Land donated for new rural housing areas

More than 500 households in central Quang Binh Province's Le Thuy District's Hung Thuy Commune have donated their land and property to the government to build nine public roads.

Many donors removed fences, railings and old houses to hasten construction.

Taxi driver suspended over suspicion of theft

Vinasun Transport Corporation has suspended a taxi cab driver for one month pending an investigation on the suspicion that he stole a camera that a tourist from Japan left behind.

Dam, an employee of a travel firm based in Ho Chi Minh City, told Tuoi Tre that on March 15 a Japanese visitor had him contact Vinasun’s switchboard to look for a camera that he left in a cab numbered 56M-1378.

“When I contacted the switchboard operators, no one gave me an answer. They even spoke rudely to me,” Dam said.

Ta Long Huy, Vinasun’s CEO, told Tuoi Tre that the involved driver has been summoned for a working session regarding the issue. The driver admitted he took the Japanese passenger but did not see the camera as has been alleged, adding that his next customers might have taken it. Further investigations are underway.

Man stops sleeping, drinks 35 liters liquid a day

Duc still feels thirsty all the time and eats 4-5 watermelons a day. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

At first, Duc’s family thought he was depressed about his father’s sudden death. However, the situation got worse as he started to lose appetite and vomited on seeing meat and fish.

Duc even gave up rice and opted for vegetable and water instead. He has been drinking 35 liters of boiled water, lemon juice and pennywort juice on daily basis.

Seeing Duc unable to sleep for 10 days, his family took him to see the doctor but no abnormality was found.

Over the past two months, Duc has not been able to sleep and has endured long exhaustion and depression.

Last Monday, he was diagnosed with severe depression by doctors at the Da Nang Psychiatric Hospital.

After using tranquillizers, Duc could sleep an hour a night and eat 3-5 spoons of rice each meal.

However, he still feels thirsty all the time and eats 4-5 watermelons a day.

“Duc’s case is very rare. It may take a year or more of treatment for him to get back to normal life,” said Tran Thu Hong, head of the infirmary at the Military School of Military Zone 5.

Police bust cross border slavery ring

Ngo Thi Hung Trang, aged 22, from northern Nam Dinh Province's Vu Ban District was arrested together with five others for allegedly running a human trafficking ring to China, according to provincial police.

Nineteen of the group's victims escaped and were rescued. Two of them were under 16 years of age.

However, one Vietnamese victim taken to go to China has not been found.

Trang enticed the victims to China and sold them for VND10 million (US$476) each.

In 2008, Trang herself was a victim of human trafficking.

Da Nang’s Dragon Bridge to be lit up with LEDs

The Rong (Dragon) Brigde spanning the Han River in the central port city of Da Nang will be lit up with LED lights as an impressive gateway to connect the city’s international airport and beaches.

Philips Electronics Vietnam Ltd. Company has just submitted the project of lighting up Rong (Dragon) Brigde at an estimated cost of VND30 billion ($1.4 million) to Da Nang authorities for consideration and approval.

Under the project, around 15,000 LED lights will provide effects on demand for the city’s political and cultural events taking place on the bridge. The company has also proposed to make the dragon bridge ‘breathe fire’.

Under the proposal, LPG gas or DO would be used to fuel the dragon. According to experts, the ‘fire-breathing dragon’ will cost VND5 million ($240) to VND7.7 million ($370) per night, depending on the types of fuel.

The “Dragon’ is expected to ‘breath fire’ at 10:00pm every Saturday and Sunday when the bridge is completed on March, 2013 to mark the city’s 38th anniversary of its liberation.

The 670m long and 37.5m wide bridge, which has six lanes for traffic, will be the sixth to span the Han River and is so named because its design resembles a dragon, a creature with cultural significance in the country. The head span of the dragon's head will measure 72m and tail span 64m.

UK-based architecture firms Louis Berger Group and Ammann & Whitney have been selected to design the bridge, roadways, and the public plazas and squares on each side.

The project aims to develop the city’s urban transport system and relieve congestion on the Han River Bridge as well.

Soldiers off to Laos to assist rural poor

Twenty two soldiers stationed in central Thua Thien – Hue Province went to Laos for two days to provide food, health checks, and medicines to residents of a poor village there and help them repair their houses.

The soldiers, who are from the A Dot Border Gate, walked 10 kilometres over mountainous and muddy roads to reach Kalo village.

Nguyen Van Trung, the border post's Ho Chi Minh Youth Union Secretary, said this task was done every month, with Dr Tran Viet Anh, head of the post medical station visiting the village most often.

Kalo Village in Sekong Province has 316 people, all living a nomadic life.

Hanoi official 'rude' to US embassy staff

Dang Quoc Dung, deputy chief of Ha Tay customs office in Hanoi, had an argument with a diplomat at the US embassy based in Hanoi following their slight car collision on Monday evening.

Dung even spoke ‘rudely’ to the staff and security guards of the embassy after they tried to intervene in the conflict.

Local traffic officers arrived up and tried to determine Dung’s concentration of alcohol, but he ignored their requests.

On March 19, a leader of Hanoi’s customs office confirmed with Tuoi Tre that Dung behaved inappropriately in front of the US embassy on March 18.

However, he added that the customs office will ask Dung to make a report only if they receive official information provided by concerned authorities regarding this incident.

More methadone centres to open

The Viet Nam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control plans to open 20 more methadone detoxification centres across the country this year, said director Pham Duc Manh at a conference on HIV/AIDS held recently in Ha Noi.

Once completed, Viet Nam will have 61 methadone centres with the capacity to treat approximately 15,000 drug addicts th is year.

Methadone medicine is currently imported by the Ministry of Health through a programme sponsored by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The ministry has imported more than 70,600 litres of the medicine thus far.

Methadone centres are forecast to provide treatment to 80,000 drug addicts by 2015.

"However, the US programme's coverage is limited and the ministry has found it difficult to find an alternate source of methadone since it is imported," said Manh.

Relevant bodies should join hands to carry out a methadone manufacture project and create jobs for patients being treated with methadone, he said.

According to the rector of the Ha Noi Medical University, unsafe drug injection was the main cause of HIV transmission in the country.

Operation Smile to raise funds for 500 surgeries

Operation Smile will organize a charity art auction and gala dinner at Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City on May 26 to raise funds for 500 surgeries for Vietnamese children.

Sponsors can donate US$8,000, $4,000, and $1,250 for seats at the event.
Individuals can also attend by paying for an admission fee of $125.

Operation Smiles aims to raise $130,000 to offer 500 free surgeries during its 27 working trips in Hanoi, HCMC, Nghe An, An Giang, Hue, Vinh Long and Can Tho.

For more information, please contact Operation Smile Vietnam, 16 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi. Tel: +84-4-3936 5426; hand phone: +84-(0)-912 67 9495; website: www.operationsmile.org.vn.

Last year, Operation Smile provided 2,670 free treatments and corrective facial surgeries for Vietnamese children with cleft lip and cleft palate deformities, bringing the total number of patients treated to 18,735 since its first medical mission in Vietnam in 1989.

Urbanization brings more pressure to suburbanites

The living quality of suburbanites in Vietnam has continued to decline due to the urbanization process, including the expansion of cities, population increases, pollution, the migration of laborers and loss of agricultural land for construction projects.

Experts attending the 9th Vietnam-France Finance and Economic Forum held yesterday in Hanoi all agreed with the point.

While addressing the meeting, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai cited the increase in the rate of Vietnam’s urban population, which has risen from 19 percent, or 11.8 million people, in 1986, to 30.5 percent, or 26.3 million people, in 2010.

The World Bank assessed that Vietnam is the nation with the fastest urbanization rate in Southeast Asia, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Thus, urban areas in Vietnam are facing a number of challenges such as rapid population growth, wastefulness in land use and a loss of traditional craft villages, Hai said.

Though people living in suburban areas have received non-agricultural benefits from the urbanization process, they have encountered other growing challenges such as gambling, drug addiction and prostitution due to the gap in living conditions between people in and outside the city.

After selecting two villages for study, Phu Dien and Gia Minh in Hanoi’s Tu Liem District, Ph.D Nguyen Van Suu from Hanoi National University announced his research results that the localities have lost over three quarters of agricultural land. In addition, local irrigation networks have been damaged and locals can only grow vegetables.

Suburbanites have been left with little cultivable land and have been forced to find other economic opportunities such as building rooms for rent or running small groceries.

VN joins Bangladesh Francophone week

The Embassies of Vietnam, Switzerland, Egypt and Morocco co-hosted the annual Francophone week 2012 in the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka from March 15-24, to celebrate International Francophone Day (March 20).

During the event, a wide range of cultural and artistic activities staged by Francophone member countries were introduced to the public at the Francophone Cultural Centre and major universities in the capital city.

Speaking in Dhaka, a representative from the Vietnamese Embassy said as a responsible and dynamic member of the international community, Vietnam wants to further promote cooperation with member Francophone countries.

On the occasion, publications on Vietnamese country and people were also introduced and a Vietnamese movie entitled “Dung dot” (Don’t burn”) was screened in the country.

Exhibition held in France to fund AO victims

An exhibition of paintings entitled “The Love of Colour” by late French painter Suzy Cohen opened in Paris, France on March 17 to raise funds for Vietnamese children with disabilities and victims of Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin.

Suzy Cohen’s paintings are an original, harmonious combination of pointillist dots and colours, which express the beauty of people and landscapes or a still-life.

The Chairwoman of the Association for Vietnamese AO/Dioxin Children in France (Vietnam les Enfants de la Dioxine), Vo Thi Loan, said the association has launched many charitable programmes after it was established in 2001 to support Vietnamese AO victims.

Since 2008, the proceeds from the association’s activities have provided 231 families in 21 provinces and cities across Vietnam with interest free loans of VND7 million per family through provincial chapters of the Vietnamese Association of Victims of Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin (VAVA) and the Vietnam Red Cross.

The association has supported 254 families with AO victims who live in difficult circumstances and have also granted scholarships to 328 schoolchildren.

Money raised by from the association has also been used to provide humanitarian operations for 22 children with spinal cord injuries and heart disease.

Japan proposes eco-friendly urban area in Hanoi

Japan would like to build an urban model of an ecologically environmentally friendly district in Hanoi, said the Japanese Deputy Minister for the Environment, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, Shogo Tsugawa.

Tsugawa revealed this at a meeting with the Chairman of Hanoi’s People's Committee, Nguyen The Thao on March 17.

Thao commended the proposal and said that the Prime Minister has directed Vietnam ’s Ministries of Planning and Investment, and Construction along with Hanoi’s People's Committee to discuss the initial idea in more detail. This will include choosing a suitable site, the architectural design and the sources of investment for the project.

Tsugawa replied that Japan would like to work with Hanoi and various Vietnamese enterprises to create a forward looking, modern and attractive district that is kind to the environment and energy conscious.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre