Online gambling ring handled $18m

The HCM City People's Procuracy suggested increasing the sentences for members of an illegal online gambling ring yesterday.

The gang was arrested in 2013.

The hearings for the case began on August 24. According to the indictment, Vuong Chan Thanh and his wife Dam Kim Khuyen and 64 other defendants were accused of organising gambling events on 188bet.com.

The procuracy suggested Thanh be given nine to 10 years in jail, while his wife and two of his siblings should receive seven to eight year terms.

The total amount of money passing through the ring reached nearly VND400 billion (more than US$18 million), making it one of the largest to be uncovered in the city this year.

The trial is expected to end on Friday.

Four die of dengue fever in South East Vietnam

The development of dengue fever is very complicated in the South East region of Vietnam with four deaths.

In the southern province of Dong Nai, dengue fever has occurred in most of localities. According to the province’s Center of Preventive Medicine, the province has had around fresh infection cases everyday.

It is estimated that communes and districts had around 3,000 infection cases in the first 8 months , increasing  of 120 percent compared to the same period last year.

Of the amount, Bien Hoa city has 1,500 cases. Worse, the disease has killed two people. The southern province of Binh Duong reported nearly 1,200 infection cases in eight months with two deaths.

One of reasons to cause outbreak of the disease is that it rains all days this year offering favorite condition for mosquitoes to develop. Additional, residents are neglected to prevent the disease. Due to the worse situation, the province’s Center of Preventive Medicine has conceived plan to supervise the disease in all localities.

People’s Committee in Binh Duong directed the Department of Health and Center of Preventive Medicine to liaise with local government to clean the environment and spread the information of the disease to each households and inhabitants, especially to workers in industrial parks.

Cao Bang, Guangxi youngsters met at friendship festival

More than 500 young people from the northern border province of Cao Bang and China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region converged at a friendship festival in Cao Bang city on August 31.

As part of celebration for the 70th anniversary of August Revolution and National Day (September 2), the festival included games and music performances to foster mutual friendship.

In the morning the same day, border guards from Cao Bang and Guangxi’s Chongzuo city held a workshop to recall tradition and relationship between the two Parties, States and armed forces.

They agreed to foster cooperation by sharing information and maintaining security and order at frontier and border gate areas.

Press centre opens for National Day celebrations

A press centre opened at the National Assembly headquarter in Hanoi on August 31 to serve the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan stressed that means of communications and the press play an important role in the overall success of the celebrations.

He reaffirmed the commitment to actively create the most favourable conditions for domestic and international reporters and provide them with full information on the activities, particularly mass marches to be staged on September 2.

He expressed his hope that participating press agencies would report on the activities to the public in the quickest and most accurate way, while strictly abiding by regulations relating to ensuring security and safety during the events.

The celebrations of 70th anniversary of August Revolution and National Day have received much attention from communications networks at home and abroad. So far, more than 700 reporters from 115 Vietnamese press agencies and 87 others from 30 foreign press agencies have registered for the occasion.

Nearly 30,000 people are scheduled to join in a grand meeting and a massive parade at Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square on September 2 under the theme “Promoting the strength of the entire nation and being determined to build and firmly defend the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”.

Prior to the march, which will be broadcast live on Vietnam Television, a 21-gun salute will be fired from the Thang Long Royal Citadel. Following the march, a major art performance will be held featuring a series of artists and students from arts colleges.

Medical workers tested negative for HIV

Test results of 19 medical workers being in risk of exposing HIV for saving patient are negative for HIV virus.

The HIV/AIDS Prevention Center in Hanoi August 29 announced that the test results of 19 medical workers showed negative for HIV virus. Before, on July 8 the center has carried out tests for 30 medical workers who are in the risk of exposing to the fatal disease after they performed an emergency surgery on the patient who did not inform to have the disease.

Upon the suggestion of the hospital, the center August 5 continued to take blood of 18 other medical workers for tests and the result is reported negative.

Before, a pregnant woman from the northern province of Quang Ninh July 4 had to rush to the hospital for emergency as she suffered heavy bleeding in the womb and no pressure was measured and heart nearly stopped beating.  Doctors of the hospital carried out intensive treatment and performed a surgery in the examination room to save her.

Due to the urgent situation, the pregnant had not been tested and surgeons have not known the patients contracting HIV, accordingly they did not wear proper devices against HIV transmission.

Vietnamese doctors to be trained in Australia

The Defence Ministry’s Hospital 175 and the University of Sydney have reached an accord to train Vietnamese doctors in Australia.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect has been signed in Sydney by Associate Professor Nguyen Hong Son, Director of Hospital 175 and Professor Bruce Robinson, Chairman of the Hoc Mai” (Forever learning) Foundation and Dean of Sydney Medical School under the University of Sydney.

Speaking at the ceremony, Son said the hospital will send eight doctors to Sydney Medical School this year under a scholarship programme of the “Hoc Mai” (Forever learning) foundation.

The eight-week programme is open for Vietnamese medical staff having a good command of English and aspiration to improve their professional skills.

Rural clean water system inaugurated in Can Tho

The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on August 31 inaugurated a clean water supply facility for rural residents in Vinh Thanh district.

Covering 10,000 square metres, the system has a capacity of 2,600 cubic metres per day.

Built with an investment capital of 470,000 USD funded by the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Ministry of Environment and other sources worth 24 billion VND (about 1.1 million USD), the facility will benefit over 5,530 households in Thanh An, Thanh Thang and Thanh Loi communes.

Addressing the ceremony, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Dao Anh Dung described the works as an example for cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK, saying it actively contributes to new-style rural building in the locality.

He asked the local Rural Environmental Sanitation and Clean Water Centre to manage the facility effectively.

Fishing boats in central Vietnam in desperate shortage of divers

For generations, fishermen in the central province of Quang Ngai have been well known for their diving skills to catch fish in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, but the skills have become gradually lost due to the danger of the offshore fishing career.

Each locality has a different style of fishing in the East Vietnam Sea.

Those from Nui Thanh District of Quang Nam Province in the central part are good at fishing cuttlefish, while fishers from the south-central province of Binh Dinh are experienced in casting nets in water areas a thousand meters deep.

And Quang Ngai fishermen are only skillful at diving to catch fish with three-pronged pitchforks.

Recently, divers have been hard to come by in Quang Ngai due to the dangers offshore so tens of fishing boats now dock ashore over a lack of workforces.

Most experienced divers have taught themselves the skills and thus often fail to apply safety methods.

Over 50 divers in Binh Son District have become disabled following diving accidents.

“It is very dangerous. You may die any time during diving,” said veteran diver Nguyen Thanh Nam, 52, who could dive at a depth of 40m with just a diving suit.

“In my working age, tens of my diving colleagues have died because of sudden changes in deep water pressure.”

Scouting for divers nationwide

Residents of Ganh Ca Village in Binh Son District are always proud that all male adults ‘master’ the seabed of Hoang Sa like the back of their hand and know the currents of the waters and terrain underwater in different weather conditions.

But now Quang Ngai does not have enough divers for the fishing work.

According to a survey of the Binh Chau People’s Committee, the commune had 70 divers in 2012 but that number goes down to only 30 this year.

It takes time to train a diver, many Binh Chau divers said, adding that the training is mostly based on experience.

To become a diver, a person must be very good at swimming.

To add more weight for trainee divers to quickly go down to the depth of five meters, lead pieces are attached to their body.

At that depth, those who hear ringing sounds in their ears are advised to surface and choose another occupation.

Those who pass the first test and are able to dive around ten times a day at a depth of ten meters can head toward the fishing ground in Hoang Sa, a two-day-and-two-night sail from the mainland.

A diver must stay calm while dealing with unexpected problems at sea because “a state of panic will make him fall into another accident of deep water pressure.”

Over ten fishing boats of Binh Chau cannot go offshore despite suitable weather conditions and they have to dock at Sa Ky Port at the moment.

Ly Son, an island district of Quang Ngai, also has tens of other fishing boats anchored at ports to wait for new divers to be recruited, according to Pham Thi Huong, vice chairwoman of the People’s Committee of the district.

Fishing boat owners in Binh Son have to travel to coastal fishing villages from the north to the south to look for divers. Each fishing boat needs around ten divers.

But divers have become a ‘rarity’ even in famous fishing villages like Ninh Hoa in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, Hoai Nhon in Binh Dinh, and Phu Quoc in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

“Divers are now like kings,” said Nguyen Chi Thanh, the owner of a fishing boat in Quang Ngai. “We must satisfy their requirements to keep them at work.”

Some owners even have to pay VND5 million (US$222) as a ‘sign-on bonus’ to secure divers’ agreement to work.

Unfair treatment

The Ministry of Transport has urgently requested relevant agencies in cities and provinces to step up inspections into transport firms and impose heavy fines on those delaying fee cuts after several rounds of fuel price reductions this year.

The request comes after the Ministry of Finance asked the transport ministry to tell transport enterprises to reduce charges as almost all firms in the sector have kept their fares unchanged despite the fuel price cuts.

Passenger Tran Van Phu in Hanoi’s Ha Dong District told Vietnam Television (VTV) last week that he was displeased with the unfair treatment by transport enterprises including taxi operators.

As of last Friday, only two transport firms nationwide had lowered prices by 8.3% compared to early this year, according to the transport ministry. As calculated, the local diesel price has gone down by a total of VND2,940 a liter after five rounds of cuts since June 4 while the price of A92 gasoline has been adjusted down by a combined VND2,180 a liter since June 19 after four rounds of price reductions.  

Meanwhile, taxi firms quickly revised up fares by at least VND500 per kilometer after the gasoline price went up in March and May this year.

Transport companies hesitate to bring fees down as a way to maximize their profit. But they always have an excuse for delays, saying they provide passengers with more services including wireless Internet and will make adjustments after fuel prices get stabilized.

However, the Ministry of Transport has stressed that transport companies will have to register new charges based on fuel price reductions, and that the ministry will work with the finance ministry to look into their prices.

In a market where prices are not fully driven by market forces like Vietnam, the intervention of competent agencies is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of passengers. Central- and local-level consumer protection associations need to raise a louder voice.   

Reality has shown that transport enterprises will revise down charges in tandem with the fuel price cuts after competent agencies inspect their fares like in the past.  

Heavier fines proposed for overloaded trucks

The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam has proposed imposing heavier fines on trucks found to transport goods 150% more than the permitted load capacity with the highest level of up to VND40 million (US$1,800).

The agency sent the proposed fines to the Ministry of Transport last week in a move to crack down on overloaded trucks this year and prevent such vehicles from damaging roads.

The number of overloaded trucks on the road has fallen significantly since the Government’s Decree 107 regulating heavy fines took effect, according to the agency. However, many vehicles have still been caught red-handed transporting goods 100-300% higher than the permitted load in many localities.

Therefore, the agency suggested the ministry add heavier administrative fines to a draft decree governing road and railway transport for submission to the Government for consideration and approval.

In addition, the ministry was asked to propose amending the law on administrative violations in the transport sector in a view to give heads of transport inspection and police departments in provinces and cities more authority to deal with violations.