Major-Colonel Phan Anh Minh, vice director of HCMC’s police division, made the statement at a press conference on the city’s public security one day after his division took over the case from the economic crimes department under the Ministry of Public Security’s southern agency (C46B).

It will take time to collect sufficient evidence, so people need to be patient with police, he said.

According to Anh, before handing over the case, the C46B had interrogated six suspected truck drivers who confessed to the wrongdoing.

However, since the siphoned gasoline was estimated to be worth less than VND2 million (US$95.92), it was impossible to press criminal charges against them, he said.

Police will have to obtain more evidence proving that the culprits committed the crime continuously over a period of time sufficient to charge them, the official stressed.

The drivers are likely to face charges of robbery or embezzlement, while those who traded in the siphoned gasoline bought from them will be charged with consuming properties that others acquire by illegal means, Anh said.

Last month Thanh Nien published a series of investigative reports unveiling that many unscrupulous tank truck drivers were siphoning gasoline and replacing it with other liquids while en route from depots to retail stations.

The findings have raised serious public concerns over the poor quality of gasoline, which has emerged as the main suspect in the cases of causing over one hundred vehicle fires to occur in Vietnam since last year.
source form: thanhniennews

The violent fire that occurred at Quang Ngai Market in Quang Ngai Province on Feb. 9 destroyed most parts of the market and rendered many traders penniless.

Thuy, who sold flowers in the market, recalled, “At 5:00am, I found a group of 5 to 7 security guards trying to extinguish a small fire. I felt something was wrong and immediately informed my fellow traders.”

Several traders were then struggling with the violent blaze to rescue their fabric products or candy packages.

Huynh Thi Phuong, who was informed of the accident by Thuy, fortunately took half of her goods away before the fire swallowed everything in her shop.

“It spread quickly. It completely engulfed the market in 15 minutes,” Phuong recalled.

Le Thi Kim Hanh, who sold candies in the northern part of the market, said the fire broke out at the eastern part by the time she got to the market.

Hanh told Tuoi Tre she tried to put out the fire with an available faucet nearby but failed because of the fierce heat from the billows of smoke.

She thus had no other way but flee for life.

As of 12pm, the firefighters were able to control the fire but the market had already been burnt to the ground.

While the scene was barred for investigation, hundreds of traders outside the market struggled against tears.

65-year-old Bui Thi Mai who had worked for more than 40 years in the market and her children, who also owned some shops, wondered why they encountered this kind of misfortune.

They had lost goods including clothes imported from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi worth billions of dong to the fire.

“All my family’s fortune was reduced to ashes. We don’t know how to pay off debts to our neighbors,” Hien, Mai’s daughter, moaned.

Meanwhile, Truong Thi En and her daughter, who sold leather products in the market, sobbed because they had just obtained a bank loan of VND200 million and bought a shipment of goods worth VND300 million.

Tran Thi Hai Van, 32, whose shop was among those ravaged by the fire, said: “When I was close to the market, I found billows of smokes rising above. I was hopeless after finding that the fire had destroyed everything in my shop.”

According to a report released by Quang Ngai’s People’s Committee, initial losses are estimated at VND150 billion.

Ngo Van Tuoi, director of Quang Ngai Agricultural Products Joint-stock Company which manages the market, said each trader lost VND200 to 250 million to the fire.

An 11-hour fire

Colonel Nguyen Thanh Trang, deputy director of Quang Ngai’s Public Security Department, said the fire broke out on the first floor located in the northern area of the market.

It was first discovered at 5:15am by the market’s security guards. After failing to put it out, the guards informed the local fire fighting forces who rushed to the scene 15 minutes later.

Electrical sparks are thought to have caused the fire but Trang said the market’s authorities were still waiting for an official result from the investigators.

He admitted that available fire fighting and prevention equipment in the province were not adequate to battle such fires.

source form: tuoitrenews

Harry Redknapp reckons managing England in June’s European Championship while still coaching at club level would be difficult to do, the Tottenham Hotspur boss said on Friday.

The 64-year-old has been so widely backed by punters to succeed Fabio Capello as the next England manager that bookmakers William Hill and Ladbrokes are closing their books on any more bets.

FA Chairman David Bernstein, who began the search for a new manager on Friday following Wednesday’s resignation by Capello, would consider a temporary coach leading England into the finals in Poland and Ukraine but Redknapp was quick to distance himself from the idea.

“I think it would be difficult. It’s hard enough managing a league club let alone managing your country. It’s two very difficult jobs. You have got to focus on one job,” he told a news conference at Spurs’ training ground.

“I can’t take my eye off the ball at Tottenham at the moment because we are looking to get Champions League football, we are still in the FA Cup and I owe it to them to keep completely focused on the job I’m doing here.

“It wouldn’t be fair to anybody at this club if I suddenly started letting my thoughts wander elsewhere.”

While Redknapp is the popular choice for the job, it is no foregone conclusion he will succeed Capello, who quit after a row with the FA over the stripping of the captaincy from John Terry.

Given his comments about a jobshare, Redknapp may have to leave Spurs at the end of the season to take the full-time reins of England for the Euros if he is offered the job and accepts it.

However, at this stage he does not want to think about the idea of quitting Tottenham, even in May.

“Things couldn’t have gone better for me at Tottenham,” the former West Ham United, Portsmouth and Southampton boss said.

“I enjoy my time here, the chairman (Daniel Levy) has been great to me and I’ve been good for him as well so it’s difficult.

“But until the question gets asked would you want the job — and nobody has approached Daniel, and that’s the key he’s the chairman, until he rings me up and says ‘Look I’ve had an approach’ then really there’s nothing for me to consider.

“At my age now I have to do what’s right for me, that’s the key. My family always has got to come first. If the opportunity comes I’ll look at it then.”

Traumatic weeks

Stuart Pearce, the manager of the England Under-21 and British Olympic team for the London 2012 Games, will be in charge of the squad for England’s friendly against Netherlands on February29 and the FA has not ruled out the possibility of Pearce leading the squad at the European championship either.

Redknapp, speaking before Spurs’ Premier League match with Newcastle United on Saturday, said he was just delighted to be back at work after a traumatic two weeks in which he has been on trial for tax evasion.

On Wednesday, a jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty on the two charges he faced following a five-year investigation.

“At the moment I just want to get back to a bit of normality,” he said as third-placed Spurs aim to keep alive their outside hopes of the title.

“When all this blew up really it was unbelievable timing coming out from what I’d been through and then suddenly the England job comes up and I start getting talked about having a chance of that.

“I was really looking to calm down for a few days and take it easy and getting back here and working here.”

Asked about Capello’s four-year reign as England manager, Redknapp again talked of how “difficult” the role can be.

“You’ve only got to look at his record. He’s one of the world’s great managers,” said the Londoner, who had heart surgery in November.

“It just shows you what a difficult job it is to manage England and make a success of it when you go and get somebody like Fabio Capello.

“There wouldn’t be too many in the world better than him and he found it difficult and there have been a lot of great managers since Alf Ramsey, unbelievable managers including the great Bobby Robson who we all admired so much.

“He found it difficult. he went through some terrible periods. He got slaughtered at times.

“He wasn’t always well-treated. You’ve had other top managers who have tried and apart from Terry Venables in Euro 96 who came out with loads of credit we haven’t really had too much success so it shows you what a difficult job it must be.

“It is a tough job and no-one has got a magic wand.”

source form: tuoitrenews

In economic difficulties, tourism relating sectors can live well

Though travel firms made a fat profit last Tet holiday, analysts believe that the tourism sector would not see a higher growth rate in 2012, because people would have to fasten their belt amid the forecasts about economic difficulties.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT proves to be reserved when setting modest targets for 2012: receiving 6.5 million foreign tourists, up by 8.3 percent over 2011, and serving 32 million domestic travelers, up by 6.67 percent over 2011.

However, service providers do not think that way. Vo Quoc Khang, the owner of a shop of cars for rent in Bien Hoa City keeps optimistic about his business in 2012.

“Local residents in the city now like traveling more than going to cinema. They would go traveling if they have one or two days off work. Therefore, I think that carrying travelers would bring good income to me in 2012,” he said.

Khang said that he uses the cars to carry students to schools and from schools every day. Meanwhile, on the weekends, he usually receives orders to carry travelers.

On Van Le, a taxi driver of Hoang Long taxi firm – Phu Quoc Island, has also said that the works within seven months would bring the revenue high enough to cover the expenses for the remaining rainy months. Airlines are considering providing more flights to Phu Quoc. Not only travelers who go under the tours booked with travel firms, but separated travelers also go to the island, who would be the potential clients for taxi drivers.

A representative of Phu Quoc branch of Vietravel said that the 15 cars for lease of the branch were always fully booked in 2011, while the branch is considering increasing the number of cars this year.

Nguyen Quoc Ky, General Director of Vietravel, said the travel firm has requested airlines, hotels and service providers sign service contracts for the whole year 2012 before December 2011, so as to be secure about the services.

Ky has affirmed that among the choices of people for enjoying life, tourism would be the top choice.

New tourism products designed

Not only targeting high income earners, Vietravel has launched Travelpon that provides services to different groups of travelers, including the ones with low income.

Saigontourist has said it would put the Saigon-Dong Ha, Saigon-Ban Me, Saigon-Rach Gia hotels in the localities it believes would see the number of travelers increasing this year.

In 2011, Saigontourist opened a branch in Quang Ninh province, in charge of bringing tourists from the north to the south. It has just opened a branch in Binh Duong province. The moves show that Saigontourist can foresee the diversification of the tourists in 2012.

According to Tran Duc Thinh, Marketing Director of TST Tourist, travelers, both Vietnamese and foreign, now tend to set up higher requirements, They not only want to travel, but also to learn about the life, culture of every locality. This requires travel firms to provide qualified tour guides and design original products. Especially, travelers now have high demand for enjoying local food. Therefore, if travel firms only offer familiar tours, they would not be able to attract travelers.

A VISA’s survey has also pointed out that the attractive local food and low travel costs would be the main factors that help attract more tourists to Vietnam in the time to come. The survey has also said that Vietnam has become one of the most attractive destinations.

source form: vietnamnet

A website owner caught trading in personal information

The agency, dubbed A87, made a statement recently, that the information being sold included home and mobile phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses. Even the information of high profile people, such as directors, CEOs and other senior employees of large companies, as well as that of registration info culled from golf clubs.

Privacy violated

In early January 2012, the agency busted some businesses allegedly taking part in this type of trade, such as www.danhsachkhachhang.com and www.duonghongle.com.

Dnhsachkhachhang.com offers a directory of 9,700 directors in HCM City, 400 members of gold clubs in Hanoi, 1,200 chairmen of boards of directors in HCM City and 6,100 senior managers in HCM City. Information about enterprises operating in the fields of banking, insurance and tourism attracted the most demand.

The agency found that these two websites were set up by one individual in October 2010. He bought all the information from two people at a price of VND20 million (USD950.7). He then classified it into different groups so his customers could easily find what they wanted.

With the cooperation of the sites’ owner, police were able to track down two similar businesses, www.timkhachhang.com and www.datavip24h.com. One of these owners said he worked for a securities company, making it easy for him to gather the personal information of his 600 or so co-workers. In 2010, he used classified ads to gather information about directors in the southern province of Binh Duong, including 30,000 Mobifone subscribers, 65,000 Viettel mobile subscribers and offered for sales at www.dataviph24.com and www.datavip24h.net.

Penalties

All the three websites owners have admitted to making profits of a combined VND250 million (USD11,884) by now, but claimed to be unaware of breaking any law.

According to the agency, these website owners have violated regulations on personal privacy. They are investigating further before coming to a decision on the appropriate penalties to these offenders, although the fines may range from VND30-VND50 million (USD1,426-USD2,376) each.

“Depending on the level of their violations, offenders may face administrative punishments or be subjected to criminal proceedings,” the agency added.

source form: dtinews

Vietnam attempts to control foreign currency remittance abroad

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong said that in order to restrict the use of domestic capital to make investment abroad, commercial banks will not be allowed to provide loans in foreign currency to fund outward investment.

“Vietnamese investors would have to arrange capital by seeking capital from foreign banks instead of transferring all the capital needed for the projects from Vietnam abroad,” Phuong said.

According to Phuong, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has sent a dispatch to the State Bank of Vietnam, requesting to strengthen the foreign current transactions relating to the outward investment, which aims to supervise the outward investment capital most effectively.

MPI has also asked the State Bank to set up a ceiling level on the total capital to be transferred abroad based after considering the international payment balance in different periods.

Prior to that, the ministry sent a dispatch to the central bank, requesting the bank to check the lending of commercial banks to fund outward investment projects. In the future, all the enterprises must strictly follow the regulations on periodic reporting about outward investments to MPI.

Also according to Phuong, in 2011, MPI organized three inter-ministerial inspection tours to check the enforcement of the laws by big economic groups and enterprises in HCM City and Nghe An. The checking aims to balance the plans to make investment and transfer capital abroad.

MPI has instructed the state owned economic groups and the enterprises which have outward investment projects to focus on developing ongoing projects, or the projects which nearly get completed and become operational, in order to preserve capital and ensure the optimum investment efficiency.

As for the outward investment projects which have just got investment licenses, investors need to define clearly the demand for transferring investment capital and the plan on project implementation. Any plans to use capital of the investors need to come in line with the government’s policies on tightening the monetary policies to curb inflation, stabilize the macro economy and ensure social security.

The State Bank of Vietnam has issued Circular No 45 on the foreign currency management relating to the lending and collecting debts by credit institutions, under which credit institutions must satisfy 8 requirements. They have to examine the investment projects, consider the national risks and the possibility of collecting principals and interests of the loans. Especially, banks will only provide loans to the projects which are within the operation scope of the borrowers, who borrow money to make outward investment.

Outward investment on the rise

Do Nhat Hoang, Head of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment said by December 30, Vietnam had had 627 outward investment projects with the total investment capital of 10.8 billion dollars in 55 countries and territories.

Most of the projects are located in Laos (3.4 billion dollars), Cambodia (2.1 billion dollars), Venezuela (1.8 billion dollars), and Russia (776 million dollars).

The total implemented capital has reached 2.7 billion dollars, of which 1.4 billion dollars has been injected in the oil and gas sector.

In 2011 alone, Vietnam licensed 75 outward investment projects in 26 countries and territories. The total registered capital has reached 2.12 billion dollars. MPI says that while the capital transferred abroad has been increasing year after year, the profitability has been very low, at 2.02 percent in 1989-2010.

source form: vietnamnet

Hours after the government rolled out its “It’s more Fun in the Philippines” campaign, Internet pundits pointed to a 1951 Swiss National Tourist Office ad which proclaimed “It’s more fun in Switzerland!”

Dennis Gorecho, who described himself as a Manila lawyer, criticised the tourism department for spending a large amount of money on a copycat ad and linked to a website of the old Swiss poster.

“DOT (the Department of Tourism) spent millions —- to come up with an ad campaign that seemed to have been used from one that is already more than 60 years old —-” he wrote on his wall on the social networking site Facebook.

However Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez and other officials swiftly rejected the new copycat allegations.

“The line isn’t a manufactured slogan. It’s simply the truth about our country. Don’t be swayed by people who are trying to punch holes in it,” Jimenez tweeted.

“If you look hard enough, you might even find an old ad that says ‘it’s more fun in Alcatraz!’” he added, referring to the notorious former US prison.

“Uh, ok, so Switzerland used ‘It’s more fun–’ in 1951 . Thats 61 yrs ago. Even intellectual property rights expire after 50 yrs,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said, repeating another lawyer’s Twitter comment.

Other critics said they preferred the old slogan “Wow! Philippines”.

“It may be true that its more fun in the Philippines but Wow Philippines was a far better tourism slogan,” one tweeted.

The Philippine campaign’s hashtag, “#ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines”, itself became one of the top trending topics on Twitter.

In November 2010 the Philippine government was forced to scrap a similar campaign that turned into a marketing disaster amid allegations it plagiarised a Polish campaign.

Despite many natural wonders and more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines has long lagged behind its Southeast Asian neighbours in attracting tourists.

Poor infrastructure, corruption and poverty are the some of the factors holding back the country’s tourism industry.

source form: tuoitrenews

Cheeseburger and fries, hold the politicians.

With Republican presidential hopefuls blitzing New Hampshire ahead of its critical January 10 primary, one small eatery in coastal Portsmouth has had it with gladhanding campaigners disrupting diners.

So the hand-drawn, red-white-and-blue sign on the door of the 28-seat Colby’s Breakfast and Lunch restaurant declares “No Politicians No Exceptions.”

The Portsmouth Herald newspaper reported Thursday that Colby’s manager Jessica Labrie made and posted the sign on Tuesday after patrons complained about the steady stream of politicians stopping in to court voters.

“They make a big deal when they come in here,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “You can watch all this stuff on the news, but when you’re here eating breakfast, you don’t want to hear it.”

Texas Governor Rick Perry, Representative Michele Bachmann, and former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer stopped by the restaurant over the past few months, it said.

source form: tuoitrenews

Manchester United held on to quell a spirited second half comeback by Manchester City as they knocked the holders out of the FA Cup with a 3-2 third round win at Eastlands here on Sunday.

United, who brought 37-year-old midfielder Paul Scholes out of retirement as a second half substitute, seemed to be in control at the home of their local rivals after two first half goals from Wayne Rooney, another from Danny Welbeck, and the controversial sending off of City captain Vincent Kompany.

But Premier League leaders City responded with an early second half goal from Aleksandar Kolarov and, after Sergio Aguero struck with nearly half an hour remaining, the Blues appeared on the brink of a remarkable fightback.

Indeed, Kolarov nearly forced a replay in stoppage time when a stinging free-kick, from the edge of the area, was only parried by United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard before being scrambled to safety.

Ultimately, the tie was decided inside an explosive opening 12 minutes, during which United took the lead and City were reduced to 10 men following Kompany?s dismissal.

To make matters worse for City, they had enjoyed a commanding opening spell before the visitors scored with their first foray into the home half, a move started by Ryan Giggs’s pass to Rooney.

The forward fed Antonio Valencia wide on the right before moving into the area and meeting the winger’s cross with a spectacular header which went in via the underside of the bar.

And within two minutes City were left with even more of a mountain to climb after referee Chris Foy deemed Kompany’s two-footed, sliding challenge on Nani warranted a red card.

It appeared a harsh decision, given that the City defender won the ball without making contact on his opponent and Nani did not even appeal for the foul.

But it proved the defining moment of the game, even if City’s initial response was impressive and featured a 20-yard curling shot from Aguero, which drew a superb, diving save from Lindegaard.

On the half hour, United seemed to have taken a stranglehold on proceedings when Welbeck doubled the lead.

Nani played an intelligent ball to the over-lapping Patrice Evra whose low cross eluded Welbeck only for Samir Nasri to inadvertently help it back into the path of the United forward who volleyed home spectacularly.

United could sniff blood, and a large measure of revenge for their humiliating 6-1 home league loss to City earlier this season.

And, after 38 minutes and another incisive Giggs pass, they stretched their lead further when Welbeck was tripped by Kolarov.

Rooney took a poor penalty, which was saved by Costel Pantilimon, but responded quickly to the rebound and headed it into the open net.

City manager Roberto Mancini brought on defenders Pablo Zabaleta and Stefan Savic at half-time, as part of a tactical re-shuffle, and the move paid instant dividends when Evra brought down Micah Richards after 48 minutes.

Kolarov then made it 3-1 with a spectacular 22-yard free-kick which beat the United wall and the dive of Lindegaard.

Nani headed wide and Rooney’s latest long shot whistled past the post before Sir Alex Ferguson drew huge cheers from the visiting supporters by replacing Nani with Scholes just before the hour.

United felt they should have had a penalty when Kolarov tripped Valencia in the area but Foy was unmoved and soon afterwards City had made it 3-2.
Scholes was badly at fault for the goal, gifting the ball to James Milner deep in United territory.

Milner’s right-wing cross found Aguero whose initial shot was only parried by Lindegaard, and the City forward scored from the rebound.

United attempted to take the sting out of City’s recovery but lived dangerously when Phil Jones appeared to handle a Kolarov cross but escaped with only conceding a corner.

source form: tuoitrenews

British Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to give shareholders the right to veto executive pay packages, amid mounting political pressure and public anger over huge salaries and bonuses.

“The market for top people isn’t working, it needs to be sorted out,” he told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

“Let’s empower the shareholders by having a straight, shareholder vote on top paid packages.”

Despite repeated controversies over bosses being handed huge payoffs even in cases where companies have failed, currently shareholders can only express their disapproval through an advisory vote.

No details have been agreed on how the new arrangements would work, but they could form part of reforms being worked on by business minister Vince Cable. He is due to publish results of a wide-ranging consultation this month.

Cameron’s pledge came after growing calls from the main opposition Labour party to crack down on exorbitant pay packages as families are forced to tighten their belts amid continued economic gloom.

Labour has put forward proposals to curb executive pay, such as a place for employees on remuneration boards.

In an interview published Saturday, Labour leader Ed Miliband scorned Cameron’s stance on executive pay.

“Does anyone really believe that David Cameron came into politics to create more responsible capitalism? The public are not going to buy it,” he said.

But in Sunday’s interview the Conservative premier insisted he was determined to deal with “the merry-go-round, where there’s too many cases of remuneration committee members sitting on each other’s boards, patting each other’s backs, and handing out each other’s pay rises.”

The Conservatives’ junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, have also spoken out in favour of curbing executive pay.

source form: tuoitrenews