Requiem held at Quang Tri citadel

A requiem was held at the ancient Quang Tri citadel in central Quang Tri Province on Saturday to pray for thousands of former students who sacrificed their lives to protect the citadel during the war.

Releasing birds and floating lanterns on the Thach Han River were part of the ceremony that drew the participation of more than 400 former students together with war veterans, students and local people from Quang Tri and northern provinces.

The citadel, built in 1824, was strongly defended by Vietnamese troops in the war against American invaders in 1972.

For 81 days and nights from June 28, Vietnamese soldiers tried their best to protect it from bombardment.

It has since been listed as a national historical site.

Fire hits largest electronics supermarket in Vinh

An extensive fire raged the six-story electronics supermarket CK Plaza located in Quan Bau Ward in Vinh City of the northern central province of Nghe An on Friday morning, burning down several goods and machines.

Photo: VNN

There were no immediate reports of damage and human casualties.

According to police, the fire broke out at the second floor of the building and quickly spread to other floors.

It took firefighters from eight trucks about 3 hours to put out the fire.

A static spark is believed to have ignited the fire.

CK Plaza, with a trading area of 2,600 sq.m, is the largest electronics supermarket in the city. It is expected to open on September 2.

Police are investigating.

Wild elephant shows up in the Yok Don National Park

Residents and authorities reported sightings of nearly 30 wild elephants on Saturday in Dak Lak Province's Yok Don National Park.

Nguyen Huy Hai, head of Forest Watch Station No.8, told a Viet Nam News Agency representative that the herd, including one calf, had been sighted in several sections of the park within the last month.

The herd travelled from Cu Jut forest in neighbouring Dak Nong Province in search of food, he said.

After reports of the herd overturning several milestone markers and destroying corn fields in Ea Sup Town, local ethnic minorities were warned to light fires and make loud noises by banging pots or gongs to drive the elephants away if they got too close, said Hai.
The goal is to protect both people and the wild creatures.

A project on wild elephant protection to 2015 is currently being implemented in Dak Lak Province with an aim to manage and preserve the park's community of 10 wild elephant herds, somewhere between 83-110 individual elephants.

The forestry companies of Ea H'Mo and Chu Pa in Ea Sup District are implementing the project.

Under the project, the wild elephants in Dak Lak Province have been provided with a good living environment and food resources in an effort to preserve the species and help them develop well in the natural environment.

2,000 cars fined in Hanoi in a fortnight

Over the past 15 days, over 2,000 cars have been fined for parking or stopping at the wrong places in Hanoi, the capital's Traffic Police Department reported.
The fines were issued as part of the municipal police’s pilot program to handle violating cars using an imaging camera system and sending fine notices by post to the cars’ owners or sticking such notices to the cars.
According to the police, most of the owners of the cars who received notices stuck on their cars have paid the fines, but many who have received notices by post have yet to pay them.
For these owners, the police said they would send reminders twice and if they still didn’t pay the fines, tougher measures would be imposed.
Hanoi now has more than 330 licensed parking lots, including 250 lots on roadways and 80 on sidewalks, the department said.

Many of these parking lots are situated in small but crowded streets including Pham Ngu Lao, Thai Ha, Hoa Lu, Nguyen Du, and Ngoc Khanh and frequently cause congestion.

To solve this problem, the local traffic police have requested the Department of Transport to withdraw the licenses of those parking lots that have caused traffic jams as well as order parking lots to operate on only one side of the small streets.
The police also warned the department about many illegal parking lots that have occupied both sidewalks and roadways, seriously impeding the movement of pedestrians and vehicles.

Bac Lieu to get modern market

A ground breaking ceremony for Bac Lieu City's central market on Phan Ngoc Hien Street – the biggest market in the province – was held yesterday.

The VND200 billion (US$9.6 million) project, invested by Minh Thang Company, is expected to be finished in two years.

The six-floor building will replace a 100-year-old market, which has been under degradation for years. It will be designed as a sail filled with wind to symbolise the province's seafaring tradition.

The market will have escalators and elevators, a fire protection system and camera protection.

It will provide space for more than 1000 traders.

Provincial authorities also plan to build two piers so that boats can join in trading activities.

Man assaulted by hotel’s security staffs

A dozen of security staffs of a hotel in the southern province of Binh Duong assaulted a residential quarter’s guard so violently Saturday that he had to be hospitalized, the local police reported.
25-year-old Le Dinh Hieu was beaten by the security guards of Huong Thanh Hotel in Binh Hoa Ward, Thuan An Town, at 10 pm on Friday, said Captain Nguyen Thanh Ngung, deputy head of the Binh Hoa Ward Police.
The police said Hieu suffered from many wounds on his face, back and arms.
Hieu told the police that at 9:30 pm the same day, he witnessed several security guards of the hotel beating a young man outside the hotel. The man then managed to run away, leaving behind his motorbike.
A security guard took the motorbike into the hotel but Hieu asked him to bring it to the ward police office for investigation. As the guard refused, Hieu handcuffed him.
Then, a dozen of other hotel guards ran to the scene and pulled Hieu into their office inside the hotel and beat him with wooden sticks for 10 minutes.
Captain Ngung said the ward police, who was then informed by local residents, came to the hotel and asked the guards to let Tuan go, but they refused and used wooden sticks to attack the policemen.
It was not until 11 pm when the Thuan An town police came that the guards agreed to release Hieu, Ngung said.
The town police are working with the hotel managers to investigate the incident and identify the guards who had assaulted Hieu, he said. 

Robber drowns after jumping off bridge

A robber drowned after he jumped off the Bui Huu Nghia Bridge in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Thanh District in an attempt to escape from police on Friday, newswire VnExpress reported.

At 1:30am on September 2, after alledgely drinking some alcohol, Dinh Manh Hung, 19, and his accomplice Nguyen Hue Hung, 18, stopped Nguyen Manh Hai, who was driving a motorcycle on Bach Dang Street, to demand VND100,000 from him with menaces.

However, they then grew greedy and snatched his wallet when they found lots of money inside.

Two mobile policemen, who were patrolling the street at that time, chased after them after hearing shout for help from the victim.

The police pushed down their bike and arrested Hue Hung while Manh Hung tried to escape by jumping off the bridge. However, he drowned later.