Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has urged HCM City to devise a long-term plan to turn the city into a smart city over the next five years and an international financial hub in Southeast Asia in the future.

HCM City is piloting a new rubbish collection system in its rivers and canals that it says is more efficient.

Thirteen bodies found near a landslide-hit hydropower plant in central Viet Nam are believed to be soldiers who had attempted to rescue workers trapped in the plant.

A large-scale online betting ring had been smashed by police in the central city after a five-month investigation, major general and director of the city’s Public Security Department Vũ Văn Viên said, adding that the total value of the betting ring was worth VNĐ10 trillion (US$435 million).