Hà Nội Urban Environment One Member Co yesterday received 12 German-made street sweepers worth more than VND20 billion (US$878,000) to help clean up the streets for the New Year.

Limitations in treating large amounts of waste generated by thermal power plants are threatening their operations, experts say.

An interdisciplinary team of northern Quảng Ninh Province’s Hạ Long City and the city’s Aquaculture department has inspected the aquaculture exploitation activities on the bay and found six vessels illegally using electric  shockers to catch fish.

Pak Việt Nam Company from the southern province of Đồng Nai has been caught red-handed discharging black substance – suspected to be wastewater – into Thị Vải river.

Natural disasters and environmental pollution can reduce GDP by 0.6 per cent per year from 2016-20, according to the National Centre for Socio-economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Since early human settlement, wild elephants have been an integral part of Việt Nam’s identity. The cultural icon has inspired poetry, music and art.

Three earthquakes struck the mountainous A Lưới District in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province on Wednesday. No damage to life and property was reported, the local disaster management cell said.

Hundreds of fishing vessels were forced to stay ashore in the province’s Hội An City for the past six days due to sedimentation of the estuary, which blocked entry.

Việt Nam accounts for 87 of the 163 new species of animals and plants discovered in the Greater Mekong region, according to a report released on Monday by the World Wide Fund for Nature.