SOCIETY IN BRIEF 27/1

Published: 26/01/2011 05:00

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HCMC massage-parlor owner faces 11-13 years in jail

Ho Chi Minh City Procuracy proposed jail terms of 11-13 years for a massage parlor owner accused of enslaving his women employees in a trial that opened Monday.

Phan Cao Tri, 38, who owns five massage parlors, faces charges of “illegally detaining people” and “appropriating properties.”

The prosecutors proposed the jail terms of 9-11 years and 7-9 years respectively for his employees Phan Viet Hau and Phan Quoc Cuong - the directors of two of the five parlors - with similar charges.

A jail term of 4-5 years was proposed for Phan Thi Yen, Tri’s wife, who was charged with “appropriating properties.”

3-4 years each was proposed for Nguyen Minh Phuong and Nguyen Hoai Nhanh, the manager and deputy manager of one of the five parlors, who were charged with “illegally detaining people.”

Following complaints from women employees, the police raided Tri’s main parlor, Tan Hoang Phat in Thu Duc District, in December 2008 and rescued 65 women.

They also confiscated two pistols and seven bullets Tri allegedly used to threaten the women.

According to the police, Tri was recruiting women as masseuses for his five parlors in HCMC and the neighboring provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong since 2005.

He allegedly had guards to keep a watch on them to prevent them from escaping.

The women, many from poor rural areas, were forced to do not only massage but also sexual acts on customers for up to 16 hours a day.

Anyone who wanted to quit had to pay VND15 million (US$ 770). Some who could not afford the money attempted to run away but were captured and beaten.

Anyone refusing to follow orders or about whom a customer complained would be beaten up or locked up without cooking in dog cages.

The police said nine women had paid VND170 million to flee the parlor.

The trial will end Thursday.

Da Nang newborn badly burnt, leg amputated

A newborn baby was admitted to a hospital in Da Nang last week with her left leg badly burnt after she fell off a hammock and into a charcoal basin kept underneath to warm her.

Doctors at the Da Nang Hospital had to amputate the leg of nine-day-old Gai Tri of Hiep Duc District.

Last Friday the child was sleeping on the hammock when the tragic accident occurred.

Upon hearing her cry, her mother, who was washing clothes in the back, rushed in but by then it was too late.

The child’s foot had been scorched and the flame was burning her knee.

She remains in intensive care.

Smuggling cattle from Cambodia for Tet

From Kandan, Cambodia, cattle have been smuggled to the southern An Giang province through Binh Di border, after which they will be miraculously turned into domestic cattle for consumption across Vietnam.

Due to non-stop demand for cattle as Tet is only days away, the smuggled amount, though huge, is not enough, said Hai Cuong, a transboundary merchant.

According to regulations, imported cattle ought to undergo vaccination, medical checkup and a 15-day quarantine period but the reality is completely different in An Giang.

At Tinh Bien commune, Cambodian merchants have been smuggling cattle to Vietnam all day long and the animals are directly bargained for and transported to various places immediately.

The same situation also happens in other frontier localities like Kien Giang and Dong Thap provinces, also in the south.

Nguyen Viet Cuong, head of the Animal Quarantine Station of Dinh Ba border gate said that the policy is always to quarantine imported cattle but he admitted it is hard to control the smuggling due to the long border.

Food shortage due to cold-related deaths

The reason for the rising smuggling could be attributed to a shortage of meat supply for Tet. Especially the recent cold wave has killed 26,500 cattle heads as of January 24th.

The estimated damage is about VND150 billion, according to Hoang Kim Giao, head of Livestock Department of the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

HCMC reports 89,000 abortion cases in 2010

Ho Chi Minh City has reported 89,000 abortion cases in 2010, raising concerns about loose management on reproductive health, an official has said.

The figure, including 2,000 cases reported at adolescents, fell 10 percent from a year earlier, said Nguyen Ngoc Thong, director of the city’s reproductive health center.

Vietnam is listed among the world’s top ten countries with the highest abortion rate, especially among adolescents, local experts said, noting that each Vietnamese woman experiences two times of abortion during her life.

The United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) attributed the situation to little knowledge of reproductive health among women, particularly those in rural areas.

The ignorance of contraceptive methods and bias against abortion somewhat causes higher number, the UNFPA said, warning that abortion claims one live every one week in the Southeast Asian country.

100 escape death in triple road accident

Nearly 100 passengers narrowly escaped death after three buses crashed into one another on National Highway 1A in Lien Chieu District, Da Nang central city this early morning.

The passenger car bearing number plate 53X 3521 driven by Le Quang Tao, 32, was en rout from Da Lat to Dong Ha when it was suddenly hit from behind at the red lights by the 74K 4290 bus driven by Le Hung, 37.

Tao then lost control and hit the other 98K 4346 vehicle.

Besides badly hurting Hung’s leg and lightly injuring some passengers, the accident has severely damaged the three cars and obstructed the highway for 5 hours.

The passengers on 74K 4290 and 53X 3521 have taken another car to go home.

Police sent 20 staff to the scene to handle the traffic jam.

Initial investigation shows that the 74K 4290 traveled over the speed limit.

The three cars were carrying passengers to their hometowns to celebrate this Tet next week.

HCMC gas station explosion kills one

A worker was found dead following a massive blast coming from a gas filling station which is being upgraded in Nguyen Kiem Street, Ward 3, Go Vap District, in Ho Chi Minh City today afternoon.

At the scene, the gas smell was pervasive while trees and corrugated iron roofs were lying in a mess.

The deceased is identified as Vu Ngoc Son, 31, hailing from Long Thanh district, Dong Nai southern province.

Nguyen Minh Doan, a witness, told Tuoi Tre that he along with Son and the victim’s brother were fixing a gas pipeline when the gas smell became unbearable.

Son asked Doan to find an electric fan to drive out the stink.

After leaving the site for a second, Doan heard two consecutive massive blasts and saw Son being hurled 20m away from the scene.

Son died on the spot while his brother only suffered a light injury.

Police said that gas stuck inside one gasoline tank and its filling hose could catch fire from electric wielding tools or from electrical leaks causing explosion.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

Tien Giang police probe $500 mln bank account

Police in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang are investigating the opening of a US$500 million account at a local bank.

Nguyen Van A, director of TRUSTBank’s branch in Tien Giang, said a customer recently opened the account under the name of Tran Thi Hong Nhan, and with her ID card saying she is residing in Ho Chi Minh City.

As the bank suspected that the account is for dishonest purposes, it asked local police to investigate.

The police found out the ID card was fake but they did not know the motive behind the opening of the account.

Three corpses found in Ha Giang well

Residents in the northern Ha Giang Province found the dead bodies of three members of a family in a well last Saturday.

Dang Van Dong, 42, his wife Du Thi Yen, 38, and his daughter Dang Thi Huyen, 16, were murdered and thrown into the well at their house in Vi Xuyen District, local police said.

There were multiple stabs on their bodies, according to the police.

The well surface was covered with sawdust and fertilizer before the police pulled the dead bodies out.

The family runs a shop selling products for farming such as fertilizer and insecticides.

The police are investigating.

Animal trafficker busted in Khanh Hoa

The central Khanh Hoa police have seized one black-shanked douc (Pygathrix nigripes), 9 weasels, 13 snakes and 12 muntjacs and frozen animals in a house Ninh Hoa township.

The Hoang Van Tuan, the owner of the house, confessed that he had been capturing rare animials and selling them to local restaurants for four years.

The police handed the surviving animals to the province’s forest management board for release into the wild

Tuan was arrested for further investigation.

Saigon railway raises trips to serve Tet travel

Passengers at the Eastern Bus Station in Ho Chi Minh City on January 23The Saigon Railway Station in Ho Chi Minh City has increased trip frequency to Hanoi in the north and Hue city in the central region to serve burgeoning travel demand during this Tet starting next week.

The station Sunday raised the number of train trips from five to 11 per day for the Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi route and set up four additional trips from the city to Hue, said Nguyen Van Thanh, deputy head of the station.

In the next several days, the number could reach 14 trips per day for the Ho chi Minh City-Hanoi route to transport an estimated 135,000 passengers leaving the city for central and northern provinces.

The number of motorbikes transported along with passengers amounted to more than 100 per day, with transport fees on a motorbike equivalent to a passenger’s, said the head of the luggage team at the station.

Charges on motorbikes packed in wooden cartons are different, depending on routes.

For a motorbike to be transported to Hanoi, the fee is about VND1.1 million (US$56) per vehicle, and if the destinations are Hue or Quang Nam, they are VND772,000 ($40) and VND638,000 ($33) respectively.

If motorbikes are not packed in cartons but are covered with plastic wraps, the charge will be more than VND100,000 ($5) cheaper.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Bus Station has been overcrowded with passengers these days, with about 40,000 passengers leaving the city yesterday alone.

Woman caught with 4.3 kg heroin at Hanoi airport

Police at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi arrested last Saturday a Vietnamese woman who arrived from Malaysia with 4.3 kilograms of heroin hidden in her hand baggage.

Thanh Nien newspaper cited a source as saying Nguyen Thi Nen, 47, hails from Ho Chi Minh City and recently became involved with an African man.

The police are investigating.

Under Vietnamese laws, possession, transport, or trading of 100 grams of heroin or cocaine attracts the death penalty.

Nearly 100 motorbikes seized from daredevil riders

The impounded bikes on Jan 16Police impounded 93 motorbikes after rounding up over 100 daredevil motorcyclists who gathered together, blared horns, performed stunts and raced furiously on major streets in district 4 at midnight on January 22nd.

At 0 a.m January 23rd, the impounding procedures had been complete.

The same furious races also took place in other districts like Binh Thanh and Thu Duc the same night.

Rallying in large numbers to ride at fast speeds is illegal and is dubbed “di bao” in Vietnam, translated as “tempestuous rides”.

On January 16, police impounded 131 motorbikes after rounding up around 400 motorcyclists who blared horns, did wheelies and rode zigzaggedly in district 7.

US helps train environmental students

The US-based Duke University will help Vietnam train students studying for a Master of Arts (MA) degree in public policy for environmental protection, with financial support from the US GE Foundation.

An agreement to this effect was signed between Ho Chi Minh City National University (HCNU) and Duke University on January 21.

The project, which is the first post-graduate training program on public policy for environmental protection in Vietnam, will help the country build and improve the capacity of environmental officers.

According to HCNU Deputy Director Le Quang Minh, the program is designed by teaching staff from HCNU member colleges with the professional and technical consultation of Duke University’s experts and professors.

It is suitable for civil servants who are working in State agencies, managers as well as officials at non-governmental and social organizations, and private consultancy companies.

Students will be well schooled in analyzing public policy and verifying and managing projects on administrative reforms, especially in the environmental sector.

The project will be implemented at the Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities in October this year with an enrolment of 20-40 students. After the two-year course, the students will be granted degrees by the university.

Agent Orange story wins award

A story told through photos by Pham Vu Dung has won the Gold Cup of the Viet Nam Association of Photographic Artists (VAPA) at a ceremony for the best pix of 2010.

Entitled Prime Example, the photos tell the story of Pham The Minh from the northern port city of Hai Phong, an Agent Orange victim. He has overcome many troubles to study and teach English to more than 1,500 students, especially disabled children.

The VAPA selected the photos from 358 entries by 210 photographers.

A-grade prizes were awarded to Nguyen Huong Vuong from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, Lam Thanh Liem from the southern province of Bac Lieu, Truong Ngoc Minh from the southern province of Binh Thuan, Bui Tien Phong from the southern province of Tra Vinh and Pham Thi Thu from HCMC.

The VAPA also grants prizes for pictorial books. The top prizes went to photos of Agent Orange victims depicted in That’s the Way They Live by Nguyen A from HCMC, and photos of north Vietnam during the American War in Memories of the War by Chu Chi Thanh from Ha Noi.

The photos were not only aesthetic, but also depicted humanity and current issues of life, said Vu Quoc Khanh, VAPA president.

VAPA also awarded a gold medal to a photo of a fire-fighter at work in a competition titled Portraits of Today’s Vietnamese People. The photo, Silence, was taken by Diep Duc Minh.

The organizers selected 119 of the best photos for a show at Exhibition House at 45 Trang Tien Street, Ha Noi until the end of this month.

The photos will be exhibited in HCMC in March.

PV

Provide by Vietnam Travel

SOCIETY IN BRIEF 27/1 - Social - News |  vietnam travel company

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