New avian flu cases reported nationwide

HA NOI — Bird flu has infected flocks in southern Ca Mau and northern Nam Dinh and central Nghe An provinces.

"We face a high risk of a human epidemic although no new infections of A/H5N1 has been reported since March," warned National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology director, Associate Professor Nguyen Tran Hien.

The major reasons for the threat were the rise in demand for the sale, transport and slaughter of poultry as Tet, the Lunar New Year, nears and cold weather that created conditions for the virus grow and spread to humans, he said.

Figures from the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry's Animal Health Department show that about 16 per cent of the country's poultry has been infected with the bird flu virus this year, about four times higher than average.

Many people had been admitted to hospital with flu symptoms but it was difficult to identify the difference between flu and birdflu, said National Tropical Diseases Hospital director Nguyen Hong Ha.

Family members should tell physicians and nurses if the patient had been exposed to birds infected with the A/H5N1 virus, he said.

Such history was a major key to identifying the infection.

At least seven A/H5N1virus infections have been identified among humans since early this year with two deaths - in southern Tien Giang and Binh Duong Provinces.

The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry wants people to notify the proper agencies instead of slaughtering and eating birds that are ill or died of unknown causes.

People with any symptoms of bird flu - cough, fever, or breathlessness should report to their nearest health clinic. — VNS

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Floods’ death toll climbs to 35 in central Vietnam

As of Monday night, floods caused by the torrential rains that began last Wednesday have killed at least 35 people in Vietnam’s Central region, the Central Committee of Storm and Flood Control reported.

Another two in Ha Tinh province were reported missing, while Quang Binh reported three injured, according to the latest figures released by the committee.

In the meantime, 19 people who went missing when a bus carrying 37 people was swept away in Ha Tinh’s Xuan Lam Commune on Monday remain at large.

Floods have destroyed nearly 200,000 houses in affected provinces, the committee reported, warning that water levels at local rivers will keep rising, as rains continue to pound the provinces.

In unrelated news, at a committee meeting held Monday, Cao Duc Phat, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said his agency has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urge China to let the nine fishermen who are now stuck on the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago stay there until supertyphoon Megi ends.

The fishermen, who contacted their families Sunday, more than five days after they were announced missing, following China’s release, should also be provided with food, water and oil as well as support in repairing their boat, Phat said.

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Floods’ death toll climbs to 35 in central Vietnam

As of Monday night, floods caused by the torrential rains that began last Wednesday have killed at least 35 people in Vietnam’s Central region, the Central Committee of Storm and Flood Control reported.

Another two in Ha Tinh province were reported missing, while Quang Binh reported three injured, according to the latest figures released by the committee.

In the meantime, 19 people who went missing when a bus carrying 37 people was swept away in Ha Tinh’s Xuan Lam Commune on Monday remain at large.

Floods have destroyed nearly 200,000 houses in affected provinces, the committee reported, warning that water levels at local rivers will keep rising, as rains continue to pound the provinces.

In unrelated news, at a committee meeting held Monday, Cao Duc Phat, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said his agency has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urge China to let the nine fishermen who are now stuck on the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago stay there until supertyphoon Megi ends.

The fishermen, who contacted their families Sunday, more than five days after they were announced missing, following China’s release, should also be provided with food, water and oil as well as support in repairing their boat, Phat said.

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Drug control effort makes progress

Narcotics squads have rooted out a number of drug hot spots and broken hundreds of major transnational gangs over the past five years, reported a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on October 8.

The workshop, held by the Executive Office for Crime and Drug Control under the Ministry of Public Security, also reported progress made in the detoxification and rehabilitation of former drug users and strong international cooperation in this field.

Sen. Lieut. Col. Hoang Anh Tuyen, Deputy Head of the Executive Office for Crime and Drug Control, said the narcotics squad, including police, border guards and customs officers, detected over 56,000 drug-related cases involving almost 84,000 offenders. They have also uncovered 245 drug crime rings where almost 26,600 offenders were involved.

Detoxification and rehabilitation centres nationwide have treated more than 180,000 drug users over the past five years, the senior officer reported.

Narcotics squads warned of the need to maintain vigilance due to an increasing complexity in drug crimes on land, by air, waterway and inside the country./.

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Slaves found in central highlands forest

Police in the central highlands province of Quang Nam on Monday said they freed 32 people who had been enslaved for six months.

Vietnamnet reported that the people, all of whom belong to the Bhnoong ethnic minority group, were recruited to grow acacias in Dak Nong Province in April.

One of the victims, Ho Van Chan, said the recruiter, Do Ngoc Lan, 44, promised to pay each of them VND1.8-2.1 million (US$92.4-107.8) a month and provide them with three meals a day.

However, they didn’t receive any pay for months and were forced to engage in heavy manual labor without proper meals, Ho Thi Bong, another victim, said.

They worked in a forest in Dak R’mang and couldn’t contact their families or leave, the victims said.

The laborers were discovered when Phuoc Son District police received reports from families and sent out a search party.  

Vietnamnet reported that Ho Van Chuong, one of the victims, died from malaria Friday, prompting Lan to flee. He was later caught.

Lan said he and his wife, 45-year-old Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga, were contracted to recruit workers for Dak Lak Paper Materials Factory, the news source reported.

The married couple comes from Kon Tum province and didn’t know much about Quang Nam. They asked Ho Van Xia, chief of Hamlet No.4 in Phuoc Chanh Commune to introduce them to local laborers.

Xia was paid VND100,000 ($5.13) for each worker he introduced to Lan.

Investigations are ongoing.

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Four teens charged with murder of Vietnamese national in Scotland

Four young men aged between 14 and 16 in Scotland were to appear in court Monday onr charges of murdering a delivery man of Vietnamese origin last week, BBC reported.

On the night of August 11, 40-year-old Simon San, 40, got out of his Smart car and was walking towards the Yong Hua Garden takeaway, where he worked, when the group assaulted him, according to the news source.

San was later found unconscious outside the pub next door by his sister Shirley San, who runs the takeaway in Lochend Road, according to local Daily Record.

He died the next day in hospital from severe head injuries.

San's family, who have been living in Edinburgh for 30 years, described him as "a shy, hard-working and non-indulgent man."

It was an “unprovoked attack”, detective chief inspector Gareth Blair was quoted as saying by Daily Record.

"We have no reason to believe this was racially motivated and none of our witnesses has reported that the youths were drinking or taking drugs," he said.

The police had reportedly failed to act on previous complaints about a group of youth causing trouble in the neighborhood, the Daily Record reported.

However, Blair said “there is absolutely nothing to say this attack is linked" to the troublesome group.

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