Preferential microfinance loans have helped improve the lives of more than 140,000 poor and low income women and their families over the last 25 years.

It is a risky, dangerous job with little protection and not much income, but many people in Bến Tre Province dive into rivers and search for scrap metal, sunk boats and other pieces of usable junk.

The deputy director of the city’s Department of Transport has pledged to step up inspections and law enforcement to reduce or eliminate the number of illegal buses operating in HCM City, following requests from authorised transport firms.

In the middle of a forest in the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai, classes teaching reading and writing for under-50-year-olds have been held in the evenings for the past two years.

International-standard training programmes are being used at many universities in HCM City to help improve the quality of human resources, representatives of higher education institutions said at a conference held yesterday.

Two passengers died and 14 others were injured in a serious bus accident early yesterday morning on the section of Highway 91 passing through Ô Môn District in Cần Thơ Province.

Many national historic relic sites in Hà Nội have been encroached upon for parking areas under the lax management of local authorities, Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper reported.

Deputy Prime Minister, Trương Hòa Bình, has asked the People’s Committee of northern Hưng Yên Province to inspect Hồng (Red) and Luộc rivers for illegal sand mining.

As the flood season continues in the Mekong Delta region, fears of epidemics in cattle and poultry has led to a focus on disease prevention.