Wrongly sentenced to death

Last year, Laemgate seafood restaurant launched a pay-in-advance food promotion online.

Up to 20,000 people purchased 50 million Thai baht (£1.2m; $1.6m) worth of vouchers, said broadcaster Thai PBS.

But the company later said it could not keep up with demand and shut down the restaurant.

Apichart Bowornbancharak and Prapassorn Bowornbancha were arrested after hundreds of people complained.

It is not uncommon for those found guilty of fraud in Thailand to be sentenced to such long terms, owing to the number of complaints received.

However, Thai law limits jail time for public fraud to 20 years.

A food promotion gone wrong

The Laemgate seafood restaurant had last year begun selling various food vouchers that required customers to pay in advance.

One such deal offered a seafood meal at 880 baht (£22; $28) for 10 people – far cheaper than their usual prices.

Initially, those who bought the vouchers were able to claim their meals at the restaurant but a long waiting list meant an advance booking of up to several months, according to Thai PBS.

But by March, the company – Laemgate Infinite – announced its closure, claiming that it could not get hold of enough seafood to meet the demand.

It offered to refund customers who had bought vouchers, according to Thai PBS. About 375 out of 818 customers who complained got their money back.

Hundreds later filed complaints against the company and its co-owners for fraud.

Apichart Bowornbancharak and Prapassorn Bowornbancha were arrested on charges including defrauding the public through false messages.

They were found guilty on 723 counts on Wednesday and sentenced to 1,446 years in jail each.

They pleaded guilty and their sentences were cut by half to 723 years each. They will in fact only be serving a maximum of 20 years.

Their company, Laemgate Infinite, was also fined 1.8m baht, and the co-owners and the company was ordered to refund 2.5m baht in damages to the victims.

In 2017, a Thai court sentenced a fraudster to more than 13,000 years in prison. BBC

A man posthumously tested negative for the novel coronavirus after being found dead at a hotel in Tam Dao Town, a popular tourist destination in the northern Vietnamese province of Vinh Phuc.

The deceased man has been identified as Nguyen The D., a 46-year-old resident of Hanoi, Nguyen Thanh Hai, director of the Vinh Phuc Department of Health, confirmed to Tuoi Tre ( Youth) newspaper on Saturday afternoon.

D. was discovered dead in his hotel room in Tam Dao Town on the early morning of the same day.

Police officers and health workers later arrived to probe the scene and collect his samples for COVID-19 testing.

All residents and visitors were not allowed to enter or exit Tam Dao Town following the discovery of his death.

Local authorities also asked all tourists and employees of local hotels, restaurants, and karaoke parlors to fill out health declaration forms at the town’s medical center.

The temporary lockdown was lifted after D.’s test result came back negative for the novel coronavirus on Saturday afternoon.

According to preliminary information, D. previously traveled to Tam Dao with his wife and child.

Prior to his death, the man had consumed a lot of alcohol.

He had a history of high blood pressure and might have died from a stroke, according to officers.

Further investigation is ongoing.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The trial of a Japanese man accused of killing a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl will start in three months time, a Japanese court said on Monday.

Yasumasa Shibuya, 46, has been charged with murder and abandoning the girl’s body, the Chiba District Court said, as cited by Japanese media reports.

Prosecutors allege that Shibuya strangled the third-grader to death and left her body near a drainage ditch after abducting her on the morning of March 24, 2017, the Japan Times reported.

Shibuya has refused to speak since his arrest in April, it said.

Media reports did not mention rape charges, although autopsy results suggested the girl had been sexually abused.

The victim, Le Thi Nhat Linh, went missing after she left home for school in Matsudo City, one hour northeast of Tokyo, on March 24. Her body was discovered two days later. Shibuya was her neighbor and head of the parents’ association at her school at the time.

The case had shocked both the Japanese and Vietnamese public.

Linh’s parents have been gathering tens of thousands of signatures from both countries, hoping that public pressure will prompt prosecutors to call for Shibuya to be sentenced to death.

In Japan, murder can be punished with death sentence and executions are carried out by hanging. The punishment is usually imposed in cases of multiple murders, though some single murderers have also been hanged when their crime was considered serious.

• Oxford ranked as world’s top university – Times Higher Education
• Financial crisis may have caused 500,000 cancer deaths worldwide

Wondering why our kids are not so great with money? Just look in the mirror; it’s because adults are often financial train wrecks themselves.

Even so, all is not lost. You can still try to instill your children with the right lessons about spending, saving and investing, to prime them for a more secure financial future.

That is the cause of personal finance guru Beth Kobliner, whose new book “Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You’re Not)” has just been released.

She spoke with Reuters about how to equip kids with money smarts.

Q: Is there a time in a child’s life that is best for giving them money lessons?

A: Start earlier than you think, because by age three they start getting money concepts.

Keep your lessons age appropriate. Using anecdotes is helpful, because we all like stories. Show them the numbers with online calculators, and how savings and interest could one day get them to a million dollars.

Q: You say that chores should not be tied to money and allowances are not a great teaching tool. Why?

A: Tying things like making their bed to monetary rewards is a problem. You are paying a child to do things they should be doing anyways, and then they will start negotiating with you all the time. It can end up backfiring for parents.

Allowances start with good intentions, but then people tend to get busy and forget about them. I looked into the research, which is all over the map – sometimes allowances help kids with financial decision-making, and sometimes they don’t.

What is very clear is that, whatever you choose, you need to be consistent about it. Otherwise it sends the wrong money message.

Q: No one is perfect with money; is that why we are so afraid to teach our kids about it?

A: It is a terrifying topic. That is essentially why I wrote the book. It is a primer for parents as well, about basic things like debt and delayed gratification and compound interest, so they don’t feel like they are giving kids the wrong information.

Q: What are the money topics we should not be discussing about with our kids?

A: I don’t think you need to talk about your salary, because kids don’t have any context for it, and won’t really understand it. They also might gossip about it at school.

You also don’t need to point out who is the bigger breadwinner, by saying things like ‘Mommy makes twice as much as Daddy.’

And don’t disclose how much is in your 401(k); either they will think you are rich and can buy anything you want, or they will worry that you are totally broke.

Q: Is social media putting added financial pressure on families, by pretending that we all lead lives of luxury?

A: Absolutely. There is a constant barrage of Instagram photos, seemingly saying: ‘Look at the beautiful place I am, look at the wonderful food I’m eating.’ All of those things cost money. That is why you need to start early by teaching them about wants versus needs, and get into the habit of saying ‘No.’

Q: How did your own parents shape the way you understand money?

A: My dad is 87 now, and growing up in the Bronx, his family was in pretty bad shape. His father drank and couldn’t hold a job, his mother was overwhelmed, and he had siblings who slept in drawers. So he used to go outside of his tenement building, hang out by the pay phone, and answer the phone for people who lived there. They would give him a nickel, and then he would give it to his parents, so they would fight less. Because of that, he always got how important money was.

Q: You have three kids of your own, so how is their financial behavior shaping up?

A: Pretty good, because they have heard me talk about this stuff their whole lives. What I tell other moms is: Make your financial priorities clear, and your kids will pick up on it. Just giving them more stuff is not going to make them any happier. That is something I know for sure.

Related news:

> Oxford ranked as world’s top university – Times Higher Education

> Financial crisis may have caused 500,000 cancer deaths worldwide

Chuck Searcy

Officials of both the Vietnamese and U.S. governments could derive satisfaction from knowing that the Agent Orange/dioxin legacy of war is now being addressed, after a troubling post-war history of misinformation and controversy, accusations and doubts.

Not just public officials, but veterans and ordinary citizens of both countries can take pride in looking back over the remarkable transformation that has taken place in the past two decades, from early years of mistrust and recrimination to a positive, working partnership between Vietnam and the U.S. today.

That relationship is now built on mutual trust and respect.

A cornerstone of our dramatically improved relationship is a clear, shared commitment between the people of both countries to address the legacies of war, Agent Orange/dioxin, explosive ordnance (EO), and wartime Missing In Action (MIA) personnel from all sides, in an open and honest manner. We now recognize that the humanitarian component of these challenges rises above politics and demands a concerted, selfless effort of all concerned.

How did we come to this point?

Twenty-five years after Vietnam and the U.S. normalized diplomatic relations on July 11,1995, is an appropriate moment to observe and reflect.

I have been a personal witness to this history: first, as a U.S. Army soldier in the war, in 1967-68, then as a veteran who returned to Vietnam in 1995 to try to contribute to the rebuilding, recovery, and reconciliation that was being painfully pursued by the Vietnamese. Working at the Swedish Children’s Hospital and Bach Mai Hospital in Ha Noi to provide orthopedic braces for disabled children, one of the first projects funded by USAID, I learned of the terrible toll in deaths and lifetime disabilities among ordinary people throughout Vietnam as a result of wartime bombs and mines still remaining in the ground.

I was shocked to discover that more than 100,000 Vietnamese had been killed or injured by explosive ordnance since the end of the war in 1975. When I and other Americans discussed this humanitarian tragedy with U.S. Embassy staff and other government officials, there was cautious agreement that this grim challenge needed to be addressed, yes, and it was an area in which the U.S. could provide assistance.

Quietly, there emerged a consensus among U.S. officials that America should take some responsibility for the consequences of the massive bombing that had occurred during the war, which left behind an estimated 800,000 tons of lethal, unexploded munitions that remained a threat to farmers, villagers, school children everywhere.

Peace Trees was the first American non-profit organization to receive approval from officials in Quang Tri Province to clear a small site of explosive ordnance and plant trees there. The door was opened for further cooperation, with the engagement of a German demining organization, SODI, soon to follow, then the British Mines Advisory Group (MAG), Golden West Humanitarian Foundation (GWHF), and other organizations including Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) which supported Project RENEW, and international aid organization Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).

Working together with Vietnamese officials and the Ministry of National Defense, these initiatives cleared a path for growing collaboration and a documented reduction in accidents and injuries caused by explosive ordnance.

The evidence is now clear: In the past three years, in Quang Tri Province, there have been zero accidents, zero injuries, and zero deaths caused by explosive ordnance. That is the result of everyone working together, at the national and the provincial level, Vietnamese and international colleagues arm in arm.

A team from Mines Advisory Group remove a Vietnam War bomb found in Quang Tri Province, central Vietnam, August 2020. Photo by Tran Van Minh.

The issue of Agent Orange/dioxin has been more complicated, and more controversial. Unlike the EO issue, which was embraced by many people of good will on all sides, AO/dioxin struck fear among the management and stockholders of U.S. chemical companies which had made the chemical defoliants, who were worried that they would be sued and would face huge financial liabilities. In fact, several court cases which were brought against these companies in the U.S., on behalf of U.S. veterans or Vietnamese plaintiffs, but they were either unsuccessful or partially so.

Yet the U.S. government stubbornly supported these companies in their utter denial of any connection between Agent Orange and birth defects, cancers and other diseases, lifetime disabilities, and other medical and mental limitations despite the evidence. The people of Vietnam knew these conditions existed widely, among their neighbors and extended families. U.S. refusal to acknowledge this problem and to face our responsibility to help the Vietnamese, especially when we were paying more than $10 billion a year in assistance to American veterans affected by Agent Orange, left a bitter taste with the Vietnamese.

The problem was eventually resolved with increasing involvement and pubic advocacy among a growing group of Americans, including veterans, medical experts, and media.

Of particular note is the role of the Ford Foundation and its Vietnam director at the time, Charles Bailey, who funded important field research, seminars and workshops, and professional studies to answer many questions posed by critics.

It became difficult for the U.S. government to remain on the outside, arguing against this humanitarian initiative, when the consensus was building so strongly that Agent Orange/dioxin was indeed a problem in Vietnam, and there are steps we can take to mitigate the disaster, including cleanup of the “hot spots” (such as Bien Hoa) and direct assistance to suffering families.

The U.S. government eventually came into the picture in a very visible and positive way, providing significant funding for the dioxin cleanup at the Da Nang international airport, and now the Bien Hoa airport cleanup which is underway.

USAID has pledged some $65 million over five years for disability programs in Vietnam, and the recent stimulus bill approved by the U.S. Congress contained $170 million for Vietnam to overcome the consequences of the war.

Meanwhile Vietnam’s 701 Committee on EO and Toxic Chemicals, the national umbrella organization that directs activities related to legacies of war, works closely with NGOs in Quang Tri and other provinces, to share data and other technological information, and the committee cooperates closely with the U.S. Embassy as well.

The collaboration is comprehensive and based on open exchange of information and tools to help both sides eventually bring “closure” to the war legacies that have been a powerful framework – nowadays a positive omen that benefits both governments, and the citizens of both Vietnam and the U.S.

Finally, we need to note a lingering, sad legacy that has also brought both sides together: the issue of Missing in Action (MIA), soldiers from all sides whose remains have not been found and not yet returned to their families or their homelands. When discussions began in the late 1980s, with the U.S. requesting Vietnam’s assistance in locating the sites of plane crashes or other incidents where bodies of U.S. personnel had not been recovered or accounted for, U.S. opponents of normalized relations with Vietnam were confident that this would be a “deal-breaker.” They were sure the Vietnamese, citing national sovereignty and their own 300,000 MIAs, would refuse to cooperate. Normalized relations between the two countries would be impossible. How wrong they were!

Vietnamese officials agreed to permit U.S. military personnel to come and work with Vietnamese teams to search all over the country for remains for U.S. airmen and other personnel, which led to growing respect and friendship between the two sides. Instead of a barrier, this issue had become a bridge of understanding and cooperation.

Today the MIA effort goes on, with shared technologies and methodologies between both sides, including forensic research, and each side assisting the other in its recovery efforts. Twenty-five year ago no one thought this would be possible.

We can thank enlightened government leaders of both countries, students and veterans, ordinary citizens of good will. Many participated in exchange programs hosted by the Foreign Ministry, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, or the Veterans Association of Vietnam, who refused to accept permanent barriers between our two nations.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defense, and his colleagues have led the Vietnamese side of this collaboration, with leadership to ensure strong collaboration and new capacity-building. Soon-to-depart U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink has followed in the steps of his predecessors to bring about greater cooperation and tangible results in our mutual efforts to achieve closure on these legacies of war. A critical contribution over the years has come from U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy whose leadership on the Budget Committee has ensured that funding would be available to meet these challenges.

We can also thank the open and generous spirit of the Vietnamese people, who refuse to carry bitter grudges, who always find ways to accommodate old enemies. As an endearing example to the world, the Vietnamese became friends with Americans again, sharing one aspiration to create a prosperous and peaceful future for all our children – free, at last, from the tragic legacies of war.

*Chuck Searcy is a U.S. Army veteran of the American war in Vietnam who has lived and worked in Vietnam since 1995. He is President of Veterans For Peace Chapter 160, and international advisor to Project RENEW in Quang Tri Province.