Cambodia aids VN's flood victims

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday sent his condolences to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung over the loss of life and property caused by recent floods. The Cambodian Government also aided the flood victims with US$50,000.

Yunnan radio station, VOV step up cooperation

A delegation from China’s radio station of Yunnan province has visited the headquarters of Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) to boost bilateral cooperation between the two agencies.

Photo: VOV

During the meeting, Mr Hua introduced his Chinese colleagues to the functions and duties of VOV as well as its four media platforms (radio, TV, print and online).

Mr Hua also recalled traditional cooperation between VOV and the Yunnan Radio Station, which began during Vietnam’s resistance war against the US. In 1971 and 1972, part of VOV was evacuated to Kunming, China, to produce and broadcast radio programmes from this location.

The two sides previously cooperated through the Yunnan Department for Cinema and Television Development. Then in 2005, VOV and the Yunnan Radio Station signed a cooperation agreement and ever since have exchanged delegations and reporters to learn experience from each other.

In 2008, a VOV delegation, headed by then VOV Deputy Director General Hoang Minh Nguyet visited the Yunnan Radio Station to discuss the possibility of launching a transport radio channel.

Up to now, VOV has a regular exchange of programmes with the Yunnan Radio Station.

During the meeting, VOV Deputy Director General Hua stressed that VOV had fully covered the recent China visit by Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

For her part, the Vice Director of the Yunnan Radio Station, Lu Yunfang, said her station has an audience of 3.8 million and is considered one of the leading broadcasters in China with an estimated advertisement turnover of 100 million yuan for 2011.

Ms Yunfang expressed hope that VOV and the Yunnan Radio Station will expand bilateral cooperation and business operations. She also proposed organizing a China-ASEAN radio forum and wished that VOV would help invite regional radio broadcasters to take part in the forum.

Bomb found near residential area

A bomb found on Tuesday at a construction site in Hung Son Township, Lam Thao District, in the midland province of Phu Tho is threatening the safety of local people.

The bomb measured 1.2 metres in length and 60cm in diameter, and was equipped with detonators, said the Lam Thao District's Military Command.

The Hung Son Township People's Committee posted a warning sign and assigned three locals to take turns standing guard to prevent anyone from entering the site.

Authorities are seeking a plan to defuse the bomb and bring it to a safer location.

Traffic jam for eight hours on highway 27

Traffic slowed to a crawl today on Highway 27 of Central Highland's Lam Dong Province after an overloaded lorry was subsided into road bed.

Thousands of vehicles, mainly cars of various kinds were immovable from 1pm to 8am today before everything came back to normalcy.

Highway 27 is a main route connecting Lam Dong with south central provinces. Thousands of passenger cars and goods transporting ones go on traffic on this route every night.

The route, especially on Ngoan Muc mountain pass where slower traffic happened remains covered in concrete and construction materials as it is being upgraded.

Woman school teacher among Hanoi drug gang

The Hanoi police have busted an interprovincial drug trafficking gang, arresting 46-year-old preschool teacher Lieu Thi Cuc and five others and seizing about 50 kg of drugs.

Cuc was arrested along with Trinh Van Bach, 37, of Lang Son Province; Nguyen Thi Huong, 32, of Hanoi; and three Thai Nguyen Province residents, Luu Duc Chinh, 45, Tran Luu Thuy, 39, and Dang Xuan Chinh, 50.

Colonel Tran Quang Trong, head of Hanoi’s Tu Liem District police, said yesterday the gang had assigned Cuc, who is also Thuy’s aunt, to keep the drugs since they believed a preschool teacher would be above suspicion, Ngoi Sao newswire reported.

Cuc, who teaches at a school in Thai Nguyen Province, confessed that her husband was serving a 17-year sentence for drug trafficking.

She kept the drugs inside a washing machine at home, she said.

All the arrested are drug addicts or have previous drug-related convictions, Trong said.

They admitted to operating in Hanoi, northern provinces like Son La, Lang Son, and Thai Nguyen, and also some southern provinces.

Thuy confessed to the police that in 2010 she had carried drugs from Son La to Hanoi.

On searching Dang Xuan Chinh's house, the police found a notebook that recorded the gang's drug deals, including one worth VND4.5 billion (US$215,000), according to Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper.  

On August 20, following a tip-off, the district police caught Bach trafficking 332 grams of drugs at the My Dinh Bus Station.

From Bach’s cell phone and by questioning him the police identified Chinh as the gang leader and seized him in Thai Nguyen a few days later.

Bach said Chinh had ordered him to buy the drugs worth VND185 million (US$8,800) and take it to the south for sale.

From Chinh’s confessions the police captured the other members.

They later raided Cuc’s house and seized heroin weighing nearly 50 kg.

“The arrests are just preliminary and we are expanding the investigation to track down others involved with the gang,” Trong said.

Fire destroys stalls at Dinh An market

More than 50 kiosks at Dinh An Market in southern Tra Vinh Province were destroyed in a fire early yesterday morning, Oct 20.

Damage was estimated at around VND4 billion (US$190,500). The fire, which allegedly started off at a noodle restaurant, was stamped out after three hours, with no fatalities reported.

Investigations remain under way at the temporary market, with its unsafe power system and lack of fire hydrants some of the main suspects.

Charge pressed against driver in deadly crash

The Ho Chi Minh City police have pressed charge against Tran Anh Huy for violating traffic laws that left 2 dead and 15 injured in an accident on Ly Thai To Street on October 7.

According to Colonel Truong Van Hoa, head of the Investigation Agency under the Ho Chi Minh City Police, 42-year-old Huy has pleaded guilty after the police showed his car didn’t have any technical problem as he had earlier claimed.

Huy, who is a doctor at Nhi Dong Pediatrics Hospital No. 1, confessed to the police that he had mistakenly slammed on the accelerator pedal instead of the brake after his car collided with two motorbikes and thus crashed into several other motorbikes waiting for the green light at a crowded junction of Ly Thai To and Su Van Hanh streets in District 10.

Earlier Huy blamed some technical problems of his Toyota Altis car.

He said he had lost control after the two air bags in the car were inflated.

Peace Foundation head welcomed

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan yesterday, Oct 20, received head of the International Peace Foundation Uwe Morawetz, who is in Viet Nam to prepare for the programme "Bridges – Dialogues toward a culture of peace".

Nhan said he appreciated the initiative to host the programme, which offers Viet Nam an opportunity to welcome the world's scientists and Nobel prize winners in various fields to the country.

He also said the event's activities would help promote dialogue and establish long-term co-operative ties, particularly among the youth, to advance towards a peaceful world culture.

Morawetz said the programme had been held successfully in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia since 2003.

It is scheduled to be held in Viet Nam from November 2012 to March 2013 with a wide range of activities, including workshops, talks and exchanges.

Cam Ranh town becomes a city

Cam Ranh Town in Khanh Hoa Province has officially become a city, following a Government resolution that raised its status.

The People's Committee of Cam Ranh held a public ceremony on Tuesday to announce its new status as a city, which is expected to help it attract more investors.

The resolution that was issued in December last year had allowed Cam Ranh to announce its official status at a suitable date this year.

Cam Ranh City, which is 45km to the south of Nha Trang City, has a total area of 32,000 hectares with nine wards and six communes, and a population of nearly 130,000.

Located on National Highway No 1A and the north-south railway, Cam Ranh has an international airport and a deep-water seaport that plays an important role in national defence and security.

With its prime location, the city has great potential to develop port services, a shipbuilding industry, tourism, aquaculture and seafood processing for export.

According to figures from Khanh Hoa Province People's Committee, Cam Ranh Town had obtained an average annual GDP growth rate of 12.25 per cent for the 2000-10 period.

The town's economy has been restructured by increasing the proportion of industrial, construction, commercial and service sectors and reducing the contribution of the agricultural, forestry and aqua-culture sectors.

The town's infrastructure has been greatly improved, offering favourable conditions for it to become a city five years ahead of schedule.

With its new city status, Cam Ranh will have more opportunities to better tap its potential and become a political and economic hub in the southern section of Khanh Hoa Province.

Addressing the ceremony, Nguyen Khanh Toan, secretary of Cam Ranh City Party Committee, said the establishment of Cam Ranh City marked a milestone in the development of the city.

It would help the city speed up economic re-structuring, better mobilise capital for infrastructure development, and further improve its residents' living standards, said Toan.

On this occasion, Cam Ranh City authorities welcomed the Labour Order, Second Class, awarded by the State President.

Vietnam strengthens friendship with Spain

The Vietnam-Spain Friendship Association aims to consolidate the ties of solidarity, comprehensive cooperation, and strategic partnership between the two countries.

This was affirmed at the second National Congress of the Vietnam-Spain Friendship Association in Hanoi on October 20.

Newly-elected President, Nguyen Hoai Duong, said the association will launch a number of programs to boost the cooperation between the two countries.

He said he hopes organizations and businesses from both countries will contribute more to boosting the Vietnam-Spain strategic partnership in the interest of both peoples.

Spanish Ambassador to Vietnam Fernandi Curcio Ruigomez said the traditional friendship is a valuable asset of Spain and Vietnam.

He said that Spain is willing to cooperate with Vietnam in construction, renewable energy, and information technology, which are considered the country’s strengths.

The Spanish embassy in Vietnam always supports cultural  and information exchanges to enhance the multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

Nguyen Duc Kien, Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations, spoke highly of the association and urged it to make greater efforts to strengthen cooperation with Spanish friends and partners.

The police in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have arrested five guards of a bar who stabbed and beat to death a 23-year-old man two days ago.

Ngo Van Duc, 26, Nguyen Duy Phuong, 20, Nguyen Tan Quy, 18, Nguyen Ngoc Chau, 17, and Phan Thanh Hai, 18, were arrested yesterday after they killed Pham Duy Huan and severely injuring four others at BB Bar on Cach Mang Thang Tam Street, Ba Ria Town.

The killing occurred at 0:30 am October 18, when Huan went by the bar and found his friend, 26-year-old Pham Buu, being violently assaulted by the guards.

Huan rushed into the bar to prevent the attack and was beaten.

Huan managed to escape and ran home. He then called his brother Pham Tan Hao to come back to the bar with him to save Buu.

Huan later stabbed Duc with a knife he had brought along from his home, but Duc managed to snatch the knife from Huan and used it to stab him in the back many times.

Huan fell down to the ground and Duc’s colleagues used bamboo sticks to strike him on the head until he died.

Buu got a brain injury while three others who prevented the fight were seriously wounded.

According to the police, last month, some guards of this bar also assaulted a local young man, 21-year-old Le Huu Thanh.

Nearly 2 million SMS to vote for Ha Long Bay

Nearly 2 million text messages were sent to vote for Ha Long Bay as one of the world’s new seven wonders by October 19.

At a meeting of the Steering Committee for campaigning for Ha Long Bay on Wednesday, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh said the voting is a way to promote the national image, so Vietnam should not lose the opportunity.

There’s only more 21 days to go and more drastic measures should be taken, the minister said.

The voting campaign will last until November 11.

2-year-old Ben Tre girl shows signs of puberty

A two-year-old girl in the southern province of Ben Tre, who has developed breasts and menstruates, has been diagnosed as reaching puberty.

D.K.H began to develop signs of puberty during the past year.

Last May, H.N, the mother of the child, took her to the Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. Doctors did a comprehensive check and said there was no problem with her brain -- precocious puberty is mostly caused by problems in the patient’s brain -- but she had an ovarian cyst and unusually large uterus.

They diagnosed her as having peripheral precocious puberty and continue to monitor the development of her breasts and menstruation as well as weight and height.

In August she had a check at HCMC’s Tu Du Hospital. But an MRI scan and hormone test failed to show conclusively if the condition was caused by the ovarian cyst or problems in her brain.

Hoang Thi Diem Thuy, deputy head of the kidney - endocrine department at Children's Hospital 2, told Tuoi Tre that in many cases precocious puberty was caused by problems in the brain.

Her hospital was now treating seven such cases and H’s was the most difficult to diagnose, she said.

It had invited an Australian endocrinologist to look at H this month, she said, and would provide treatment once the cause was found.

If it was caused by some problem in the brain, the child would be given inhibitors once a month, helping her to attain puberty at around 13 as usual.

If the cause was the ovarian cyst, she would need medicines or even surgery if it was large, she said.

Precocious puberty had consequences like causing children to be short and age early, she added.

Vietnamese businesses finance school construction in Laos

Construction of a primary school started in Xaysettha district, Attapeu province, Laos, on October 20 with financial assistance from Vietnamese businesses.

Covering an area of 18,000 square metres, the two-storey school will have eight classrooms for 450 pupils.

Initial funding for the school, estimated at US$500,000, will be sourced from the total amount of US$12 million raised by Vietnamese businesses during the Indochina golf tournament in 2009.

In addition, the Golf Long Thanh JSC will provide an additional US$170,000 for the building of ten flats for teachers.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre