Baha'i Community told to support national unity

Baha'i followers have been told they should better mobilise their community to maintain the nation's great unity and their solidarity with other religions.

The request was made by Duong Van Kha, representative of the Government's Committee for Religious Affairs, at the 4th national congress for the 2011-12 term of the Baha'i Community of Viet Nam which wrapped up yesterday in Phan Thiet city of the central Binh Thuan Province.

Delivering his speech at the event, Kha said the Vietnamese State had always respected the rights of its citizens to freedom of belief and religion and ensured that these rights were exercised in line with laws in Viet Nam.

The community should co-operate with local authorities to fight and prevent impostors who made use of the Baha'i faith to act against the law and the Chapter adopted by the Baha'i community, Kha said.

Introduced into Viet Nam in 1954, the Baha'i community now has about 7,000 followers in 43 cities and provinces, mostly in central and southern regions.

Since the Baha'i community was recognised as a religious organisation by the Government's Committee for Religious Affairs in July 2008, the Baha'i community have gained numerous achievements in its activities, Kha said.

In localities where Baha'i people lived and practised their faith, they had established good relationships with authorities at all levels and the community's religious activities had been carried out in line with State policies on religion and belief and legal regulations, he said.

At the congress, the participants elected nine members for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i of Viet Nam for the 2011-12 term.

More than 300 believers nation-wide and representatives of the Government's Committee for Religious Affairs, the Baha'i Advisory Board for Asia and the Board of Trustees of Huququ'llah for Southeast Asia attended the congress.

Railway crash site warnings beefed up

Warning lights, barriers and patrols are to be installed at dangerous railway crossings to cut down the number of fatal accidents and injuries, the Ha Noi Department of Transport has said.

The crossings included 11 crash spots in Thanh Tri, Thuong Tin and Phu Xuyen districts including those in Hoang Liet Ward, at Tu Ky Pagoda in Hoang Mai District and at Dau Pagoda in Thuong Tin District.

The department has set up guard stations at nine crash spots, most of them in Thuong Tin and Phu Xuyen districts.

In the first three months this year, more than 20 accidents occurred in Ha Noi's railway system, 11 more than in the same period last year, the department said. They killed 23 people and injured 17.

The main cause of the accidents was drivers and pedestrians failing to pay attention, department deputy director Nguyen Xuan Tan said.

The latest railway accident occurred on March 30 when a bus driver failed to obey warning signals in Nguyen Trai Commune, Thuong Tin District. Nine people died in the accident and 10 others were injured.

In November, 2009, seven people died when a train crashed into a bus in Thuong Tin District's Van Tu Commune.

The department proposed the Viet Nam Railway Administration and district authorities put up more warning signs and instructions at railways and crossings.

At present, the Railway Law and crossing regulations did not punish drivers or pedestrians who ignored warning signals and deliberately crossed when a train was coming or crossed at the wrong place, he said.

Also, Tan said the department did not punish people built houses too close to railway safety zones.

"Legislative bodies should have strict punishment for drivers who violate railway safety regulations and raise local residents' awareness," Tan said.

Sika Viet Nam to fund surgeries for children

Sika Viet Nam, a manufacturer and supplier of chemical products used in the construction industry, will fund corrective facial surgery for 400 Vietnamese children this year.

The sponsorship of US$100,000 will support the nonprofit organisation Operation Smile Viet Nam in their efforts to offer surgery for children who have cleft lip and cleft palate deformities at five mission sites this year.

OSV will carry out missions in Hai Phong, Ha Noi, Nghe An and HCM City.

This is the second year that the corporation has joined OSV to offer funds for the group's work.

Landfill site to be upgraded

A temporary dumping ground in the capital city of Ha Noi's Ung Hoa District will receive VND6 billion (US$285,700) in investment to be upgraded into a sanitary landfill, according to Ha Noi People's Committee.

The investment is from the 2011 municipal budget for district environmental sanitation.

The project covers the new construction of two landfill sites and connecting road.

7,000 disabled kids to get health checks

The HCM City Association for Disabled Children hopes to provide free health checks and treatment for more than 7,000 children with disabilities by 2015, according to Nguyen Van Chi, its chairman.

Some 1,500 children with disabilities will get training in embroidery, sewing, painting, and other vocations in the next five years, he said.

Nearly VND35 billion (US$1.68 million) was spent to provide nearly 16,000 disabled children with health checks, surgeries, medicines, vocational training, and wheelchairs in the past 15 years, he added.

City hospital adopts MRI scan technology

Patients at Tu Du Hospital's obstetrics and gynaecology facility can now benefit from a new Magnetom Espree Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system.

The new equipment provides an imaging technique that uses electromagnetic radiation to obtain images of the body's soft tissues and is useful in diagnosing certain diseases.

With TIM (Total Imaging Matrix) technology, it delivers outstanding image quality that supports a complete range of clinical applications with accuracy. It's also safe for pregnant patients.

The MRI system is not harmful to patients as it does not use ionisation radiation, at the same time, it enables physicians to make a better evaluation of the patient's health thanks to more detailed imaging.

Thus, MRI system is very useful in diagnosis of pregnant patients and even an unborn foetus, with details available that do not appear via techniques such as X-rays.

The MRI system helps physicians to examine a wide range of clinical applications including cardiology, neurology, trauma, breast, whole – body, angiography, oncology and paediatrics.

In addition, MRI also provides valuable diagnostic results in gynaecology diseases such as ovarian, uterus and breast tumours.

This project became a reality as a result of successful co-operation between the hospital, Siemens and Chi Anh Med Tech Co., Ltd.

"The MRI system is extensively used for prenatal diagnosis that enables physicians to detect the neuron disorders of a foetus, and therefore, the clinical intervention is delivered in time to reduce the treatment costs as well as to ensure healthy young generations." said Elver Erdal, President and CEO of Siemens Viet Nam.

Nigerian gets death sentence for drug trafficking

HCM City People's Court yesterday sentenced a Nigerian citizen to death and four other foreigners from 15 to 20 years in jail for operating a trans-border drug trafficking ring.

After a three-day trial, the court found Nnaji David Ete, 33, guilty as he led a drug trafficking ring, which included his wife, a local man and four foreigners.

His wife, Phan Thi Thanh Le, 31, from southern Binh Duong Province and Doan Nguyen Minh Chau, 32, have to spend their whole lives in jail for the same charge.

The four foreigners including Chukwuma Obi Remy, 41, Okapor Peter Chuma, 36, Nnamdi Aghaji, 33, Regina Whing Wiri, 32 got 15 to 20 years in prison.

Nnaji David Ete came to Viet Nam as a tourist and stayed here illegally and married Le. Between 2006 and 2009, he transported heroin from Thailand to HCM City, and China.

Nnaji David Ete later established contact with many people in India and Malaysia to set up the trans-nation drug ring.

After bringing heroin to HCM City, Nnaji David Ete and his wife hired Chau and other people to transport it to China's Quangzhou, with the accumulated amount of more than 11,000kg.

They hid heroin inside their slippers, books, dictionaries, paintings and others for transport to other countries.

Laos hand over 71 sets of remains of martyrs to Vietnam

Leaders of Xieng Khuoang and Vientiane provinces handed over 71 sets of remains to Tran Hong Chau, Vice Secretary of Nghe An Party’s Committee on April 25.

These were Vietnamese volunteers and experts who had died in Laos during the past two wars of resistance.

At a ceremony in Phonsavanh Town, major-general Kensymanivong praised their invaluable sacrifice for the independence and prosperity of Laos.

Ho Trong Binh, Head of the Nghe An search team, said these sets of remains unearthed in the provinces of Xieng Khuoang and Vientiane, will be reburied at the Do Luong Martyrs Cemetery on April 27.

The Nghe An search team found 160 sets of remains during the dry season. 

Veterans pay tribute to fallen volunteers in Cambodia

A 350-strong Vietnamese delegation offered incense and paid floral tributes to fallen Vietnamese volunteer soldiers in Cambodia at their monument in Phnom Penh on April 24.

This activity was part of a trip to “the old battlefields” by those who had served in an international mission in Cambodia, war veterans, ex-youth volunteers, former Vietnamese volunteer soldiers, and people who had rendered services to the nation’s resistance war and construction cause.

The incense offering ceremony was also joined by representatives of the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia, the Vietnamese Cambodian Society, and the Cambodian War Veterans Association.

According to the organisers, the trip was aimed at recalling what fallen Vietnamese soldiers had sacrificed for reunification in Vietnam and for helping the Cambodian people abolish the genocidal regime and revive their country.

During the trip from April 22 to 24, the Vietnamese delegation visited Angkor Wat in Siem Reap province, and the Royal Palace, the Golden Pagoda and Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh.

Sixteen poisoned by mystery fish

Sixteen people have been hospitalised in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue's Phu Loc District Hospital after exhibiting symptoms of fainting and vomiting on Thursday.

The food poisoning victims had eaten what they thought was a spotted goby fish which they had bought in the district's Lang Co Town Beach for lunch. In the afternoon, they began suffering from headaches, dizziness and vomiting and were taken to the local health station for emergency treatment.

Food samples are being analysed to discover the cause of the poisoning.

Woman arrested for human trafficking

A 21-year-old woman, Vang A Nha, from Van Yen District, in the northern province of Yen Bai, was arrested for human trafficking on Wednesday, according to police from Lao Cai Province's Bao Thang District Police.

Nha was denounced by a woman, who escaped back to Viet Nam after being sold to China.

Japan to aid biodiversity database

Japan will help Viet Nam develop a national biodiversity database system in efforts to strengthen capacity on biodiversity resource management.

The project was signed yesterday between representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) of Viet Nam and the Japan International Co-operation Agency.

"The system will reinforce a consistent management of data on biodiversity and foster the effectiveness of information sharing among managerial agencies, and localities in this field" said Chief Representative of JICA Viet Nam Office Tsuno Motonori.

The US$3 million project will be implemented from now until the end of 2014 with an aim to help Viet Nam deal with the lack of a consistent system of information collection, storage and information sharing mechanisms relating to conservation and the sustainable development of biodiversity.

Nam Dinh Province, which has prominent high-biodiversity areas, such as Xuan Thuy National Park and the surrounding wetlands – Viet Nam's first Ramsar Wetland site and the first in South East Asia, will be chosen to pilot the local development of a national biodiversity database.

Disaster prevention project

In an additional attempt to help Viet Nam plant mangrove forests and mitigate natural disaster, the Japanese Red Cross Society yesterday signed with the Viet Nam Red Cross a five-year project worth US$2.5million.

The project will be implemented in 56 communes of Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Vinh Phuc and Hoa Binh Provinces.

"The project would establish a green corridor in environmental protection as well as strengthen community awareness on disaster prevention for people in 10 provinces," said Deputy Chairman of the Viet Nam Red Cross Doan Van Thai at the signing ceremony.

The project will focus activities on strengthening disaster risk mitigation for communal authorities and local people; life skills training and situation risk assessment and community awareness.

The project also includes mangrove or casuarinas and bamboo plantations for salt water prevention and other community-based risk reduction measures.

Call to speed highway construction

Contractors on the Ha Noi-Thai Nguyen expressway project have been told to pull out all stops in the wake of serious overloading and deterioration of existing Highway No3.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said the project was behind schedule, the rate of disbursement was low and capital sources had not met requirements.

He made the comment on Thursday while in northern Thai Nguyen Province to inspect the four-lane expressway which is expected to cost about VND8 trillion (US$384 million).

Construction began in late 2009 on the 61.3-km expressway which links Ha Noi's Ninh Hiep Ward and Thai Nguyen Province.

About 53km has been completed and land for 58km of the expressway cleared so far.

Hai stressed the project should be given priority in both construction and investment with the target of completing site clearance by June and getting the expressway up and running by 2013.

The expressway will connect traffic routes in areas north of the capital and will speed up socio-economic development, especially in the three provinces of Cao Bang, Bac Kan and Thai Nguyen.

Three companies fined for pollution

Ha Noi People's Committee has decided to fine Rong Vang Viet Nam Limited in Ha Dong District, Phu Hung Company in Tay Ho District and Ha Yen Joint Stock Company in Tu Liem District for violating environmental protection regulations.

Each company will be fined VND40 million (US$1,900) for illegally releasing waste into the environment.

Rong Vang will be fined an additional VND10 million ($476) for discharging from 10m3 to 50m3 of sewage per day into the city's public sewage system without permission. Phu Hung and Ha Yen will be fined an additional VND500,000 ($24) for not fully complying with the commitment of environmental protection.

The city is cracking down on environmentally polluting firms.

German support in landmine clearance

The central province of Thua Thien-Hue will receive US$490,000 from the German Solidarity Service International Organisation (SODI). The German non-governmental organisation will locate and clear landmines and unexploded ordnance until the end of February, 2012.

The project will be implemented in Huong Tra District's two communes of Huong Van and Huong Van and include 150 hectares of land, which will later be used for resettlement and cultivation land for local people.

Two mobile teams will be set up to carry out unexploded ordnance clearance and disposal throughout the province.

Police seize 20,000 ecstasy tablets

Central Quang Tri Province's Border Police, in co-ordination with Lao Police have seized 20,000 ecstasy tablets from two Lao drug traffickers.

The traffickers, Thao Van, 25 and Thao Sai, 30, were arrested while transporting the drugs in their car travelling through the Lao border near Lao Bao International Border Gate.

The case is under further investigation.

Mobile subscribers violate ad rules

The Ha Noi Information and Communications Department has ordered telecommunication enterprises to disconnect 615 mobile phone subscribers for violating advertising regulations.

The enterprises have been told to report their performance to the department before May 10.

According to the department, authorised agencies had repeatedly warned businesses about illegal advertising, including painting slogans on buildings, but businesses continued flouting the law.

Roadwork to stop for coming holidays

The HCM City's Transport Department has ordered building contractors to suspend their road-digging works from April 29 until May 1.

Contractors are also required to restore the road surface, remove barriers around construction sites before April 29. The move is an attempt to ensure traffic safety and environmental sanitation and ease traffic over the April 30-May 1 holiday.

2 patients saved by transplant surgery

Two patients who had femoral arteries crushed in traffic accidents have been saved by doctors from the central Khanh Hoa Province's General Hospital.

Phan Huu Chinh, director of the hospital's trauma unit said the doctors have transplanted veins for the two patients' crushed arteries. Following the conclusion of the treatment, the veins would be arterialised, he said.

Free eye operations for Laos poor

The Viet Nam National Institute of Ophthalmology's mobile eye surgeons will perform 200 free eye operations for the poor in three districts of Bolikhamsai Province, Laos over 10 days.

This $200,000 project, started on Monday, has the support of Asia For Blindness Prevention (AFBF).

The operation is a part of a Vietnamese Government programme to support Laos in blindness prevention.

VNN/VOV/VNS