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City hotel makes giant Banh Tet
Nearly 100 staff from the Yasaka-Saigon-Nha Trang Hotel participated in making a new record banh tet (cylindrical glutinous rice cake) on January 24 to welcome the Lunar New Year Festival (Tet).
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Photo: VOV |
The cake was wrapped at 17:00 the same day and put into a large pot for boiling. On January 25, it is expected to be finished boiling, taken out of the pot and cut into pieces to go on sale at 18:00.
All proceeds from the sale will be donated to charity funds.
Five fall down 16m in amusement ride accident
At 11:30 on Tuesday, Jan 24, five people stared death in the face when the amusement park game they participated had an error, causing the seats they were strapped to to free-fall for 16 meters in An Giang Province.
The accident happened Tuesday at the Van Huong Mai Amusement Park in Chau Phu district in the southern province.
Le Thi Lanh, Nguyen Thai Hai Dang, Huynh Tuan Khanh, Huynh Thi Xuan Nha and Nguyen Thai Duong from Thoai Son district are the victims who rode the faulty amusement ride.
According to Nguoi Lao Dong, while they were being lifted up, the operation system had an indentified technical error and the whole platform supporting them dropped freely from a height of 16 meters.
The operator of the amusement park game has sent the victims to the Chau Doc General Hospital for treatment.
On the afternoon the same day, four of the five are in stable health and have been transferred to the private Binh An Hospital in Chau Doc Town, An Giang.
However, the condition of one victim – Ms. Le Thi Lanh is serious as her spine suffers from suspected fractures caused by the concussion from the fall.
Lanh is being monitored at the Chau Doc General Hospital.
Local authorities have cordoned the amusement game site with nets pending investigation.
Young man in coma in firecracker explosion
The Dong Hoi Vietnam Cuba Hospital in Quang Binh province said Wednesday they have just received a 23-year-old man in a state of coma with serious injuries to his two hands. His face and chest also suffered scratches.
The victim hails from Bo Trach District.
According to Dan Viet, neighbors said they were happily celebrating Tet when they heard a big explosion.
Dashing out, they saw P.V.V lying in a pool of blood with remaining bits of firecrackers scattered everywhere.
Doctors are trying to save his two hands.
Last month, a man was arrested for illegally producing firecrackers that killed a person in Thai Binh Province.
In Vietnam, producing and using firecrackers have been banned since in 1995 to prevent injuries but people secretly produced and bought firecrackers to celebrate Tet.
Hanoi to build more overpasses, car parks
This year, Ha Noi authorities plan to build steel overpasses for cars and motorbikes as well as underground and high-rise car parks to gradually reduce traffic congestion in the capital city.
Under the plan, Ha Noi will build nine multi-storey car parks in such areas as Phung Hung, Tran Nhat Duat, Tran Khanh Du, Ngoc Khanh and Kim Nguu.
In addition, in its long-term strategy to 2015, Ha Noi will construct more than 50 underground and above-ground car parks in many inner city areas in the next four years.
Another solution for the city's traffic congestion problem is the building of steel overpasses for cars and motorbikes at T-junctions where traffic jams often occur, including Lang Ha-Huynh Thuc Khang, Chua Boc-Son Tay, Lang-Le Van Luong, and Lang-Tran Duy Hung.
Each four-lane overpass will be built at a cost of VND150 billion and will take four months to complete.
Overseas Vietnamese welcome Tet in Sri Lanka
The Vietnamese Embassy in Sri Lanka on January 22 hosted a get-together to welcome the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) festival in the capital city of Colombo.
The event was attended by Deputy External Affairs Minister of Sri Lanka Neomal Perera, representatives from the Sri Lanka–Vietnam Solidarity Association, embassies and foreign delegations of other countries in Colombo and Vietnamese students studying in the country.
Addressing the gathering, Vietnamese Ambassador Ton Sinh Thanh reviewed the outstanding achievements in all fields that Vietnam made in 2011, saying that the year saw Vietnam overcoming many difficulties and developing sustainably.
Vietnam further cooperated with many countries, contributing to peace, stability and development in the world, Thanh said.
2011 also marked an important phase in the Vietnam-Sri Lanka relations with the re-opening of the Vietnamese representative office in Colombo and President Truong Tan Sang's official visit to Sri Lanka in October, which opened a new opportunity for the two countries to promote multifaceted cooperation, he added.
On the occasion, the ambassador called upon the Vietnamese community in Sri Lanka to make more contributions to fostering the traditional relationship between the two countries.
During the get-together, participants enjoyed a special musical performance and traditional dishes.
Car hits pothole, burnt down
A four-seat car with number plate BKS 30N-6274 on Wednesday afternoon hit a pothole on a provincial road in Hung Yen Province and caught fire.
Driver Nguyen Van Hung (19) and four others inside escaped but the car was burnt to bare frames.
The fire caused a minor traffic jam.
Also in Hung Yen Province, a Lead scooter caught fire last month.
In the past months, many such mysterious fires occurred to both motorbikes and cars while they were travelling or even as they were being parked.
Authorities have started intense investigation but no concrete reason has been found. The public speculates that adulterated gasoline could be to blame.
At 4:30pm Monday, a Nouvo LX motorbike fell and burst into flames after its driver swerved it to avoid hitting another bike on Ha Huy Tap Street, Vinh City in the central province of Nghe An.
A white Attila Elizabeth scooter caught fire in Lam Son district in northern Thanh Hoa City on December 14.
Also in December, a man was passing through Hanoi’s Chuong Duong Bridge when his bike suddenly erupted into fire and eventually burned down to ash.
Then, an SH motorbike suddenly caught fire in front of the Daewoo Hanoi Hotel at the intersection of Kim Ma and Lieu Giai streets in Ngoc Khanh Ward, Ba Dinh District.
This month, a 16-seater passenger car suddenly burst into flame on National Road 1A in Dong Nai province.
The car was going in the direction from Dau Giay to Ho Chi Minh City. At the crossroads near the Amata industrial area, passers-by saw a blaze coming from the car and shouted out to alert the driver.
Car smashes into electricity pole, killing driver
At 7pm January 24, on provincial road no 741 in Ben Cat District, Binh Duong province, a four seat car smashed straight into an electricity pole.
The Honda car’s front was completely smashed, killing the only driver on the vehicle on the spot.
The electricity police was broken into two parts. Luckily the stretched cables cushioned and held the broken pole in place.
The area has no street lights and authorities had to use a tree branch to warn traffic goers against approaching. The pole that got stuck onto the cables could fall down any time.
Meanwhile, three people died in three accidents during the first three days of Tet in Hanoi. Most notably, a motorist was killed by a passing train.
Nationwide, there were 129 traffic accidents killing 106 people, injuring 110 others during the said three days.
This is down by 13 fatalities and 32 injured cases compared with the Tet’s same period last year.
Vietnam attends world radio event in Geneva
A delegation from the Authority of Radio Frequency Management on January 23 attended the 12 th World Radio Communication Conference in Geneva.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference saw the participation of 3,500 delegates from ITU member countries around the world.
The conference discussed the important role of radio communication transmitted via high technology devices such as mobile phones and internet- connected computers.
Doan Quang Hoan, General Director of the Authority of Radio Frequency Management said Vietnam attended this conference to discuss issues related to the usage of radio frequency and satellite orbits, ensuring the rights of Vietnam in this field.
At the conference, Vietnamese experts will join experts from other countries in studying and helping ITU make sound decisions, contributing to developing the world radio communication sector.
Mau Son mountain covered with ice and snow
Ice and snow covered Mau Son mountain in the northern mountainous province of Lang Son in the early Wednesday morning, Jan 25, as the outdoor temperature plunged to minus 0.2 degree Celsius.
The Lang Son Provincial Hydrometeorology Forecast Centre said that the chilly weather will become even colder in the next couple of days, lowering the temperature there, especially when the night comes.
A blanket of snow and ice produced by this exceptionally cold weather has attracted the attention of local residents and visitors.
Cops nab sacked state officer who ‘has’ $287mil
Local police on Thursday morning arrested a former prosecutor for faking the Prime Minister’s and the state bank governor’s notes that say he has US$287.7 million.
Tong Van Binh from Can Tho City in the south was arrested, reported VTC newswire.
In the past months, Mr. Binh regularly appeared at various company headquarters, shaking hands with businessmen and told them that he was about to own a huge fortune of over VND6 trillion (US$287.7 million).
Binh showed them the Prime Minister’s note which reads “the Prime Minister instructs the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank of Vietnam and the Government Office to pay Mr. Tong Van Binh VND6 trillion”.
Binh also faked another note ‘signed’ by the governor of the state bank in which the governor instructs the Agribank’s branch in Can Tho to disburse the huge sum to Binh.
With such ‘documents’, Binh promised to grant favorable loans to enterprises in need of cash.
There are some companies that have already paid him hundreds of millions of dong (tens of thousands of US dollars) so as to earn his priority in granting the loans.
Police searched the hotel room he rented and found many fake government documents and a fake police medal.
At the police station, Binh said he has graduated from a law university and once worked as a prosecutor at the prosecuting office in Cho Moi District, An Giang Province but was fired four months ago.
Village fights kill 2 young men in Hanoi
Two groups of young men got involved in an argument which later grew into a fatal fight at 4pm on January 24 at a karaoke house in Go village, Ba Vi District, Hanoi, according to Lao Dong newswire.
One group hails from Hoa Binh province while the other is from Hanoi.
19-year-old Nguyen Van Phuong was stabbed in the chest and died.
Nguyen Van Hung (24) has been arrested.
Half an hour after the deadly karaoke fight, another one between two group of villagers occurred, also in the capital,
One group is from Thong Nhat Village, Dan Phuong District while the other comes from Tai Phuong Village, Hoai Duc District.
In this latter fight, 24-year-old Nguyen Van Hai died.
VNN/VOV/VNA/Tuoi Tre
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