Hanoi - A Vietnamese boy has tested positive for the avian influenza virus, the fourth confirmed human case of bird flu in Vietnam this year, local media reported Thursday.
A boy from the south-western province of Dong Thap was admitted Monday at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases with high fever and respiratory difficulties, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said.
Nguyen Van Chau, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Health Department, told the paper that the patient tested positive for bird flu Wednesday.
Hanoi - A Vietnamese university has canceled a planned tuition hike after students staged protests, a university official confirmed Thursday.
More than 300 students at Hong Bang University in Ho Chi Minh City staged an all-day protest Wednesday after the university raised tuition fees for the second semester from 2.84 million dong (162 dollars) to 3.49 million dong.
University officials decided late Wednesday to cancel the hike after meeting with student representatives.
Hanoi - International analysts in recent days have presented wildly varying estimates for Vietnam's 2009 GDP growth, but local economists said Wednesday they were not worried.
"The global situation is volatile, and international experts cannot forecast the current situation," said Tran Dinh Thien, director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics. "So how can they do that for Vietnam?"
Hanoi - Large supermarkets in Vietnam have stopped selling Johnson & Johnson products on news that the company's baby shampoo sold in the US contained chemicals that could cause cancer, the supermarkets said Wednesday.
A US consumer group, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, reported this week that it had found formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane in several varieties of Johnson's baby shampoo. The chemicals are considered probable carcinogens, and are banned from cosmetics in some countries, but not in the US.
"We got the order to stop selling most Johnson & Johnson's products, except for makeup powder, in our supermarket chain on Tuesday," said Nguyen Tuyet Thu, a sales manager at Coopmart, one of Vietnam's largest domestic chains.
Hanoi - Vietnamese police said Tuesday the driver of a tour bus that plunged into a ravine on Friday, killing 9 Russians and one Vietnamese, will face up to 15 years in jail for speeding.
"The bus driver will be prosecuted for driving very carelessly and exceeding the speed limit," said Lt Col Nguyen Dac Minh, head of the Binh Thuan Provincial Police's Department of Social Order Crime Investigations.
Minh said the driver, who was severely injured in the accident, had blamed a brake malfunction, but investigators found the bus's brakes in working order.
He said skid marks on the road from the driver's attempt to brake showed the bus had been traveling over the speed limit.
Hanoi - Vietnam will have to offer higher interest rates if it expects to sell enough government bonds to finance its budget deficit, economic experts said Monday.
The government expects its budget deficit to jump to 5.9 billion dollars this year, to be financed in part by 3.1 billion dollars in new bonds. But the global financial crisis is scaring investors away from emerging markets, meaning Vietnam will have to offer high interest rates.
Hanoi - A Vietnamese boy has tested positive for the avian influenza virus, the fourth confirmed human case of bird flu in Vietnam this year, local media reported Thursday.
Hanoi - A Vietnamese university has canceled a planned tuition hike after students staged protests, a university official confirmed Thursday.
Hanoi - International analysts in recent days have presented wildly varying estimates for Vietnam's 2009 GDP growth, but local economists said Wednesday they were not worried.
Hanoi - Vietnam will have to offer higher interest rates if it expects to sell enough government bonds to finance its budget deficit, economic experts said Monday.
