One more fatal case of A/H1N1 confirmed in Hanoi

The Department for Preventive Medicine and Environment under the Ministry of Health on November 3 confirmed one more victim of the A/H1N1 influenza in Hanoi, raising the total death toll from the disease in the country to 37 so far.

The latest was a 38-year-old man in Yen Ha ward, Yen Vien town, Hanoi. He was hospitalized on October 5 with symptoms of high fever, cough, breathing difficulties and pneumonia.

One day later, samples tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus. On October 31, the patient died.

As of 17:00 on November 2, there had been 10,605 A/H1N1 patients nationwide. Of these, 10,344 were already discharged from hospital.  

Students writing contest launched on Vietnam sea, islands

The Students Association of Vietnam launched a writing contest November 2 on the country’s marine and island areas to raise students’ awareness about strategy of the development of the maritime economy.

The contest, open to Vietnamese students studying at home or abroad and foreign research students in Vietnam, requires them to answer five questions related to the sea and islands and send the entries before March 26, 2010.

They can use documents, maps, and pictures to corroborate their answers.

Prizes will be given away to the winners on the 35th Liberation Day, April 30, 2010.

These will include one special prize worth VND15 million, two first prizes each worth VND10 million, five second prizes worth VND7 million, 10 third prizes worth VND5 million, and others.

More information is available on the online newspapers of the Communist Party of Vietnam (www.dangcongsan.vn), the Vietnam People’s Army (www.qdnd.vn), and www.thanhnien.com.vn, www.tienphong.vn and www.svvn.vn.

VN Tourism Promotion Centre to be established in France

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is about to set up a centre to promote Vietnamese tourism in France and other European countries, said Minister Hoang Tuan Anh. 

According to the MCST, France is an important market with about 300,000 visitors to Vietnam every year.

In addition, many other European visitors come to Vietnam on direct flights between  France’s Charles De Gaulle international airport and Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.

The number of European visitors has fallen recently, however, due to the global economic downturn. Vietnam is responding with tourism promotion campaigns in France and other European countries.

The MCST and the Ministry of Foreign Relations had previously bought a building at number 19, Albert Street, district 13 in Paris establish the centre.

Binh Duong’s Thu Dau Mot University established

The university, based on upgrading the Binh Duong Pedagogic College, has seven faculties, including pedagogy, economics, environment, architecture, construction, information technology, and electricity and electronics.

The university, with a capacity of around 3,500 students and 246 lecturers, is expected to provide high quality human resources for the province and its surroundings, and strengthen local and international cooperation in science and technology.

The university was officially put into operation on September 22.

New construction on 52 hectares in the Thoi Hoa urban zone, Ben Cat District, is expected to be completed in 2013, said Dr Nguyen Van Hiep, the provincial People’s Committee vice chairman and head of the university.

Deputy PM blames local authorities for iodine-deficiency disorders

There are valid reasons for Vietnam’s failure to prevent iodine-deficiency disorders, including neglect by local governments and agencies, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong has said. 

Speaking at a meeting between the Ministry of Health and UNICEF to mark a day to mobilize the entire country to consume iodine salt, November 2, in Hanoi, he also instructed the ministry, other agencies, local authorities, and the media to raise public awareness of iodine deficiency.

He hoped for continued international assistance for Vietnam’s efforts to eradicate disorders caused by iodine deficiency.

UNICEF’s representative in Vietnam, Jesper Morch, assured delegates that his agency is ready to help Vietnam ensure that its citizens, especially women and children, do not suffer from such disorders.

A recent survey done by the Endocrinology Institute in Hanoi showed that the country has almost eradicated iodine-related disorders, with 92.3 percent of all households using iodized salt, and that the rate of children suffering from thyroid problems caused by the shortage of the iodine has been reduced to manageable levels.

However, iodine deficiencies reappeared in several areas in 2008-09, it found.

Drunk taxi driver plows into house, injures two   
 
A drunken taxi driver lost control and crashed his vehicle into a Ho Chi Minh City home early Sunday, seriously injuring two sleeping people. 

Driver Vo Hoang Vu had driven the seven-seat Mai Linh taxi onto the sidewalk and hit a tree before the vehicle knocked down around four square meters of wall at the house on Nguyen Binh Street, Nha Be District, the local newswire Vnexpress reported.

Le Thien Chuong, 26, and his younger brother Le Thien Van, 24, were sleeping next to the wall. They were tossed across the room while three motorbikes parked near the wall were heavily damaged.

Eyewitnesses said Vu would have moved the taxi from the scene before the police came if local residents hadn’t tried to stop him. Locals said Vu was drunk and shouted at those who intervened, threatening some.

Chuong said there were two other men in the cab at the time, both drunk as well.

Police from Nha Be District are investigating the incident.

Truck crash kills three near central tunnel   
 
Two trucks collided near the Hai Van Tunnel along the central coast Sunday night, killing three people. 

The driver of the southbound truck lost control before slamming into another truck carrying construction materials from the opposite direction, according to eyewitnesses.

The breaks on the southbound truck had broken after passing through the tunnel, which lies between Thua Thien Hue Province and the city of Da Nang, local police said Monday. The accident occurred 3.7 kilometers from the tunnel.

Phan Duc Hanh, 39, from Ho Chi Minh City was driving the southbound truck alongside driver’s assistant Doan Quang Hao, 25, from the northern Thai Binh Province.

Nguyen Van Do, 28, from the northern coastal Quang Ninh Province, was driving with his assistant Nguyen Huu Thanh in the other truck.

Do was killed on the spot while Hanh and Thanh on the way to hospital. Hao had jumped out of the truck before the collision but still suffered serious injuries.

The accident happened while officials from the Hai Van Tunnel Management Co. were passing by and they used fire extinguishers to put out the fire caused by the collision.

A motorbike helmet was found at the scene but the police had yet to find any motorbike.

One of the two trucks was carrying stacks of VND500,000 (US$28) notes, which spilled out over the highway. Residents gathering to pick them up blocked traffic.

One killed, two missing as bizarre bus accident sinks ferry 
   
A driver’s assistant was killed and at least two passengers were missing in the An Giang Province Tuesday morning when a bus lost control and hit a ferry boat on a nearby pier after sliding off the road. 

The passenger bus skidded out at around 8am after its back tyre exploded when it braked sharply to avoid a motorbike in the Mekong Delta province. The bus then plunged onto Thanh Binh pier in Binh My Commune, Chau Phu District, breaking a wooden ferry boat then anchored at the pier.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus and ferry then floated hundreds of meters offshore until passengers broke bus windows to escape.

Both vehicles then sunk.

A nearby fishing boat and workers at the pier rushed to save the passangers before the province police arrived.

Initial investigations by the An Giang Police showed that the driver’s assistant, a local named Phong, was killed in the heavy collision between the bus and the ferry boat. The missing include a woman and a six-year-old child, police said.

Rescue forces are scouring for the victims.

Power company director calls half of telecom wires rubbish    
 
Between 50 and 60 percent of telecommunication wires and cables clinging to Ho Chi Minh City’s power poles are worthless, Le Van Phuoc, director of state-owned HCMC Power Company, has said. 

Most telecommunication service providers don’t remove damaged and old wires and cables, as they can’t be recycled or sold as scrap, according to Phuoc, who is heading a program to revamp telecom wires that began than two months ago.

While old and damaged wires are not removed, new ones are added, creating hanging “cobwebs”, making the city ugly and posing a serious safety hazard, the director said.

So far the company has tidied up 50 percent of the 237 kilometers of telecommunication wires and cables assigned for this year.

The program, expected to end in 2015, aims to clean up more than 5,000 kilometers of wires and cables at the average cost of VND150 million per kilometer.

Traffic police officers blamed for chasing girl to death

A family in Thanh Hoa Province on Saturday noon brought the coffin of their 19-year-old daughter to a district police station, accusing local traffic police officers of chasing their daughter to death.

Pham Thi Huong, a 19-year-old college student, was seen at around 8am to speed up on her motorbike after passing a group of traffic police in Thach Thanh District. Eyewitnesses said she was so frightened when coming to a turn that she lost control and slammed into two electric poles on the sidewalk.

According to the eyewitnesses, two traffic police officers who were driving right behind her turned back when they saw the accident, which killed Huong.

Huong died shortly after she was admitted to the local hospital.

The family said Huong might have been nervous because she didn’t have her license with her. They accused the police of causing the accident by chasing Huong and demanded that Thach Thanh police investigate the case.

Dozens of officers from Thanh Hoa Province police were sent to maintain security in the area as hundreds of locals surrounded the Thach Thanh district police station until Huong’s family agreed to take the coffin home at around 4pm.

Preliminary investigations showed that the two police officers were chasing two motorcyclists without crash helmets and Huong thought that the police were after her, Tran Van Thuc, office chief of Thanh Hoa police, told a local newswire service on Sunday.

No explanation was given as to why the police officers turned back on seeing Huong crash into the pole.

Thuc said the case will be investigated further.

Vietnam attends Japan-ASEAN youth leaders’ summit

A 29-member Vietnamese delegation attended the Japan-ASEAN Youth Leaders’ Summit which opened in Tokyo on November 2, as part of the 36th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme (SSEAYP).

The SSEAYP has become a symbol of friendship between Japan and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asuki Ojima from the Japanese Cabinet Office said at the opening session. He added that enhancement of friendship between Japan and ASEAN members would be an important and necessary element for peace and development of nations.

More than 9,000 youths from 11 countries have, to date, joined the SSEAYP, he said.

Ojima and representatives from ASEAN embassies signed a memorandum of understanding, stressing that all sides highly valued SSEAYP programme in promoting
friendship and mutual understanding among Japanese and ASEAN youth. Also, Japan and ASEAN countries pledged to continue cooperation to accelerate the programme.
Within the 36th SSEAYP, 315 youths from Japan and Southeast Asian nations will spend 53 days on board the ship Fuji Maru, departing from Yokohama port of Japan on November 6.

They are scheduled to visit five ASEAN countries – the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand – to join group discussions on youth-related issues and introduce each other to the culture of their country.

The programme was initiated in 1974 by the Japanese government. Vietnam began participating in the programme in 1995.

US provides medical equipment to Dak Nong hospital

A team of surgeons from the University of New York on November 2 presented endoscopic equipment, worth more than VND2 billion, to the General Hospital of Central Highland Dak Nong province.

The equipment utilizes fibre optics as an alternative to exploratory surgery, and can remove blockages, such as kidney stones.

The team will show the local medical staff how to use endoscopic technology for prostate fibroma treatment.

The hospital’s Director Nguyen Manh Cuong said that the team will coordinate with the hospital to provide humanitarian medical checks-up and operations as well as transfer modern treatment techniques to the hospital’s staff as of this year.

(Source: VietNamNet)