Vietnam-Cambodia youth friendship camp opens

A Vietnam-Cambodia youth friendship camp was held in Moc Hoa district in the southern province of Long An on August 10.

The event attracts 300 young people from Vietnam’s Long An province and Cambodia’s Svay Rieng and Prey Veng provinces.

The camp aims to celebrate the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Year 2012 and the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The three provinces have co-ordinated closely in carrying out some transport infrastructure projects to create favourable conditions for regular exchange of goods.

In addition, the two Cambodian provinces have helped Long An province discover and rebury 1,956 sets of martyrs’ remains.

Young people of the three provinces have cooperated and assisted each other in culture, sports, education and training fields.

Rising cases of license renewals due to losses

The number of cases of lost driver licences in the first half of this year was up 60 per cent from last year's same period, according to a workshop held by the Ha Noi Department of Transport on Tuesday.

The department has put forward measures to tighten the renewal of licences and to withdraw driving licenses of people who are found to have lied about the loss to get more licenses.

Those using fake licenses will also be banned from getting a new one within five years.

The ban applies to eight cases in this year's first half.

Two held for kidnapping boy for ransom

Police in Quang Nam and Quang Tri Provinces have detained two local young brothers for abducting a boy and demanding that his family pay US$9,600 for his release.

Phan Van Thoan, 20, and Phan Van Thoai, 18, were seized on Wednesday night in a forest in Quang Nam where they were holding 6-year-old Nguyen Van Dat, son of Nguyen Van Thoan, a resident of Hai Lang District, Quang Tri Province.

The kidnapped boy was rescued safely and returned to his family the same day.

The two kidnappers, natives of Nghe An Province, had been hired by the boy’s father to work for his family’s business, and there had been a conflict between them over wage.

Thoai and his brother told police that Thoan had not paid them fully for their work, so they decided to capture the boy to extort him.

On August 7, they lured Dat into going out for ice cream and then took the boy to Quang Nam in a bus. After hiding Dat in a jungle, the kidnappers sent text messages to his family demanding a ransom of VND200 million ($9,600).

Tran Thi T., the boy’s mother, told police that the abductors asked her to bring the money to the M.K Hotel in Quang Tri Province’s Dong Ha Town. They asked her to go alone and warned her not to report the case to police.

T. agreed to the kidnappers’ plan and then reported the situation to police, who deployed a plan to seize the criminals, but they did not appear at the hotel.

Police later received a tip-off from Quang Nam that a suspicious young man had appeared near a forest in Ba Commune, Dong Giang District and bought some food items.

A task force was sent to the scene and coordinated with local police to devise a plan to arrest the kidnappers.

Vietnam amongst in world’s top 20 internet users

Vietnam ranks 18th in the world top 20 countries using the internet, with over 30 percent of its population surfing the worldwide web.

According to the Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC), by the end of June, the number of internet users reached a whopping 31 million (35.4 percent of the population), of which 4.3 million are landline broadband subscribers.

The ranking maintains the country’s 8th place in Asia and 3rd place in Southeast Asia, according to the VNNIC- which is affiliated with the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

VNNIC director Tran Minh Tam said better network infrastructure and services were behind the increasing number of users, which have helped the country maintain its position in recent years.

“Internet service providers are offering more types of internet access with wider coverage, instead of the orthodox ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscription Line), he said.

Vu The Binh, director of NetNam- a prominent internet service provider- explained that “While global economies, including Vietnam, are still in difficulty, it is very encouraging that Vietnam is in a high position of internet development.”

Binh said good pricing policies, especially applied to 3G (third generation network) wireless access, will further increase the number of internet users.

According to the MIC’s internet development plan, landline broadband currently reaches 6-8 subscribers per 100 people, and the figure will increase significantly to 15-20 in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the number of households accessing the internet is currently at 35-40 percent of total households, and will increase to 45-50 percent by 2020.

Australia's Direct Aid to review applications

The Australian Consulate General in HCM City has begun accepting applications for grants from the 2012-2013 Direct Aid Programme in southern Viet Nam, which extends from the central province of Thua Thien Hue to the southern region.

The annual programme, funded by the Australian Government and disbursed by the consulate, helps low-income communities by funding small-scale development projects.

Any organisation may apply for a grant worth $10,000-20,000. All projects must be completed by the end of the financial year (June 30) in which they were funded.

The deadline for application is October 15.

EU helps Vietnam improve medical capacity

The Prime Minister has approved some adjustments to a project funded by the European Union (EU) to improve Vietnam’s medical capacity.

The Ministry of Health is authorized to sign documents amending and supplementing the first financial agreement with competent EU representatives.

As scheduled, the project will be implemented in Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and Ha Nam provinces and at the Ministry of Health.

The project aims to improve Vietnam’s capacity in forming policies, drawing up budget plans, along with improving medical services and preventive medicine.

Fire rips through cashew warehouse

A blaze on Wednesday destroyed hundreds of tonnes of dry cashew nuts in a cashew warehouse in southeastern Binh Phuoc Province.

The blaze was completely extinguished after a 10-hour effort from local fire-fighters. Damage was estimated to be VND20 billion (US$952,000).

No casualties were reported as the company was far away from populated areas.

Police are currently investigating the cause.

Mudslide kills three on construction site

Three workers were buried alive in a mudslide at a construction site in HCM City's Thu Duc District early yesterday morning, Aug 9.

The three men, aged between 32 and 48, were working at the bottom of a 6-metre deep pit at the construction site on Vo Van Ngan – Nguyen Van Ba Crossroads when the accident happened around half past midnight.

It took other workers at the site over 30 minutes to reach the victims, who were found dead.

The victims were working for a pipeline installation project invested in by the Sai Gon Water Supply Co with the BMC Installation and Construction Materials Co as the contractor.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre