Court upholds Filipino drug sentences


A court of appeals has upheld a life imprisonment and a 20-year jail term to two citizens of the Philippines for illegally bringing heroin into Vietnam.

The Court of Appeals of the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City handed down the life sentence on John Lopez Diemsen, 49, and the 20-year imprisonment on Raquel Malayao Ramos, 33, at a trial on January 18.
The duo was sentenced by the People’s Court of the southern province of Tay Ninh on September 30, 2010.
According to the Tay Ninh Provincial People’s Court’s verdict, both men planned to traffic heroin from Cambodia to Vietnam and then to the Philippines in July, 2009.
On August 8, 2009, Raquel went to Cambodia to receive the banned goods that were already ordered. However, he was caught red-handed the same day at Long Beach Plaza Hotel.
Raquel’s case was immediately notified to Vietnam’s police to enable them to arrest Diemsen in Tay Ninh province on August 11, 2009 when he received five packages of yellow powder weighting 847.2 grams. The powder was tested and found to contain heroin.


HCM City plans to bury electrical cables


HCM City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC) early this week announced 26 projects for this year to lay 100km of the city's electrical grid underground.

The projects, half of which are medium voltage, will fan out from 32 roads and nine roundabouts.

According to EVN HCMC, the projects mainly focus on the central districts 1 and 3 with 16 roads including Nguyen Hue, Le Loi, Ham Nghi, Dong Khoi, and big crossroads including Nguyen Thi Minh Khai-Cach Mang Thang Tam, and Phu Dong roundabout.

Districts 10, 11, 5, Binh Thanh, Go Vap, Tan Binh and Binh Tan will get underground power lines in the centre areas.

Last year, EVN HCMC piloted underground power, information and telecommunication cables along Tran Hung Dao Street between the intersections of Nguyen Khac Nhu and Nguyen Van Cu streets in District 1.

EVN HCMC set the 2011-15 target to bury most of medium- and low-voltage network in the city centre, including 95 per cent of medium-voltage network and 30 per cent of low-voltage network in districts 1 and 3, and complete the underground city grid by 2020.


High school students faint en mass


Sixty students of Son Thanh Tay Secondary and High School in central Phu Yen Province fainted in groups during classes over the past two days.

On Monday morning, 40 girls in the 8th and 11th grades passed out en mass. The students recovered after getting treatment from Son Thanh Tay Health Clinic.

On Tuesday afternoon, 19 girls and one boy in the 8th and 11th grades suddenly collapsed. All other students of the 13 classes were given the day off as a precaution.

Doctor Vo Hong Hai from Tay Hoa General Hospital said a decrease in calcium levels in the students' blood might be the cause of the fainting.

Mass hysteria also was suspected. However the exact cause of the faintings was as yet unknown.

Meanwhile, doctors and health staff have been sent to the clinic in case more students collapse.


Thai Consul General presents Tet gifts to disabled children


Thai Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Somchai Powcharaoen, visited handicapped children in Binh Duong province on January 18 and presented them with Lunar New Year gifts worth VND35 million.

The donation was raised by the Thai Consulate General at a celebration party of the Thai King’s birthday.

Nguyen Thi Chi Liem, an official from a chapter of the association for sponsoring people with disabilities, said that she was very moved by the visit by Thailand’s Consulate General.

For the past years, the Thai Consulate General in HCM City has donated hundreds of Vietnam dong annually to charitable activities. In 2010, they presented scholarships worth VND120 million to poor and handicapped pupils.


VNN/VOV/VNS