Traffic accidents have killed 2,100 people and injured 3,800 others in the first three months of 2017, which is a decrease compared to the same period last year.

The People’s Court of the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province of Đắk Nông yesterday handed sentences of up to nine years imprisonments and another four and a half years of suspended sentences to a whistleblower-turned-briber and seven others for taking bribes and taking advantages of influence to seek personal benefits.

A soaring number of methanol poisoning cases from bad-quality methanol-laced alcohol have substantially harmed the reputation of traditional alcohol-making villages, the Nông Thôn Ngày Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper reported.

Up to 76 per cent of pork meat sold in traditional markets in Việt Nam are slaughtered in substandard abattoirs. The rate of pork meat infected with Salmonella, a group of bacteria that can cause food poisoning, is estimated at 30-40 per cent.

The Government has told the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to put the Cát Linh-Hà Đông urban railway into operation by the first quarter of 2018. The project’s contractor has also pledged not to lag behind schedule any longer.

There is an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in Hà Tĩnh City, in the central Hà Tĩnh Province, the agriculture and rural development ministry’s animal health department announced on Sunday.

A tapioca starch production plant in central Thanh Hóa Province has been fined VNĐ310 million (US$13,710) for polluting the environment.

Anyone found to be hanging advertising boards on trees, electric poles or traffic lights will be fined up to VNĐ10 million (US$439), five times higher than the previous regulation.

 Japanese police have confirmed the death of a Vietnamese girl in Akibo, Chiba Prefecture, who was reported missing last Friday, according to Japanese media.