Exhibition highlights Vietnam-Laos traditional relations

A photographic exhibition praising the time-honoured relations between Vietnam and Laos was held recently in Vientiane by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in Laos.

The event praised the success of Vietnam’s 11th National Party Congress and welcomed Laos’ 9th Revolutionary People’s Party.

On the occasion, the relevant agencies presented one first prize, two second prizes, two third prizes and five consolation prizes to outstanding works.

Two months after launching the exhibition, it attracted 170 entries from 170 students of the Vietnam Art Teacher Training College and 70 entries from 50 Lao students.

All works of art highlighted the humanity and the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Laos.

The exhibition was of great political significance, showing young people’s confidence in the revolutionary cause of the two Parties, State and its peoples.

Vietnamese doctors give sight to poor Cambodian patients

At the invitation of Men Sam An, Standing Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, the Sponsoring Association for Poor Patients (SAPP) in Ho Chi Minh City sent doctors to perform eye surgeries on poor people.

Vietnamese eye surgeons performed operations on disadvantaged residents in the Cambodian districts of Prey Veng, Kongpongthom and Longpongcham with financial assistance of Long Thanh Golf Club.

SAPP’s Chairman Tran Thanh Long told the mission group to perform surgeries and help save the sights of people.

The mission group received a warm welcome from Men Sam An, her delegation and the local people at the border crossing of Dinh Ba in district Tan Hong of the Mekong delta province of Dong Thap.

The local government had given prior information to residents about the eye camp and many had come from distant parts to avail of the facility. After the operation they returned to tell their neighbors how Vietnamese medics had helped their blindness and even gave them VND50, 000 cash as transport fee.

After three days, the mission moved camp to Kongpongcham district where the doctors performed surgeries for four days instead of two days as scheduled. Kongpongthom residents hailed the Vietnamese doctors, complimenting them on their golden healing touch.

Of the 3,000 people registered for eye surgery, 1,714 patients were operated upon but the remaining were not able to, because of prolonged blindness or having been born blind or being too old to be operated upon.

At the farewell meeting, Men Sam An thanked the mission, saying that she would convey to Prime Minister Hunsen and Deputy Minister whose fatherland was Kongpongcham and Prey Veng, about the successful trip made by the Vietnamese doctors to help needy eye patients.

Benefactors donates 1,000 houses to the poor in Mekong Delta

The slum area in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang has been narrowed since a group of benefactors contributed nearly 1,000 houses to the poor in the last 12 years.

Nguyen Van Ngoi, a 61-years-old resident of Nhon My Town, Cho Moi District, An Giang Province, is the founder of the group. The sight of many households living in slum houses and having no money to repair forced Ngoi to find a way to help them, he said.

In 1999, Ngoi and three other men including Nguyen Van Lon, Duong Van Chinh and Phan Van Sanh traveled to Son Kien Town and used their own money to buy gum trees worth VND2 million (US$100), which then enabled them to build 25 houses for local poor households.

“In 2000, with VND9 million, the group traveled to Cho Moi District to meet Ut Quang, a wood trader. Knowing that we bought woods to build houses for the poor, he happily sold a large amount of wood worth more than VND12 million for only VND9 million,” Nguyen Van Thung, chairman of Nhon My Town Association of The Elderly, recalled. Thung also said the group built 100 houses in that year.

Ho Thanh Tam, a 68-years-old member of the group said “many people were surprised to know that it cost us only VND3 trillion for building a house. Actually, members of the group build houses together, so we do not have to hire builders. Many building material shops are willing to offer us low prices. Besides, hundreds of men in the town volunteer to fall trees and many ferry drivers are eager to carry the wood for free.”

Ngoi’s house is often full of people, with the youth carrying woods from ferries and the elderly sawing. At that time, Ngoi’s family is responsible for serving cookings to builders.

Le Thi Dien, Ngoi’s wife, said “I myself had to cook to nearly 30 people in two days in a row. It was tough in the first days, but helping them do charity things makes me feel happy.”

Truong Van Thum of My Hoa Ward, who was offered a house, said “My family have eight members. We used to live in a slum, which has many leaks in the ceiling. It was so difficult when the rains came. Thanks to the group of benefactors, now we have a proper place to live.”

The contributions of the men with hearts of gold have encouraged people in other provinces to join the charity group.

Nguyen Ba Trac of Ho Chi Minh City sold his land in Cho Moi District for VND50 million ($2,500) and donated the entire amount to the group.

French-funded facility to unify city traffic lights

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport and French company Sagemcom have wrapped up a draft plan for setting up a traffic control center and submitted it to the French government for getting aid.

The center will link all the city’s traffic lights to synchronize traffic management.

Nearly 600 of the City’s 1,300 intersections are equipped with lights and they are handled by two different agencies — the Traffic Signal Control Center and the Urban Traffic Management Board — meaning the lights operate without the coordination required to allow traffic to flow smoothly.

The new center is expected to cost around € 131 million (US$ 180 million).

France is expected to provide ODA loan for 15 years at 1-1.5 percent interest.

Australia, Vietnam schools to strengthen links

La Trobe University of Australia and its partner in Vietnam, Hanoi University, are now discussing further and more comprehensive cooperation in the next 10 years, officials from the two said.

A twinning program between them has achieved great success in the last 10 years, they added.

Professor Paul Johnson, president of La Trobe, said the Victoria-based University has been constantly updating its curricula to meet the requirements of society and the labor market alike, promising it will bring the latest technologies used in its Australia campuses to Vietnam.

Johnson and Professor John Rosenberg were in Hanoi yesterday for a graduation ceremony for BA and MBA students.

Since the twinning program began in 2003, around 300 students have graduated and 600 have got master’s degrees, all from La Trobe.

The program uses English as the medium of instruction.

Last Vietnamese evacuated from Libya arrived home

292 Vietnamese workers evacuated to Algeria from the chaotic Libya returned to Vietnam yesterday noon. They are the last among the workers expatriated home by air.

Departing from Algeria’s Hassi Messaaoud Airport, they arrived in Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport on the VN8675 flight conducted by the Vietnam Airlines.

This was the tenth and last fight arranged by the airlines to repatriate Vietnamese workers who evacuated from Libya to its neighboring countries.

Meanwhile, the ship carrying 1,121 Vietnamese workers, which left the Libyan port of Benghazi March 3, is expected to reach the northern city of Hai Phong on March 21.

2 face death for killing Communist Party official

Two people charged with killing a senior Communist Party official in Ho Chi Minh City will face trial tomorrow, with the death penalty likely if they are found guilty.

Nguyen Trong Nhan, 31, and Luong Hoai Sang, 21, will be tried by the People’s Court for the murder of Dang Thu Hong, 47, the deputy secretary (deputy head) of the Party Committee of Phu Nhuan District, and robbery.

According to the indictment, Hong was stabbed to death by Nhan and Sang in the house of Bui Ngo Thi My, 54, head of the District Department of Natural Resources and Environment on September 20 last year.

Nhan and Sang allegedly went there to kill My for frequently reprimanding his wife and threatening to sack her.

He had managed to entice Sang, his friend, to tag along to kill My and steal things from her house, according to the prosecution.

They brought with them electric batons, handcuffs, and three knives.

After speaking to My, they attacked her with the electric baton, forcing her to reveal where she kept her money.

Hearing My cry out, her daughter, Tran Thu Huong, ran down from upstairs, and was battered into unconsciousness by the duo.

At that very moment Hong came into the house, and she was allegedly stabbed to death.

Meanwhile, neighbors tipped off the police and local militia who arrived at the scene, but it took them half an hour to catch the two.

My and her daughter were seriously injured.

Nhan was a salesman at VDC-net2E Company and Sang was a vehicle keeper at Nguyen Tri Phuong tenement in District 10.

HCMC truck crashes head-on into bus, two die

At 3:30 am today, a container truck swerved onto the other side of the road and crashed into a bus traveling in the opposite direction in HCMC’s district 5, killing two and injuring 22.

The truck with plate number 57L – 6574 was traveling towards Binh Chanh district on the East-West Avenue in front of the Hoa Binh Market when the driver lost control and encroached on the other side of the street.

It collided straight into a 24-seat passenger bus with plate number 53N – 5812 traveling in the opposite direction.

The driver has fled the scene.

The accident caused a traffic jam lasting many hours.

Police are investigating.

Prices of 300 drugs to remain stable

The Ministry of Health plans to keep the prices of 285 drugs stable.

In a document sent to provincial health departments and state-owned hospitals listing the 285 drugs, the ministry said these drugs were now being supplied by three national pharmaceutical companies based in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.

Some of these drugs are made in Vietnam and some are imported from India, France, Germany Poland, Russia and other countries.

Health department and hospitals should ask these companies to supply these drugs. The ministry also said it would include more drugs on the price stabilization list this year.

Quang Nam man dies from H1N1

A 47-year-old man was reported to die of H1N1 influenza, becoming the first person to succumb to the disease in the central Quang Nam province, said Pham Nguyen Cam Thach, director of the local Department of Health today.

The victim is Do Van Tuong hailing from An Phu ward, Tam Ky city.

Tuong was urgently transferred to the hospital with serious pneumonia complications on February 18 and died four days later.

Medical test at the hospital then showed that he had been infected with H1N1 influenza virus.

According to an unconfirmed source, there are two patients infected with the disease in Quang Nam. Both are under treatment.

Police seize armed gang hired to recover debts

Police have cracked down on an armed gang hired by creditors to brutally force debtors to repay debts during a raid at Van Phu quarter, Phu La ward, Ha Dong district on Wednesday.

They have arrested 10 young men and 3 women and seized 2 swords, 11 knives, 1 scimitar, 3 iron tubes, 1 handgun and 40 bullets.

They are aged between 17 to 30 and all of the 10 young men are accused of using weapons to threaten debtors into settling debts for their clients.

Meanwhile, the three women were later identified to be prostitutes.

They confessed their leader was Nguyen Van Kham, 32, a resident of Hanoi’s Ba Vi district, who was arrested later the same day.

Kham has been on the wanted list by Cau Giay district police for using stolen properties, police said.

Kham confessed that he bought the gun and the bullets at a northern area bordering China for VND1.5 million (US$72).

Regarding the remaining weapons, Kham said he bought them in Hanoi.