Korean firm helps in housing the poor

Korean firm Miwon Viet Nam yesterday donated VND600 million (around US$28,600) to help the Viet Nam Red Cross providing scholarships to students and build house for the poor from now until August 2012.

Last year, Miwon also granted $25,000 for low-income housing in Viet Tri and Phu Tho as well as for 300 scholarships to poor students in the provinces of Bac Giang, Ben Tre, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Phu Tho, Tay Ninh and Ha Noi.

Fire sparks panic among Binh Tay market shoppers

Around 100 firefighters were mobilized to extinguish the fire.  (Photo: VNE)

According to newswire VnExpress, the fire broke out at the ground floor of the 3-floor Hue Chan shop which has engaged in manufacture and sale of plastic products like raincoat, plastic bags, glass, and straw.

The shop owner mobilized all staff to take goods and possessions out of the house.

It took a half hour for 100 firefighters from 9 trucks to put out the flames.

The fire, whic is believed to have been caused by an electrical short circuit, caused no human casualties but burnt down all goods in the warehouse.

US helps prevent HIV/AIDS infection among addicts

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) on September 15 launched a project to improve treatment for drug addicts in support of HIV/AIDS prevention, funded by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Deputy Head of the Social Evils Prevention Department Do Thi Ninh Xuan, who is director of the project said that the US$2.5 million project will be implemented from January 2011 to September 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City and the northern province of Thai Nguyen.

According to Xuan, the project’s long-term objective is to strengthen MoLISA’s capacity for drug addiction treatment and provide social support services through effective approaching methods in order to minimise drug users, improve the quality of life and reduce HIV infection among drug users and prostitutes in Vietnam.

The project will put in place a data collection and management system on drug addicts, prostitutes and addicted prostitutes and improve staff capacity for analysing and utilising the data.

Pilot models on community-based drug addiction treatment aim to provide services for about 500 patients.

Vietnam has close to 150,000 registered addicts and the number grows by 10,000 each year. By March 2010, there were nearly 210,000 HIV-infected people with 41.6 percent being drug addicts.

Wild elephant rampages in Dong Nai

A wild elephant entered a residential area in Dinh Quan District in Dong Nai Province early yesterday morning, Sep 15, and stayed there for seven hours, causing panic among residents and damaging crops.

At 2 am people in Phu Hoa Commune were awakened by loud noises and they found a large wild elephant with long tusks in a crop field.

When it sensed the presence of people, the animal began to trumpet loudly and run around, knocking down cashew trees and trampling crops.

Everyone then came out of their thatched houses as a precautionary measure and lit torches to chase the animal away.

District rangers and local authorities came to the scene and tried to chase the pachyderm back into the forest, but it continued to rampage in the area before finally leaving at 9 am.

The rangers said the animal, which they estimated at around 30 years of age, might be the only one of its herd left in Tan Phu forest after the others had moved to other places.

Le Viet Dung, deputy head of the Dong Nai Forestry Management Sub-department, said the agency had warned residents in Dinh Quan to take precautions against wild elephants but not to harm them.

Rising food prices are of benefit to 37% of farmers

A study released yesterday by a researcher from the Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics suggested that 37 percent of Vietnamese families, mostly farmers, benefit from rising food prices.

Conducted by Phung Duc Tung, the study polled 9,000 households across Viet Nam from 2006 to 2008.

Tung's paper showed that on average, the rise in food and input prices had increased the welfare of some households in Viet Nam by 7.5 percent, but the effect of the rise was negative overall.

Most of the households that benefited were concentrated in the Mekong Delta region.

According to Tung, food prices increased world-wide by 80 percent from June 2006 to June 2008, and there was a big jump from April 2007 to June 2008.

In theory, rising food and input prices could help Viet Nam, considering its position as one of the world's leading agricultural exporters, but the extremely poor were negatively affected.

The World Bank estimates that rising food prices could move another 100 million people below the poverty line.

Floods triggered by torrential rain in central Vietnam have caused severe damage to infrastructure, houses, and crops in several districts in the lower course of Ca River located in Nghe An province. 

Phan Dinh Ha, deputy head of Department of Agriculture in Thanh Chuong District, said around 317 houses and 479.9 hectares of paddy fields in the locality are under water.

The flood waters, which have reached alarming levels, also eroded an area of over 7,000m on the National Highway 46 and destroyed three bridges.

Some communes along the Ca River like Da – Trung, Thuan Son, Nam – Bac – Dang Son, Ngoc – Lam – Boi Son were also badly submerged.

According to Dinh Quoc Hong, deputy chairman of provincial People’s Committee, the floods have been triggered by heavy rain plus a large number of released water from Hydropower plant Ban Ve during the past days.

The province have instructed local authorities in the flood-hit districts to actively take measures to ensure the safety of dyke and reservoir systems and to promptly harvest to mitigate losses.

The floods in the central region have so far claimed 11 lives, according to the Central Steering Board for Flood and Storms Control.

Strippers busted at Hanoi karaoke bar

The police in Trang Tien Ward, Hoan Kiem District in Hanoi last Saturday inspected a karaoke bar on Nguyen Khac Can and found two girls stripping for customers, VnExpress reported.

The two girls, who are both 21 years old and come from Thai Nguyen and Cao Bang told provinces, told the police that they were called upon request and received VND1 million (US$50) from the karaoke bar’s owner.

After singing with the customers for 30 minutes, the girls started to strip on the table.

Besides getting paid by the owner, they were also tipped VND1.2 million ($60) by the customers. One of the girls said it was the second time she had stripped at the karaoke bar.

According to the police, the room reserved for strip-tease is located on second floor of the bar and every time the strippers work, other staffs stand watch outside.

Last month, a karaoke bar on Phan Van Tri Street was also busted for stripping. Each customer was fined VND1.8 million ($90) and the three strippers, VND10 million ($500).

The owner was also fined for violating the laws on cultural activities and public service operation.

Police arrest two over baby kidnap

Police in HCM City have arrested two people in connection with the kidnapping of a three-month-old boy for ransom early this week.

The baby was rescued two days later.

Nguyen Xuan Tam, 52, of HCM City's District 3, and his mistress Vo Thi Thanh Thuy, 29, of Bac Lieu Province, were apprehended on Tuesday night when they were collecting 25 taels of gold, half the ransom they had allegedly demanded, at a venue on Nguyen Van Linh Street in District 7.

Thuy had taken the boy at about 8am last Saturday morning from a private house in Ward 6, District 4, where she worked as a maid for the child's parents.

She then gave the baby to a private creche in Go Vap District at around 9am on Saturday, saying she would return to collect him in three days.

Half an hour later, the mother, identified only as Ly, allegedly received a call from a man who said her boy had been kidnapped.

He asked the 33-year-old mother to pay a ransom of 50 taels of gold, failing which, he said, the child would either be killed or injected with the HIV virus.

Police continued to hunt for the kidnappers after the child was rescued on Sunday and sent to a secret location under his parents' care.

Unaware that the child had been rescued, Thuy and Tam continued to call the parents, asking for half of the ransom (25 taels of gold) in advance, saying the remaining would be collected after the boy was returned.

To put police off the scent, Thuy and Tam changed the venues for receiving the ransom several times before telling the parents to hand in half the ransom at a location on Nguyen Van Linh Street.

After the arrest, both of them tried to commit suicide by taking insecticides and were immediately rushed to hospital.

Police said Thuy had found work at the child's house in early August through a labour agency.

Further details on the case have not been released.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre