War-time bombs excavated in Quang Binh

Soldiers found two unexploded bombs left from the war in the central province of Quang Binh Monday.

The soldiers of an army corps excavated the bombs, each weighing 200 kilograms, while they were doing a routine check for bombs and mines near a stream in the Chuon village in Le Thuy District.

The provincial Army Command Board said the bombs were made by the US and dropped on the village, home to Van Kieu ethnic people, in the 1970s.

The bombs have been placed in a safe place for disposal.

Central Vietnam is littered with unexploded ordnances. It is estimated that 5 percent of the total bombs dropped during war, or about 800,000 land mines, failed to explode there.

Although the most affected provinces, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, and Ha Tinh, have undergone numerous clearance projects, it is estimated to cost at least US$10 billion and 50 years to clear and dispose all UXOs in the region.

Human-attacking monkey killed in Nghe An forest

A fierce monkey that has attacked a dozen local residents in the central province of Nghe An over the last few months was killed Monday.

Truong Van Dai, 51, of Quy Hop District said he was standing outside a tent in the Huoi Nhot forest when the monkey bumped into him, biting his legs and arms.

Upon hearing his shout for help, Vi Van Nguyen, his 46-year-old friend, who was washing his face on the nearby stream, rushed in and hit the monkey with a tree trunk to death.

Dai was taken to a commune medical center with multiple bites on his limbs and a broken tendon on his left arm. He had around 60 stitches after that.

At least 10 people have been attacked by the monkey in the Huoi Nhot forest since last September. They had informed local forest protection officers but no effective measures were taken.

Two French tourists die snorkeling near Phan Thiet

Two French tourists died while snorkeling in the central province of Binh Thuan Monday, local police said without revealing their identities. Another is in critical condition.

Dinh Kim Lap, chief of the Tuy Phong District police, said the third had been rescued off Cu Lao Cau beach.

The three, who were staying in Mui Ne near the resort city of Phan Thiet, went snorkeling off Tuy Phong some 110 km away.

They may have been asphyxiated due to strong winds and waves, local authorities said without elaborating.

Their bodies have been transferred to the Binh Thuan General Hospital for identification.

Two arrested for posting clips in New Century nightclub bust

Ministry of Public Security police have arrested two men for posting two video clips on YouTube featuring a massive police raid in 2007 into New Century, the most notorious nightclub back then in Hanoi.

The names of the two men were not revealed, but police said they are freelance cameramen.

They will be detained for three months pending further investigations.

Two film clips lasting a combined 22 minutes show hundreds of police officers on the evening of April 28, 2007 storming into the New Century on Trang Thi Street, causing chaos among some 1,000 guests there.

The officers are carrying cudgels and shields and trying to control the crowds in the deafening music.

In the first clip, the guests are ordered to freeze, with many lowering their heads and hiding their faces with handkerchiefs.

The second clip gives a close-up of the police’s body search on the guests, including females.

Colonel Le Huy Hop, deputy chief of the Investigative Police Agency, said the clips were shot by police and meant for investigation purposes.

The archived files are not allowed to be publicized, he added.

The two men confessed they copied and edited the clips before posting them on YouTube last Wednesday.

But police did not explain why the clips were “leaked.”

During the raid, more than 100 ecstasy tablets were seized.

Nguyen Dai Duong, the club’s manager, was detained 7 months on charges of “illegally storing drugs.” The club has since been closed.

21 missing, 30 saved off Vung Tau as tornadoes rage

Tornadoes over the East Sea have wrecked or drifted off course eight ships off the southern Vung Tau city in the past few days. Thirty fishermen have been rescued but 21 others and two vessels remain missing.

According to colonel Bui Nam Dinh, commander of the provincial coastguard, 20 of the 21 missing sailors are from vessel BV 4248 belonging to 72-year-old Nguyen Lam from Long Hai village in Ba Ria Vung Tau province.

The remaining fisherman is from BTh 5525.TS, a boat registered in Binh Thuan province. Eight other crewmen on this ship have been rescued.

Local coast guards have helped six ships to safety. However, two vessels, each carrying three people on board, are missing.

Nguyen Truyen, owner of one lost boat, reported that his vessel was at 090 59’ ­N - 1080 27’ E and on its way back to Phuoc Tinh village when he lost communication at 8 AM on 17 Dec.

Boats off the central coast have also fallen victim to rough seas.

Six tuna-fishing vessels in Phu Yen province have been forced to anchor 40 nautical miles to the west of Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands due to a tornado.

In addition, eight other vessels were wrecked off Quang Ngai province on the evening of Dec 18.

In Thua Thien-Hue and Nghe An provinces, at least two vessels reportedly sank off their coasts.

Police bust Vung Tau resort for strip pole dancing

Police in the southern beach city of Vung Tau have summoned the owner of a night club for questioning after they found pole dancers stripping in front of tourists in the club during a raid last Friday.

They caught two strip dancers -- one man and one woman -- in the act at the O3 club on Tran Phu Street as they were being cheered by some 150 guests.

They were performing “erotic” dances, they said.

The owner, Nguyen Huu Hoa, 24, will be fined since he did not have a license even for the disco.

Twenty-nine employees do not have work contracts, according to the police.

Stripping at entertainment places is illegal in Vietnam.

Fresh cold snap to blanket north Vietnam

The weather will turn slightly warmer in the next two days as a cold snap weakens in the northern region, before another cold wave turns the weather chilly again from December 23 to 26.

More frost is forecast in both mountainous and lowland areas.

Places like the tourist town of Sa Pa, Sin Ho Commune in Lai Chau Province, and Mau Son Mountain in Lang Son Province are likely to get snow again, according to the Central Hydrometeorology Forecasting Center.

It also forecast the southern region to become colder due to the northeast monsoon which is active over the East Sea.

The levels in the Saigon and Dong Nai Rivers in the south will rise between December 21 and 26, peaking at over 1.5m.

The south will also be affected by turbulent eastern winds that could bring more clouds from the East Sea. Unseasonable rains can thus be expected in coastal towns in the next few days.

Ex-ministry official turns conman, to be tried

The Hanoi People’s Procuracy is set to file for fraud against a businessman and former foreign ministry official who allegedly forged documents to con people into believing he can lend them money and took loan fees of VND8 billion (US$410,000) from them.

Nguyen Thanh Ha, 51, director of the Hanoi-based Thanh Ha Limited Company, will stand trial Wednesday after being arrested at the Bao Son Hotel last March while signing a loan contract and receiving $10,000 from two business executives.

The police seized some documents in English from him which contained false claims that his company had won bids for multi-million-dollar projects abroad and forged signatures of Vietnamese and foreign diplomats.

After claiming to have three such projects in Nigeria, Moldova, and Ghana between June 2007 and March 2009, Ha promised to provide loans on easy terms from his overseas funds, the police said.

He had taken $410,000 from nine businesspeople from Hanoi and Ha Nam, Quang Ninh, and Khanh Hoa Provinces.

Ha used to work for the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi.

Passenger forced off plane in Ho Chi Minh City

A passenger bound from Ho Chi Minh City to Shanghai by a Vietnam Airlines flight was ejected last Sunday after he ignored requests from the cabin crew to turn off his mobile phone and laptop.

The passenger, whose name was not released, was asked by a stewardess to turn them off while the plane was on the runway at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

When he ignored her request, the captain returned to the terminal and the passenger was forced off the aircraft.

The flight took off after a 30-minute delay.

A government decree July 20 says passengers found using electronic devices without permission will be fined VND500,000 to VND1 million.

The Southern Airports Authority said it is considering fining the passenger.

(VND1 million=US$51)

Man’s body found at popular Da Lat tourist spot

A group of tourists stumbled upon a man’s body Sunday in a bush at a Da Lat tourist spot, and the police suspect he may have committed suicide.

The man was 22-30 years old, the police said, adding he could have been dead for five days before being discovered.

The corpse, found in Doi Thong Hai Mo near Than Tho Lake – a hot spot for lovers -- was in a green pullover, white shirt, green coat, black trousers, and black leather shoes, but had no identification papers, they said.

A knife was lying beside the body and there were two cuts on a wrist, leading police to believe he could have committed suicide.

He was lying over some children’s clothes.

The man was buried at the nearby Trai Ham Cemetery.

The police are continuing their investigation.

Vietnam schools enter the online age

Schools from every corner of the country that have power supply can surf the net thanks to a joint program developed by the telecom group Viettel and the Education and Training Ministry to cover internet services among schools nationwide

Under the two-year program, launched in 2008, Viettel has provided internet services to 29,600 education institutions nationwide, targeting to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas.

The state-run telecom group Viettel will continue the program under an agreement signed with the ministry Saturday in Hanoi.

The two sides will invest in equipment, e-books and e-learning.

The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) had last month praised Vietnam's IT developments in the education and training sector.

The country has come a long way since a report released in 2008 placed Vietnam alongside Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar in the group with the least developed IT sectors.

Thief cracks ATM in Hanoi, fails to steal money

A thief was caught in the act of attempting to crack an ATM machine in Hanoi's Dong Da District early Saturday, the 9th ATM theft in the past two months nationwide.

The thief was found by security officers when he used a butane torch to cut open the cash machine belonging to Vietcombank on Trinh Hoai Duc Street.

He soon fled the scene, leaving two butane torches, a pair of pliers and a piece of ATM lock that he had cut apart.

Vietcombank staff announced transaction could be conducted as normal after checking the machine.

Last week, police in the central Nghe An province caught red-handed three boys in mid-teens using a welding device to cut open an ATM in Vinh City.

A few days later, police in the northern province of Thai Binh also foiled another ATM theft.

In little more than a month, two ATMs in Ho Chi Minh City were attacked and a total of over VND2 billion (US$102,000) were stolen, prompting commercial banks to apply additional safety measures to protect their machines.

PV