Two drugs recalled by health authorities 

Vietnamese health authorities have recalled the sale of two drugs because they failed to meet with the standard health requirements.

The Vietnam Drug Administration has decided to remove the drug Paracetamol – BIVID 1g/100ml from all counters. This drug is indicated for the short-term treatment of moderate pain, especially following surgery and for the short-term treatment of fever.

The drug was made by Sanavita Pharmaceuticals GmbH-Germany and imported by the National Pharmaceutical Company No.2. It was from lot number 090099 with an expiry date for November 2012 and registered number VN-4252-07.

Health authorities also announced a ban on the sale and use of the traditional medicine ‘Dac che phat lanh hoan’. The drug is made by the Quan Y Sanh Company at 85 Tan Thanh Street in district 5. The drug was removed from sale counters as it failed to meet with requirements which check bacteria contamination.

Abusive massage-parlor owner gets 12 years

Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on Thursday sentenced a massage parlor owner accused of enslaving his women employees to 12 years imprisonment.

Phan Cao Tri, 38, who owns five massage parlors, was charged with “illegally detaining people” and “appropriating properties.”

His employees Phan Viet Hau and Phan Quoc Cuong - the directors of two of the five parlors - got 10 and 9 years respectively with similar charges.

A jail term of 6 years was delivered to Phan Thi Yen, Tri’s wife, who was charged with “appropriating properties.”

Nguyen Minh Phuong and Nguyen Hoai Nhanh, the manager and deputy manager of one of the five parlors, were sentenced to 3 and 2 years respectively for “illegally detaining people.”

Following complaints from women employees, the police raided Tri’s main parlor, Tan Hoang Phat in Thu Duc District, in December 2008 and rescued 65 women.

They also confiscated two pistols and seven bullets Tri allegedly used to threaten the women.

According to the police, Tri was recruiting women as masseuses for his five parlors in HCMC and the neighboring provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong since 2005.

He allegedly had guards to keep a watch on them to prevent them from escaping.

The women, many from poor rural areas, were forced to do not only massage but also sexual acts on customers for up to 16 hours a day.

Anyone who wanted to quit had to pay VND15 million (US$ 770). Some who could not afford the money attempted to run away but were captured and beaten.

Anyone refusing to follow orders or about whom a customer complained would be beaten up or locked up without food in dog cages.

The police said nine women had paid VND169 million to flee the parlor.

Teen sex ring charging $200/time smashed

Police Thursday arrested a 20-year-old girl for running a teen sex ring charging $200 per encounter after police raided a hotel in Hanoi’s Bach Mai Street and caught two couples (including a 16-year-old prostitute) in the act.

According to police, Nguyen Thi Mui, the arrested pimp, would recruit long-legged girls from the capital’s popular bars and nightclubs, targeting rich customers.

She would charge $100 for a 45-minute striptease, and $200 per quickie.

The charming pimp herself is willing to have sex with VIPs when she needs money.

Prostitution in any form is illegal in Vietnam.

Giant moth caught in Binh Duong

Crowds are flocking to see a giant, colorful moth that strayed into the house of a woman in the southern province of Binh Duong.

Luong Huong Giang of Thuan An District, who caught the insect last Tuesday, said it has a wingspan of 24 cm.

“I read on the internet that the world’s largest moth was caught in China but that its wingspan was only 22.6 cm,” she said.

A lepidopterist said it is most probably an atlas moth (Attacus atlas), a giant insect found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia.

Atlas moths are thought to be the largest in the world with wingspans of 25-30 cm.

Fishermen rescued from boat sink off central coast

Four fishermen were saved as their boat sank at 1:00 am today off the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa.

At 20:00 pm on January 26, the local naval force received SOS signals from a fishing boat bearing number plate QNG98676 registered with Quang Ngai province.

Lieutenant Colonel Pham Van khoi immediately sent 11 soldiers towards the Hon Ngoai island, which is 15 nautical miles from the Nha Trang capital city to rescue the boat.

Due to big waves and winds, rescuing forces arrived at the site at 22:40 pm the same day and found the four exhausted fishermen holding on to the top of the cabin.

The four are boat captain Quang Mong, 41, chief mechanic Bui Van Phung, 21, and sailor Bui Tay, 35, all hailing from Quang Ngai, and sailor Nguyen Tan Vinh, 35, of Khanh Hoa.

Khoi said strong winds caused the boat - which were en route home for Tet celebrations - to tip over and sink.

Man killed in Hanoi gunfire is son of justice boss

The suspected gangster armed with a gun who was shot dead in a gunfire near Hanoi’s Parkson center is son of the former director of the Quang Ninh provincial Department of Justice.

Nguyen Minh Duong, aka Nguyen Tran Hoang, 29, was shot at the chest at around 1am on Wednesday when he was walking with an unidentified man in front of the Parkson Commercial Center at No 1 Thai Ha Street in Dong Da district.

Tien Phong reported that Duong hails from the northern Quang Ninh province and is the son of Mr. Nguyen Hong Truong, former director of the Justice Department in Quang Ninh.

An autopsy showed Duong sustained a deep gun shot.

Police have seized a military K54 gun and seven bullets which were found on Duong’s body.

A search of Duong’s rented room in Hanoi turned up a Colt gun and 19 bullets.

According to Tuoi Tre, police suspect this is a gang fight.

Who was Duong? Why did he have guns? Who is the mystery Samaritan?

According to Tien Phong, a taxi driver at around 1am Wednesday saw a seriously injured man and a healthy young man waving.

The driver working for Thu Huong taxi company stopped, took in the two passengers and drove them to the Giao Thong Van Tai (transport) Hospital nearby.

One of them turned out to be Duong while the other who earlier helped Duong into the taxi mysteriously left after arriving at the hospital.

It is suspected that this unidentified good Samaritan could be a gang member evading arrest.

According to Tien Phong, police said that Duong has been renting Room 303 at the Villa Hotel at 133 Thai Ha Street in Hanoi since November last year.

Tien Phong reported that Duong was walking with an unidentified man near Parkson when two men on a motorbike pressed up against them.

One of the two men on the bike fired one shot into Duong’s chest, then drove away.

Hanoi police are investigating.

It is not clear whether the man walking with Duong is the mysterious Samaritan or not.

In Vietnam, buying, selling, storing or using guns is absolutely banned, except for the military, police and other authorized forces.

Burned journalist in critical condition

The condition of the (Laborer) journalist who was burned by a mystery intruder at home more than a week ago has taken a turn for the worse.

Le Hoang Hung, 51, of Long An province is no longer able to eat by himself and has to be fed intravenously following a second surgery to remove dead skin on his arms on January 25, his brother said.

“In such burn cases, the second week is critical since losing a lot of skin can make the victim highly vulnerable to infection,” Dr Le Thanh Liem, director of the Long An Health Department, said.

According to preliminary reports, a stranger entered Hung’s house when he was sleeping alone on the second floor and set him on fire using gasoline.

His mattress, pillows, and blankets were completely burnt.

The police are investigating.

The culprit has yet to be identified but since Hung was an investigative journalist reporting on social evils, corruption, and other sensitive issues, police suspect it could be some kind of retribution.

Bien Hoa police smash diploma mill

The southern Bien Hoa City Police yesterday cracked down on a diploma mill, seizing more than 1,000 blank diplomas and certificates bearing fake seals of over 60 universities, colleges and vocational high schools.

The house of Vo Thach Can and his wife Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nhung, at Quarter 6, Tan Tien Ward also turned up more than 100 faked diploma and certificates already bearing seals, signatures and photos ready to be delivered.

Those counterfeits vary from high school certificates to bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral degrees.

The police also seized two fake stamps, one bearing the seal of the Dong Nai Province Education and Training Department and the other of the Ho Chi Minh City Economics University.

Earlier, on January 13, the city police caught Nhung’s uncle, Ngo Van Long, 54, making fake diplomas at his house in Quarter 6, Ho Nai Ward.

They seized 20 blank diplomas, 26 English certificates of B and C levels, and 15 vocational high school diplomas.

Police say Long is a professional faker of diplomas and has sold the counterfeits to many provinces and cities.

Fake daughter of Vice President, bogus VIP jailed

Two women were sentenced Tuesday to 20 and 7 years in jail for conning people off money after pretending to be a senior official and an adopted daughter of state Vice President Truong My Hoa.

Đinh Thi Kim Oanh, 49, of Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, is to be jailed 20 years and her sister Đinh Thi Kim Anh, 52, of Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi, is to serve 7 years.

The former pretended to be the adopted daughter of Vice President Truong My Hoa while the latter falsely claimed to be the secretary for the chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chairman.

With the fake status, women managed to persuade Nguyen Thi Bich into giving them money in return for helping her obtain a land deed to a 1000 sq.m plot.

When nothing happened, Bich called the police.

Foreign students exempt from university entrance exams

Foreign students wishing to study at a Vietnamese university or college will be exempt from entrance examinations by a new regulation of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Foreign students need to provide only their high school grades to the university or college at which they wish to enrol, unlike Vietnamese students who must sit an entrance examination, often described as difficult.

In addition to good study records, the foreign students must meet the requirements of Vietnamese language and general knowledge.

Admission will be decided by the school.

The changes were released by the ministry on Tuesday.

House renovation firms prosper ahead of Tet

House cleaning and renovation services firms in Hanoi are doing a roaring trade when Vietnam’s biggest festival Tet, or the Lunar New Year, is approaching.

Homeowners are now coming to those companies to just get a refusal due to an excess of requests.

Hanh from Dong Da District said most of the companies she has contacted will not take any more orders because they have closed their customer list nearly two weeks back.

Le Dinh Chi of Thien Uy company said he has also turned many customers down after closing enough deals with long-time customers almost a month ago.

The current cold spell in the capital city has driven the demand for house cleaning and renovation services because people are afraid to do the work by themselves to prepare for Tet which falls early next month, Hoang Le Hien, director of a renovation firm, said.

Prices for those services have thus risen by 20-30 percent this year depending on the requirements.

Yet, firms still take orders of cleaning household objects with prices running up to VND700,000 (US$35.9) for carpets and VND600,000 ($30.8) for sofas.

Rising input costs for cleaning equipment is cited as one of the reasons that have driven up the prices, cleaning and renovation firms said.

PV