Thousands gathered at the old Quảng Trị Citadel yesterday morning for a requiem for soldiers who died during a 81-day battle here during the summer of 1972. This year’s event also marks the 70th War Invalids and Martyrs Day and the battle of Quảng Trị Citaldel’s 45th anniversary.

Ambitious plans to establish designated areas for street vendors in both Hà Nội and HCM City are still unable to materialise, a few months after a resounding “sidewalk clean-up” campaign fuelled debates over future of the uncountable street vendors.

Việt Nam wastes at least VNĐ23 (US$1 billion) annually on fertilisation, experts said and called for replacement of conventional fertiliser with more hi-tech products.

It’s 6AM on a summer morning, and a group of children are doing warm-up exercises to prepare their muscles for a special kind of swimming class.

Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng yesterday ordered relevant agencies to tightly supervise developments of floods in upstream of reservoirs as well as the dyke system to ensure safety of multi-reservoir operation in Hồng (Red) River basin.

Local authorities agreed yesterday on a plan to build four hydropower plants in the mountainous district of Nam Trà My. The four plants will have a design capacity of 78.8 MW and cover  an area of about 144 ha.

Support for beneficiaries of special policies, including heroic martyrs, is being continued this year, with increases in funding for people in need, the deputy chairwoman of the city’s People’s Committee has said.

Nine out of every 100 Vietnamese people have contracted hepatitis B and between one and four people have been infected with hepatitis C. However, no estimate of the impact of the diseases has been done so far, a conference heard this morning.

“Avoid or embrace technology?” is a question faced by educators in the 21^st century as students become increasingly dependent on their smart devices.