HCM City to develop river tourism

HCM City's Culture, Sports and Tourism Department will open tours along rivers in the city and neighbouring provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai.

New tours from downtown HCM City to a painting village in District 2 to craft villages and Dai Nam Tourist Centre in Binh Duong Province and to Cu Lao Pho Island in Dong Nai Province will start operation this year.

The city offers tours along the Saigon River from Bach Dang Wharf to Binh Quoi Tourism Village in Binh Thanh District and to Nha Be District.

Tuoi Tre (youth)

Binh Phuoc builds water supply system

The People's Committee of Central Highland Binh Phuoc Province on Monday approved an investment of VND657 billion (US$34.5 million) for a water supply project to bring water from the Dau Tieng Reservoir to 256,000 people and 2,010ha of farmland in Chon Thanh and Hon Quan districts. The construction of the project will start next year and be completed in 2015.

Thanh Nien (Young People)

Training centres lack teachers

Job training centres around the country are lacking 2,900 teachers as the State project to provide training to 1 million rural residents annually until 2020 began last month. This year, a total of 400,000 rural residents will benefit from the first year of the project, according to the General Department of Vocational Training.

Lao Dong (Labour)

National reafforestation on target

More than 116,700ha of forest, including 94,100ha of productive forest, have been planted across the country in the first seven months of this year, achieving 56.5 per cent of the year's plan, according to the Forestry General Department.

The department also reported that 250 cases of illegal logging were discovered and more than 307ha of forest destroyed in 37 fires this month.

Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times)

Brown hoppers devastate rice crops

More than 15,000ha of summer-autumn rice fields in several central provinces including Ha Tinh, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Tri have been infested by brown plant hopper, a devastating rice pest. The fly-like brown insect inserts its mouth into the soft tissue of plants, extracting plant sap. The result is a field that is susceptible to ragged stunted rice disease. Local agriculture departments are helping farmers stop the spread of the infestation.

Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon)