VN news (July 11)

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

Vietnam War-Era Shell Explodes, Kills 4 Children 
Vietnam Unveils Spratly Island Service Ship 
Vietnam population to stabilize at 125 million by mid next century
Two Vietnamese killed, one injured in east German shooting 
Highlights of Vietnam's daily newspapers today
Only time-table under discussion, says Hanoi 

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Vietnam War-Era Shell Explodes, Kills 4 Children 

HANOI, July 11 (Reuter) - Four children were killed and another seriously
injured playing with a Vietnam War-era shell in a province near Ho Chi
Minh City.

Police in Dong Nai province said on Friday that the children -- four
boys and a girl aged between eight and 12 years -- had picked up the
shell and were playing a game with it when it exploded.

The boys were killed instantly. The girl was still in hospital, a week
after the incident took place, police told Reuters.

Unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War remains a deadly hazard and
dozens of people are killed each year, many of them while trying to defuse
bombs to sell as scrap metal.

In April, seven children were killed and more than 30 injured when a
fragmentation bomb exploded in the grounds of a school in the Central
Highlands.

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Vietnam Unveils Spratly Island Service Ship 

HANOI, July 11 (Reuter) - Vietnam's official English-language daily on
Friday published a photograph of what it said was a new service ship
for the disputed Spratly island chain in the South China Sea.

Vietnam News said the ship was a 1,200-tonne vessel named HQ 996. A grainy
print showed what appeared to be an ocean-going passenger vessel, with
a flat rooftop area.

It gave no reasons for publishing the photo and said only that the ship
had been built by a shipyard in the northern port of Haiphong.

Vietnam is one of a number of regional claimants to the Spratly Islands,
which are considered potentially mineral-rich and lie close to strategically
important shipping lanes.

Defence analysts view the archipelago as a possible flashpoint for regional
conflict. The islands are claimed in part by the Philippines, Malaysia,
Brunei and Taiwan, while Vietnam and China claim sovereignty of the entire
chain.

The publication of the photo comes ahead of a visit to Beijing by Vietnam's
top official, Communist Party Secretary General Do Muoi.

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Vietnam population to stabilize at 125 million by mid next century

HANOI, July 11 (AFP) - Vietnam aims to stabilize its population at between
120 and 125 million people by the middle of the next century, a senior
government official said on Friday.

But the target would require "greater efforts to curb fertility," Mai
Ky, minister and chairman of the National Committee for Population and
Family Planning said in a speech to mark World Population Day.

Vietnam's current estimated population of 76.7 million is set to grow
to about 81 million by 2000, according to United Nations Population Fund
estimates.

Ky said that although Vietnam reduced population growth from 2.4 percent
in 1992 to 1.88 percent in 1996, current rates were too high, especially
compared to global rates of 1.48 percent.

Foreign experts say that official targets for the middle of next century
will pose serious problems for Vietnam which is already the most densely
populated country in Asia.

"The population is already quite packed on patches that can provide food.
They are going to have major problems," said a Hanoi based health expert.

He also said "there is an excessive number of abortions in Vietnam",
which although legal, are often carried out under less than ideal conditions.

According to UNFPA estimates, the abortion rate among married women is
23 per thousand. Unofficial statistics published in the Vietnam News
daily this month said two thirds of married women undergo abortions at
least once.

The official labour newspaper Lao Dong ran an editorial on Friday warning
that an ageing population will place a strain on social services. "Social
services will become a big issue in a few decades," it warned.

Currently more than half the Vietnamese population is under the age of
25. Vietnam's rapid industrialization also poses problems for national
planners, Ky said. Although 80 percent of the population live in rural
areas, recent years have seen a surge in urban migration.

"This migration is so great that it becomes out of control," he said.
My also said that low literacy lievels, traditional values and a very
young population for young couples to accept a two-child family model.

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Two Vietnamese killed, one injured in east German shooting 

WITTENBERG, Germany, July 11 (AFP) - Two Vietnamese nationals were killed
and another Vietnamese man seriously injured in a shooting in an apartment
in this eastern town, police said Friday.

Witnesses said up to four men fled after the incident.

The two dead men, 21- and 29-year-old asylum seekers, were known to police
for cigarette-smuggling offences. They were killed Thursday.

The third man was in criticial condition for several hours but will is
expected to recover, police said.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.

Eastern Germany has for years seen rival gangs, often from Asia, attacking
each other for control of cigarette contraband.

Officials said 13 Asians had been killed in the region around Wittenberg
since 1995.

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Hanoi (VNA) - Highlights of Vietnam's daily newspapers today:

NHAN DAN:

- The Vietnam Rubber Corporation in the first six months of this year
produced 49,295 tonnes of dried rubber, 10,010 tonnes more than the same
period of 1996. The corporation has remitted more than VND 150 billion
(US$14 million) to the State budget.

HANOI MOI:

- The Canada Fund for Local Initiative will provide more than US$22,000
for two projects, one to support vocational training in Dong Thap province
and the other for a rural credit and savings programme in Binh Phuoc
province.

VIETNAM NEWS:

- Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas Carigali started official operations
for the group of three companies exploiting the Dai Hung (Big Bear) off-shore
oilfield in July after approval was given by the Ministry of Planning
and Investment of Vietnam.

- The United States-based Far East Telecom (FET) have signed a contract
with the Vietnam Ministry of Culture's Dai Nam Centre of General Culture
Services in Hanoi yesterday to develop an entertainment complex in the
heart of the capital.

(VNA)

10-07 1526

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Only time-table under discussion, says Hanoi 

News Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 - Vietnam's Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vu
Khoan today reiterated that Asean countries have made the "political
decision" to accept Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar as member nations and
all that remains to be done was to "proceed with the process".

Vu said Vietnam shares the views of all Asean nations to accept the three
countries in order to implement the dream of Asean's founding fathers
to have all 10 Southeast Asian nations as members.

"We support this idea. Now we are discussing only the time-table," he
said, adding that as a neighbouring country Vietnam pays great attention
to the situation in Cambodia and wishes to see it peaceful and stable.

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