Denmark to give $135 million ODA for green growth

The Government of Denmark will provide US$135 million in official development assistance (ODA) to Viet Nam during the 2011-12 period, with the funds earmarked for projects that foster green growth.

Work funded by the ODA will include projects on clean water, energy efficiency, and research on climate change adaptation. Funding will be provided for improving quality and access to drinking water for poor households while also reducing water loss in the country's water supply network.

John Nielsen, Danish Ambassador to Viet Nam, said climate change was an area of particular concern.

"Two years ago, Denmark was one of the first sponsors of Viet Nam in the field of climate change, as we know that the country is forecast to suffer great losses caused by climate change," said Nielsen.

The ODA funding will be combined with transferring high quality, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly technologies from Danish companies to their Vietnamese partners in the waste management, solar energy and wind power sectors.

"We hope to establish partnerships between enterprises from both countries especially in the area of wind power, as it is considered a strength of Danish industry," said Nielsen.

He added that with 125 Danish companies working in Viet Nam, he believed that it is possible for Danish companies to find suitable Vietnamese partners for the projects.

When implementing the projects benefiting from the ODA, the embassy would make annual check to ensure that the projects reach expected results, he said.

Since 1993 Denmark has been a key ODA partner for Viet Nam, providing more than $1.2 billion in ODA, which was provided to sectors including agriculture, water and sanitation, fisheries, justice and private business development.

Gold robbery kingpin is wanted US drug gangster

Interpol has confirmed that Nguyen Mark Joseph aka Khanh, the alleged leader of the gang that held up a jeweler’s in Binh Thuan last week, is a criminal in the US who is also wanted internationally.

The Vietnamese police, who informed the international organization about his arrest, also told US authorities about it.

The fugitive, also known as Nguyen David Ty or Nguyen Hung Quoc, was born in 1976 in Arkansas, the US, Interpol said.

In 2007 he joined a drug gang in Houston which produced and distributed methamphetamine and ecstasy, two synthetic drugs, and was in charge of transporting and delivering the drugs.

He set up a trading company pretending to be a businessman, but actually used it as a place to hide drugs and deal with drug traders and gang members.

The US police busted the gang and in 2009 Judge J. Williams of the Texas Court issued an international wanted notice for Nguyen Mark Joseph for trafficking and storing drugs.

If found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to 40 years, the court said.

Recently Interpol received information that he could have fled to Vietnam.

He had rented a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City to operate a wine business.

On October 14 he drove Nguyen Phuoc Hai, 34, Nguyen Bao Quoc, 33, and Huynh Quoc Thai, 23, to Thu Thanh gold shop on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, Cho Lau town, in a car.

The gang stole about 1.2 kg of gold and injured the shop owner before fleeing.

Nguyen Mark Joseph was arrested soon after, Hai and Thai were seized later the same day, and Quoc handed himself in three days later.

The four had pleaded guilty to the robbery without revealing where the gold was, the police said.

The police are continuing their investigation.

Man who killed his wife has death sentence commuted to life

Nguyen Ngoc Trai, 49, convicted of killing his wife, had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment at the HCM City-based Supreme Court yesterday, Oct 19.

On August 18, the court sentenced him to death, but Trai and his mother-in-law lodged an appeal.

On May 26, 2010, Trai doused petrol over his wife and set her alight and she later died in hospital for severe burns.

Police confirm husband-burning wife acted alone

Following a fresh investigation into the alleged burning death of her husband by Tran Thuy Lieu, 40, last January, the Long An Province police have reiterated their earlier conclusion she had acted alone, a source told Tuoi Tre.

In February Lieu told the police that she had killed her husband Le Hoang Hung by herself at their home in Tan An town. In July the police petitioned the provincial People’s Procuracy to prosecute her for murder, rejecting speculation that someone had helped her in the evil deed.

But on August 5 the victim’s mother, Nguyen Thi Kim Nga, requested the prosecutors to refer the case back to the police for a fresh investigation since a number of issues remained unclear.

One of them was that the evidence collected at the crime scene did not dovetail with Lieu’s confession. For instance, the quantity of gasoline she allegedly used to burn Hung was not the same as in her confession.

Besides there was no apparent motive for the murder since, according to Lieu’s relatives, relations between the couple had been amicable.

Importantly, an examination of the crime scene had found that the mattress on which Hung had been lying burst into fire at two places at the same time.

The police began their reinvestigation on August 29 and concluded that there were no signs that someone had assisted Lieu in the killing.

On January 19 Hung, 51, was sleeping alone in a bedroom when Lieu went out to the balcony, tied a rope to the railing, and let it fall to the ground.

She returned to her room, got some petrol, a newspaper, and a lighter, walked into Hung’s room, poured the petrol on the mattress, set fire to the newspaper, and threw it on the mattress.

Hung died 10 days later in a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

He was a journalist for Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper covering social, underworld, and anti-corruption issues.

Blue ear disease continues to spread in Quang Nam Province

More than a dozen new cases of blue-ear pig disease were detected in the central province of Quang Nam yesterday, Oct 19, raising the country's total affected number to nearly 19,000, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.

The worst-hit provinces are Quang Nam, Long An and Tay Ninh.

Deputy minister Diep Kinh Tan has urged Navetco Company, the ministry's animal medicine company, to promptly supply 500,000 doses of vaccine for affected areas.

He also encouraged localities to alert authorities should the situation worsen so that timely and effective measures could be taken to stamp out the epidemic.

VN, RoK journalist associations boost cooperation

A delegation from the Vietnam Journalists Association (VJA) led by its Standing Vice President Ha Minh Hue paid a working visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) from Oct. 13-19, at the invitation of the Journalists Association of Korea (JAK).

At a meeting in the capital city of Seoul, JAK President Woo Jang Kyun and Vice President Hue discussed in details the JAK’s provision of equipment to VJA’s centre for media training which is now under construction.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK, Tran Trong Toan said he hoped Vietnam-RoK journalism cooperation will be strongly promoted to contribute to enhancing mutual understanding and strengthening friendship between the two peoples.

During their stay in the RoK, the Vietnamese journalist delegation held working sessions with a number of central and local news agencies, visited Taekwang Industrial Company and Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Company – two RoK’s strong economic businesses which are running many production facilities in Vietnam.

They also visited support centres for multi-cultural families and inquired into the lives of Vietnamese brides in the RoK.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre