One killed, 23 injured in head-on collision

One person was killed and 23 others were injured in a head-on collision between a coach and a semi-truck in central Quang Nam Province early this morning, Sep 29.

Photo: VNN

Of the 23 injured passengers, five are in a critical condition.

The accident caused a traffic jam on part of the highway for hours, before traffic flow resumed.

The accident is under further investigation.

VND2.56 trillion to built the capital's Ring Road 2

Ha Noi People's Committee has approved a project to construct a section of the Ring Road 2 connecting Nga Tu So Crossroads and Nga Tu Vong Crossroads, which would cost VND2.56 trillion (US$121.9 million).

Compensation for land clearance and resettlement made up nearly 80 per cent of the cost.

The 2km by 53m wide road will link Vuong Thua Vu and Giai Phong streets.

The project, invested by the Ha Noi Management Board of Key Projects for Urban Development, is planned to start next year for completion within three years.

The project also covers construction of a bridge across Lu River, drainage and lighting systems, underground infrastructure as well as trees.

The road will ease traffic congestion on Truong Trinh Street.

Tay Ninh woman gives birth to baby with four arms

23-year-old Le Thi Ngoc Giau in Dong Khoi commune, Chau Thanh district in the southwestern province of Tay Ninh has just given birth to a baby with four arms.

Besides two normal arms, Giau’s third child has two extra smaller arms on his left chest, each of which has hair and five fingers with five nails.

However, the two extra arms are paralyzed.

According to Giau, when she was pregnant for 4 or 5 months, she went to Tay Ninh General Hospital for a pregnancy check and found out that the baby was caught with leg atrophy.

Giau was advised to go to Ho Chi Minh City’s Tu Du Hospital for an abortion where doctors confirmed the leg atrophy but did not find out about the extra arms.

But Giau and her husband later decided to keep the baby and planned to treat his leg disease later.

Giau’s father, Le Van Muc, joined the Vietnam War in 1961-1975 and had patrolled in areas where Agent Orange was sprayed by US troops.

Besides Giau, Muc has another son called Le Van Sang, who has a paralytic arm since birth, probably due to the AO effect.

Doctors said they can perform a surgery to remove the extra two arms but it costs some money.

VN, Chinese men jailed for human trafficking

Two human traffickers were sentenced to five and six years' imprisonment each by the People's Court of northern border Ha Giang Province on Tuesday for forcing a woman into sex work in China.

The traffickers, including a 40-year-old local man and a 21-year-old Chinese man living in Yunnan Province, China, had deceived a local woman into travelling to Yunan with them in April and forced her to work as a sex worker against her will.

The woman later escaped with the help of Chinese police. On court order, she will receive more than VND14 million (US$680) in compensation from the men.

Province releases 89 wild animals to forest

Authorities in the central province of Khanh Hoa on Tuesday released 89 wild animals that have illegally been caged in a local farmhouse.

The animals were released into the riverhead forest Ea-Krongru that is 70 kilometers from downtown Nha Trang city of Khanh Hoa and 600m higher than sea level.

Earlier on September 19, local authorities raided the farmhouse of Luu Van Vinh in Ninh Ich hamlet of Ninh Hoa commune and seized 108 wild animals. 19 of them were found dead from severe injuries caused by hunting traps.

The alive wild animals include 9 water monitors (Varanus savaltor), 50 turtles including 20 elongated tortoises and 6 Geoemyda grandis turtles, 8 civets, 7 porcupines, and 16 Chinese Ratsnake (Ptyas korros).

Most of them are listed as wild animals needing protection.

Their owner Vinh has been administratively fined VND15 million for illegal possession of the animals, which cost around VND18.53 million in total.

Husband, wife jailed for smuggling fuel

The southern Kien Giang Province People's Court on Tuesday sentenced a Thai man to nine years in prison and his Vietnamese wife to six years' imprisonment for trafficking gasoline.

Thaveepol Som Chai, 51, and his wife, Ngo Thi Linh Phuong, 33, sold smuggled gasoline to 30 Vietnamese fishing vessel owners since June to earn VND550 million ($26,800) in profit.

Netherlands helps Mekong with climate change

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met Prof. Cees Veerman, advisor to the Vietnamese Prime Minister on climate change, flood control and water resource management, in The Hague on September 29 during his official visit to the Netherlands.

Vietnam considers climate change resilience as the country’s vital issue and mobilizes all resources from the whole society to take necessary solutions, said PM Dung, adding that Vietnam is very interested in the way the Netherlands has managed water resources and flood control.

He thanked Prof. Cees Veerman and his associates in helping Vietnam build the Mekong Delta Master Plan and asked the professor to continue coordinating and checking data and to formulate solutions in the context of water resource security issues facing Vietnam as a series of hydropower projects are being planned on the Mekong River.

The PM also asked the professor and his associates to propose the Government of the Netherlands support part of the spending on building the plan in Vietnam.

Prof. Cees Veerman said that the Dutch had sent experts to Vietnam to coordinate research on coping with climate change in the Mekong Delta and a meeting will be convened in Vietnam in November to gather reports to submit to the Prime Minister later this year.

With soil similarity between the Mekong Delta and the Netherlands, the European country wants to share experience and transfer advanced technology and solutions on water resource management to Vietnam, he said.
He affirmed determination to cooperate with relevant Vietnamese agencies to build a vision for the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta during the next 100 years.

Prof. Cees Veerman, former agriculture minister of the Netherlands, is interested in assisting Vietnam to deal with issues impacted by climate change. He accepted the invitation to become head of the advisory group on climate change for the Prime Minister.

Youth show off skills in London

Vietnam will participate in WorldSkills London 2011, a competition designed for young people from 50 countries to show off their prowess in a variety of professional skills, next week.

"Participating in the competition, the Vietnamese team will have the chance to learn the world's leading technical skills," said Duong Duc Lan, deputy head of the General Department of Vocational Training under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA). 

The statement was made at a meeting held by MoLISA on September 27 to see the national delegation off to the event's 41^st edition. WorldSkills is considered the global "skills olympics". 

The competition is held in a member country every two years to demonstrate the youth's excellence in professional skills. 

Thirteen young Vietnamese competitors, who are students of colleges, universities and vocational training schools, will compete in 12 professions ranging from bricklaying and cooking to web and graphic design. 

The competitors have been trained by experts since mid-April in preparation for the competition. 

MoLISA leaders said this time they expect the team to earn at least one medal and promised to offer rewards to those with good achievements in the competition.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre