Sixty-one wild Sunda pangolins ((Manis javanica) were handed over to Save Việt Nam’s Wildlife by Thái Bình Province’s Police Department yesterday afternoon.

Sewage ditches containing black smelly wastewater, running from Sầm Sơn Township’s drainage system to the beach, are causing serious pollution, resulting in a negative effect on tourism in the area.

Politburo member and Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình yesterday sent a letter complimenting the General Department of Việt Nam Customs for discovering the trans-border trafficking of elephant tusks.

 Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc yesterday asked Hà Nội People's Committee to urgently handle the West Lake's mass fish die-off, of which the fish losses already reached up to 60 tonnes and counting.

Oxygen depletion is allegedly responsible for killing tonnes of fish in West Lake since Saturday night in Hà Nội.

This month's first tropical low-pressure system, forming over the southern part of the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Archipelago, is predicted to bring strong winds, torrential rainfall and whirlwinds from the sea.

Sustainable building materials made in Việt Nam will not be able to compete with products from other markets unless manufacturers improve their trade promotions and marketing, Nguyễn Hồng Hà, trade secretary at the Vietnamese embassy in Singapore, said.

Tests on water and dead fish have showed that mass fish deaths in the northern province of Thanh Hóa were not related to diseases, said an official.

The need to accelerate flood-prevention projects has become more urgent than ever as HCM City mobilised workers and pumps to remove water from flooded streets following a historic downpour on Monday evening that inundated the city.