Social Headlines January 13 New tropical low pressure system enters East Sea A tropical low pressure system has just appeared in the southern territorial water of Philippines, which moves towards the South of the East Sea of Vietnam, announced by the Central Hydrological and Meteorological Forecast Center. On January 12, the tropical low pressure system was located at longitude 5.4 degrees north and latitude 125.4 degree east, which is now moving slowly toward west. Currently, the temperature in the Northern provinces is dropping sharply; meanwhile, the northern mountain provinces also faces to a damaging cold. And according to forecast weather, cold weather will continue to hit the northern mountain provinces, north central and central provinces. The cold weather condition will cause rain in some places of the central provinces; meanwhile, the weather on the East Sea also becomes worse with northeasterly wind at level 6-7, with gusts up to level 8-9. Due to effect of cold weather, one more damaging cold is expected to hit the Northern provinces in the next days. Hospital director accepts responsibility in baby kidnapping In a press brief on January 11, Dr. Tran Du Dong,  Director of General Hospital in District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City, accepted responsibility for the kidnapping of a newborn baby. "This case is a lesson in management of patients from the hospital directorial board. we promised to liaise with police in seeking the baby" Dr Tran Du Dong, said. A newborn baby who was delivered on Jan. 8 at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City’s district 7 was kidnapped on Thursday allegedly by a young woman, who has told the baby’s mother that she took her pregnant sister-in-law to the hospital for giving birth. Dr. Dong said that according to 41 year old  mother, a resident in district 7, kidnapper is a total stranger. When the mother gave birth to a healthy boy, the strange woman slept with her. Next day on January 9, when the mother went out to take milk, the woman kidnapper carried the baby away. After the incident, the hospital liaised with police to keep track of the woman. Dr. Dong said that hospital safeguards were negligent on their duty on that day as they did not ask the woman to produce birth certificates and necessary documentation. The hospital management board had asked safeguards to write reports and proposed penalties on them later. Hospital managers also reported the case to the district People’s Committee and the Department of Health. Leading EU surgeon works in Vietnam Jean-Baptiste Ricco – the president of the European Society for Vascular Surgery - has successfully implanted a stent to cure a patient in Long An who suffers from arterial occlusion of the lower extremities. Jean-Baptiste Ricco is a professor of Vascular Surgery at University Hospital Jean Bernard, Poitiers in France and a member of the French Academy of Surgery. He has arrived in Vietnam to work at Vietnam-France FV Hospital. Jean said elderly people, especially those with diabetes and high blood pressure, often contract arterial occlusion of the lower extremities which is one of three leading causes of fatalities over the past three years. On January 24, he will provide medical check-ups, treatment and surgery for patients with diabetic foot ulcers and carotid artery stenosis at FV Hospital in HCM City. Dr Jean has over 25 years of experience in vascular surgery and endovascular intervention. He is a leading expert in the treatment of vascular diseases in Europe and has made great contributions to vascular surgery development, research and training in Europe and the world. He has been awarded the French Legion of Honour twice for his contribution to the medicine. Ha Noi police arrest credit card forgers Police in Ha Noi City on Saturday arrested five people for using fake credit cards to conduct transactions and steal hundreds of millions of dong. The five suspects, ages 24 to 42, include Nguyen Huy Long and Vu Thanh Quang, who reside in the city, Hoang Thi Minh of northern Hai Phong City, and two Chinese. The suspects were discovered after using false passwords for credit cards issued by foreign banks to conduct 77 transactions, worth over VND5 billion (US$238,000), through the Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) from late December through January 7. Suspecting the transactions to be forged, Vietcombank only honored 6 of them, worth VND432 million ($20,000). The investigation into the fraud is continuing. Successful laparoscopic surgery performed for colon cancer via vagina in VN The Central Hospital in Thua Thien-Hue province in the Central January 10 said that for the first time, doctors have performed invasive laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer via vagina. The three hour operation was carried out on a 62 year old woman who suffers colon cancer in the second stage. 48 hours after the surgery, the woman well recovered. Doctors announced that this is the first case of colon cancer which is treated by invasive laparoscopic surgery via vagina. This marked a success and progress of laparoscopic surgery not in Vietnam but in the world. Seniors who have minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer are much less likely to end up in a nursing home after being discharged from the hospital than those who have open surgery, Laparoscopic surgery offers many advantages when compared to similar procedures performed through a large open incision. Report: drug crimes, prostitution on the rise A report released yesterday revealed an increase in criminal activities related to drugs and prostitution in 2013. The report was delivered at a national teleconference between the National Committee for AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Prevention and Control and 63 cities and provinces nationwide. According to the report presented by Deputy Minister of Public Security Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong, statistics documented 181,400 drug addicts in 2013, up 9,000 from the previous year. In 2013, there were nearly 22,000 drug-related cases with more than 32,330 people arrested. Police also seized around 940kg of heroin and 117kg of opium last year. Vuong noted that the trafficking of drugs and importation of drug ingredients from other countries had become increasingly sophisticated during the last year. The committee also reported that last year, nearly 11,600 new cases of HIV infections were recorded and at least 2,097 people had died from the disease. More than 5,300 people were arrested for activities relating to the running of prostitution rings and networks. Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the committee Nguyen Xuan Phuc instructed agencies to ramp up investigations and weed out organised crime and trans-national drug trafficking rings. He also underlined the importance of supporting addicts in their recovery and providing education on the effects of drugs and prostitution. He drew agencies and localities to raise awareness and provide information on the prevention of HIV/AIDS; and increase the role of local governments in tackling the problems at the grassroots level. Youth arrested for creating hacking sites Nine young men with expertise in information technology from HCM City, Dong Nai, Da Nang, and Ha Noi were arrested on Thursday for inappropriate use of the internet, Tuoi Tre (Youth) reported. The men were reported to have established and operated two websites, which between them, hosted millions of articles instructing people how to hack websites, as well as detailing methods of how to steal credit card information for purchasing online. The first of the two websites, vietexpert.info, was administrated by 24-year-old Huynh Phuoc Man, from HCM City, and the second, hkvfamily.info, was run by 31-year-old Pham Thai Thanh, from Ha Noi. Between them, they have around 5,000 members, who register with the sites to learn and exchange hacking scams. According to the police, the website which was established in 2011, operated secretly. Only trusted members were allowed to introduce new members to the website. Every registered member is granted a secret code, and membership costs US$100. With stolen bank account details, they would then buy high-value items online. Police discovered that in just a short amount of time Do Ha Duy Thanh, one of the nine arrested people, made transactions totalling VND10 billion (around $474,000). Inspecting his house, police seized several branded bags, computers, tablets, and other valuables. At the house of Nguyen Ngoc Hao, another member of the ring, police seized valuable electronic equipment and a VND2 billion BMW motorbike. According to police, during the course of the surveillance, Hao made transactions of over VND20 billion (almost $1 million). Four Filipino fishermen rescued Four fishermen from the Philippines who were rescued by Vietnamese fishermen after drifting into the waters around Viet Nam's Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands, were taken to central Quang Ngai Province's Sa Ky Port yesterday. The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Quang Ngai Border Guards, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, confirmed to Viet Nam News yesterday that the four fishermen, named Madsaik Arak, Omar Aminulla, Tamano Asari and Rico H. Maksud, from the Philippines are in good health. The QNg 90325 TS vessel, led by captain Nguyen Huu Phuc of the province's Binh Son District, rescued the four Filipino fishermen on Sunday. The province's border guards have completed the administrative procedures to send the fishermen back to the Philippines soon. Ministry warns of forest fire risk The Central Steering Committee for Forest Fire Prevention has alerted local authorities and citizens in six provinces of the high risk of forest fires during this dry season. The six provinces are Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, and Tay Ninh in the south and Kon Tum, Gia Lai, and Lam Dong in the Central Highland region. All of them have reportedly been experiencing dry weather for many days. In 2013, 241 forest fires occurred nationwide, destroying a total of 932 hectares, mainly in the central highland provinces and the south central coast areas. Chinese man arrested for smuggling Police in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang have arrested a Chinese man attempting to smuggle more than 1.5 tonnes of illegal firecrackers into Viet Nam. The 29-year-old man was arrested in Ha Lang District's Thi Hoa Commune with the firecrackers, due for consumption on Wednesday night, still in his possession. All of the firecrackers were seized. 44 Vietnamese win Aussie scholarships As many as 44 Vietnamese students gained Australia's most prestigious scholarship, the Endeavour Award, this year. The ward was presented to them in a ceremony held yesterday by the Australian Embassy in Ha Noi. For the number of scholarship achieved this year, Viet Nam was second after China, which had 53 winners. Centre for AO victims inaugurated The central city's Association for Victims of Agent Orange yesterday inaugurated Centre No. 1 for Agent Orange Victims on the occasion of the 10th Agent Orange Victims Day. The 400 square metre centre, constructed with an investment of VND3.9 billion (US$186,000), will provide vocational training, rehabilitation and food to over 100 Agent Orange (AO) kids. Da Nang has more than 5,000 AO victims, of which 1,400 are children. The association, which has nurtured 160 AO kids in the city and in the central region, received over US$283,000 from local and foreign donors following fundraising programmes last year. The city started constructing the first detoxification and rehabilitation centre for AO victims with a fund of US$108,000 from the Harris Freeman Foundation last year. In 2012, donors contributed nearly VND6 billion ($285,000) including cash, gifts and equipment to help AO victims in the city. World Bank funds $14m for Ha Noi Highway expansion A credit contract worth more than VND289.75 billion (US$13.75 million) to develop the second phase of the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer ) project, which will extend the Ha Noi Highway was signed Wednesday with the World Bank. Signatories were the HCM City Financial Investment Company (HFIC) and Ha Noi Highway Investment and Construction Joint-Stock Company. The loan would be sourced from the WB's Local Development Investment Fund, to be repaid over 14 months. The second phase of the project includes an expansion of a three-kilometre stretch of the highway starting from the Thu Duc intersection as well as an upgrade of paralleled roads along the highway, starting from Sai Gon Bridge to Rach Chiec Bridge. The second phase, with an investment of VND518 billion ($24.57 million), is expected to be finished by early next year. The first phase, which includes an expansion stretching from Sai Gon Bridge to Thu Duc intersection, had a total investment of VND497.7 billion ($23.61 million), of which VND290.5 billion ($13.78 million) was from the HFIC. To be eligible for the Local Development Investment Fund capital, HFIC assessed the project and ensured the investor followed the World Bank capital borrowing procedures. VN expands int’l cooperation on environment-related issues The Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment is working hard to expand cooperation with international partners as part of efforts to implement the Party Politburo’s resolution on international integration. The ministry signed a cooperation agreement with the State Oceanic Administration of China and five Memoranda of Understanding with Laos on collaboration in dealing with natural resource and environment-related issues in 2013. At the same time, it also worked closely with Japan to promote low-carbon development in Vietnam , with the Republic of Korea in building databases on air space and land management and with Russia in geology and mineral exploration. The ministry has been implementing 56 cooperative programmes and projects with foreign partners with a total budget of 455.5 million USD. During the year, the ministry joined the government negotiation teams on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement and the free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association. The sector also participated in several international events in the field, including the second Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Thailand , the second East Asia Low Carbon Growth Partnership Dialogue in Japan and the second session of the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action in Germany . The ties with donors have been expanded, resulting in nearly 1 billion USD in aid and preferential loans for the nation’s programmes and projects to cope with climate change since 2010. This year, the ministry plans to sign Memoranda of Understanding on cooperation with Japan and Poland , and start working on a similar agreement with Turkey, while considering a tripartite cooperative partnership with the Netherlands and Mozambique . Other tasks in 2014 for the ministry include preparations for Vietnam’s attendance in the 12 th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the 20 th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 10 th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.- Source: VNA/VNS/SGGP/VOV/Dantri