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More guest workers to be sent abroad
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affair planned to send 100,000 labourers to work overseas this year, an increase of 15 per cent over last year.
Management will be tightened in localities to try and weed out cheating brokerage operators.
In addition, labourers with skills will be given preference to meet the demands of employers in Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. The market will also be expanded in Middle East countries.
Journalist Hoang Khuong’s brother-in-law detained
Police in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday, Jan 3, arrested 23-year-old Nguyen Duc Dong Anh, brother-in-law of Tuoi Tre newspaper’s journalist Hoang Khuong, for indirectly bribing a traffic police officer in a traffic violation case.
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Nguyen Duc Dong Anh is questioned by an investigator. (Photo: Xa Luan) |
The police also searched Anh’s house in Phu Nhuan District, HCMC the same day, one day after Hoang Khuong, whose real name is Nguyen Van Khuong, was arrested on the same charge.
Anh, also known as Pe, a native of Lam Dong Province, was charged with indirectly giving VND15 million (US$713) as a bribe to Huynh Minh Duc, a former traffic officer in Binh Thanh District who had been arrested earlier for taking the bribe.
According to investigators, the Binh Thanh district police, during their crackdown on a large-scale illegal motorbike race in April 2011, temporarily impounded the motorbike of Tran Van Hoa, a young man who had driven the vehicle in a dangerous manner.
Hoa, a friend of Anh’s, then asked Anh for help in getting back his motorbike and avoiding being given a public warning in his residential quarter.
Anh agreed and received from Hoa the minutes on the temporary seizure of the vehicle, his motorbike registration certificate, and VND15 million in cash.
Anh later had a motorbike taxi driver hand the minutes, the certificate, and the money to Hoang Khuong. Through Khuong, the money was given to Ton That Hoa who later handed the money to Duc in exchange for Duc’s help in releasing the motorbike.
Ton That Hoa is the director of Duy Nguyen Private Enterprise and has been detained for brokering the bribe.
Hoang Khuong is an investigative reporter who has written many articles exposing corrupt acts by a number of traffic police officers.
In 2010, Mr. Khuong won second prize at the city Press Award for an article about bribery at customs checkpoints.
Five-year-old survives being hit by sickle
Quynh Nhat Hao, aged 5, from Bien Hoa City's Buu Hoa Ward in southern Dong Nai Province, was taken to hospital in a critical condition after being hit on the head with a sickle yesterday, Jan 3.
Doctors at the provincial hospital operated for three hours and managed to save the boy's life, hospital director Phan Huy Anh Vu said.
His alleged attacker, Nguyen Thanh Binh, aged 28, later gave himself up to municipal police.
Mysterious man sets fire to sleeper bus in HCMC
A man set fire to a sleeper bus owned by Nguyen Khang Company and ran away, leaving the bus in flames last Tuesday evening in Ho Chi Minh City’s Mien Dong Bus Station.
Upon noticing black smoke coming from the bus, people in the station rushed to the vehicle and used CO2 spray cans to extinguish the fire.
The blaze, which had spread to a rear tire of the bus, was put out within minutes.
However, the right side of the bus was partially burned.
Witnesses said that before the blaze broke out, they saw a man doing something in the back of the bus.
However, thinking that he was just going to the bathroom, people did not pay attention to him.
When the fire flared up, the strange man ran away, jumped on a motorbike with someone waiting on it outside, and fled.
According to the bus driver, this was an act of personal revenge.
The bus was brand-new and had been recently bought by Nguyen Khang Company.
It was planned to run for the first time from Ho Chi Minh City- Quy Nhon City on Wednesday, but was burned before it could leave.
Authorities are cooperating with Binh Thanh police in the investigation.
HCMC water price increased by 10 percent
Following a 5-percent increase in power prices nationwide, the water price in Ho Chi Minh City has also been increased by 10 percent from January 1, 2012, according to a decision of December 24, 2011 by the city People’s Committee.
Accordingly, the water price for households rises from VND4,400 to VND4,800 (US$0.23) per cubic meter for the consumption level of 4 cubic meters of water per month.
For a consumption of 4-6 cubic meters per month, the price increases from VND8,300 to 9,200 per cubic meter; and for a use of more than 6 cubic meters, the price rises from VND10,500 to VND11,000.
Meanwhile, the water price for administrative agencies and societies increases by VND1,200 to VND9,300 per cubic meter and for manufacturers and service providers by VND1,700 to VND15,200.
On December 20, 2011, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has approved the Electricity of Vietnam Group’s proposal to increase the power price by 5 percent starting January 2012.
Accordingly, the average power price will be VND1,304 ($0.06) per kWh, excluding value-added tax. This is an increase of VND62 per kWh over the current rate.
The power rate for the consumption level of under 100 kWh per month, which covers most poor households, will remain unchanged.
For the level of 101-150 kWh per month, the price rises from VND1,304 to VND1,369 per kWh; and for the level of more than 400 kWh, the price is VND2,060 per kWh.
Young Vietnamese man killed in Canada
19-year-old Kevin Pham, a young Vietnamese man, suffered numerous stab wounds in an apartment in Mississauga, Canada, outside of Toronto, on December 28, 2011, and later died in hospital, police reported.
After receiving a call from the Queensway area apartment building on Hurontario St., local police arrived and found Pham suffering from at least three life-threatening wounds in the chest, along with many others on his body, Dat Viet newspaper quoted Peel Regional Police as saying.
The Mississauga resident was taken to a local hospital but died later, police said.
It is suspected that the murder could be related to underworld gangs, since the victim had associated with many disreputable companions in the society.
Pham once lived in the apartment building, but he had moved elsewhere to live with his girlfriend, and they later had a daughter, who is now three, according to Mississauga News. He was a good father and lived for his family, the newspaper said.
Peel police later seized two people in connection with the murder.
On New Year’s Day, a 17-year-old male was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Due to his age, name of the youth is not released, the Saanj News reported.
Later the same day, Elon Washington Brooks, 19, of Mississauga, surrendered to police. He also faces second-degree murder charges, according to the Toronto Sun.
The police are continuing with their investigation.
Earlier in 2011, two other Vietnamese Canadians were killed in two separate cases, Dat Viet reported.
In May 17, Mrs. Kim Ngu Lieu was mugged and viciously beaten by three teens – two aged 16 and one 15 years old – at a bus stop in Montreal North, Canada.
Lieu died in hospital after spending a few days in intensive care with severe head injuries.
The culprits were arrested shortly after the attack and appeared in Youth Court on May 25, where they were charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery and second-degree murder.
On March 8, when Constable Vu Pham stopped a car for examination in a rural area near Leadbury, Ontario, the 70-year-old driver of the car pulled out a gun and shot at Pham.
Over 25 shots were fired in the subsequent exchange in which Constable Pham was fatally wounded. The driver, Fred Preston, was shot and wounded by other officers a short time later.
Pham, who had served with the Ontario Provincial Police for 15 years, died several hours after being flown to London’s Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, with his wife and three children at his side.
Preston also died three days later in London's Victoria Hospital.
VNN/VNS/Tuoi Tre
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