More than 270 people with deformities of the jaw, face, eyes and limbs in the Mekong Delta provinces of Vinh Long, Dong Thap and Ben Tre were offered free check-ups from June 22-28, with 130 already receiving free operations. The free service has been supplied by volunteer doctors and nurses from the ‘Smile for Children’ Organization from the Republic of Korea funded by SK Telecom, Military Hospital 108 and Vinh Long’s General Hospital. Together with the free operations, which cost $200-300 each, the patients also receive travel expenses of VND100,000 from SK Telecom and patients who are operated on are also presented with an VND800,000 gift each. Patients from poor households are also supplied with free meals from Vinh Long province’s Association for the Support of Disabled and Orphans. In 2010, the Smile for Children Organization and SK Telecom targeted patients in the central coastal province of Phu Yen and in 2009 they helped children in the central province of Thanh Hoa to regain their natural smiles.

It's one of the most famous names in the world, up there with the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty - but now London's Big Ben clock tower is to be renamed Elizabeth Tower to mark the queen's 60th year on the British throne. The announcement on Tuesday followed four days of celebrations earlier this month to mark 86-year-old Queen's Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. The landmark, part of Britain's Houses of Parliament, is officially called the Clock Tower but is commonly known as Big Ben, the name of the giant bell in the tower that chimes the famous bongs in the capital. Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the name change. "The renaming of the Clock Tower to the Elizabeth Tower is a fitting recognition of the Queen's 60 years of service. This is an exceptional tribute to an exceptional monarch," he said. Reactions among the public were mixed, however. "Big Ben is so old and iconic, what is the sense in changing its name? All over the world people won't understand what the Elizabeth Tower is," said Romanian tourist Mara Ciortescu. Banker Richard Labonte said: "It's not a bad idea, Ben is a strange name for a tower anyway and the Queen deserves it." The ornate 96-metre high neo-Gothic tower features four gilded clockfaces and was completed in 1859. There are 393 steps to the top of the tower, sited on ... Xem thêm