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Capital shortage hinders anti-landslide projects
HCMC has suspended construction of eight out of 10 anti-landslide projects this year due to capital shortage, according to the waterway management unit under the city’s Transport Department.
This is the result of this year’s public investment reduction scheme in response to the Government’s anti-inflation effort, said Tran The Ky, deputy director of the department. The two projects already underway began last year.
As landslides around Thanh Da Peninsula are worsening in the lead up to the rainy season, the department has suggested the city government advance capital to build certain embankment sections in the area.
The city had detected 45 landslide-prone locations as of last month, up three against last year, according to the unit’s statistics. Most locations are in Nha Be, Can Gio, Binh Thanh and Thu Duc districts.
Charges sought against 38 for stealing coal
Police in the northern province of Quang Ninh have asked prosecutors to press charges against 38 people for stealing tens of thousands of tons of coal worth over VND16.6 billion (US$805,825) last year.
Among the accused are five senior management officials and two guards of the state-owned Mao Khe Coal Company, where the theft took place.
According to police, Le Khac Hung and Pham Duy Nghia, who were in charge of security at the company’s mining site, opened doors for the thieves to take away over 28,000 tons coal with trucks and equipment during a week last February.
Hung said that in return he received VND110 million ($5,339).
The senior officials, meanwhile, are were lax in their management, letting illegal mining continue even though they were aware of it earlier, police said.
They will probably face charges of “deliberately violating economic management regulations,” police said.
Malaysian arrested for using 'fake' cards in Hanoi
Police in Hanoi Sunday arrested a Malaysian man for allegedly using fraudulent cards to buy iPhones.
According to initial information, Koay Keng Chen, 22, was arrested when he was attempting to buy five units of iPhone 4 worth over VND85 million (US$4,126) from at a shop in Dong Da District along with another foreigner.
When the shop’s assistants found that the cards were fraudulent, the duo ran away, but Chen was nabbed by the police soon after.
Chen reportedly told the police that he had, on Wednesday (May 6), also bought two iPhones worth VND35 million from another shop using similar cards.
Police found two visas to Vietnam and 14 cards, all under a Chinese name, in Chen’s hotel room in Hoan Kiem District.
The other suspect’s identity is still unknown.
The case is being investigated further, police said.
4,000 Vietnamese asthma sufferers die yearly
Around 4,000 Vietnamese people die from asthma attacks annually.
The figures were released at a meeting and scientific seminar on asthma, held in Hanoi on May 10 by Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital and the Vietnam Association of Asthma, Allergies and Clinical Immunology, in response to World Asthma Day, which is usually held in the first week of May.
In addition, approximately four million asthma sufferers in the country, accounting for five percent of the country’s population, of whom, 8-12 percent are children, according to Health Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Xuyen at the meeting.
Moreover, 62 percent asthma sufferers across the country have not received long-term preventative treatment meanwhile 65 percent people can not control their asthma attacks.
The theme of the meeting was “Is your asthma under your control” because asthma control plays key role in the anti-asthma treatment program yet the rate of asthma control in the globe is still very low, at 5 percent.
Environmental pollution, rampant use of medicine and chemicals in treatment and life, pressure living speed, bad weather, and lack of knowledge of asthma disease are causes of the disease.
According to the Director of the Vietnam Association of Asthma, Allergies and Clinical Immunology, Nguyen Nang An, said that research conducted by the Asia-Pacific Association has show that Vietnam ranks 7th out of 12 surveyed countries in the region in terms of asthma control.
Among dignitaries guests at the meeting were Hen, Bach Mai Hospital’s director Nguyen Quoc Anh, former director of the hospital Tran Thuy Hanh, representatives from relevant agencies and hospitals.
‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’ program launched
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Many activities will be organized by the Ministry of Transport, the AIP Foundation, the WHO and UNICEF to launch the Decade in Vietnam across the country by various authorities, including a press conference, distribution of helmets, drawing art pictures, demonstrations supporting safe roads and distribution of printed material to primary schools.
The Vietnamese government’s objective in the Decade of Action for Road Safety is to reduce the traffic fatality rate by 38 percent, from 13 per 100,000 population to 8 per 100,000 population.
AIP Foundation has implemented a communication campaign featuring ten celebrities promoting road safety to raise awareness in advance of the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety. UNICEF Vietnam National Goodwill Ambassadors, Model Vu Nguyen Ha Anh, Mister International 2008 Tien Doan, Miss Vietnam World Luu Thi Diem Huong, MC Idol Phan Anh, actor Luong Manh Hai, actress Lan Ngoc, Kathy Uyen, model Duy Bang and fashion designer Ha Linh Thu are participating in the campaign.
Road traffic injuries have become a leading killer around the world, particularly amongst the youth. WHO estimates that 1.3 million people die in road accidents in the world each year, making it the ninth leading cause of death.
In the absence of any sustained action to prevent road accidents, it is estimated that by 2020, 1.9 million people will be victims of road accidents each year. Besides causing deaths, road accidents cause up to 50 million people to suffer from non-fatal injuries.
In Vietnam, road casualties are a terrible burden on society. According to data from the Ministry of Health, in 2009 road accidents claimed more than 14,000 lives and caused a further 140,000 hospitalized injuries. Emergency care and other support services for road traffic victims are insufficient in many countries, including Vietnam. These avoidable injuries overload the already stretched health services.
Vietnam has a very successful mandatory helmet law, which has received wide international acclaim, an example of how road safety can be strengthened even in developing countries. Whilst ongoing challenges still require further attention, other risk factors such as drunken driving, speeding, overloading vehicles, poor infrastructure, insufficient public transport and limited capacity for pre-hospital trauma care, all contribute substantially to road traffic injuries in this country of more than 31 million motorcycles.
Green prize awarded to polluter
A cement company that was honored a year ago as an environmentally sustainable business has been causing pollution in Thua Thien-Hue Province for the past two years, according to residents and the local People’s Committee.
In June 2010 the Vietnam Union of Science and Technical Associations presented the “Sustainable Green Brand” award to Luks Cement Vietnam Co., Ltd., located in Huong Tra District, Hue.
The union had not consulted the provincial People’s Committee or agencies about the granting of the title to the company, the Committee said.
Over the past two years, residents in Huong Van commune and the town of Tu Ha have repeatedly voiced their objection to large amounts of pollution caused by smoke, dust and noise from the company’s cement plant and quarry.
Many residents have been put in danger by flying rocks caused by explosions in the quarry.
“They [rocks] break roofing tiles … while dust covers a large area,” said Tran Sinh, who lived near the quarry.
In March 2011, the provincial authorities set up an inspection team to examine the company’s compliance with environmental regulations.
The team is making a report to the People’s Committee about the pollution caused by the company and measures that should be taken in order to stop it.
Heavy rain causes waste spill at airport
The 20-minute-long heavy downpour in Hanoi yesterday cracked the lid of a septic tank at Noi Bai International Airport, causing a waste spill over the airport’s landing ground.
A member of the management board of the airport has confirmed the incident.
He said the old downgraded sewer system could not survive the high water pressure of the heavy rain.
“The crack surprised us,” he said, adding that no septic tank at Noi Bai had ever broken before.
Some airport employees said this was not the first time the airport had got smelly.
Bad smell often comes out from the airport’s sewer system and septic tanks even in sunny days, they said.
First automatic car parking system put into use
An automatic car parking system, the first of its kind in Vietnam , was put into operation at the Thao Dien building in Binh Thanh district of Ho Chi Minh City on May 10.
Covering an area of just 66 sq.m, the three-storey car parking facility is capable of accommodating 12 cars of 5-7 seats.
Nguyen Thi Bao Quynh, director of the NMC Co. Ltd., which built the facility, said the system was constructed at a cost of over 300,000 USD. The company will build a similar system, capable of keeping 200 cars, for a business in Hanoi .
Automatic car parking system is considered as an ideal solution for major cities in Vietnam as its capacity is 2-20 times as high as a normal one if they are built on the same area of land.
Two die in Nghe An mine collapse
Two miners died of suffocation in a mine collapse this morning in the north central province of Nghe An, according to the People’s Committee of Chau Ly commune in the mountainous district of Quy Hop.
Two workers Vi Van Hoang and Vi Van Tien died after they climbed down 10 meters.
People on the ground saw the two men signaling and asking for help. But no one dared go down since it was deep and there was smoke coming from a machine operating down the mine.
Later they tried to pump oxygen down and carry the two up but it was too late.
The tin ore mine, lying between Chau Ly and Tan Hop commune is a private one without an operation license.
Previously on May 1, a gold mine collapsed also in Nghe An province, killing five locals and injuring two.
One electrocuted from overhanging electric wires
Four people were seriously burned after one of them was electrocuted by high-voltage shocks from lowlying wires in Pho Thuan commune, Duc Pho district in the central province of Quang Ngai Wednesday morning.
Local authorities said a truck transporting watermelons was parking under high-voltage electric wires when the driver’s assistant went up the truck roof and was unfortunately electrocuted.
He reportedly got entangled in the wire for some seconds.
The truck exploded and burnt into flames, probably from a short circuit. Three people on the vehicle were hurled away and sustained severe burns. They were hospitalized soon later.
The victims are Mai Van Cu, 34, Pham Nhi, 48, Minh Thuan, 48, and an 11-year-old boy Bui Huy Tung, all of whom hail from Quang Ngai.
They are in very critical conditions.
One of them, Mai Van Cu, suffered the most serious wounds and his life is in danger, doctors said.
Police are investigating the incident.
Earlier, locals had requested authorities to lift the electric wires up to assure safety for the public.
Daewoo dilapidated by dirt, but still drives
A 48-second video posted on YouTube shows a four-seat car with a severely crushed roof driving at a high speed down a street in the north central province of Nghe An, triggering the curiosity of onlookers.
The dark Daewoo, which appeared to be filled with mud and earth, was seen running from Ho Chi Minh Square to the crossroad of Nguyen Van Cu and Le Hong Phong Street based in Vinh City of Nghe An.
According to YouTube commenters, the car was crushed by a 2 square meter block of earth that had fallen from a construction project when driving through Duc Tho District in the northern province of Ha Tinh on April 30. All five passengers reportedly survived.
Tourists saved after falling down to lagoon
12 tourists were luckily saved after falling down to O Loan Lagoon from a broken wooden bridge in the central province of Phu Yen central at 1pm on May 10.
The tourists were reported to be in good condition except for minor injuries.
Ngo Van Yem, deputy chairman of the An Hai Commune People’s Committee, said local authorities had requested the bridge’s investor to repair the bridge to prevent further accidents.
The 128m-long bridge, which connects An Ninh Dong and An Hai communes in Tuy An district, was constructed by a private investor in 1999.
The investor now charges people a fee for using the bridge: VND8,000 per person and motorbike, and VND2,000 per pedestrian
According to Yem, the bridge was repaired once in late 2009.
Man cut in two after crossing railway
At 7:45 am today (Wednesday), a 42-year-old man was killed after crossing a railway in Ho Chi Minh City’s Phu Nhuan district on a motorbike.
Nguyen Luong Hiep of Go Vap District wanted to reach Ward 4 from Thich Quang Duc Street in Ward 5.
When he was nearing the railway crossing, railway monitoring employee Nguyen Thi Lien signaled him to stop.
Hiep stopped and waited, Lien said.
However, when the train driven by Nguyen Ngoc Thinh was approaching, Hiep unexpectedly stepped on the gas and sped up to confront the train, which hit and dragged him and his motorbike for 50 meters.
The victim was cut in two parts, doctors said.
Man voluntarily stays at police office then kills self: police
A man who was found hanging in a Binh Duong Province police station late last month had committed suicide and the handwriting in two suicide notes is his, the Binh Duong police have said in an official report.
Nguyen Cong Nhut, 33, was found dead at the Ben Cat District police station on April 25.
The report said that Kumho Tire Co Ltd, the Korean company for which Nhut had worked as a storekeeper, had assigned Nhut to “cooperate” with the district police to investigate the loss of 6,628 car tires worth more than VND6 billion (US$291,000).
Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Nguyen Hoang Thao, deputy head of the province police, confirmed that the police had not summoned, arrested or detained Nhut.
The storekeeper came under assignment from his company and then voluntarily stayed at the Ben Cat police office, the official said.
At the police station, Nhut had written a letter accusing many Kumho employees of colluding with security guards and drivers to steal company properties.
Nhut also wrote in the report that he managed to conceal the loss of 1,000 tires worth over VND1 billion ($48,500).
However, after the accusation he did not dare go home and had wanted to remain at the police office and had stayed there from the 21st until his death four days later.
An autopsy showed that Nhut had hanged himself with a telephone wire and there were neither external marks on his body nor traces of toxic substances.
Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Thao said forensic handwriting experts confirmed that the suicide notes had been written by Nhut.
Earlier, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, Nhut’s wife, told the police that the handwriting in the suicide notes was not her husband’s.
She also gave them Nhut’s notebook as proof and asked them to find out who had really written the letters.
Speaking to newswire VnExpress yesterday, Tran Dinh Trien, a Hanoi lawyer, said he wanted the police to provide him photos of Nhut’s autopsy and relevant documents.
He also said the report by the Binh Duong police does not answer queries raised by Nhut’s relatives about blood at the bottom of his trousers, an injury on his testicles, and blood and some other fluids on his pillow.
The police would meet Tuyen today, Thao said.
If she refuses to accept the police’s verdict, her lawyer can take it further, he added.
One dies from HCMC container blast
A 20ft container in Cat Lai Port, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City reportedly exploded Wednesday morning, killing one people on the spot.
The incident also injured another unidentified man, who was hospitalized later.
Earlier, a 40ft container also in Cat Lai port similarly exploded on May 28, severely injuring 5 workers.
Another explosion was reported one day later, but there was not any report of human casualties.
Old lottery vendors with golden heart
Despite their poverty, two women in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces have done whatever they can to feed wild sparrows for years.
Early every morning, Pham Thi Sao, 73, from Tien Giang’s My Tho City begins her work day selling lottery tickets in front of Chanh Toa Church on Hung Vuong Street.
As soon as she shows up, hundreds of sparrows on the church roof swoop down and start hopping around her.
Waiting for all of her “children” to appear, Sao takes rice from a nylon bag and scatters it on the ground.
Ten minutes later, after they are fully fed, the birds still crowd around the old woman, as if they don’t want to part.
“They don’t come just to be fed,” she said. “They come even when I don’t have anything to give them.”
Sao started feeding the birds 20 years ago when she encountered some hungry ones hunting for food on the street. She shared her rice with them and the birds ate as if they hadn’t been fed for ages.
Since then, old Sao always sets aside part of her modest earnings from selling lottery tickets to buy food for the sparrows.
“They follow me even when I move to a different location to sell the tickets,” she said.
Every morning as old Sao is feeding her sparrows, in Ben Tre City, another old woman is doing the same thing.
Truong Mui Muoi, who also makes a living by selling lottery tickets, has been feeding wild sparrows for 5 years.
Like Sao, Muoi was also touched by the way the hungry sparrows ate the first time she fed them, with peanuts. “I’ve bought rice for them everyday every since,” she said.
Though they are poor, earning a mere VND50-70,000 (US$2- 3) a day from selling lottery tickets, the women said they would continue to feed the sparrows.
“As long as I can still sell lottery tickets, I will feed them,” said old Sao.
Police arrest fleeing customs officer
Tran Thanh Lam, one of the two Ho Chi Minh City customs officers who allegedly helped a local company smuggle in cosmetics and other products was finally arrested yesterday in neighboring Tay Ninh Province where he had been hiding for three days.
On May 6 police attached to the Ministry of Public Security served arrest warrants on Lam and Nguyen Van Hanh for “smuggling.”
Lam managed to flee while being escorted to his house for a search, the police said.
They had been looking for him since and found him hiding in an acquaintance’s house.
According to the police, last December Cat Tuong Trading and Service Co Ltd had declared at Saigon Port customs it would import four containers of diapers, flints, and ink.
But it actually planned to smuggle in milk, cosmetics, and juices and sought the assistance of Hanh and Lam.
Even before the shipment arrived at the port, the two signed papers saying they had inspected 10 percent of the shipment and had found the goods tallying with the declaration form.
When the containers arrived on January 1 and were being taken out, anti-smuggling officials inspected them and found thousands of cartons of Ensure milk powder and a large quantity of cosmetics and juices.
The value of the smuggled goods was estimated at around VND1.4 billion (US$68,000).
On April 8 the customs’ Anti-smuggling Investigation Department transferred the case to the Ministry of Public Security.
The General Department of Customs has also set up a team to look into the bribes allegedly paid by the two men to avoid prosecution.
Vendors to be evacuated from landslide site
Vendors in Rach Cam Market in Can Tho City will be evacuated from the market as another riverbank landslide is expected to happen after one on May 9.
Tran Thi Thu Hong, head of the People’s Committee of Long Hoa Ward where Rach Cam Market is located, said ward authorities would lease a nearby residential area for the vendors to resume their business.
The local authorities have also decided to build dikes around the affected area as a temporary solution to stop the landslide.
Rach Cam Market has been closed since the first landslide.
HIV, disability no barrier to employment
Policies to promote non-discrimination, generate jobs for the disable and prevent HIV in working places have been implemented in several medium and large-sized enterprises in northern Vietnam .
This was announced at a workshop to review the results of the “Opportunity for All” programme, coordinated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), in Hanoi on May 11.
Opportunity for All is a comprehensive programme of training and in-factory assistance to help enterprises develop an HIV prevention policy and strategy and a disability management policy and strategy.
The pilot programme was implemented in seven manufacturing companies employing 14,000 workers in Hanoi , and Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen and Hai Duong provinces.
The policies promote non-discrimination, ensure no compulsory HIV testing of workers or disclosure of HIV status when recruiting. Several of these enterprise have now established HIV awareness teams, which will provide training and communication for workers so they can protect themselves from HIV.
The companies have also committed to employment of people with disabilities.
Rie Vejs-Kjeldgaard, Director of the ILO Office in Vietnam , highlighted the pilot programme, saying, “In a very short period of time, these enterprises have taken concrete steps to hiring people with disabilities as well as preventing the HIV epidemic in their workplaces”.
She expressed her belief that the enterprises would continue to hire more people with disabilities and conduct HIV prevention activities.
In Vietnam , the 2009 census shows that 7.8 percent of the population or 6.1 million Vietnamese have disabilities. MoLISA estimates that 69 percent of these people are of working age and around 30 percent of them have a job and a stable income to support themselves and their families.
Dump truck crushes motorbike, one dead
At 0:30 Thursday, a dump truck crushed a motorbike, killing a 27-year-old girl and seriously injuring another in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City.
The truck transporting soil was traveling from Hoang Van Thu Street to Cong Hoa Street when it ran over the Attila motorbike.
Cao Nu Thuy Linh, of Dak Nong Province was killed and her bike was dragged for 20 meters. The vehicle ended up crushed against the road divider.
The truck driver has fled the scene.
Police said they suspect the truck crossed the red lights at high speed.
On May 4, a father was killed and his son injured when a truck similarly transporting soil hit him and dragged his motorbike for nearly 30 meters on Nam Hai Van Bypass in Da Nang City’s Hoa Son commune.
Truck driver Nguyen Dang Hiep, 25 fled the scene after that.
Vietnamese warehouse in Poland burnt down
A blazing fire on May 10 destroyed almost the entire warehouse of Vietnamese traders at the Wólka Kosowska Trade Center in the southern suburbs of Warsaw, Poland.
The flame broke out at 11 am (Polish time) and was only extinguished 12 hours later.
Karol Kierzkowski, head of the fire fighting unit, told Poland’s newspaper The News that the fire had razed down the entire 10,000 sq.m three-storey building.
This warehouse is the largest warehouse of Vietnamese traders in Poland.
The total damage was estimated at dozens of millions of dollars, but no casualty has been reported.
In 2009, another Vietnamese trade center in Wólka Kosowska was also destroyed by fire on August 22 which was later called “the dark day of Vietnamese in Poland.”
Source: Tuoi Tre/SGTT/VNE/SGGP/SGT/VNA
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