With the number of street vendors increasing along with the exponential rise in popularity of Hội An Town, the very factors that made it attractive – its pristine settings and quietness – are under threat.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will tighten control over company equitisation and impose strict penalties on irresponsible leaders who delay this process, Deputy Minister Hà Công Tuấn said at a conference in Hà Nội yesterday.

The Ministry of Education and Training will soon officially ask that schools nationwide review their facilities and stop using any deemed to be unsafe, according to the vice head of the ministry’s Department of Facilities and School Equipment, Phạm Hùng Anh.

HCM City will undertake 14 projects to prevent erosion, including dredging of vulnerable waterways, at a cost of over VNĐ1.7 trillion (US$75 million) this year, according to its Inland Waterway Management Division.

The Ministry of Health has asked people across the country to take protective measures against hand, foot, and mouth disease after data from the ministry’s General Department of Preventive Medicine showed that over 2,100 people had contracted the disease in 57 localities this year.

New soldiers at the enlistment ceremony in Yên Bái City.

A new technique that helps improve water drainage in urban areas has been proposed by a Japanese company. The technique will help clean underground pipelines without digging them up, saving energy and cost, and can be applied in emergencies.

Police have arrested three more men in a criminal ring accused of using psychotropic drugs to commit frauds in the central province of Thanh Hóa.

Northern Quảng Ninh Province will temporarily halt work of all cruise ships with wood cover, which were originally transformed from ferries, for safety reasons.