Man held for scattering nails to trap motorists

A young man who scattered nails on some streets near Suoi Tien Cultural Park in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9 was arrested yesterday, Nov 10.

Yesterday morning (November 10), following a tip-off from Tuoi Tre reporter, Nguyen Thanh Hai, head of Phu Tho Hoa crime prevention team in Binh Duong southern province neighboring Ho Chi Minh City, came to the park to keep watch on some suspected ‘Đinh tặc’.

‘Đinh tặc’ Pham Thanh Hai. (Photo: VNN)

As 12am, a young man drove a red motorbike around the park and HCMC martyrs’ cemetery and used his shoes to scatter lots of nails. He was then arrested with around 100 diamond-shaped nails on him.

The perpetrator, who was later identified as Pham Thanh Hai, 28, hailing from Thanh Hoa central province, was handed over to police in Linh Xuan Ward of Thu Duc District the same day.

Police also seized some tools used for making such nails at his motorbike repair shop.

As 7pm the same day, Hai was transferred to the district’s remand house for further investigations.

Vietnam hands drug trafficker over to China

The Mong Cai town police in northern Quang Ninh Province handed Leng Li Ping, a Chinese drug trafficker, over to the Chinese police of Dong Xing City, Guang Xi Province on Wednesday.

Leng, 46, of Bao Li An apartment building in Dong Xing, had been hunted by the city police department since last July for the trafficking of 760 grams of heroin.

On July 28, 2011 the Dong Xing police asked the Vietnamese police to assist them in detecting and seizing Leng.

On November 8, Mong Cai police were informed by their counterparts in Dong Xing that Leng could have fled to Vietnam through the Mong Cai border gate.

Based on the information about Leng provided by the Chinese police, the anti-drug police of Mong Cai launched a search for Leng and arrested him at 10:30 am yesterday when he was about to take a bus at the town’s bus station.

Two killed in wall collapse

Two people were killed and three others injured in a wall collapse which occurred in Vuong Loc commune in Can Loc district of Ha Tinh central province on Thursday.

Some eyewitnesses said that yesterday morning, Nov 10, Tran Ky asked some his neighbors to demolish his house in order to build a new one.

As 9am, while they were pulling down the main wall, the adjacent wall unexpectedly collapsed and weighed down on them.

Two people died on the way to hospital while three others sustained severe injuries as the result of the mishap. Of the injured victims, one is reported in very critical condition.

Local authorities have blocked the scene for investigations.

Few seek foreign degrees despite funding

Only a handful of people from the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have enrolled in doctoral or masters degree programmes abroad, despite the fact that funding is readily available.

According to the provincial Interior Department, just 37 people have signed up for programmes over the next five years. Of them, 26 are officials or civil servants and the rest are students.

Launched nearly two years ago, the programme aims to train 150 people with doctoral or masters degrees.

Institutional reform receives top priority

The Government will focus on institutional reform over the next 10 years, working to ensure the efficiency and accuracy of the law-making process.

As part of a comprehensive plan for administrative reform, Viet Nam has set a target of simplifying bureaucratic procedures and improving the quality of public services, particularly those that relate directly to the people and enterprises.

In the next five years, key objectives would be to enhance the business environment, liberalise all societal resources and sharpen the national competitive edge, in order to bring about rapid and sustainable economic development.

Reforms would concentrate on areas such as investment, construction, taxation, customs, import and export, health care, education, labour and technology.

Transparency and accountability would be upheld throughout the governmental review process.

Officials involved in the administrative reform campaign have said that, by 2020, they would require the rate of satisfaction with public services to be at 80 per cent.

Under Resolution 30c/NQ-CP, merit-based tests would be necessary in order to recruit new staff and to issue promotions to senior positions.

By 2020, civil servants and public employees would all earn middle-class salaries. Viet Nam would eliminate the existing system of staff – based budget allocation and replace it with a results-based model. With the new mechanism, the output and quality of Government offices would be more easily controlled. This fundamental change would become an important tool in the longer process of administrative reform.

Policy-makers have also indicated that, by 2020, 90 per cent of communication circulated among State offices should be in electronic form, no longer reliant on costly paper resources.

The period of administrative reform would be divided into two five-year phases, from 2011 to 2015 and 2016 to 2020.

Two die when truck plunges into gully

Two people were killed yesterday when their truck dived into abyss, said Nguyen Ngoc Linh, head of police in Yen Minh District in mountainous Ha Giang Province.

The incident happened as the truck was travelling home after carrying building materials for a charity house in Mau Due Commune.

One of the victims was the driver and the other was an official of the district Fatherland Front Committee.

Police are investigating.

Storms kill 7,500 over 10 years

Natural disasters have killed about 7,500 people in the past 10 years in Viet Nam, according to a conference themed Methods to assess damages and impacts caused by storms which will conclude today in Nha Trang City in south-central Khanh Hoa Province.

The four-day conference, which was held by the Storm Committee under the World Meteorological Organisation and the Natural Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, was attended by more than 70 experts from 13 Asian Pacific countries.