New law hopes to regulate direct bank wage transfers
 
Direct wage payments to employee bank accounts linked to automatic teller machine cards may be written into law, indicated the Department of Labour-Salary under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Deputy director Hoang Minh Hao said payments via bank transfer were mentioned in the draft of the Labour Code, which has been proposed to the Government for comments, as an alternative to cash payments.

Hao said the intended legislation would improve transparency and employee rights and make it easier to solve money transfer and withdrawal issues.

Work payments to bank accounts have become popular in big cities with ATM systems, and bank accounts could now pay electricity, water and telephone bills and money transfer easily, he added.

However, ATM cards still remain unfamiliar to a majority of employees, especially to workers in industrial zones and those in suburbs and remote areas.

"I often feel annoyed when queuing at an ATM to wait for my turn to take out money - taking out money from the ATMs becomes a hard job," said Vu Thi Huong, a packing company worker from the Chau Son industrial zone in northern Ha Nam Province.

She said the long queue happened every month, when the company paid its workers.

Huong wonders whether instating bank payments would benefit workers as many prefer cash and only use their ATM cards to take out money without using other bank services.

Taking out small amounts of cash is difficult, as ATMs don't allow the withdrawal of less than VND50,000 (US$2.5), which can be a big sum to workers, she added.

Her company has more than 500 workers, and most are paid by direct bank transfers, which means a long ATM line forms as employees from other companies are paid then too.

Many ATMs run out of money, or temporarily stop working, forcing workers like Huong to try several machines before successfully withdrawing cash.

Worker Nguyen Thi Nhu encountered another ATM problem when her card was swallowed by the machine.

"It took time to get my ATM card back and the procedure was quite complicated," Nhu said.

Experts agree that putting bank account payments into law must be accompanied by the development of the ATM system throughout the country. The bank account wage payments will then be encouraged rather than considered a compulsory method, said Hao.

Pesticide killer gets death sentence

A Ho Chi Minh City court yesterday sentenced to death for killing two people by lacing their drinks with poison during the course of 11 robberies in this manner last year.

Her accomplice, another woman, Nguyen Thi Gai, 42, was sentenced to life for the same crimes.

Nguyen Thi Hai, 29, a fence who bought the items the duo stole from their victims, received a one-year sentence on probation for buying property “originating from crimes.”

Gai and Trung, who were arrested in May 2010, admitted to the court that they would invite potential victims to cafes or bars and secretly lace their drinks with pesticide.

Their victims included acquaintances and even relatives.

The two who died at their hands were an elderly woman who sold lottery tickets and a motorbike taxi driver.

In April 2010 the pair gave the old woman a laced drink and stole all her lottery tickets and VND120,000 (US$5.5) in cash. The woman died after being taken to hospital.

A month later Trung lured the motorbike taxi driver, Ni, and gave him pesticide-laced beer. She took him to a hospital on his own motorbike and fled with his money, mobile phone, and motorbike.

In a three-month period from March to May last year the two women stole assets and cash worth over VND100 million ($4,820) from 11 people.

Trung’s husband died many years ago, leaving behind three children for Trung to bring up. She has been living with a man 11 years younger than her.

Head-shaped termite mound sparks curiosity

A termite mound that looks exactly like an old man’s head complete with eyes, nose, and mouth has appeared on a grave in Da Nang, attracting thousands of curious spectators in the last couple of days.

Some locals in Hoa Khuong commune said they saw the mound there a few months ago but the eyes and other features only appeared recently.

The police quoted people as saying the facial parts were added recently by playful kids on the mound which had been there for long.

Some sources said a man had been buried in the grave decades ago.

People have been thronging to see the mysterious mound.

In July last year, thousands thronged to a rubber plantation in Ben Cat District in Binh Duong to see a termite mound in the shape of the Buddha.

Many burned incense, made offerings, performed rituals, or just tried to touch it.

To restore order, local authorities moved the mound to the local Long Hung Co pagoda.

Six get death sentences for drug trafficking

Four people have been arrested in Thua Thien-Hue Province while 6 have been sentenced to death in Hoa Binh Province for drug trafficking.

25-year-old Nguyen Thi Phi Phi, a resident of Hue City, was arrested yesterday after the police caught her carrying 4 kg of drug from Laos to the city.

From Phi’s testimonies, the police later captured her husband, 27-year-old Au Van Duc, and his accomplices, 30-year-old Truong Ngoc and 37-year-old Le Duc Duy.

Phi and Duc told the police that their ring had been trafficking drugs from Laos to Thua Thien-Hue ten times and sold them to many people in Hue.

Also yesterday the Hoa Binh Province People’s Court opened a trial for a heroin trafficking ring of 21 members, of whom 6 were given the death sentence. These 6 are Tran Le Quang, Ha Ngoc Luong, Dinh Van Tu, Ha Van Toc, Kha Van Thanh and Pham Anh Tuan.

Four members of the ring were sentenced to life imprisonment and the rest received from 1 to 12 years in prison.

In September 2009, Quang and Luong were caught carrying 5 packets of heroin from Son La Province to Hanoi. From their confession, the police later arrested the other members.

The convicted confessed that they had trafficked 94 packets of heroin and a large number of synthetic drug tablets from 2007 to September 2009.

Their operations covered many provinces and cities, including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Son La, Hoa Binh, Lang Son and Quang Ninh.

Citizens infuriated by stabbing of protestor

400 angry citizens blocked the office of a construction project in Da Nang City yesterday after the man who protested against the project’s polluting activities was stabbed.

The crowd believed the project’s investor had hired people to stab the man.

The angry crowd defied security guards and broke the glass windows and computers of the office, which is located in Hoa Hiep Bac Commune in Lien Chieu District.

At 9 pm on Monday, Nguyen Tuan was beaten and stabbed at his home in Hoa Lien Commune, Hoa Vang District, by a group of unknown men who came in two cars. He suffered many wounds, including one on the head and another on the back.

The assault triggered anger among local residents, who thought Tuan was revenged for his participation in blocking dumper trucks that carried construction materials to a local construction site, which dispersed dust clouds over many residential areas.

The blockage lasted for several days and local residents said they couldn’t stand the dust anymore, according to Truong Tan Manh, Chairman of Hoa Lien Commune’s People’s Committee.

They have set up many barricades on some routes to stop dumper trucks, he said.  

The project, which builds the Quan Nam – Thuy Tu Urban Area, is being carried out by Trung Nam Machinery Assembly and Construction Joint Stock Company.

The police of Hoa Vang District have collected testimonies from Tuan and others and are tracking down the unknown group and their cars.

Some locals told the police that the cars once showed up at the construction site.

At an urgent meeting yesterday afternoon with relevant agencies and the investor, Dang Phu Hanh, Deputy Chairman of the district People’s Committee, said the Da Nang City police have joined the investigation to help identify the culprits.

Nguyen Tam Tien, Trung Nam’s General Director, denied his company had hired people to stab Tuan.

Thief kills woman, child in Binh Duong

A woman and her two-year-old daughter were killed in Binh Duong Province yesterday by a former employee who was surprised while in the process of burgling their house.

Le Thi Lan, 25, and Le Thi Phuong were killed and their killer, Nguyen Van Quan, 29, was caught by Lan’s husband and his father.

Le Dang Du, the husband, and Le Dang Chu, his father, returned home at 9 am yesterday and found the door open.

When Du called out to his wife, Quan rushed out.

Fearing the worst, the two men, along with some neighbors, caught Quan. Du then rushed into the house to find his child dead and wife seriously injured.

He rushed Lan to a nearby hospital but she died on the way.

The police came and took Quan away, and he confessed to killing the two.

He said he broke into the house and was searching for valuables when the child found him and began crying.

He hit the child and, hearing the baby’s cries, Lan came into the room. Quan grabbed an iron bar lying there and hit Lan several times on the head, causing her to pass away.

Quan then turned to the baby and strangled her to death before continuing to ransack the house.

He washed the blood off the iron bar in the toilet, took a bath, and was about to leave when Lan’s husband returned.

Quan used to work for Lan’s packaging business.

City firefighters get modern trucks

The Ho Chi Minh City fire department has got five modern fire engines to fight blazes in high-rise buildings.

The city Fire-fighting Police said during a recent drill at the city’s tallest building, the 68-floor Bitexco Tower, water from the new engines managed to reach the 52nd floor at a height of 207m.

Another 10 of the trucks would be received this year, it added.

The city’s fire trucks are also equipped with ladders measuring up to 72m in height (equivalent to height of the 20th to 25th floors).

Hanoi only has fire trucks with ladders extending 52m, or equivalent to the 17th floor of an average building.

“But it does not mean that Hanoi firefighters cannot ensure victims are rescued,” Colonel Nguyen Van Son of the Hanoi Department of Firefighting Police said.

Philippine court considers release of Vietnamese fishermen

Prosecutors of the court of Palawan province of the Philippines on August 31 withdrew their charges against two fishing vessels and 37 fishermen of Vietnam relating to harvesting rare sea snails.

The Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines also said that due to a number of objections, the court also decided to make further considerations before making final verdicts.

Eighty-five Vietnamese fishermen who were released on August 26, are now temporarily at the military quarters of the Western Military Command of the Philippines.

The Vietnamese Embassy is working with national and provincial Philippine agencies on the return of seven Vietnamese fishing vessels to their Vietnamese owners and the clearing of procedures to bring the Vietnamese fishermen back home at the earliest possible time.

According to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department, on May 30, 2011, seven fishing vessels from Binh Thuan province with 122 fishermen on board were seized by the Philippine Navy about 2 nautical miles (3.6km) off the Tamburok coast of Balabac, in Palawan province.

The fishermen had planned to go to the Philippines to fish under an economic contract between the Long Hai Long Company of Vietnam and the Philippines’ Premiere International Interfishing Company. The fishing vessels and crews were arrested in the Philippines’ territorial waters, when they had yet to complete necessary procedures.

Police seize 1.2 tonnes of cake mix

Police and trade officials in northern Hung Yen Province have seized 1.2 tonnes of smuggled mooncake stuffing and other cake-making ingredients whose origins are unknown.

The batch of ingredients, which did not have a food safety license, was seized in Lieu Xa Commune in Yen My District while it was being transported to mooncake production factories.

Owner Nguyen Van Luyen, 31, admitted to buying the materials in the border city of Mong Cai in northern border Quang Ninh Province. All the ingredients originated in China and were illegally transported to Viet Nam, he said.

Officials have taken samples to assess the incredients' quality.

Sea cable system breaks again

The Asia-America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable system was once again cut off in the waters off the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau at 6.23am on August 31, resulting in slow internet connections.

The cause of the cable severance is unknown and repair efforts are underway, but authorities can't confirm a completion date, as repair time is dependent on weather conditions.

This is the second time this year that the AAG cable system has been damaged - on March 8 a similar severance occurred resulting in internet paralysis within the country.

It took 20 days for the cable system to fully resume operations from the March incident, and maintenance was performed on the cables as recently as July.

Huynh Ngoc Si’s life sentence reduced to 26 years in jail  

An appeal court in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday commuted the life sentence of Huynh Ngoc Si, former deputy director of the city Department of Transport and Public Works, to 20 years’ imprisonment for taking bribes from a Japanese company.

A combination of the court ruling and an earlier appeal court ruling, which gave him six years in jail for “abuse of power”, makes a total of 26 years imprisonment.

The 58-year-old, former director of the East-West Highway and City Water Environment Improvement project, got the life sentence at a court in the city in October last year for taking US$262,000 (more than VND5 billion) as bribes from Pacific Consultant International in order to do things in favor of the Japanese company.

During the latest court from August 30 to September 1, he said he was not guilty, did not receive $262,000 from PCI executives, and did not do anything in favor of PCI.

The public prosecutor appealed a reduction of his life sentence. The attorney explained that were gaps in Vietnam’s administration and management, together with the act of giving bribes by PCI executives, made him guilty.

The remission decision by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Supreme Court Thursday resulted from the fact that his family had returned VND3 billion to law enforcement authorities, the court said.
 
Outbound travelers allowed to buy $100 for each day  

Each Vietnamese outbound traveler is allowed to buy US$100 for each day of staying abroad for a period of 10 days, a State Bank circular said Tuesday.  
 
A such traveler is allowed to purchase that limited amount of foreign currency in cash at government-approved organizations to meet their expenses when traveling abroad, to cover board and lodging expenses, study programs abroad, medical treatment, business expenses, tourism or for visiting relatives.

They can buy any foreign currency for the equivalent value.

The new regulation is also applicable for and covers the needs of children who share the same passport with their parents.
 
PV