Wanted notice issued for chief of Vietnam Maritime

The incumbent chief of the Vietnam Maritime Administration Duong Chi Dung, who is former chairman of the state-owned shipping company Vinalines, and two other high-ranking officials were indicted Friday in Hanoi.

According to the arrest warrant of the central investigation police, the three officials are charged of ‘intentionally violating State regulations on economic management that causes severe consequences’.

However, Duong Chi Dung is nowhere to be found. Police have issued a wanted notice for him.

The two arrested officials include Mai Van Phuc, 54, who is deputy chief of Transport Administration under the Ministry of Transport and former general director of Vinalines; and Tran Huu Chieu, 60, who is former deputy general director of the shipping firm.

Police also searched their offices on Friday.

Dung and Phuc will be detained for four months for police investigation, transport deputy minister Truong Tan Vien said, citing the information from the police.

Vinalines, the largest state-owned shipping and port operator in Vietnam, now suffers from five defaulted loans worth more than VND23.06 trillion (US$1.1 billion).

It was also found to have purchased 73 foreign vessels, most of which are secondhand, at VND23 trillion. Of these, 17 vessels have been used from 15 to 30 years, incurring a huge expense for repairing and maintaining the ships due to their deteriorated conditions. Many of the vessels are too old to be registered for operating in Vietnam.

More criticisms as cancer boy in ad is not real

A tear-jerking TV commercial which has already been under fire for featuring a hairless cancer boy now causes more anger after customers find out the child is only an actor.

Titled “Gau Do – Gan Ket Yeu Thuong,” (Red Bear – Tie People’s Love), the commercial promoting the Red Bear Instant Noodle brand recounts the story of Tuan, a child cancer patient whose family cannot afford treatment.

Through the heart-wrenching ad, noodle producer Binh Duong-based Asian Foods Corporation announces that VND10 (US$ 0.00048) will be donated to help child patients on each sold packet of Gau Do (Red Bear) noodle.

Many viewers had been moved after watching the advertisement and called the company’s hotline with the hope of donating money to help Tuan. However, they got furious after being explained that Tuan is just a fictional character for illustration purposes only.

Reader Tran Thien Quan said charity is non-profit matter while advertisement is about making profits. “We can’t link the two things together. Using charity in a commercial doesn’t make any sense. Though it also draws people’s attention to disadvantaged people, to me, such ad is counterproductive”.

Lu Lam Uyen, an instructor in Competition Law at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics’ Law Faculty, said she was shocked watching the advertisement. According to her, Vietnam does not have detailed regulations for commercials taking advantage of people’s compassion.

The law forbids it?

Tran Bao Minh, deputy CEO of Asia Foods Corporation, claimed the company didn’t cheat customers. He also explained that the commercial-producing crew had thought carefully and decided to not film real patients since “they’re too weak to be filmed”.

“We can film the real patients but it’s too heartless,” he said. According to him, using a fictional character to stand for real people is not cheating.

Agreeing with Minh, a local expert on advertisement said it is normal around the world to use images that touch people’s hearts for advertisement campaigns. He also added that the commercial is a success since it has managed to evoke a spirit of solidarity among the Vietnamese.

However, according to the Government's Decree 64/2008/ND-CP, only government-controlled mass media agencies and some other state organs are allowed to call for public donations to help patients while the Asia Foods Corporation is just a share-holding company.

Large anti-bank robbery drill in Hanoi

With a view to improve its ability to fight bank robberies, the Hanoi Police yesterday launched a drill with the participation of nearly 600 police officers.

The rehearsal was carried out at the head office of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

More than 50 specified police cars and a lot of weapons and specific devices were used in the drill.

According to the exercise’s scenario, a group of five robbers arrived in the bank in a car at 12 pm (noon). They were armed with K54 handguns, AK submachine guns and poniards.

They then shot and injured a bank security guard who attempted to stop them for examination.

One of the robbers took shelter at the front door of the bank while the remaining four rushed into the bank to threaten 10 bank staff and ask the cashier to give them all of the money and gold in the cash boxes.

Earlier, on hearing the sound of the shooting, the cashier had pressed a special alarm button that was directly connected to the capital’s anti-robber police force.

After seizing some money and gold from the cashier, the robbers held some bank staff as hostages.

Receiving the alarm, the capital’s police immediately deployed its force to the scene, surrounding the bank and using loudspeakers to persuade the attackers to free the hostages and surrender.

The robbers rejected the police’s call, demanding that they be given a taxi so that they could escape from the scene, claiming that otherwise they would kill the hostages.

The police continued persuading the robbers to surrender but failed. They then sent a taxicab to the scene which was driven by a police officer who had disguised himself as the cab’s driver.

When one of the robbers brought hostage along with him out of the bank and was walking over to the taxicab for examination, the police team decided to launch simultaneous attacks on the robbers.

While a sniper was assigned to shoot the robber outside the bank, the remaining police officers broke into the bank from the floor above the ground floor and down to where the other robbers were holding the rest of the hostages.

During the exchange of shots, the police killed two robbers and then seized the two others.

They later rescued the hostages safely.

2 guys bloodied in brawl for a girl

Two young men tried to beat each other bloody during a fight in the southern province of Binh Duong on Sunday, struggling for a girl whom both of them claimed was their girlfriend.

As the result of the brawl, one went to hospital for care and the other was held by local police.

Investigators said at dawn on May 20, a young man wearing a red T-shirt on a motorcycle tried to chase a couple also on a bike.

The man quickly reached the bike ahead and stopped it, claiming the girl behind was his girlfriend and accused ‘the driver’ of stealing his girl, but ‘his rival’ denied this.

Their disagreement became heated, soon escalating to a full-out fight with the men using their helmets as weapons, causing chaos in the area.

113 mobile police forces and local police showed up at the scene afterwards. The man who carried the girl was taken to hospital for care due to a head injury, while his ‘rival’ was detained by local police pending an investigation.

Tenth grader wins first prize in UPU letter writing contest

Nguyen Dang Quy Minh, a 10th grader of Nhan Chinh high school in Hanoi, has won first prize in the 41st Universal Postal Union (UPU) International Letter Writing Contest held in Vietnam.     

His letter was sent to 18-year-old mentally-retarded athlete Nguyen Huu Ky Phong in Thua Thien-Hue province, who earned a gold medal in the 50 meter-race with a record time of 10.50 seconds at the 2011 Special Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Minh’s letter was translated into French and sent to the UPU in Switzerland to participate in the international competition.

At the awards ceremony in Hanoi on May 19, Minh said that through the letter, he wants to send this message to everyone: that everybody is born with a range of hidden abilities which can be developed by themselves, and that in life, winning is not everything, the most important thing is to try our best to gain achievements and create a better life.

This year's contest theme was “Write a letter to an athlete or sports figure you admire and explain what the Olympic Games mean to you”. In Vietnam, the contest received 932,519 entries from all over the country. After five rounds of deliberations, the organizing board chose one first prize, three second prize, five third prize and 30 consolation prize winners, in addition to other prizes for the youngest entrant and the best entries from ethnic minority groups and blind contestants.

Blue-ear pig disease hits eight localities

As of May 19, eight provinces and cities have confirmed outbreaks of blue-ear pig disease, according to the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The affected localities include Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Nam Dinh, Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh and Lai Chau. Severe outbreaks were found in the north-western region, which then spread to the northern mountainous provinces.

In Dien Bien province, 11,000 diseased pigs weighing a total of around 355 tonnes were culled. All infected areas were sterilized and 40,000 doses of vaccine were allocated to help local communes prevent the spread of the disease.

More than 500 sick pigs were also destroyed in Thanh Thuy and Thanh Son districts of Phu Tho province. Local veterinary officers are currently intensifying vaccinations in all infected communes.

Experts warn that outbreaks of the deadly disease are likely to occur more widely, especially during the hot summer months. One of the biggest obstacles to combating blue-ear pig disease is the shortage of vaccines, they said.

USAID helps Vietnam combat bird flu and human influenza

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has granted US$300,000 to help Vietnam implement a project on fighting bird flu and human influenza.   

The project, recently approved the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), will be implemented from May 2012 to May 2013 in nine targeted localities including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Can Tho, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Tri and Lang Son.

The project aims to improve the national healthcare management system and provide better healthcare services for most-vulnerable groups and disadvantaged people.

It is part of the Integrated National Action Program on Avian Influenza, Pandemic Preparedness and Other Emerging Infectious Diseases (AIPED) for the 2011-2015 period.

Vietnamese-Australian caught with 1.3 kg of drug

Tan Son Nhat Airport security yesterday handed a Vietnamese-Australian woman over to Ho Chi Minh City Police after finding her carrying 1.3 kg of heroin when about to leave Vietnam for Australia.

Last Saturday evening, on examining the luggage of Nguyen Thi Minh Loan, 56, airport customs officers discovered the drugs hidden in her suitcase.

The drugs were packed in five plastic bags that were stuck on the inside walls of the suitcase.

These bags were covered by additional plastic wrappings containing chili powder, to prevent detection by police dogs.

Loan would have left Vietnam on flight VN773 to Sydney that night.

Since the past month, airport customs have discovered six drug trafficking cases, seizing over 20 kg heroin. Of these cases, three were related to flights to Australia.

On April 24 airport customs arrested a Vietnamese woman boarding a flight from HCM City to with 1.83 kg of heroin in her possession.

The heroin was found packed in seven nylon bags, covered with pepper and coffee and hidden in the lining of her suitcase.

The 32-year-old woman was from Binh Thanh District of HCM City.

On April 21 airport police detained a Cambodian woman for bringing 5.2 kg of methamphetamine, a kind of synthetic drug, from Benin, a West African country, to Vietnam, where she would have taken a road trip to Cambodia.

35-year-old Hom Kosal was caught hiding the white powder in her suitcase when she arrived at the airport on flight QR608 from Qatar, where she transited after departing from Benin.

Kosal told police that she was hired by a man to bring the drugs from Benin with transit in Vietnam, for US$2,000.

Earlier, on April 17, airport customs and police caught a Vietnamese national travelling from the Philippines carrying a double-bottomed suitcase containing 2.6 kg of synthetic drugs.

Elevator drops down during inauguration of Vietnam’s tallest tower

An elevator of the 72-storey Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower suddenly dropped down uncontrollably at its inaugural ceremony in the capital yesterday, panicking more than 10 people inside the lift.

At 11:30 am Friday, a short moment after the ceremony ended, one of the two lifts carrying visitors to the 72nd floor suddenly came out of control and fell down freely.

B. T. H. recounted, “When I and more than 10 other people were in the elevator to go to the top floor, the lift suddenly stopped at the 28th storey and then fell down freely and rapidly. It halted at the 21st floor for a short while before continuing to fall. During the process, no buttons on the operating panel inside worked.”

Everybody in the lift was in panic. Some shouted for help while others felt dizzy. Luckily, after falling down to the 10th floor the lift went down slowly to the ground floor, H. said.

As recorded by Tuoi Tre correspondents at the building, the same situation happened a few times again later, causing panic to others.

After examining the elevator, a technician at the building explained that whenever a technical problem occurs, the lift will automatically move to the closest safe place.

This phenomenon is not a freefall and is thus not dangerous, the technical said.

The building is a complex including hotels, trade centers, offices and apartments, with a total floor area of more than 600,000 square meters. It is currently Vietnam’s tallest building.

Inactive Directions is Google’s technical problem

The disconnection of the Directions service on Google Maps over this week was due to a technical problem on Google side, Myriam Boublil, head of Communications and Public Affairs of Google Southeast Asia, said yesterday.

The announcement is the first official response from the operator of the world’s largest online map regarding the inactivation of the Directions feature in Vietnam.

“The problem has now been solved,” said Boubil on Friday when Vietnamese users were able to use the service which shows directions connecting the two specified locations via their smart phones and Symbian-powered devices again, after a five-day temporary haul.

Google Maps officially introduced the Directions feature to Vietnamese market in January 2010.

At present, there are 55 countries worldwide that Google does not supply the service to.

Survivors recall moments after Serepok bus wreck

Some passengers recalled horrible moments after the May 17 bus accident in the central highlands province of Dak Lak that claimed 34 lives.

It occurred when the bus carrying 58 hit the rails of the bridge no. 14 and fell down 20 meters into the Serepok River bank.

The 24 survivors are suffering from multiple injuries and are being treated at the province’s general hospital.

Some said they heard a big banging sound when they were sleeping.

Tran Ba Tien hailing from Phu Yen province, recalled: “When I had a quick doze on the bus, I felt the vehicle swaying hard from side to side. After a moment, I saw the bus falling. I fainted.”

“After that, I heard a loud hammering sound and shouts coming from rescuers in my semi-conscious state. I opened my eyes and saw bodies, legs and hands stuck at the wreck scene. A couple of minutes later, I was pulled out of the vehicle,” Tien added.

Phan Thi Thanh, 16, suffering fractures on the right arm, said she did not know anything and woke up after the accident.

“I was on way to visit my siblings in Ho Chi Minh City. The accident occurred when I was in a deep sleep so I knew nothing. When the bus was near the edge of the river, I crept outside through a broken glass window,” she said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on May 18 sent condolences to the families of the dead and the injured. The PM also requested Dak Lak People’s Committee to direct the concerned authorities to visit and financially support them.

The Vietnamese Fatherland Front has given VND5 million (US$250) to each family of the dead and VND3 million ($150) to each injured victim.

On Friday afternoon, representatives from Ministry of Transport and National Traffic Safety Committee held an emergency meeting with Dak Lak authorities to identify the cause of the crash.

However, Colonel Nguyen Van Dinh, deputy director of the provincial public security department, told the meeting the cause remained unclear.

Dinh said that local authorities had mobilized more than 100 policemen to the scene for rescue operations.

The colonel added prosecutors needed more investigations before pressing charges.

Man acquitted in rape-and-murder case detained again

Police in Binh Phuoc Province yesterday detained 30-year-old Le Ba Mai, a local man who was sentenced to death for rape and murder of a minor in 2004 but acquitted by the Supreme People’s Court 7 years later for lack of evidence.

This new arrest was made under a decision by the appeal court of the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City.

The court said the detention was necessary for a re-trial at the request of the provincial People’s Procuracy, which continued to charge him with raping and killing an 11-year-old girl, named Thi Ut in the province on November 12, 2004.

As previously reported, in 2005 the provincial People’s Court sentenced Mai to death based mainly on his confession to the crimes. Later the same year, the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the verdict.

However, he later filed an appeal to the Supreme People’s Procuracy claiming that he was innocent and that his confession was coerced by the police.

In late 2006, the Supreme People’s Procuracy called for a retrial, citing many mistakes made by provincial investigators, including a failure to preserve evidence collected at the crime scene and incorrect written records.

In May 2007 the Procuracy canceled the verdicts of the first and second trials and called for further investigations.

Four years later, on May 24, 2011, the Supreme People’s Court in HCMC acquitted Mai, saying that there was not enough evidence for his alleged crimes.

The court said it is unacceptable to find anyone guilty purely based on their confessions made to the police.

However, in mid-2011 the head of the provincial People’s Procuracy disagreed with the Supreme People’s Court’s judgment, demanding that Mai be re-tried.

Imported plums found with cancer causing substances

Salted dry plum products, or xi muoi, sold in HCM City's popular An Dong Market have been found to contain harmful forbidden substances.

According to the Ministry of Public Security's Environmental Crime Prevention and Fighting Police Department (C49), product samples taken from the market contained excessive amounts of the cancer-causing chemical, cyclamate, as well as artificial sweetener saccharin at 31 times higher than the permitted limits.

The tainted products are branded Preserved Fruits made by the Kim Seng Industrial Co Ltd. The labelling indicates that it was imported from Thailand, but its authenticity has not been confirmed yet. The packages also carry Chinese lettering.

Dr Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, deputy head of the HCM City Sub-department of Food Safety and Hygiene, said cyclamate could damage livers, kidneys and lungs, and had been banned by the Ministry of Health from use in food products.

Earlier, HCM City's Health Department inspectors had taken six samples of dried fruits, pickled plum products and jams of foreign origins from the Binh Tay wholesale market for testing.

The cyclamate contained in these samples is 13.7 per cent while the content of saccharin is 8,646.34mg per kilo.

The source of the toxic pickled plum products is being investigated.

According to traders in An Dong Market, 90 per cent of xi muoi being sold in the city's markets originate in China.

RoK supports Quang Tri development

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will provide non-refundable aid to help the central province of Quang Tri implement development projects from 2012 to 2015.    

An agreement to this effect was signed in Quang Tri on May 19 by provincial authorities and KOICA representatives.

Cooperation will be targeted at human resources and healthcare development, hunger elimination, poverty reduction, and green growth.

Nguyen Duc Cuong, Chairman of the Quang Tri provincial People’s Committee, said in the last 10 years, the RoK has assisted the province to deploy five programmes with a total capital investment of US$4.27 million. These programmes have helped improve agricultural infrastructure, increase the quality of healthcare services, education and training, and raise people’s living standards, especially for the poor.

RoK Ambassador to Vietnam Ha Chan Ho confirmed that Vietnam is one of the RoK’s largest official development assistance (ODA) recipients.

The RoK will control ODA provision in the future so there will be more favourable conditions for some provinces in Vietnam, including Quang Tri, to get the available capital, he noted.    

The signing of the agreement is part of the ongoing activities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Vietnam-RoK diplomatic ties.

War invalids, families in need of additional help

A campaign to improve the life of war invalids and the families of fallen soldiers kicked off on Saturday.

The two-month campaign was an activity to mark the 65th War Invalids' and Martyrs' Day (July 27).

Launching the campaign, Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee chairman Huynh Dam said preferential policies had been implemented to improve care for this group of people but more needed to be done.

It was neccessary to disseminate information about them and their great contribution to the nation, he said. Contributions from domestic and overseas organisations, businesses and individuals needed to be sourced.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said policies for the improved care of war invalids and families of fallen soldiers had been introduced by the Party and State. This was a regular activity at local level, helping 96 per cent of them achieve average standards of living.

A report from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs showed the gratitude fund had attracted VND21 trillion (US$1 billion) from localities, organisations and individuals over the past five years.

The money has been used to build and renovate houses for war invalids and martyrs' families, and to provide financial support worth VND14.5 billion ($696,000) to help 187 invalids have health care.

At the ceremony, the central gratitude fund received VND1.5 billion ($72,000) from both State-owned and private organisations.

Viet Nam has more than 8.8 million war invalids – accounting for 10 per cent of the population – about 1.5 million of them were supported from the State budget. About VND21 trillion ($1 billion) was allocated annually for the purpose.

Quang Binh conducts massive raid in National Park, targets lumberjacks

With the help of the military, police and forest rangers, Quang Binh Province authorities on Saturday launched a massive raid of the entire Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, in a targeted effort to crack down on illicit logging by unscrupulous lumberjacks.

The special task force of 130 officials, under the command of Nguyen Van Huyen, deputy head of the park, will operate in four separate groups and enter the forest from different direction from early Saturday morning.

The raid will spread over the next seven days and cover the Hung Tri area, Nuoc Vang rivulet and Nuoc Ri cavern. This is the biggest such raid to be conducted, as a consequence of three Sua trees being cut down in the national park.

Besides cracking down on illegal lumberjacks nestled in the park, the team will also weed out underworld gangs who have been present in the area for the purpose of stealing Sua timber.

The Department of Forest Management in the province has instructed each of its divisions in its seven districts and towns to send 12-15 rangers to the park to chase away lumberjacks, porters and traders who are illegally removing Sua timber from the park.

Forest rangers have been instructed to keep round-the-clock vigil around the main stations of the national park, to prevent anyone from transporting illegal timber out of the forest. All roads surrounding the national park have been blocked off, to keep any unauthorised personnel from entering the forest.

This raid is targeted to seize the remaining Sua timber left behind in the forest.

Authorities are determined to chase out 11 main suspects who they believe chopped down three ancient Sua trees in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

Fire in house in Cu Chi District kills two, injures five others

A huge fire engulfed a house at 263 Le Minh Nhut Street in Tan Thong Hoi Commune in Cu Chi District in Ho Chi Minh City on May 19, killing two people and injuring five others.
The scene after the fire in Cu Chi District

Local residents said that as soon as they saw the smoke come out of the house, they rushed with hammers and crowbars to break down the doors of the house, and successfully rescued five people.

Unfortunately they were unable to save two others who were at that time in the loft of the house, and the fire was so fierce that it became impossible to re-enter the building.

Fire fighters arrived as soon as they received news of the fire. The bodies of Nguyen Thanh Thang, 22, and Nguyen Hoang Vinh, 9, were recovered only after the fire was fully extinguished.

Among the five who suffered burn injuries are Nguyen Thanh Thao, 6; Nguyen Thanh Tien, 25; Nguyen Thi Di, 58; Nguyen Thao Vi, 3; and the house owner Nguyen Thi Lien, 34. They were all taken to the General Hospital in Cu Chi District.

Police will conduct a probe into the cause of the fire.

Another fire broke out in Tan An Town in the Mekong delta province of Long An on the same day, burning down eight houses but luckily there were no casualties.

According to witnesses, a woman living in a wooden house along the Tan Thanh Canal was careless while cooking. The fire destroyed all belongings in the house, and then spread to nearby houses because of the strong wind at that time.

Firefighters and local residents struggled for an hour to quell the blaze. Despite no report of human casualty, loss of property is estimated around VND1 billion (US$ 52,000).

Vietnam to focus on off-shore fishing activities till 2020

Vietnam will focus on off-shore fishing activities till 2020 to ensure sustainable development of the sea ecosystem and fisheries resources as well as provide a steady income for fishermen, said a representative from the General Fisheries Administration yesterday in Hanoi.

About VND17,500 billion (US$833 million) will be channeled into a new technology plan to develop off-shore fisheries resources exploitation activities.

By the year 2020, there are expected to be 25,000 vessels with a capacity of more than 90CV and 12,500 vessels with a capacity of less than 20CV.

Along with this there will be a database of off-shore fisheries resources that will also forecast available fishing grounds to fishermen, to raise their effectiveness in catching high-value fish such as codfish, tuna and cuttlefish which are in huge demand in European, Japanese and Chinese markets.

Sea resources have been depleting over the years, hence the need to ensure sustainable development of fisheries resources. In addition, raising fishermen's awareness of the depletion of fisheries resources is also necessary because they play an important role in protecting sea resources.

Hanoi penalises dry fruit units for food safety violation

The Food Hygiene and Safety Department under the Ministry of Health conducted checks of 27 dry fruit processing facilities in Hanoi on May 18, and penalised 14 of them for violating safety regulations and seized two tonnes of salted dry fruits that were unmarked.

Inspectors penalised 11 units with VND54.5 million fine, for keeping products that were not labelled and had no markings showing their place of origin. They also destroyed 26 kilograms of unsafe salted and sugared dry fruits and seized two tonnes of unmarked salted dry fruits.

The Institute of Hygiene and Public Health in Ho Chi Minh City was sent ten samples of the unmarked salted dry fruits which were found to contain cyclamate, saccharin and high levels of lead.

These chemicals are said to be toxic and intake of them can cause damage to the nervous system and kidneys, impair brain function, and in extreme cases even lead to death, said an institute representative.

Last year, the HCMC Department of Health had conducted random tests on 30 dried fruit samples and results showed that 28 samples contained excessive amounts of lead while nine samples contained a banned artificial sweetener.

In related news, the Food Hygiene and Safety Department confirmed they have not yet found the ‘Trifluralin’ antibiotic in fish samples taken from markets in HCMC. The department had taken 30 samples, which all tested negative for Trifluralin.

‘Trifluralin’ is a poisonous substance which can cause cancer, deformities and mental diseases, said Tran Dinh Vinh, director of the department.

So far, he said there was no need for any public concern.