Malaysian Lee Lih Cheng was sentenced to two years in prison for transporting fake credit cards and other valuable papers by the People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on April 13.

Cheng was arrested on September 5, 2011 after arriving at Tan Son Nhat Airport.

While making a routine search of her luggage, police and customs officers discovered 50 credit cards and two passports and all of them were forgeries.

Lee was going to use the fake cards to buy electronics equipment in Vietnam .

At the trial, she pleaded guilty and asked the judge for clemency. However, according to the Jury, Lee’s crime was particularly serious as she has violated Vietnam’s financial system management right and could have caused instability in the business community.

VNA gives books to Truong Sa island commune

The gift was handed over by VNA Deputy General Director Ngo Ha Thai yesterday, April 15, during a working visit to Truong Sa Island, off the coast of central Khanh Hoa Province.

The books were collected during the "Books for Beloved Truong Sa" campaign launched by the VNA chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

The VNA also presented Song Tu Tay with two internet computers and library equipment.

Construction to improve waterway transport in the northern delta started in Viet Tri city, Phu Tho Province, yesterday, April 15.

This is part of the greater WB6 project, which is expected to cost more than US$201.5 million, with the World Bank providing a loan of $171 million and the balance coming from the Vietnamese Government.

The first phrase will upgrade waterway corridors at Viet Tri - Ha Noi - Quang Ninh and the second phrase will build a breakwater and canal at the Lach Giang estuary while upgrading the Viet Tri, Ninh Binh - Ninh Phuc river ports and 28 river ferries, among others.

Construction of both phrases are expected to complete in 2014.

Cabby fleecing Interpol guests jailed for 5 years

A court in Hanoi has just sentenced 23-year-old Pham Van Sam, who ripped off two Singaporean delegates to the 80th Interpol Assembly meeting in Hanoi last October, to five years behind bars on previous charges of “theft” and “illegally taking private property of others”.

The victims were Chen Ang Dani (male) and Than Sha Pen (female) whom Xuan forced to pay VND6 million (US$286) for a ride of just 10 kilometers that should have been only VND150,000 (US$7.1).

The cheating occurred at 8pm on October 28 , 2011 when the victims took a taxi with license plate number BKS 30K-6476, belonging to Phu Gia taxi company, after having a meal at Ngon restaurant, a popular eatery for foreigners at 18 Phan Boi Chau Street, Hoan Kiem District.

They were driven from Phan Boi Chau Street to Hanoi’s National Conference Center and eventually had to cough up US$200 and SGD100 (roughly VND6 million in total).

The victims said that following heated argument over prices, they negligently left over an Iphone 4 that has been missing since.

Xam took the Iphone to his hometown to use. Three days later, he travelled to hide in Dak Nong Province over 1,000 km from Hanoi where he was arrested on November 6 by nearly a dozen police from the Ministry of Public Security and Hanoi criminal police while he was harvesting coffee.

The 80th Interpol General Assembly was kicked off in Hanoi from October 31, 2011 and concluded on November 3, 2011.

After the case was out, chairman of Hanoi Transportation Association Bui Danh Lien said a number of taxi operators have condemned that the driver’s act negatively affected Vietnam’s national image and demanded an inspection into Phu Gia taxi company.

Association awarded for help to disabled, orphans

The Association for the Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans has been awarded the Labour Order, first class in recognition of its contribution to helping the disabled and orphans.

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan presented the noble award to the association at a ceremony in Hanoi on April 15, on the occasion of the association’s 20^th founding anniversary (April 25).

Ms Doan praised the kindness of benefactors who have joined hands with the State to take care of, protect and support the disabled and children, helping them integrate into the community.

Since its inception, the association has expanded its network to 43 provinces and cities nationwide with over 2,000 chapters at communal level and about 504,000 members.

Nearly 2 million people with disabilities and orphaned children have received help from the association, which pay their medical treatment fees, buy learning materials and organise vocational training courses.
Donors have contributed more than VND621 billion to these charitable activities.

Better care for disadvantaged people

The Association to Support Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO) will continue to provide better care for people with disabilities and orphans, participants were told at the Association’s National Congress (the 4th term) in Hanoi on April 14.

Delegates at the congress re-elected Nguyen Dinh Lieu as Chairman and assigned tasks for the next term.

Accordingly, the ASVHO aims to provide vocational training for 8,000 handicapped people and orphans, help 18,000 poor blind patients receive operations and treatment, grant 25,000 wheelchairs to the disabled and 4,000 bicycles to orphans, and offer financial aid to the families of martyrs and war invalids.

The Association will also provide free medicine and health insurance to 25,000 patients, repair and build 2,000 charitable houses for needy people, and present gifts to 400,000 orphans and people with disabilities.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister presented certificates of merit to six individuals who have made great contributions to the ASVHO. Five other individuals and two organizations were also awarded certificates of merit by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

Traffic accident kills 3, injures 2 in Dong Nai

A four-seat taxi and a car carrying frozen materials yesterday collided on National Highway 1A, in the area of Xuan Hoa Village, Xuan Loc District, killing three and injuring two.

According to ongoing investigations, the taxi, on its way from Binh Thuan Province to HCM City, caused the accident.

On the same day, a head-on collision between two cars killed two people in northern Hoa Binh Province.

Tests show drop in number of contaminated meat cases

All urine and meat samples from farms in recent weeks have tested negative for beta-agonist compounds which increase lean muscle growth but pose hazards to human health, said Nguyen Xuan Duong, deputy head of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Livestock Husbandry Department last Friday, April 13.

He added that of the nearly 200 feed, urine and meat samples collected in the first three months of this year only 5 per cent had proved positive for the chemical – 10 times lower than during the previous two months ago.

However, he said it was vital that officials closely supervise the production and transport of animal feed.

Duong also warned of the risks of adding Sanbutamol and Clenbuterol to animal feed, which can cause anxiety, headaches, muscle cramps and sleep disorders.

He said the Ministry of Health should ban these substances in animal feed.

Nguyen Hung Long, deputy head of the Ministry of Health's Food Safety and Hygiene Department, advised consumers to avoid meat that had an unusually thin fat layer and reddish spots.

Successful surgeries counter Parkinson's

Surgeons at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital in HCM City conducted successful surgeries on two patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease on Wednesday and Thursday.

Vietnamese and French doctors collaborated on the nine-hour operations which were the first Parkinson's Disease surgicial techniques to be applied in Viet Nam.

The surgeons attached electrodes inside the patient's bodies and linked the lines with batteries which discharge pulses. The batteries were placed under the skin on the patient's chests to monitor the movement of their bodies.

Over the next few days, the patient's movements will be monitored and soon after the internal electrodes will officially begin to operate.

Police break up illegal marriage brokerage

HCM's Investigation Police last Thursday busted an illegal marriage brokerage in which Vietnamese women were arranged to marry Chinese men in a District 11 hotel.

The police arrested two Chinese men, a marriage broker and a hotel manager in the bust.

An investigation is ongoing.

Brokering marriages for money is illegal in Viet Nam.

Large bomb with detonator intact found in Thanh Hoa

A 250-kg bomb with its detonator intact was found underground yesterday by workers who were laying the foundation of a railway bridge spanning Do Len River in Ha Trung District, Thanh Hoa Province.

The 1.8 meter bomb, with the word “USA” painted on it, could have been dropped on the area by a US Air Force unit during the Vietnam War, according to sappers who were called to the scene to handle the bomb.

After being notified of the bomb, the provincial railway authorities ordered two trains that were travelling on the railway to halt at Bim Son and Thanh Hoa terminals pending the handling of the bomb.

At 4:30 pm the same day, the sappers safely moved the bomb to another location for further action.

At an international conference on advanced mine clearance equipment and technologies in Hanoi in November 2011, Hoang Minh Hong, deputy director of the Vietnam Bomb and Mine Clearance Action Center said it would take Vietnam a few more centuries to clear hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs, mines and UXO left over from the Vietnam War.

Major General Pham Quang Xuan, Commander of the Sappers and deputy head of the National Steering Committee for Settling Consequences caused by unexploded ordnances (UXO), said bombs, mines and UXO have scattered over all 63 provinces and cities in the country.

About 6.6 million hectares, or 20.12 percent of the country’s territory, are contaminated with bombs, mines and UXO, and the country needs about US$10 billion to clear all of them, the committee said.

Ha Tinh firm fined for violating labour law

The Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs on Thursday issued a decision to fine the Van Xuan Joint Stock Company (Vivaxan) VND55 million (more than US$2,600) for violating Government Decree 144 on labour export regulations.

The Van Xuan Joint Stock Company, based in Nam Ha Ward, central Ha Tinh Province, was fined for sending cooks to South Korea to work without applying for a labour supply contract, for organising recruitment and training for welders to work in South Korea, and for collecting money from these activities.

Wedding attendees hit by food poisoning

About 300 people who attended a wedding in Chieng Co Commune in northern Son La City on Thursday suffered from food poisoning after eating beef, pork, tangerines, raw vegetables and wine prepared by the bride's family.

Around 100 of the guests were admitted to the Son La General Hospital last Friday while the other 200 people received treatment at the local health centre.

According to doctors at Son La General Hospital, the patients came in with symptoms including nausea, convulsions and vomiting.

Treatment included rehydration and removal of poisons.

HCMC youth and their green dream

Many groups of environmentally-minded youths in Ho Chi Minh City have been actively leading campaigns and creative and long-term projects to educate and promote a greener lifestyle.

Members of the environmental group SIFE, many students at the city’s University of Economics have since 2008 visited schools and orphanages to promote saving energy as part of the group’s Greenagers project.

“For each program, we do not only talk about the current situation and the importance of protecting the environment. We also teach kids to make bags, photo frames, bracelets from recycled papers,” said Nguyen Thi Thao Nguyen, the project leader.

Another program called “Green neighborhood” that was started in 2009 has become a ‘trademark’ for the Go Green group. Members visited different neighborhoods to clean up and encourage locals to protect the environment for a year. Later, the group performed cheerleading dance in city parks to send green messages to morning exercisers.

“Recently, we visited primary schools to instill a green consciousness in the young children,” said Nguyen Phuong Mai, head of the Go Green group.

How to make environmental issues interesting, easy to understand and practical is a concern of many environmental groups.

At the end of February, members of GFOC (Green Future Of Children) group at the city’s University of Foreign Trade took 40 students at the Viet Anh primary school on a fieldtrip to a bamboo village in Binh Duong province as part of their “Experience green trips” program. During the trip, the volunteers told fairy tales and held games related to bamboos to increase the kids’ curiosity and interest.

“It’s all about environment talk, but how to interest young kids in green issues is what we have to consider and spend time on,” said Pham Thanh Thien, the group leader.

Similarly, volunteers at the Greenagers project took a practical approach by teaching kids to create recycled toys, organize booths to sell their projects and raise funds for poor people.

“Instead of abstract ideas, we can help children understand better the role of saving to protect the environment by showing them what they can do,” said Nguyen Thi Nhat Nu, project sub-leader.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre