Conjoined twins die of respiratory disease

The conjoined twins born in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang on October 12 died on Sunday afternoon due to breathing problems, said Dr. Cam Ngoc Phuong, head of the neonatal intensive care unit at Ho Chi Minh City’s Pediatrics Hospital 1.

“We supported the twins in breathing but they had serious problems in respiration due to several defects such as a single atrium and attached hearts,” she said.

The baby on the left has difficulty breathing and has an undeveloped lung, and has been placed on a ventilator. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Private sector lifts game in disaster mitigation

The private sector in Viet Nam has pledged to improve its participation in disaster mitigation work.

At a workshop held in the central Province of Da Nang last Friday, the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry inked a memorandum of understanding with the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control on improving public-private partnership (PPP) in disaster risk management.

The MoU mentions in particular a heightened role for the private sector disaster risk prevention and mitigation.

The main goal of public-private co-operation in disaster management is to mobilise all the resources in the community for disaster prevention and mitigation work.

Both the community and the enterprises would benefit from the collaboration which would also contribute to sustainable development, the MoU says.

It also says that awareness and ability of the community and enterprises in disaster mitigation and post-disaster reconstruction will be lifted by the partnership.

Improving the involvement of private sector in natural disaster mitigation would help boost the effectiveness of Viet Nam's response to climate change impacts, participants said at the workshop.

They discussed ways to encourage the participation of enterprises in disaster alleviation work.

Every year, Viet Nam faces 12 kinds of natural disasters which include floods, typhoons, drought and forest fires. Floods and storms account for more than 80 per cent of the natural disasters hitting the country.

According to an assessment by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), Viet Nam has made major headway in disaster mitigation, especially with the launching of the programme on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. The centre has also said that the Vietnamese government has managed to mobilise all social resources to take part in disaster mitigation work.

Thanks to increased public awareness of disaster mitigation, the damage inflicted by disasters has reduced remarkably.

Statistics compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) show the reduction in casualties over the past decade. An average of more than 640 people died every year in the 1990s but the number has gone down to slightly more than 460 in the last 10 years.

Like individuals, enterprises have been also suffering from the disaster's negative impacts.

A USAID study found 60 per cent of Vietnamese enterprises suffer some damage after each disaster. The study found that nearly 70 per cent of companies in Ha Noi and more than 80 per cent of companies in HCM City were willing to contribute to post-disaster reconstruction.

The workshop heard that after three years of operation, the central region's fund for natural disaster prevention has raised nearly VND100 billion ($4.87 million) which has funded 47 public works that help communities cope better with natural disasters.

Many enterprises have spontaneously contributed their efforts, but this has meant that their charity work has not been as effective as they could have been, said deputy Minister of Agriculture and Development, Dao Xuan Hoc.

Concurring with Hoc, the deputy Director of Da Nang Agriculture and Rural Development, Huynh Van Thang, said aid relief has not been equally distributed to affected regions and areas because of a lack of co-ordination between authorities and enterprises.

Fugitive rats on accomplice in earlier theft

The Binh Thuan Province police have seized a man in connection with a gold robbery committed in June after he was fingered by his overseas Vietnamese accomplice, an international fugitive who was arrested for another robbery 10 days ago.

The suspect, Bui Trung Kien, 26, of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, was taken in yesterday, Oct 23, after Nguyen Mark Joseph aka Khanh, told the police about him.

Khanh was arrested October 14 after allegedly masterminding another robbery in the province’s Bac Binh District.

The 35-year-old, who is wanted in the US for drug crimes and by Interpol, admitted to the police that he, Kien, and Nguyen Phuoc Hai – who was also involved in this month’s heist – had robbed 10 taels (37.5 g) of gold from Hoang Kim gold shop on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street last June.

One of the trio had threatened Nguyen Thi Tray, 58, the shop owner, with a gun while the others smashed counters with hammers and grabbed the gold.

Their car was later found burnt 15 km from the scene.

Interestingly, Khanh chose another jewelry shop on the same street -- Thu Thanh – to hit October 14.

But he and his three accomplices were arrested soon after though the thieves claim to have thrown a backpack containing the stolen gold into a nearby river.

But despite several days of searching, a team of divers from Ho Chi Minh City had yet to find the gold, the police said.

Two students died and another suffered brain injury in a traffic accident caused by a truck in the southern province of Dong Nai on Saturday.

At 11:15 am on Saturday, Nguyen Thanh Sang, Nguyen Van Hai and Phan Dinh Thoa, all 13 years old, were riding their bicycles home from Nguyen Ba Ngoc Junior High School when they were hit by a truck that was running at a high speed behind them.

The accident killed Sang and Hai on the spot and severely injured Tho on the head.

After causing the accident, the truck driver, 55-year-old Huynh Khanh fled away from the scene but was arrested. Passers-by chased after him and eventually stopped him about 10 km away.

The police was then called to the scene to arrest Khanh.

Tho was taken to Dong Nai Pediatrics Hospital, where doctors said he suffered from critical brain injury.

At 1 pm on the same day, Tho was transferred to Pediatrics Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City for further treatment.

Three days ago, another hit-and-run case occurred in Binh Duong Province, which borders Dong Nai, in which a car driven by a police captain hit a 28-year-old man who was riding a motorbike.

The victim, who also suffered brain injury, died yesterday in hospital.

UN ready to assist Vietnamese flood victims

The UN is always ready to help Vietnam cope with floods, said Elisabeth Byrs, Spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 

Talking with a Geneva-based Vietnam News Agency correspondent, the spokeswomen said UN, non-governmental and international red cross organisations in Vietnam have coordinated closely with local authorities to provide timely assistance to Vietnamese flood victims. 

Byrs said up to 700,000 Vietnamese people in the central and Mekong delta regions have been affected by floods and the Vietnamese Government has taken effective and prompt measures to aid the victims and deal with the consequences.

The UN has so far this year provided relief aid to 250,000 flood victims and has approved an emergency amount of US$100,000 to buy bottled water and lifebuoys for people in the flooded regions.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also launched a fund-raising campaign to help over 10,000 families with more than 42,000 people affected by floods.

Police searches for job seekers’ swindler

The Hanoi police are searching for a 40-year-old woman who has cheated nearly VND4 billion (US$192,000) from many people whom she promised to provide jobs.

Bui Thi Thanh Ha from Son Tay Town had fled before the police came to her house, the police said.Ha allegedly promised many job seekers that she could help them get well-paid jobs at large hospitals or banks in Hanoi, provided they paid her a certain amount of money.

Ha told her victims that she had close relationships with many important people who could assist her.

Many people had paid a “job brokerage fee” to Ha, but she didn’t give them any job after receiving the fee. Some people asked Ha to return their money, but Ha refused and even threatened them.

After receiving many accusations against Ha, the police investigated and found that Ha was running a café at her house and had neither been licensed to conduct employment services nor worked for any job centers.

According to the accusations, the total amount Ha had appropriated from her victims amounted to nearly VND4 billion.

Mekong Times debuts

The Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Economic Cooperation Development Association officially introduced the Mekong Times newspaper in Hanoi on October 23.

The newspaper aims to provide information on political, economic, cultural and social issues in Southeast Asia, particularly the Mekong Sub-region, said Lai Quang Thuc, President of the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Economic Cooperation Development Association.

The paper expects to contribute to the culture, economy, society, and environment of the region, as well as its common prosperity.

The first issue of the Mekong Times was published on October 4.

It will be produced bi-weekly in the fourth quarter of 2011 and every week beginning in early 2012.

Environment-Culture-Tourism Week launched in Binh Thuan

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on October 23 launched the “Environment-Culture-Tourism Week 2011” in the south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan.

The week-long event aims to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the environment.

After the opening meeting, Binh Thuan provincial authorities and 1,500 local pupils and students joined various activities such as planting trees and cycling around Binh Thuan’s Phan Thiet City to promote the event.

On the same day, the Binh Thuan provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also launched a campaign to vote for Ha Long Bay as one of the new seven natural wonders of the world.

Vietnam attends regional archives executive board meeting

A Vietnamese delegation has participated in the 18th Executive Board Meeting and seminar of the Southeast Asia Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (SARBICA) in Manila, the Philippines. 

The meeting and seminars aimed to enhance regional cooperation to improve managerial skills and apply e-documents in member countries, said Deputy Head of the State Records Management and Archives Department of Vietnam, Hoang Truong.

Within the framework of the meeting and seminar, taking place from October 17-19, participants discussed how to manage e-documents, the use of microfilm in digitalising archived files as well as copyrights. 

Following the event, the Vietnamese delegation visited the National Archives of the Philippines and Thailand to share experience in related fields.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre