Korean language course for Vietnamese brides

The Vietnamese Embassy in the Republic of Korea in coordination with the Vietnamese People Association (VPA) opened a course on Korean language and culture for Vietnamese brides in Gyeonggi province on July 29.

This is the third course of this kind sponsored by Kumbo Tire Company and Uijeongbu Foreign Workers Centre.

It aims to help Vietnamese brides in the RoK quickly adapt to a new life in the country of residence.

Minister counselor Nguyen Manh Dong thanked the VPA for assisting Vietnamese women to get used to local living conditions.

Through similar courses, Vietnamese brides will not only learn the Korean language but also have the chance to share their living experiences.

VPA president Tran Hai Long, said the association will open more courses to help Vietnamese brides deeply integrate into the local community and serve as a bridge between the two countries.

Authorities told to speed up granting of land titles

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has asked local authorities to more carefully monitor the granting of land-use certificates or "red books" for residential projects.

A recent survey by the ministry showed that 81 per cent of house owners at 19 residential projects in Ha Noi and HCM City have no "red book".

The Phu My Thuan Residential Project located in HCM City's Nha Be District, for example, has sold 578 flats, but none of the owners have received certificates because the investors had not been paid for use of the land.

In addition, 180 flat owners at 101 Lang Ha Apartment Block in Ha Noi's Dong Da Street still have not received their land-use certificates, although they have lived there since 2007.

As for the granting of land-use certificates for housing development projects, Tran Hung Phi, head of the Registration and Statistics Department under the General Department of Land Administration, admitted that the procedure had been generally slow because of investors' violations, including breaking regulations in the housing and building code.

These have gone unenforced due in part to State agencies' careless supervision and management of investment projects.
In addition, house buyers have been reluctant to go through the necessary procedures because of their concerns about fees and taxes.

The ministry last year in August drew up detailed solutions to speed up the granting of land-use certificates.

They include frequent supervision of projects that have had slow progress, punishment of investors who violate laws and regulations, and timely granting of certificates for house buyers.

Phi promised that under the ministry's new guidelines, the certificates would be approved if investors completed the procedures and obeyed the laws on housing and building.

Another customs officer prosecuted

Another officer from the Muong Khuong Bordergate Customs Department in the northern province of Lao Cai has been prosecuted for bribery after police extended their investigation into a case in which head of the department was found to have received bribes worth VND169 million (US$8,000) last week.

Initial investigations show that department head Tran Minh Thuong and his colleague Nguyen Van Cuong intentionally caused difficulties for enterprises and asked for bribes to solve customs clearance procedures for exporting goods to China.

The two suspects admitted to police that they had received bribes worth hundreds million of Vietnamese dong to speed up customs procedures.

HCMC to have 10 satellite urban areas

Ho Chi Minh City will have 10 satellite urban areas, under the master plan for the Southeastern region’s social and economic development by 2020 that has been approved by the Prime Minister.

According to the plan, the region will comprise HCMC and five provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh.

Of these localities, HCMC will be the trade, financial, tourist and international hub of the whole region, which is expected to be home to 18 million people and employ about 300,000 people per year in 2020.

Meanwhile, Vung Tau will become a hub for tourism and gas and oil exploitation, while Dong Nai Province’s Bien Hoa City and Binh Duong Province’s Thu Dau Mot Town will be developed into large service centers for industrial development.

In supporting HCMC as the multifunctional center for the region, ten satellite urban areas of the city will be set up, including Cu Chi, An Lac, Nha Be and Can Gio (the parts of the city), Nhon Trach, Long Thanh, Trang Bom, Tam Phuoc, and Hiep Phuoc (in Dong Nai Province), and Di An-Thuan An (in Binh Duong Province).

Along with these satellites, the city will also have more new traffic routes to its neighboring localities. Accordingly, express ways will be built to link the city to Long Thanh and Dau Giay in Dong Nai Province, to Vung Tau in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, and to Moc Bai in Tay Ninh Province.

In addition, the city’s beltway No. 3 and 4 will be built and its railroads will be upgraded and expanded to create an inter-regional urban railway system.

Bac Lieu Police warns local of crocodile thieves

Police in the southern province of Bac Lieu's Phuoc Long District have warned local people about a recent spate of thefts in which a reported 250 crocodiles went missing.

The loss, estimated at VND 250 million (US$11,000), occurred over the past two weeks on local crocodile farms.

According to police, the situation was alarming in an area considered to be Viet Nam's crocodile farming centre, with more than 300,000 of the reptiles.

Many farmers in the province rear crocodiles without installing the correct farming facilities, safe cages or registering their activities with local authorities, who are worried that the dangerous animals may escape into local canals and rivers and harm people.

According to local farmers, most of the cases occurred between midnight and 3am when thieves were able to break in without waking the sleeping adults and steal the baby animals. They said most of crocodiles stolen were small, between 4-7 kg, making them less dangerous to capture.

Local crocodile farmers said it wasn't a new problem, but it was becoming more frequent, making them suspect organised crime is involved.

Bac Lieu provincial authorities are investigating the thefts and urging local farmers to build safer cages and pay better attention to the dangerous animals for the safety of themselves and others.

Two years ago, seven thieves were arrested for carrying out 14 thefts during which thousands of crocodiles were stolen.

Suspected carcinogenic milk not on sale in Vietnam

Imported milk products from China’s Shaya Limited Company that may be carcinogenic are not on sale in Vietnam.

The confirmation was made by the Vietnam Food Administration after it was warned that five packets of milk products from the Shaya Limited Company had been found to contain levels of Aflatoxin M1 beyond the permitted level following recent inspections by the National Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Centre of China.

Aflatoxin M1, a strain of fungi found in cereal and soybean, has been classified by the World Health Organisation as a Group 1 carcinogen.

Female parliamentarians discuss gender equality

An international conference, themed “Female parliamentarians with national strategy on gender equality” kicked off on July 27 in the southern province of Khanh Hoa.

Jointly held by the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs, the Vietnam Female Parliamentarians Group and the United Nations Development Programme in Vietnam, the two-day conference drew more than 50 female delegates from 10 countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Canada, the Republic of Korea, China, Sweden, Thailand and Vietnam.

Addressing the opening ceremony, National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong emphasised the importance of the gender equality strategy in each country and the real experience on female parliamentarians’ role in promoting gender equality.

Phong said that it is necessary to strengthen mutual understanding and share experience among countries.

The event focused on discussing the progress and challenges of gender integration into parliamentary activities and strategies on gender equality, including the plans for action and orientation.

At the conference, the participants shared opinions on many global issues, stressing that many legislative bodies are facing difficulties in promoting gender equality.

Vietnamese delegates shared the country’s experience with international friends when Vietnam has a high number of NA female deputies, the quality of NA female deputies has been improved and the number of young and ethnic minority delegates accounts for a remarkable proportion.

Nation counts 8mil hepatitis infections

About eight million people in Viet Nam are infected with hepatitis B or C virus, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). This is higher than the world average.

WHO Viet Nam Country Office released the statistics on July 28 – the second World Hepatitis Day.

WHO said that globally, about 500 million people – or one in every 12 – had either form of the disease, yet awareness of the risk of infection remained low.

If left untreated and unmanaged, hepatitis B and C can lead to liver cancer or cirrhosis. In Viet Nam, liver cancer is the second leading cause of death in men.

Dr Fabio Mesquita, WHO advisor on HIV in Viet Nam, said developing national policies to diagnose and treat hepatitis was necessary to contain the disease.

In Viet Nam, routine immunisation for hepatitis B has been implemented for the past 10 years. In 2011, fifty-five per cent of newborns received a dose of hepatitis B vaccination at birth, and the coverage for the additional three dose vaccination reached 95 per cent.

According to a survey, vaccinations have led to a two per cent reduction of hepatitis B infection in children.

WHO is developing new guidance for screening, care and treatment of those with chronic hepatitis B and C infections. It will help countries make that treatment more accessible and affordable.

Car burns, two survive

A driver and his wife were reported to have survived after their saloon car burnt to shell in the central province of Thua Thien Hue on July 27.

Truong Huu Nui saw fire coming out from the hood of his car when he was driving to work with his wife.

Despite efforts by the fire brigade, the Toyota Visos, which belong to Vo Ta Hai in Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province, was completely destroyed.

The case is still under investigation.

American surgeons perform free surgery

More than 80 Vietnamese patients, mainly children with foot deformities and disabilities, will get free surgery.

The operation will be performed by surgeons from the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society under an ongoing four-week humanitarian outreach project.

The American surgeons will also offer check-ups for over 200 other patients at clinics in Hanoi, Vinh, Thai Nguyen, and Dien Bien.
They have been working with the Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Institute, Viet Duc Hospital and local orthopaedic surgeons during the program, which will end on August 4.

They will also share knowledge and new techniques on how to care for patients.

Tour operator in debt, Vietnamese locked in Thai hotel

Thirty-one Vietnamese tourists had a terrible vacation in Thailand this week when they were shut in a hotel in Bangkok for half a day on Friday after a Thai firm forced them to hand over their passports in reaction to its Vietnamese partner's default on debts.

O.V.Y., one of them, said that the Thai company required the tourists to submit all their passports on Thursday afternoon or they would not be allowed to check in at Ratchada Hotel in Bangkok.

The requirement was immediately turned down by the Vietnamese who felt it too absurd to comply with. However, they had to obey after being kept in the lobby until 11:00 pm, as they were all worn out at the time.

“Things became worse the next day when they refused to return the passports because our tour operator Thai Viet Travel, which they said is their partner, had not settled a debt they owed them,” Y. recalled.

“We had to cancel our sightseeing and shopping plans for that day and were kept at the hotel the entire morning.”

Another tourist said that no lunch was served to them that day even when they were scheduled to leave Thailand at 3:00 pm.

The group had to call the Vietnamese Embassy for help since the Thai firm kept declining to give the documents back and at the same time stopped their bus heading for the airport, while it was then more than 1 hour to the scheduled flight, he said.

“They hurriedly pushed us to the bus as we said the embassy would send a person to handle this case,” the tourist added.
Thai Viet director Nguyen Huu Duong explained Saturday to Tuoi Tre that his company did not repay the debt to its Thai partner because of banking problems.

Thai Viet will negotiate compensation with the tourists soon, Duong promised.

Hundreds attend lesbian wedding near marriage registration body

Two lesbians were found tying the knot on Saturday in the southern province of Binh Duong against the backdrop that Vietnam bans same-sex marriage.

Around 150 people attended their wedding party at Huong Dong Que restaurant, a stone’s throw from a local people’s committee which is in charge of marriage registration, located in the provincial capital Thu Dau Mot City, newswire Infonet reported.

The ‘groom’ is Le P., the seventh in a family of 8 siblings who all come from the southernmost province of Ca Mau, according to Le Van Nh., claiming to be ‘his’ father.

The other half is reportedly a woman named Kim Ph., from the same province, whose parents were believed to refuse to partake in the wedding.

Giang, identifying himself as the elder brother of the ‘bride’, who joined the party said he did so because of the love for his sister.
The bride broke up with her former husband before deciding to ‘marry’ P., the father revealed.

Nh. also said that the couple who are factory workers at a local company had made no marriage registration at local competent agencies before their wedding.

In May, another same-sex wedding took place in Kien Giang Province – Ca Mau’s neighbor – after which local authorities fined the couple, who are gay. They left the province for another afterward.

Huge attention had been drawn to what was believed to be the first wedding between two lesbians in 2010.

A video of their wedding party in Hanoi attracted more than 10,000 views within a few days after being uploaded to YouTube.
Mekong floods expected early

The annual flooding in the Mekong Delta could occur early this year and reach the third alarm level, the highest, according to the Southern Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Since last week water has been flowing into the upstream areas of the Tien and Hau Rivers , two major tributaries of the Mekong .
The Tien's water level is increasing by 2-5cm a day at the Tan Chau Station.

The floods normally begin in September though it came a month early last year.

Experienced farmers also warn of unusually severe flooding this year, saying they have seen signs in nature - more ants moving their nests into trees and unusually loud chirping by cicadas in winter.

In the Mekong 's upstream provinces of An Giang and Dong Thap, normally the worst affected during the flood season, farmers are busy preparing to harvest the floods' bounty.

Every year the floods also bring silt as well as fish and other aquatic creatures into paddy fields, enabling farmers to do aquaculture.

Mai Thanh Son, deputy chairman of the Long Thang commune People's Committee in Dong Thap's Lai Vung district, said people making handicrafts such as bamboo traps to catch fish had greatly increased production in anticipation of severe flooding.

Villages are estimated to produce 30,000-40,000 such traps this year, he said.

In a boat making village in Long Hau Commune in the same district, production has begun. Nam Hong, who has been making small boats for 20 years, said he has readied enough wood to make 250 vessels, 50 more than last year.

But since the price of wood has gone up, many boat makers are hesitant to increase production, he said.

This year Dong Thap authorities have decided to open dykes to let floodwaters wash into paddy fields to allow more silt into the fields, wash away chemicals and other pollutants, and kill pests so that the next rice crop will yield a better harvest.

Nguyen Van Hai, a spokesperson for the Dong Thap People's Committee, said the province has invested VND150 billion (US$7.1million) to streng-then dykes in downstream districts.

In these places, the dykes will not be opened and farmers will be allowed to plant a third rice crop here, he said.

In An Giang, in areas where farmers have planted a third crop for the last three years, authorities will open the dykes to let the floodwaters in.

Businessman gets death for murder in China

At an appeal hearing on Friday, the Supreme People’s Court in Quang Ninh Province sentenced 33-year-old Nguyen Tien Phuong to death for instigating the killing of two men and destroying their bodies in China.

Phuong’s two accomplices, Nguyen Tien Chung, 49, and Bui Hai Bai, 48, received a life sentence and a 20-year sentence respectively.

Phuong was the director of Quang Phat Co Ltd in Quang Ninh but he was also well known in the underground world in the province.

The two victims are Le Minh Diep, of Quang Ninh, and Nguyen Minh Tri, a native of Hai Phong City.

According to the indictment, in late May 2000, Phuong’s company and Hong Kong Co., Ltd had conflicts in their competition in exporting goods to China.

Phuong then asked Chung, his younger brother, and Bai, his employee, to capture and beat Le Van Diep and Nguyen Minh Tri, two export executives of Hong Kong.

The attackers then took Tri and Diep to the Shiwan Dashan Mountain area in China’s Guangxi province, where they continued to brutalize the two men to death.

Chung later hired a group of Chinese people to destroy the victim’s bodies for 20,000 yuan, but locals in the mountainous area later discovered the bodies.

After being informed about the case, the Quang Ninh province police launched an investigation and later seized Chung and Bai first and then Phuong.

At the trial in August 2010, the provincial People’s Court sentenced Phuong and Chung to death while Bai was given a life sentence.

But the three appealed the verdicts and at the appeal hearing in January 2011, all the three saw their verdicts reduced, with Chung receiving life imprisonment and Phuong and Bai getting 20 years and 15 years in jail respectively.

However, in December 2011 the Supreme People’s Court canceled these sentences and requested that the case be re-tried.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre