Cambodians become naturalised Vietnamese

BINH PHUOC — Southern Binh Phuoc Province's Department of Judiciary has allowed 142 Cambodians who live in Chon Thanh District's Minh Long Commune to become Vietnamese citizens, under a Presidential decision.

The provincial People's Committee issued a decision to naturalise residents who have been living in the province for 20 years.

Court hands down death penalty to killer

HA NOI — Tran The Long was sentenced to death by the Ha Noi People's Court yesterday for murdering Do Van Tan and appropriating his property.

The court also ordered 22-year-old Long, who is from Nam Dinh Province's northern Nam Dinh City, to pay VND85 million (US$4,300) in compensation to Tan's family.

According to the court, Long stabbed Tan and then suffocated him with a pillow after they had sex at Tan's house in Cau Giay District in Ha Noi on August 11.

Long stole one Honda motorbike, a mobile phone, a personal computer and a wallet before fleeing to Nam Dinh.

Two days later, local police arrested him.

Fishermen rescued after boat capsizes

TRA VINH — Southern Tra Vinh Province's Border Guard Post and local residents rescued eight fishermen yesterday.

The fishermen's boat capsized and sank due to big waves on Monday.

Nine rescuers and four local fishing boats were sent to save the fishermen.

Inspectors crack down on child labour

HCM CITY — Inspectors from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs found 22 teenage workers employed at 12 establishments and enterprises in HCM City.

The teenage workers at two of the establishments were paid VND6-7 million (US$300-350) per year, which is less than the State's minimum wage.

Petrol pump catches fire in Cau Giay

HA NOI — A petrol pump on Nguyen Phong Sac Street in Cau Giay District caught fire on Monday.

The station's staff dealt with the flame in a timely fashion and no damage was reported.

Authorities are investigating the fire's cause. — VNS

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Hanoi gives fireworks spending to flood victims

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Hanoi has saved VND5 billion (US$257,000) from canceling 29 fireworks displays on its 1,000th birthday party, and part of the sum has been spent as relief aid for flood-affected residents in the central Quang Binh province.

Hoang Manh Hien, deputy chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, told VnExpress newswire Tuesday he gave a total VND2.5 billion, of which VND1.5 billion was saved from canceled fireworks spending, during his visit to Quang Binh the same day.

He said more relief aid will be given to other four provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, which were hit by floods last week.

On October 5, Hanoi authorities gave VND5 billion as disaster relief to the five central provinces, and they announced to cancel the planned fireworks displays at 29 sites three days later.

The 29 sites were previously chosen for fireworks displays on the symbolic date of October 10, or 10/10/10.

Rain-triggered floods have left 66 people dead, with 17 still missing in the central provinces as of Monday. Quang Binh has reported the worst toll with 45 dead people and 16 missing.

The floods caused an estimated damage worth over VND2.75 trillion (US$141 million), of which some VND1.58 trillion are from Quang Binh.

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Hoa Lac hi-tech park licenses 47 projects

The Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park has so far granted investment licenses to 47 projects with a total registered capital of more than US$1.2 billion.

On Tuesday, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Van Lang, who is also head of the management board of the park, granted the licenses to FPT Corporation and four other businesses.

With a total funding of $35 million, the FPT Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park Development Company will begin to upgrade its infrastructure later this year.

The company is expected to complete modernizing its technical infrastructure up to international standards by 2015.

In addition, the FPT Software Joint Stock Company will spend some $50 million on building the Technology Village into a modern center by 2016.

The management board says that it will grant investment licenses to 12 projects, including several major businesses, by February next year.

The board is also considering 38 new projects in the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park.

Work on the 1,600-hectare hi-tech park started in 1998. It is the first and one of the largest high-tech parks in Vietnam.

Located in the capital city of Hanoi, the park is divided into four zones: Research and Development, Hi-tech Industry, Software Park and Education and Training.

It houses universities and many plants that produce high-tech equipment like electronic and semi-conducting products, telecommunication, digital technology, and bio-technology.

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Mongabay has Vietnamese-language site

Nguyen Ngoc Khanh

Mongabay.com, a leading forest conservation and environmental news website, has launched its “rainforest” site for children in Vietnamese.

The site is available at world.mongabay.com/vietnamese.

The new site was created by Nguyen Ngoc Khanh, who translated the text from English to Vietnamese.

Khanh is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2005, he was among three high school students in Hanoi to take part in a wildlife study program in South Africa.

Rhett Butler, mongabay.com's founder, says he hopes the site will be used in Vietnam to educate school children, as well as adults, about forests and the importance of protecting them.

Vietnam has lost nearly all of its primary forest cover, but is fast replanting trees in some parts of the country, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Mongabay's rainforest site for kids is now available in 33 languages - each of which has been translated by native speakers. An expanded version for adults is available in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, French, German, and Japanese.

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Grand parade celebrates Hanoi anniversary

A magnificent parade of 31.000 participants marching in the historic Ba Dinh Square on Sunday morning set the tone as the country celebrated the 1000th birthday of the capital city.

The government said it was the largest ever parade held in the country, also the biggest event in the 10-day celebration for Hanoi.

Soldiers and police officers of seventeen military groups participated in the parade, the government said in a report on its website.

Ten helicopters bearing flags flew over the Ba Dinh Square, where President Ho Chi Minh had read the nation's Declaration of Independence in 1945.

Speaking at the parade, President Nguyen Minh Triet said 1,000 years since King Ly Thai To chose the city as the capital of Vietnam, Thang Long-Hanoi stood strong and “worthy to be the heart of the nation.”

He called for more efforts to develop the city so that it can achieve parity with other major cities in the world.

The 10-day celebration wrapped up Sunday night with an art show at the My Dinh National Stadium. The city canceled fireworks displays at all planned venues except at the stadium, donating the funds to central provinces hit by floods last week.

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Grand parade celebrates Hanoi anniversary

A magnificent parade of 31.000 participants marching in the historic Ba Dinh Square on Sunday morning set the tone as the country celebrated the 1000th birthday of the capital city.

The government said it was the largest ever parade held in the country, also the biggest event in the 10-day celebration for Hanoi.

Soldiers and police officers of seventeen military groups participated in the parade, the government said in a report on its website.

Ten helicopters bearing flags flew over the Ba Dinh Square, where President Ho Chi Minh had read the nation's Declaration of Independence in 1945.

Speaking at the parade, President Nguyen Minh Triet said 1,000 years since King Ly Thai To chose the city as the capital of Vietnam, Thang Long-Hanoi stood strong and “worthy to be the heart of the nation.”

He called for more efforts to develop the city so that it can achieve parity with other major cities in the world.

The 10-day celebration wrapped up Sunday night with an art show at the My Dinh National Stadium. The city canceled fireworks displays at all planned venues except at the stadium, donating the funds to central provinces hit by floods last week.

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Downpours kill one in Ho Chi Minh City

One person was killed during the torrential rains that hit Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.

The man in his thirties fell into a drain and drowned while riding his bike in Thu Duc District.

Witnesses said the water flow was so strong that another two men almost fell into the drain when trying to rescue the victim.

The man, who is yet to be identified, was found dead 30 minutes later. Police said he drowned.

The evening the rain went on for hours and brought 124mm of rainfall, the heaviest this year, according to the HCMC Center for Executing Flood Prevention Programs.

Flood tides also rose, reaching 1.48 meters in some areas, it reported.

The heavy rains together with high flood tides flooded more than 40 locations across the city, mainly in Binh Thanh District, Do Tan Long, chief of the center’s Drainage System Management Department, said.

In other news, at least 66 were killed, 17 went missing and 75 were injured in floods caused by torrential rains that hit the central region last month, the Central Committee for Storms and Floods Control reported Monday.

Property losses, meanwhile, have reached VND2.562 trillion (US$131.4 million) in total, it said.

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