[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
VN News (Mar. 02-03/1997)
Cha`o ca'c ba'c,
Ca'i server cu?a to^i no' gio+? chu+'ng qua' ne^n kho^ng la`m
a(n gi` ddu+o+.c ca?. To^i dang co^' ga('ng su+?a. Ne^'u mai va^~n
co' va^'n dde^` thi` co' khi pha?i nho+` ca'c ba'c da.y cho mo^.t chu't
ve^` Unix.
Ca'm o+n tru+o+'c.
Ca.
Mar 03: Vietnam vice president warns police against unlawful detention
Mar 03: High-level Chinese military delegation visits Vietnam
Mar 03: Vietnam's military says all officers must be university trained
Mar 03: Vietnamese consulate general in Osaka opens
Mar 03: Vietnam: Sr Official Urges Fight Against Multi-Party System
Mar 03: James Bond slung out of Vietnam
Mar 03: US considers accepting circumstantial evidence in MIA search
Mar 02: Malaria-related deaths fell 43 percent in Vietnam last year
Monday - Mar 03, 1997
Vietnam vice president warns police against unlawful detention
Hanoi (dpa) - In an indirect confirmation of serious police abuses, a
senior Vietnamese government official warned authorities against
unnecessary arrests and unlawful detentions, the state-controlled press
reported Monday.
Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh made the comments during a tour of
Hanoi's main prison and a local detention facility in a visit described
as an effort to get a first-hand view of conditions.
``She said that investigators and police officers should think time
and again before arresting suspects for questioning,'' reported the
official Vietnam News.
``It is unwise for the law enforcement agencies to make unnecessary
'urgent arrests' or detention during an investigation,'' the paper also
reported her sayng.
The inspection tour was reportedly prompted by an intiative of
President Le Duc Anh to ``ensure strict observance of the laws governing
detainees and prisoners,'' the paper reported.
Vietnam is in the process of establishing itself as a society governed
by the rule of law but police abuses are generally regarded as
pervasive, if vastly underreported.
In the most notable recent instance of police abuse, two policemen are
being held in connection with the suspicious death in custody of a Hanoi
resident stopped on a traffic violation.
His death was declared a suicide by police, but after two years the
family succeeded in getting the intervention of the military who have
challenged the police account.
The cased is still under investiagtion after a November hearing was
called off.
Binh visited the capital's main prison which was built three years ago
on the western outskirts of the city to replace the decrepit
French-built Hoa Lo (Central) prison that once housed American air
pilots.
The old prison was torn down two years ago and is now the site of a
mixed ofice/residential tower that is almost completed.
Binh was accompanied during the tour, which took place over two days
last week, by representatives from the Supreme People's Court, Supreme
People's Control Institute, the Ministry of Justice and the President's
office, the report added.
Monday - Mar 03, 1997
High-level Chinese military delegation visits Vietnam
Hanoi (dpa) - A senior Chinese military delegation, led by the
director of the People's Liberation Army Logistics Department, Sr.
Lieutenant-General Wang Ke, has been visiting Vietnam, the official
media reported Monday.
The delegation, in the Vietnamese capital at the invitation of Hanoi's
Minstry of Defence, had met with Vietnam's Defence Minister Doan Khue
and Deputy Prime Minister Phan Van Kham, the Vietnam News Agency
reported Monday.
``The exchange of visits by military officers and the experience
accumulated by the VPA [Vietname People's Army] and the CPLA [China's
People's Liberation Amry] was a vivid example of the fine friendship and
solidarity betweeen the two armies,'' the agency paraphrased Kahi as
saying of the Saturday meetings.
General Wag Ke is a member of the Military Commission of the Central
Committee of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the report added.
It was not immediately clear why the Chinese general visited the
civilian leadership or why this meeting was more prominently highlighted
than the meeting among the defence officials.
Wang's Vietnamese counterpart, Major-General Nguyen Phuc Thanh,
attended the meetings, reported the Saigon Times daily.
Monday - Mar 03, 1997
Vietnam's military says all officers must be university trained
Hanoi (dpa) - All officers in the Vietnamese military will have to
achieve university degrees or their equivalent to remain in uniform
after the year 2000, according to a report in the Army newspaper Monday.
The new policy, announced in an article by Defence Minister Doan Khue,
is a key part of the armed forces effort to modernize themselves, said
the report in the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) newspaper.
The military will also emphasize recruiting new officers from among
ethnic minorites and southerners, suggesting that there is currently a
regional imbalance in the composition of the officer corps.
Khue's comments were from an address he made last week before a
military body preparing for this year's recruitment drive, the paper
indicated.
Regimental and division commanders will be required to earn
post-graduate degrees in specialized fields or politics, said Khue, a
political apparatchik who has reportedly never commanded a battlefield
unit nor attended staff colege.
``Officiers must report to their superior body the level of education
they have achieved,'' said Khue. ``For officers who will continue to
serve after the year 2000, it is absolutely required to go through
complete university training.''
Even officers scheduled to retire before the turn of the century are
required to take regular classes to improve their abilities, Khue said.
In unveiling the new policy the defence minister said he was expanding
on a key resolution adopted during the 1994 congress of the military.
It was clear from his remarks that the scholastic achievements could
be pursued in civilian universities or in the country's numerous
military institutes.
It is unclear how large the current officer corps is now, or what its
age structure or educational level are, but there are an estimated
600,000 people in the military, with up to 550,000 in the army, by far
the dominant service.
Monday - Mar 03, 1997
Vietnamese consulate general in Osaka opens
OSAKA (Kyodo News) -- Vietnam on Monday opened a consulate general in Osaka
in response to a
growing interest in investment and trade opportunities in Vietnam among
business circles in the Kansai region which encompasses Osaka, Kobe and
Kyoto.
The consulate general, located on the 10th floor of an office building
in central Osaka in western Japan, will begin procedures related to the
issuance of visas and other services Tuesday.
Exchanges between the Kansai region and Vietnam have been invigorated
by the November 1994 commencement of direct flights between Kansai
International Airport in Osaka Bay and Tan Son Nhut International
Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, the economic hub of Vietnam.
There are now six flights a week.
Last year more than 100,000 passengers flew from Japan to Vietnam on
the route, the only direct connection between the two countries, and
this year the figure is expected to be double.
Japan has maintained a consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City since
January 1993.
Monday - Mar 03, 1997
Vietnam: Sr Official Urges Fight Against Multi-Party System
Hanoi (AP) -- Vietnam must heighten efforts to preserve Communist Party
orthodoxy and fend off the threat of multi-party politics, a senior
Politburo member said in a commentary published Monday.
'The awareness of all officials and members about the viewpoints of
the party has been raised with an increase of vigilance against hostile
forces and the multi-party ideology,' said Nguyen Van An.
While applauding Vietnam's economic reforms over the past decade,
An warned against allowing change to weaken the resolve of the ruling
Communist Party's goals and direction.
<br> <hr width=50%>
Monday - Mar 03, 1997
James Bond slung out of Vietnam
HANOI (AFP) -- Vietnamese authorities have refused to allow the
next James Bond movie to be filmed either on the spectacular beaches of Halong
Bay or in Ho Chi Minh City.
Hanoi refused permission for the shoot for "many complicated reasons", an
official from the culture and information ministry said Monday.
The crew, including British actor Pierce Brosnan who stars as the suave spy
007, were to spend three months filming in Halong Bay and the city formerly
called Saigon for a five-minute sequence for the new film, which so far has
not been named, press reports said.
Monday - Mar 03, 1997
US considers accepting circumstantial evidence in MIA search
Hongkong (SCMP) -- Circumstantial evidence could soon be used to cut the
list of Americans still missing from the Vietnam War.
It would mark the beginning of the end in Washington's controversial and
costly hunt for bones.The Pentagon is considering using evidence other than
actual remains to scrub names from the list of 2,128 US servicemen still
classed as missing in Indo-China.<P>The Defence Department said final
decisions could be made by either the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the
President.<P>"We are having a good look at the situation, but any final move
would have be taken at the top level. It could happen soon or never at
all.<P>"It is a significant and sensitive decision."<P>News of a possible
decision comes weeks ahead of the expected arrival of ex-prisoner of war
Douglas Peterson as the first US ambassador to modern Vietnam.<P>He will
have a fresh mandate to keep the search for the missing the top priority in
Washington's slowly thawing relationship with Vietnam.<P>Any move to accept
circumstantial evidence could delete about 600 names from the list
overnight, those deemed "unrecoverable".<P>The group involves pilots whose
planes crashed far out to sea or soldiers killed in huge explosions.<P>Major
Barbara Claypool, of the Defence Department's joint taskforce, said the
names remained on the list as missing even though their families had been
told they would never be found. "We are not exerting any effort on these
cases, our priorities are elsewhere," Major Claypool said.<P>At present, a
name can only be taken from the list once actual remains, such as bones or
teeth, have been formally identified.<P>It is a costly and lengthy process
involving wide searches in Vietnam and extensive forensic analysis in Hawaii.<P>
Just 27 names were identified last year. A further six names have been taken
from the list so far this year, after the analysis of remains from as far back
as 1988.
Up to US$18 million (HK$139.14 million) is spent on searches each year.
Sunday - Mar 02, 1997
Malaria-related deaths fell 43 percent in Vietnam last year
HANOI (AFP) -- Vietnam's struggle to combat malaria is paying off
with a 43 percent drop in the number of deaths from 348 in 1995 to 198 last
year, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said.
According to the annual report from the Malariology, Entomology and
Parasitology Institute the number of malaria patients fell 49.17 percent from
661,530 to 532,860, the official news agency said Saturday.
No outbreaks occured in 23 of Vietnam's 53 provinces, the report said.
However, the disease remains a serious problem in Vietnam's more remote and
mountainous provinces.
The government aims to reduce mortality and infection rates by 10 and 15
percent this year, and will spend roughly 3.6 million dollars on prevention,
down from 5 million in 1995.