Ho Chi Minh City Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong has called on local district administrations to continue fortifying their efforts to reclaim the city’s sidewalks.

A wild water monitor has been found in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, where the creature crawled landward from a nearby riverbank.

Two Vietnamese passengers have been detained for smuggling three kilograms of gold at an international airport in Hanoi while a technician at the airdrome was also questioned for allegedly abetting the crime.

A plan to release 20,000 inmates by 2018 has been approved by the Vietnamese prime minister, reducing government spending by VND200 billion (US$8.93 million) each year.