31 to discuss combating climate change in Vietnam and draw up future plans for the group.

The group will map out its activities based on research concerning the effects of climate change. The meeting will also discuss the capacity of Vietnam’s agricultural sector to adapt to climate change and solutions for potential natural disasters in the Mekong Delta region, according to Dr Tran Thuc, director of the Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment.

During the event, participants will conduct field trips to study climate change in the coastal district of Hai Hau in Nam Dinh province.

The joint working group was established in late 2008 as part of a co-operation agreement between the two countries.

UNDP helps Vietnam build 2011-2020 socio-economic strategy

The UNDP has conducted a series of studies on a wide range of socio-economic issues in Vietnam to aid the country in outlining its socio-economic development strategy in the 2011-2020 period.

The results of these studies were presented to attendees of a conference jointly held by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Hanoi on March 31.

As part of the UNDP-funded project on “assistance to the making of the socio-economic development strategy for the 2011-2020 period”, the studies analysed economic development trends around the world and in the region together with their possible impact on the Vietnamese economy in the next decade.

The studies have provided an insight into the competitiveness of State and private companies as well as international experiences in sharpening the competitiveness of businesses.

They also focused on ways to boost farming productivity and incomes for rural people, along with forecasts on the labour market, employment and urbanisation in Vietnam by 2020.

Addressing the conference, UNDP Resident Representative John Hendra affirmed that the UNDP is willing to discuss and share with Vietnam the views and experiences it has gained to assist the country in making its socio-economic development strategy.

He spoke highly of Vietnam’s openness and sharing during the course of building its 2011-2020 socio-economic development strategy, describing it as an important document, which will enable donors and international organisations to define priorities in Vietnam’s policies in the next ten years for later use in their national cooperation programmes with Vietnam.

Between 1991-2010, from an agriculture-based economy, Vietnam has moved towards higher growth in a wide range of fields and has also integrated broadly in the regional and world economies, the UNDP official said, urging the country to make wise choices in shaping its future in the coming period in the context of new economic and social challenges.

Improving the quality of investment, the effectiveness and skills of the labour force, and creating a stable environment for businesses to develop are extremely important for Vietnam in its next phase of development, the UNDP official said.

The conference, the first of its kind, brought together representatives from relevant ministries and sectors, international organisations, and foreign embassies, as well as experts on development.

Hue cooperates with Thailand in education and training

The Hue Tourism College and Thailand’s Ubon Rachathani Rajabhat University have signed an agreement to promote cooperation in education and training.

“The two schools will exchange teachers, training programmes, scientific documents, cultural publication and carry out joint seminars,” said principal of the Hue Tourism College, Tran Thi Mai.

Both schools will focus on developing Thai-Vietnamese language for teachers and students.

In recent years, the Hue Tourism College has sent many students to Thailand’s Ubon Rachathani Rajabhat University, established cooperative ties with many schools in Luxembourg, France and Belgium.

PV