Eight provinces at high risk of forest fires; US ship visits Binh Dinh on humanitarian mission; Fire in Hanoi building sparks panic; Vietnam wins Energy Global Awards 2009

Thirty-three pigs in the central province of Nghe An were culled on May 2 because they had contracted blue-ear disease.

According to the provincial Veterinary Department, this was the first time Nghe An had to destroy pigs suffering from the disease.

The province has established an additional checkpoint at Ben Thuy bridge to monitor new outbreaks of the disease. In addition to veterinary workers, police were mobilised to detect and prevent the transport of sick pigs from infected areas.

Nghe An has set up four checkpoints so far on National Highway No.1 and Ho Chi Minh Highway that have a significant volume of inter- province traffic.

Eight provinces at high risk of forest fires

Many areas in the central highlands and southern regions have suffered severe droughts that could lead to forest fires breaking out.

These areas are mainly in the eight provinces of Kon Tum, An Giang, Binh Dinh, Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, Quang Ngai, Quang Nam and Ca Mau.

The National Steering Committee for the Prevention of Forest Fires has urged People’s Committees at all levels to introduce tough measures to prevent forest fire and ensure rescue services.

US ship visits Binh Dinh on humanitarian mission

The US Navy hospital ship the USNS Mercy weighed anchor from its San Diego naval base on May 1 on humanitarian mission to Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.

The ship will dock in Quy Nhon city in the central province of Binh Dinh at the end of the month and stay in the city for around 13 days, Captain Lisa Franchetti, told a US-based Vietnam News Agency correspondent.

The visit to Vietnam is humanitarian, she added. Its crew will work with their Vietnamese colleagues and officials from non-government organisations to set up mobile general health and dental clinics, to diagnose and treat local people.

They will also help to carry out several technical projects, as requested by the local authorities, and exchange their medical knowledge and experiences with local doctors.

Since the beginning of all their preparations for the trip to Vietnam late last year, many of Mercy’s working groups have come to Binh Dinh and worked with the local authorities on many issues, including compiling lists of patients to receive operations on board.

Captain Phranchetti also said that the trip’s principal purpose is to work with their host nations to build up the relationships and capabilities essential for responding to natural disasters in the region.

Some of the doctors and crew members on the trip are of Vietnamese origin.
As part of the “Pacific Partnership,” the Mercy will also visit Cambodia, Indonesia, East Timor and Palau, according to the Navy’s Third Fleet.

The Mercy has already visited Vietnam many times on the same mission.

Fire in Hanoi building sparks panic

A fire broke out at a 14-storied building in Hanoi on Saturday, sending many of its occupants into panic, but there were casualties.

Nguyen Thi Nga, manager of Monaza Restaurant located at the Monaza Entertainment Center, said the fire started at a karaoke room at around 10.30 a.m.

Although the staff managed to extinguish it, the smoke spread throughout the third floor and to upper floors very quickly, she said.

This frightened those in the restaurant on the fourth floor, and they scrambled to get out of the building via windows to nearby houses and by climbing down a building scaffold to the ground, witnesses said.

Hanoi firefighters were mobilized to the site to prevent the fire from breaking out again.

Nga said the fire, caused reportedly by an electrical leak, destroyed two television sets and several devices in the karaoke room.

Located on Tran Duy Hung Street, the 2,500-square-meter Monaza center, which opened a year ago, hosts karaoke rooms, a coffee shop, restaurant and bar.

It is invested in by the Gio Hat Co. Ltd headed by Ho Thi Ba.

Vietnam medical association in Russia holds congress

The Vietnam Pharmaceutical and Medical Association (VPMA) in Russia held its second congress in Moscow on May 1.

Representatives from the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia, the Russia-Vietnam Friendship Association, the Russian Traditional Medical Centre and several Vietnamese students studying in the country attended the event.

Doctor Lo Van Xanh, President of the VPMA, delivered a report on the association’s operations since 1997 and plans to improve healthcare for the Vietnamese community in Russia as well as local residents and to promote Vietnamese traditional medicine there.

Vietnamese Minister Pham Thi Ngoc Bich praised the VPMA’s operations over the past few years and expressed her hopes that the association would continue to operate effectively in the future.

Doctor Lo Van Xanh was re-elected as President of the association for its next term.
VPMA is a social organisation of professional Vietnamese people, who are working and studying in Russiaa, to work together and care for people’s health. It is also a member of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associtions in Russia.

Vietnam wins Energy Global Awards 2009

Vietnam would be awarded for the project “Building brick and pottery continuous four-chamber kilns with rice husk gasification technology”, Energy Global Awards’ organization board has officially announced.

The Ministry of Science and Technology said that the project was carried out by the Energy Conservation Research and Development Center (Enerteam) since the beginning of 2009 at Tan Mai Ltd Company’s brick and pottery kiln in the Mekong Delta Province of Dong Thap.

The project aimed at raising energy usage effectiveness in making burnt clay products, reducing environmental pollution and enhancing usage of bio fuel instead of fossil fuel to soften the green house effect.

In addition, the project was targeted to find out technological solutions for the Mekong Delta to replace traditional brick kilns which have used old-style production methods, causing severe environmental pollution.

France’s Vision Ethique promotes Vietnam’s tourism

Vision Ethique- a French Travel Company, has coordinated with the Vietnam Culture Centre in France to introduce Vietnam tourism in the presence of many French people and overseas Vietnamese living in Paris.

Vision Ethique introduced places of interest, eco-tourism areas and biosphere diversity in Vietnam to the French public as well as its cultural beauties and tangible and intangible cultures recognised by UNSECO as world heritages.

Vision Ethique Director, Caroline Debonnaire said she has visited Vietnam many times to learn more about Vietnamese culture as she is a French citizen of Vietnamese origin.

In the near future, the company will carry out a number of eco-tourism and cultural programmes in Vietnam to help French people gain a better understanding of the Vietnamese land and people, Mrs Caroline said.

France holds meeting to support Vietnamese Agent Orange victims

Collectif Vietnam-Dioxin, an organisation that supports Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims, has launched a major campaign to rally French public to support for these victims.

At the meeting in Place de la République (Republic Square) in Paris, thousands of Collectif Vietnam-Dioxin volunteers met with people involved in the march to explain to them the negative effects of dioxin that the US aggressors sprayed in Vietnam during the war.

They also mobilised people to sign a petition asking the US should to take responsibility for spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam.

A number of parliamentarians, city and provincial leaders and labour union members took part in the campaign and signed the petition.

Friendship meeting enhances VN, Cambodia and Laos ties

The friendship, solidarity and cooperation among Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are valuable treasure of the three countries.

This was confirmed at a four-day meeting that closed on May 1 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The three countries’ delegates suggested the organisation of “Green Summer” in which Vietnamese youths take part in voluntary activities in Laos and Cambodia and vice versa.

They also proposed their governments and ministries of education and training set up a common university to offer training in Vietnamese, Lao and Thai languages, culture, society, medical care and information technology and mobilise the three countries’ businesses to involve in these programmes.

Within the framework of the meeting, the three countries’ delegates were received by State President Nguyen Minh Triet and met former Vietnamese volunteer soldiers, officials and experts who had worked and fought in Laos and Cambodia.

They also met international friends who were in HCM City for the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Southern Vietnam and national reunification and toured a number of socio-economic establishments and landscapes in HCM City and the southern coastal city of Vung Tau.

US veteran reporters meet in HCM City

More than 50 American reporters who were in Vietnam during the years of the US war on April 29 gathered at the Caravelle hotel, one of the most popular gathering places for American officers during the time.

The get-together, initiated by Carl Robinson, former AP reporter, offered an opportunity for former foreign reporters to swap memories of recording the cruel, harsh moments during the difficult time of war.

The cruelty of the war that ended 35 years ago came to life again as the veteran reporters talked about their photos and documentaries.

Carl Robinson said he would never forget his more than 13 years in Vietnam, from 1963 to 1975. Making the former Sai Gon, now Ho Chi Minh City, a second home, he has come back to the formerly war-torn land many times since Vietnam implemented its open-door policy.

His colleague, Neal Ulevich, returned to Vietnam this time with his son, Jake Ulevich. He said he wants his son to better understand his young days and the reasons why he can never forget the country.

Also present at the meeting were journalists from other newspapers and agencies, including Gleen MacDonald, former ABC News reporter; Steve Northup, former UPI photographer and John Smith, CBS cameraman.

Earlier during their return to Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the liberation of southern Vietnam and national reunification, the veteran reporters met with former commanders, generals and war veterans of the Vietnam People’s Army as well as ranking officials of the former Saigon regime and patriotic intellectuals.

Sapa holds “Walking in a Cloud” tourism festival

A tourism festival dubbed “Walking in a Cloud” was held in Sapa, one of Vietnam’s top holiday and relaxation destinations, on April 30.

The festival, jointly held by the Sapa District People’s Committee and the Ham Rong Tourism Joint Stock Company, is part of the Sapa Tourism and Culture Week.

The festival is designed to lead visitors from one delight to another with a series of activities highlighting the rich and distinctive aspects of Sapa’s diverse ethnic cultures.

Visitors can join local ethnic minority people to discover how they dye, weave and decorate their garments, or make their sandals.

They will have the chance to take part in forest tours to pick medicinal herbs and learn how to use the plants as well as prepare the traditional meals eaten by the various ethnic minority groups and explore the customs of the Dao ethnic minority people.

The festival’s organisers also plan to make the famous ‘lover’s market’ as authentic as possible.

Throughout its history, Sapa’s ‘lover’s market’ every Saturday night has been a destination and opportunity for young, single Hmong, Dao, Tay and Ray ethnic minority people in the surrounding areas to go and find their true love.

Those already married also seldom miss the event, as it offers them an opportunity to revisit old flames and relive the experience of young love.

Other events including a photo exhibition and fairs of Northwestern cuisine and orchids will also be held as part of the festival, said the organisers.

Quang Ninh hosts most beautiful bays conference

The sixth annual conference of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club was held in the northern province of Quang Ninh on April 30.

Representatives from 30 member bays attended the event, discussing the environment and pollution control. They also discussed a strategy on the club’s development, focusing on promoting their image, raising public awareness on protection of the marine environment in the context of sustainable development.

They plan to organise contests for photography and art of the bays by students from member bay areas. Winning entries will be displayed at the Yeosu international exhibition in the Republic of Korea in 2012.

The World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club was established in March 1997 in Berlin and its membership has steadily increased to include bays on all the continents.

Vietnam has three bays as a member the club. They are Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh, Nha Trang Bay in the central province of Khanh Hoa and Lang Co Bay in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue city.

Ha Long Bay has entered the third round of voting for the new seven natural wonders of the world launched by the NewOpenWorld organisation.

Killer truck driver’s sentence doubled

A truck driver who killed a girl by running over her three times was sentenced to 18 years in jail at an appeal Thursday after his previous 8-year sentence had sparked cries of bloody murder.

Dang Huu Anh Tuan, 25, said sheer panic had prompted him to drive over the girl twice more after accidentaly running over her once.

But judges from the Supreme People’s Court rejected the excuse, the local newswire Vnexpress reported.

On the night of May 14, 2008, Tuan, from the south central province of Binh Thuan, was driving a container truck when he hit Nguyen Thi Hoi, who was driving a motorbike, in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Hoi cried out for help and passersby asked Tuan to back the truck up so they could pull her out from under its wheels. But Tuan continued to drive forward, running over Hoi again.

He then put the truck in reverse and ran over the girl a third time, the indictment said.

Tuan said at his trial that he was a new truck driver and was terrified when people at the site of the accident began yelling at him.

But the judges said that Tuan was calm enough to talk on the phone and cleverly turn left to avoid other vehicles and make his escape.

In the initial trial, Tuan had said he was so panicked he threw away his phone. But eyewitness Le Van Tuoi said Tuan had taken out his phone to call some one before he fled the scene.

Tuan then admitted he had just wanted to escape and didn’t care about the person trapped under the truck.

Ho Chi Minh City prosecutors had appealed Tuan’s original sentence late last month.

Later in April, the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Vietnam’s top prosecutors office, had proposed that Tuan face murder charges punishable by death.

Couple probed for torturing, enslaving child

Police in the southern Vietnamese province of Ca Mau are investigating a married couple for allegedly torturing a 14-year-old boy for over a year.

The boy was hospitalized Thursday with multiple injuries.

Huynh Hoang Giang, 30, from Dam Doi District, was taken into custody, while his wife, 33-year-old Ma Ngoc Thom, was temporarily free given that her child is younger than two years old, Dam Doi police said.

Initial investigation showed that Nguyen Hoang Anh had worked for Giang and Thom, who run a shrimp farm in Phu Hiep Hamlet, for some 20 months and had been abused since early last year, said police officer Vo Van Chac.

However, local people did not learn of the couple’s abusive acts until recently, Chac said.

“Local people know about it because Giang and his wife recently abused Anh more openly,” he added.

People in Phu Hiep Hamlet said Giang and Thom took turns torturing Anh 3-4 times a day, but they didn’t dare to alarm local authorities until Tuesday when they found Anh beaten more severely than usual.

Doan Minh Chanh, deputy head of Dam Doi District police, said they then launched an investigation and took Anh to Dam Doi General Hospital for examinations.

Several of the boy’s many injuries had been infected, Doctor Ho Thanh Phong said.

Anh told police that over the past six months he was tortured continuously: he was beaten with sticks and rods, hot water was poured all over his body, and his genitals were beaten with a hot iron rod.

“Uncle [Giang] beat me whenever I worked slowly. When he wasn’t happy, he would also beat me,” the boy told Thanh Nien.

Thom, meanwhile, often asked him to clean the floor with a rope tied around his neck, and would pull the rope, making him fall down whenever he cleaned slowly, Anh said.

Their punishments included using pincers to pull out his teeth, and tying him up under the sun, according to the boy.

“But what I was most afraid of was being splashed with shrimp tank cleaning liquid after being beaten, because it made my wounds more painful.”

Asked why he didn’t run away or tell other people, Anh said he didn’t dare to do so because “uncle and aunt [Giang and Thom] said my mother owed them money, so I tried to work to pay the debt off.

“Uncle said if I run away, he would have gangsters punish me, so I didn’t dare to go.”

Pham Thi Thoa, Anh’s mother, said she rarely visited her son because she couldn’t afford the fares for the long trip from Cai Nuoc District to Dam Doi District.

Truong Linh Phuong, vice chairwoman of Dam Doi People’s Committee, said they would discuss the possibility of sending Anh to a local childcare center if his family agreed they couldn’t raise him.

But Anh’s grandmother, Dang Thi Dep, said she would take care of the boy after he is discharged.

Hanoi police alleged of killing man with corporal punishment

The People’s Supreme Procuracy, Vietnam’s highest prosecutors office, is investigating charges that Hanoi police beat a man to death while in custody.

The procuracy has told the Hanoi police that there were signs corporal punishment had been involved in Nguyen Quoc Bao’s death, and that by law the case must be handed over to the agency’s investigatos, local news website VnExpress reported.

Last month seven police officers were suspended after forensic tests by the Vietnam Military Forensic Medicine Institute showed that Bao, 33, who was taken to Hai Ba Trung District police station on January 21, died of “heavy brain injuries” a day after.

He had been hit hard on the head, wrists and ankles with a hard object, according to the tests.

Police said they summoned Bao because they 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.

Bao’s father, Nguyen Quang Phuc, meanwhile, said Bao left home that afternoon, saying he went to buy toys for his 2-year-old son and didn’t come back that night.

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

Left puzzled about his son’s death, Phuc submitted appeals to related agencies, asking for an investigation.

PV