Russian tourist commits suicide in Nha Trang

 

Russian tourist Phaencoyuiri Vladimir Rovich, 42, committed suicide today in Vietnam’s beach city Nha Trang as he jumped down from the 11-storey hotel Hoan Vu located at 142 Hung Vuong Street and died at the scene.

 

His body was stuck on the roof of a house next to the hotel

 

Local authorities have conducted autopsy and medical and legal procedures.

 

Hotel staff said the man has stayed with his wife at the hotel from August 7. He killed himself after returning from a hospital and drinking.

 

It is doubted that the Russian man was diagnosed of contracting a deadly disease and become muddle-headed.

 

Urgent measures taken to combat hand-foot-mouth disease

 

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has requested all ministries and related agencies speed up efforts in preventing and controlling the spread of hand-foot-mouth disease.

 

The Government has asked local authorities at all levels to provide accurate and timely information to residents about the disease and how to implement preventive measures, such as cleaning the home and school environments.

 

According to government statistics, Vietnam recorded about 32,500 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease since the beginning of 2011. The disease has killed at least 81 people in 17 provinces and cities nationwide, with a concentration in southern provinces. It's particularly hazardous to children under five.

 

According to the Health Ministry, this year's casualties from hand-foot-mouth disease have been considerably high, and there are no designated medicines or vaccines specifically used to cure it.

 

However, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said the situation has not been serious enough to declare an "epidemic" in the country.

 

She said it's critical for local and provincial officials, in cooperating with health officials, to allocate enough resources to prevent its spread. All medical establishments must prepare a sufficient supply of medicines and other equipment for treatment.

 

ChildFund Australian builds a kindergarten for Bac Kan

 

The ChildFund Australian organization on August 18 handed over a kindergarten worth VND3 billion to Duong Son commune, Na Ri district, Bac Kan province.

 

Nung ethnic minority people account for 90 percent of Duong Son’s population with a large number of households remaining very poor.

 

Nong Van Ky, Chairman of the Na Ri district People’s Committee said his district has seen many changes thanks to great support and assistance from the Party and State and international organizations. A number of projects in the field of safe water, environmental sanitation, reproductive healthcare and education are paying off to help improve the local people’s living conditions.

 

Beborah Leaver, Director of the ChildFund Organisation in Vietnam, said ChildFund will continue to carry out other programmes to help ethnic minority people develop economy and improve their spiritual and materials life.

 

In 2008, CHildFund focused on 7 remote communes in Na Ri districts.

 

Highway blocked for landslide, rolling stones

 

National highway 12 in the northern mountainous province Lai Chau has been blocked from early morning today after a mass of earth collapsed and caused long cracks and rolling stones on the road.

 

Cracks as long as 100 meters have appeared at the section of the road in Chan Nua Commune of Sin Ho District, said Lai Chau Department of Transport vice director Ta Tan Vinh today.

 

The section of the road belongs to the detour to avoid the hydroelectricity power plant Son La, he added. Landslides have taken place at the location several times.

 

It’s difficult to repair the damaged road as it runs on the edge of mountain side, according to the official.

 

Rolling stones and land slip have continued at the location. Vehicles have been banned from the road.

 

National highway 12 is the main road connecting the center of Lai Chau to districts Dien Bien and Muong Te, bordering to China.

 

Teen girl slapping traffic cop to be tried

 

The young woman shouted “Keep off” and pushed one policeman awayA girl who is not yet 18 years old will be tried at a court for slapping a traffic policeman on duty on Le Van Khuong street in Ho Chi Minh City’s district 12 after being caught breaking traffic regulations last month.

 

Prosecutors have finished criminal charges against Pham Thi My Linh who is expected to appear in a mobile court in the district on August 28.

 

Lawyer Huynh Khac Thuan has been appointed to defend Linh.

 

The indictment shows that her behavior has badly offended “honor and dinity” of law enforcement officers and had a negative impact on the public order in the locality.

 

A video provided by a street-goer who witnessed the scene at the time of the accident showed two traffic officers pulling up Linh and her mother on motorbike that was traveling in the wrong direction and even without helmets.

 

When requested to park their bike on the sidewalk, the young woman shouted “Keep off” and pushed one policeman away, brushing his hand off the vehicle.

 

She then turned to shove another officer. When the cop persisted, she unexpectedly slapped him hard on the face and head.

 

The two young policemen stayed calm and continued to ask the older woman to move the bike which was still on the road and obstructing traffic.

 

Suddenly, Linh fell down on the street and writhed as if in pain.

 

Linh has been charged with fighting on-duty officers.

 

Vietnam, Laos boost cooperation in social sciences

 

A delegation from the Vietnam Institute of Social Sciences, headed by President Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, is on a visit to Laos from August 17-19.

 

On August 18, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to Lao Vice State President Bounnhang Volachit, briefing the host on the results of their working session with the Laos National Institute of Social Sciences.

 

Dr. Thang informed Vice President Bounnhang Volachit that the two institutes will strengthen comprehensive cooperation to improve the capacity of scientists to research and review realities to contribute to national construction.

 

Vice President Bounnhang Volachit stressed that Laos and Vietnam are in the process of renewal and needs an appraisal of their current situations to assist in the continued development of the countries.

 

He proposed that  the two institutes engage in projects with a strong practical focus on developing the special friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

 

Earlier, Dr. Thang had a working session with Dr. Khampheuy Panmalaythong, Director of the Laos National Institute of Social Sciences.

 

The two sides expressed their appreciation at the effective results of cooperation in projects on national renewal, the impact of globalisation and compilation of a Vietnamese-Lao dictionary.

 

The two institutes planned to continue research, cooperation and exchange of information and experience and hold annual social sciences conferences among Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, to contribute to developing the Mekong sub-region strongly.

 

Cop killed in front of police chief's house

 

At 10.30am August 19, a police officer was killed by a group of thugs in the southern province of Vinh Long when he was standing in front of his boss’ house.

 

Lieutenant Nguyen Thanh Tuong, 31 of police forces in ward 5, Vinh Long Town, was standing in front of his boss’ house when three men approached from behind and stabbed him in the left back.

 

He died on the way to hospital.

 

Local police said Tuong was visiting the ward police chief to report on official matters at the latter’s private house.

 

Police have arrested three suspects for investigation. They are Ho Anh Duy, Tran Chi Dieu and Nguyen Tan Vu.

 

2 killed in Da Nang hit-and-run accident

 

Two men were killed after a semi-tractor trailer truck crashed into their motorcycle at a roundabout leading to Tuyen Son Bridge in Da Nang City’s Ngu Hanh Son District on Friday morning.

 

The truck driver fled right after.

 

Police named the dead victims as Le My, 47, and Phan Van Tai, 25. Both were residents in Dien Ngoc Commune, Dien Ban District in the central city of Quang Nam.

 

The police are investigating into the case.

 

A similar accident also occurred at the same roundabout on the morning of July 22, killing a woman.

 

Vietnam’s crime rate is average: Minister

 

The crime rate in Vietnam now is average in comparison with other countries in the region and the world, Lieutenant General Tran Dai Quang, Minister of Public Security, told the press at a ceremony held in Hanoi on Thursday.

 

Organized crime groups, ganglands, and foreign criminals have occurred in Vietnam, Quang said.

 

According to Quang, opposition forces at home and abroad are carrying out a plot called “peaceful evolution” in a bid to cause instability in economics, culture, and society in Vietnam and to hurt diplomacy and mar the image of Vietnam’s Communist Party and State.

 

There are also signs of crimes related to high-tech and international terrorism in the country.

 

Quang said public security forces in collaboration with relevant authorities are showing their determination to contribute to the protection of Vietnamese sovereignty and timely find and prevent criminals of all kinds and social evils.

 

The Minister also suggested local media agencies support law enforcement officers to fight against criminals and protect national security.

 

Website on Vietnamese martyrs makes debut

 

The Vietnam Martyr Families Support Association on August 18 launched a website aimed at honouring martyrs, martyrs’ families and heroic Vietnamese mothers.

 

The website, http://www.trianlietsi.vn, with its domain names meaning deep gratitude to fallen combatants, will serve as a reference for martyrs’ families in their efforts to find remains and graves of their fallen relatives.

 

In addition to updated information on the association’s activities, the website also contains literature works featuring heroic martyrs and outstanding activities in gratitude to martyrs along consultancy on the State policies and regulations towards fallen combatants.

 

Tourism up 15-20 percent for Vietnam Independence Day

 

The number of tourists registering to travel both in and out of the country on Vietnam Independence Day (September 2) has increased by 15-20 percent from last year’s figure, according to tour operators in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Saigontourist will receive 15,000 travellers and Viettravel 4,500, respectively.

 

Most outbound tourists want to spend their holidays in Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Brunei and Thailand, while inbound tourists are keen on travelling to Con Dao, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang and Da Lat.

 

Vietnam discusses ways to protect detained fishermen

 

The ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Security, and Agriculture and Rural Development, and Ninh Thuan Province authorities met in Phan Thiet city yesterday to discuss measures to protect the 122 fishermen who has been detained in the Philippines for illegal fishing.

 

Accordingly, the foreign ministry will continue to work with the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines to help solve the case with a humanitarian spirit and to protect the fishermen at a trial to be held by a Philippine court from August 24 to 26.

 

The ministries also requested Long Hai Long Company, which had sent the fishermen to fish in the Philippine territory, to prove to the Philippines that these fishermen did not fish illegally.

 

Long Hai was also requested to hire lawyers and interpreters to protect the fishermen at the trial.

 

At the meeting, which also included the representatives of the fishermen’s families, Phan Van Thoai, Long Hai Long’s director, reported all of the details related to the incident.

 

The Ninh Thuan Province People’s Committee and Phu Quy District’s authorities said they would help the families of the detained overcome difficulties in their lives.

 

According to Long Hai Long, the 122 fishermen went fishing off the Philippines’ Palawan Island on May 30 on seven boats under a contract between the owners of the boats and Long Hai Long, which had signed another contract with its Philippine partner Preiere International Interfishing Corp. (PII.Cop) to obtain a license to operate the boats in the area.

 

Long Hai Long said it had fully paid PII.Cop and the latter was supposed to complete the required legal procedures. However, the fishermen were detained by the Philippine Navy because these legal procedures had yet to be completed.

 

According to Thanh Nien Newspaper, a Philippine court had questioned the fishermen about their fishing activities. The detainees told the court that they and Long Hai Long were not at fault in the incident because Long Hai Long had paid PII.Cop for a fishing license under the contract but the latter failed to obtain the license for them.

 

Heavy trucks threaten bridge under repair

 

Those they are banned, trucks over 25 tons continue to cross and threaten the safety of Ho Chi Minh City’s Saigon Bridge, which is under repair, said Vu Kien Thiet, Director of the Urban Traffic Management Zone No. 2, the investor of the repair project.

 

Tran Minh Trung, deputy director of HCMC Bridge and Ferry One-Member Co. Ltd. said his company had installed a warning sign at each end of the bridge but a lot of trucks simply ignored it, especially at night.

 

Trung warned that if the situation didn’t stop, the bridge would be seriously threatened, because heavy trucks are causing the bridge to shake and loosening the newly-applied concrete layer.

 

A traffic inspector from the Transport Department told Tuoi Tre that trucks were deliberately violating the ban despite heavy fines because using the bridge to reach eastern provinces would take less time than using the Phu My Bridge.

 

But identifying violators is difficulty, said Colonel Tran Van Thuong, head of the Hang Xanh Traffic Police Team.

 

Thuong said that police couldn’t know where a truck is overloaded without inspecting. Yet, “if a truck doesn’t violate traffic laws, the police can’t stop them for examination,” he said.

 

Thuong said inspecting overloaded trucks were also time-consuming because the police need to use car-weighing stations which are only available at ports.

 

However, Le Van Tuan, head of the Inspection Team No. 5, said his team had managed to catch overloaded trucks.

 

Since April, the team has fined 1,210 vehicles with a total fine of over VND2 billion (US$96,400), he said.

 

But he said many drivers could still escape because they are often informed beforehand by their accomplices who ride motorbikes to check whether there are police officers on the bridge.

 

In other cases, violators simply keep driving despite being signaled to stop, Tuan said.

 

Deputy PM attends Asian Architects Forum in Danang

 

The Government of Vietnam is encouraging localities to apply development models of modern urban management to the real situation in Vietnam, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai at the 16th Architects Regional Council Asia forum (ARCASIA) which opened in Danang city on August 18.

 

Mr Hai asked Asian architects to help the Vietnamese Government devise appropriate solutions to ensure sustainable development goals.

 

Under the theme “Asian cities in the 21st century”, Asian architects shared experiences in handling such issues as economic, cultural, social affairs as well as coping with natural calamities caused by climate change in the 21st century.

 

Participants also exchanged ideas on the trend of new urban planning and development in Asia, and how to preserve the values of sustainable architecture projects which are friendly to the environment and cope with natural disasters.

 

Present at the two-day forum were President of the International Union of Architects (UIA), Arch Luise Cox and more than 700 architects from 17 member countries of the Asian Architects Council.

 

HCMC to use cameras for firefighting, rescue

 

Ho Chi Minh City police will use cameras from the Radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV)’s Traffic Information Channel to facilitate their firefighting and rescue operations.

 

Yesterday, the police received an image data share system from the Channel and they will use the Channel’s cameras to monitor the movement and operation of firefighting trucks as well as vehicles that serve rescue and search activities.

 

VOV installed these cameras on the upper part of multi-storey buildings and at crossroads in the city when it officially put the Channel into operation to monitor traffic situation.

 

The Channel will add help improve the city’s firefighting, search and rescue operations, said Major General Tran Trieu Duong, director of HCMC Police Department.

 

Currently, the department is using digital maps to identify fire points and find the shortest routes for fire trucks to go to the scenes, the official said.

 

In the near future, fire trucks will be equipped with Global Positioning System (GSP) devices to enhance their firefighting efficiency, he added.

 

Silk manufacturer discharges waste into canal

 

The untreated water from a Thai Tuan plant in District 12, HCMC

Photo: Tuoi TreThe Ho Chi Minh City environmental police on Wednesday caught a textile and dyeing plant of Thai Tuan Group Joint Stock Company, a well-known silk manufacturer, releasing untreated wastewater into Tham Luong Canal in District 12.

 

According to inspectors from the Anti-Environmental Crime Police Department, the wastewater had been discharged red and hot from the plant into the canal through a ditch that runs alongside the plant.

 

The inspectors made a report on their findings and continued their inspection at the plant yesterday with the presence of the Colonel Phan Huu Vinh.

 

Le Thuc Hoai, deputy director of the company, explained that the wastewater came from simple sanitary works, machine-washing and factory-cleaning, but Colonel Vinh said both sanitary and industrial wastewater must be treated before being discharged into the environment.

 

Hoai then admitted that such discharge was the company’s fault.

 

The environmental police examined wastewater discharged through a ditch at Thai Tuan’s plant into Tham Luong Canal in District 12, HCMC.

 

Though the plant is exploiting underground water at a capacity of 1,400 cubic meters per day, the inspectors found its wastewater treatment system is designed to treat only 300 cubic meters per day.

 

The inspectors concluded that about 660 cubic meters of wastewater went untreated everyday at the plant.

 

Hoai promised to make a report later to the department.

 

The inspectors took samples of the plant’s wastewater for testing and reminded that all of the plant’s industrial wastewater must be treated.

 

Contractor ruled to have indirectly caused drowning

 

The contractor of the Phu Do – Thang Long Highway has violated labor regulations, indirectly causing the drowning of four boys last Sunday, said Le Tuan Huu, deputy director of Hanoi Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs on Thursday.

 

Huu said the rainwater-filled pit where the boys went swimming and were drowned has an area of 400m2 and a depth of 2m and didn’t have warning signals and fences at the time of the drowning.

 

“The contractor thus has to take responsibility for the accident,” Huu said.

 

Huu said the Hanoi police would pursue criminal charges if necessary.

 

The contractor, Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Cooperation (Vinaconex), began the project in late 2008.

 

Last Sunday, four boys aged 11 to 14 were drowned in the pit at the construction site located in Phu Do Village in Me Tri Commune.

 

Private hospitals should join the fight against HIV

 

The private health sector should be encouraged to join in the fight against HIV/AIDS, which would help maintain and boost up anti-HIV/AIDS projects for which foreign financial support is declining, said an expert yesterday.

 

Trinh Thi Le Tram, director of the Centre for Consulting on Legal and Policy on Health and HIV/AIDS, was speaking at a conference in Ho Chi Minh city yesterday held by the city Health Department and US-based NGO Pathfinder International to discuss public-private partnership in HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

 

The Ministry of Health regulates that all health facilities, both public and private, can take part in HIV/ADIS treatment if they meet required standards, but in fact, there remained some legal barriers related to treatment of HIV/AIDS at private hospitals.

 

Currently, none of the 14,000 private health establishments, including 33 private hospitals, takes part in the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients. They are not allowed to treat or even diagnose the disease. They just send test results to public medical centers for treatment of patients, experts said.

 

They were also not allowed to give prescriptions to prevent transmission from pregnant HIV-positive mothers to their children, Nguyen Huu Tung, general secretary of the HCM City Medical Practitioner Society, said.

 

Meanwhile, the private health system is an important source of treatment for patients with sexually transmitted diseases in Vietnam, especially those at high risk of contracting HIV, like men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users, and female sex workers, experts said.

 

The number of people at such a high risk has increased continuously between 2006 and 2009, said Le Ngoc Bao, deputy country representative of Pathfinder International.

 

45 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women with sexually transmitted diseases seek treatment at private healthcare providers, according to Pathfinder International.

 

Currently, 17 per cent of HIV-positive people go to private hospitals and clinics for treatment of other ailments and health check-ups, and the number of MSMs using private hospitals has almost doubled from 21 percent in 2006.

 

However, experts said a number of private hospitals still discriminate against HIV-positive people.

 

The country now has 230,324 people with HIV/AIDS, of whom 45,285 are living in HCMC, which leads the country in number of HIV-infected people.

 

Vietnamese gambler tortured, dies in Cambodia

 

A Vietnamese gambler earlier this month allegedly jumped down a building and died after being tortured when he could not pay the debts lost to gambling in Cambodia, Nguoi Lao Dong reported.

 

Vietnamese police have launched an investigation into the case.

 

Do Thanh Cong, a 34-year-old man aka fat Teo from Long An Province allegedly died at Casino Las Vegas in Bavet – a border gate belonging to Svay Rieng province in Cambodia.

 

The case came to light after a witness showed up and claimed to have lost money gambling in Cambodia and was detained there.

 

This witness named H. told local police that he managed to escape several days after Cong died.

 

H. said he gambled in Cambodia and lost but could not pay the debts.

 

Therefore, H. was detained with six other Vietnamese gamblers (four men including Cong and two women) in one room. Each had a packet of instant noodles for food every day and beaten many times. Cong was beaten the most as he was the biggest of them.

 

Cong was tortured several times a day until he vomited blood, H. recalled.

 

On the afternoon of August 9, after being harshly tortured, Cong and another gambler named Tung from Vinh Long Province fought back, broke a glass window with a chair and jumped out of the room.

 

Cong fell down to the ground and while Tung survived with his arms and legs broken, H. said.

 

H. said Cong’s body was taken away but he could not guess where.

 

H. later managed to flee when he was being transferred to another detention location.

 

According to Thanh Nien, Long An border agency had contacted Svay Rieng province authorities which then denied any such death had occurred.

 

They said there was one Vietnamese gambler who jumped off an apartment at Casino Sato (not Las Vegas as claimed by the Vietnamese gambler) on August 7, but he was not dead.

 

They said the gambler named T. from Vinh Long Province had his arms and legs broken, Thanh Nien reported.