Unrooted trees damage house, block street

Heavy rain with strong winds in Ha Noi last night uprooted several big khaya trees in Hoan Kiem Lake area, one of which fell on a house, severely damaging the roof.

The winds also uprooted a khaya tree on a footpath in Nha Tho Street, which fell on the street and blocked traffic. No casualties were reported.

Staff from the Ha Noi Tree Company removed the fallen trees and branches at 7:30am.

The heavy rain with strong winds started at around 1am and blew down many big trees and branches in the city.

Khaya is a genus of seven species of trees in the mahogany family Meliaceae, native to tropical Africa and Madagascar. All species become big trees 30-35 m tall with a trunk over 1m in diameter, often buttressed at the base.

Mountain rockslide kills 6 gold miners

Police said Friday morning that six gold miners in the central province of Quang Nam were killed on June 14 following a mountain rockslide which was probably triggered by heavy rains.

As the unlicensed mine is located remotely in the middle of a forest, authorities have just been informed of the accident, said Pham Thi Nhu, deputy chairwoman of Nam Giang district government.

Due to rugged terrain, entering this mining area requires at least one day of walking.

Nhu said the six victims belonged to the Kho Mu ethnic minority group of Bac Giang province and were illegally mining for gold.

The victims’ names have not been identified.

The mine has been exploited without a license for many years in Nam Giang district.

Local authorities have raided the mine and chased away hundreds of illegal miners many times but due to the mine’s off-the-beaten track location, efforts seem futile.

On the same day the accident happened, a mob overran a licensed gold mine, also in Quang Nam Province for the second time in 10 days, and spirited away 15 tons of gold-bearing rocks

The robbery occurred at a mine belonging to the Bong Mieu Gold Mining Co Ltd in Tam Lanh Commune, Phu Ninh District.

Tran Ha Tien, general director of Bong Mieu, said 400 raiders brushed past security guards, packed the ore in sacks, and fled.

Maid arrested for theft in Hanoi

The Hanoi police yesterday arrested a 17-year-old girl for allegedly stealing things worth about VND100 million (US$4,850) from a house in which she worked as a maid.
They also took in Cam Thi Quynh Trang’s boyfriend Tran Ngoc Tuyen, 21, after Venus Star, who lives in the Ciputra urban area, reported the theft on June 13.
She said she found four laptops, two mobile phones, a camera, and some other items missing.

Meanwhile, Trang had disappeared and did not answer her phone despite Star’s repeated efforts.
After examining the scene, the police suspected Trang.
After getting some personal information about her, they coordinated with their counterparts in Phu Tho Province, 80 km away, to track her down.
They later found Trang and Tuyen with a reported lost.
Trang confessed to her crime.
She told the police that after coming to Hanoi from Son La to find a job, she met Tuyen from Phu Tho who worked for an eatery.
They fell in love and Trang got pregnant and wanted to marry, but they did not have enough money for the wedding.
Trang then thought of working as a domestic help for a rich person so that she could steal money or things.
She had worked for Star for one month.

Four sick after inhaling unknown gas

At least four people including one child were hospitalised in southern Binh Duong Province after inhaling chemical fumes from a factory that manufactures detergents.

The unpleasant fumes were alleged to have come from a chemical leak at Tico Co Ltd's ABS Factory, Thuan An District police said. They made scores of people dizzy and faint.

Bui Thi Diep, 75, of An Phu Ward, said "I suddenly felt an acrid smell then I got dizzy and last night I vomited."

Hoang Thi Nham, 32, of An Phu Ward, said she grabbed her 25-day-old baby and ran away from her house while the baby cried, regurgitated milk and showed signs of breathless.

An Phu Ward Police were working with environmental agencies to find the cause of the fumes.

Da Lat man carries 80 kg tumor

Nguyen Duy Hai, 31, of Da Lat has been carrying a tumor weighing 80 kg below his waist for the last 10 years.
When Hai was four, the lower part of his right leg began to develop extra growth.
By the time he was 17, it weighed an estimated 25 kg. His family took him to the Lam Dong General Hospital for treatment, but doctors failed to identify the cause.
His family later asked doctors to amputate the excess growth.
But in 2001 it began to develop into a tumor that kept growing larger and larger until it covered the entire bottom portion of his body.
At its largest, the tumor is more than a meter.
Hai relies on by his 61-year-old mother for all his daily activities, including personal hygiene.
He hopes doctors can remove the tumor.

Toyota Innova self-combusts amid heating scandal

Thursday morning, a Toyota Innova car suddenly caught fire in Khanh Hoa province. This happened in the context of some 73,000 Toyota vehicles assembled in Vietnam having been recalled since April including over 6,000 Innova Js.

Giang Quoc Thanh, 30, took the Innova to a maintenance center on Le Hong Phong Street in Nha Trang City where the staff drove it into a slot and took some photos (normal procedures for maintenance purposes).

Suddenly, Thanh spotted a small fire coming from the lock that is used to open the hood.

This happened when the Innova was standing still with its engine turned off.

Thanh and staff from the center had to use a fire extinguisher to put out the flame. Police were called in.

Thanh and Le Cao Tuan, sales manager at the maintenance center confirmed in writing that the car “self-combusts”.

Toyota Vietnam is now in the midst of a scandal when it had to recall 73,000 cars for technical problems related to bolts, seats and pressures. But the story did not stop there.

The insider who exposed the flaws in the first place recently said his company was hiding two other technical errors and that the actual number of cars needed to be recalled was way higher.

Le Van Tach, the whistle-blowing engineer, has been suspended from working for 3 months on the grounds that he baselessly accused his colleagues of threatening and insulting him.

Tach said he was often targeted and discriminated after exposing the flaws.

But the company denied punishing Tach out of revenge. It said the suspension is in line with labor laws and company's regulations.

HCM City metro, monorail to be disabled-friendly

Urban rail builders will ensure that metro and monorail systems built in HCM City are disabled-friendly, the Department of Transport has promised.

Speaking to representatives of people with disabilities yesterday, Nguyen Hoang Tri of the department's urban rail management board said metro and monorail stations would be designed based on the Law on People with Disabilities.

Thus, each station would have ticket vending machines, telephone booths and toilets for passengers in wheelchairs.

For blind people, special tiles to mark the way would be laid.

There would also be a system to guide blind and deaf people, he added.

On board the metro and monorail coaches, special seats would be installed for people with disabilities.

The city plans to build seven metro and three monorail lines measuring a total of 160 kilometres, with work on the first metro route from Ben Thanh Market to Suoi Tien Park in District 9 starting three years ago.

Chu Manh Hung, head of the Ministry of Transport's Environment Department, hailed the facilities planned for disabled people.

He said he hoped they would help increase the number of disabled people using public transport.

The number of people with disabilities using buses is low despite the city creating favourable conditions for them since 2006.

The transport infrastructure around the country does pose difficulties for disabled people.

For instance, roads do not have areas dedicated for them.

They also find it difficult to travel by train or bus since doors are too narrow for wheelchairs and ticket counters, too high.

Furthermore, employees at train and bus stations discriminate against them.

The Ministry of Transport is working with the Viet Nam Railways and transport companies to redesign trains and buses as well as stations to make the infrastructure disabled-friendly.

Vo Thi Hoang Yen, head of the Centre for Disability Research and Capacity Development, said before putting new metro and monorail stations and routes into operation, drivers and other employees should be trained to be considerate to disabled people.

Dang Van Thanh, deputy secretary general of the Viet Nam Federation for People with Disabilities, said people with disabilities should be allowed to monitor construction of stations and other facilities.

Alcohol consumption ban in public offices

The Ministry of Transport has proposed a ban on the consumption of alcohol in public offices during working hours as well as lunch and other breaks.

It sees this as a measure to curb traffic accidents caused by driving under the influence.

The ministry is working with other agencies, including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, on a plan to introduce tougher measures towards reducing traffic accidents.

The ban will also apply to the consumption of beer and other liquor even at parties held in public offices.

The restrictive move on the staff of public agencies is the first step in tightening regulations on alcohol use.

The ministry plans to issue a circular later this year regulating blood tests to determine alcohol content. The Ministry of Science and Technology will come up with standards for breath analysers, while the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports will have regulations prohibiting advertisements of beer and alcohol on mass media.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will come up with recommendations on the impacts of alcohol to be printed on the packaging of alcoholic products, and to limit the volume of alcohol products sold at bus stations, rest stops and roadside eateries.

In a meeting last month with related ministries, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had ordered tougher measures although a decline has been seen in the number of traffic accidents over the last three years.

A Transport Ministry report has said that the number of traffic accidents has decreased by 5.4 percent in the last three years, as have the number of fatalities and injuries, by 13.2 percent and 6 percent respectively.

The Transport Minister had said at the meeting that one of the measures to effect a sharp reduction in the number of traffic accidents would be tougher action against drinking before and during driving.

Looting breaks out after motorist robbed

Many residents living near An Duong Vuong roundabout in Ho Chi Minh City’s district 5 Thursday afternoon flocked to the street to collect money after a motorist was robbed and a lot of banknotes fell out of his torn bag.

Eyewitnesses said when the victim was traveling on the street, two men on a motorcycle behind tried to snatch his bag. Since he held the bag tightly, the two robbers couldn’t do the act and then ran away.

However, the bag was torn due to the strong pull and many banknotes inside flied out.

Taking advantage of the incident, around 30 street-goers and local residents nearby rushed to the street to fight over money in front of the victim’s dazed eyes.

The riot took place for about two minutes.

 “They [the looters] didn’t give the people in need [the victim] a hand, they even struggled for his money. They're so emotionless,” a taxi driver witnessing the scene said.

VNN/VNS/Tuoi Tre