Hanoi - Field researchers have sighted the hairy-nosed otter, the world's rarest, in a national park in southern Vietnam, a conservation group announced Thursday.
Nguyen Van Nhuan, a research officer at Vietnam's Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Programme, said he came face-to-face with two of the endangered animals in March while doing night observations in U Minh Ha National Park in the Mekong Delta.
The species was believed extinct in the 1990s, but has recently been seen in several south-east Asian countries. Nhuan's was the first sighting in Vietnam since 2000.
"We could not believe our eyes," Nhuan said. "Suddenly two hairy-nosed otters! I've never had a special feeling like that."
Hanoi - Vietnamese farmers in the southern province of Dong Nai have caught 14 crocodiles that escaped from crocodile farms during floods last week, a commune official said Wednesday.
The crocodiles broke out of their cages on unidentified farms in the region during floods on September 10 and made their way into rivers and streams. Since then, villagers in a commune called Phuoc Tan, 70 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, have gradually been recapturing the reptiles.
Police and forest rangers visited the commune to seize the crocodiles, according to regulations, but could find no trace of them.
Hanoi - Vietnam's VN-Index fell 20.8 points Tuesday to close down 4.38 per cent at 455.95, as traders reacted to the collapse of two US investment banks, the threat to international insurance titan AIG Group and falling exchanges elsewhere in the world.
The Ho Chi Minh City exchange had bucked world trends Monday, rising very slightly while markets across the rest of Asia dropped sharply.
On Tuesday the market rejoined the rest of the world, as investors worried about the effects of turmoil in the economy of the United States, Vietnam's largest export customer.
"It's proof that Vietnam is not totally uncorrelated, at least in terms of sentiment," said Dominic Scriven of Vietnam-based portfolio investor Dragon Capital.
Hanoi - At a weekend meeting with economic experts, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung agreed the country needed to shore up macroeconomic problems, but postponed recommendations on cutting back wasteful government investment, an economist who was present said Monday.
The roundtable discussion with 19 prominent economic experts and ministries, which was closed to the press, was held on Saturday in Hanoi.
Hanoi - Some 2,000 workers at two foreign-owned companies have gone on strike, demanding better pay and allowances, company and union officials said Friday.
More than 1,400 workers at Valley View Vietnam, a Taiwanese-owned garment company based in the central city of Danang, have been on strike since Thursday, demanding a monthly petrol allowance of 100,000 dong (6 dollars) and an increase in their daily meal allowance.
Hanoi - At a weekend meeting with economic experts, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung agreed the country needed to shore up macroeconomic problems, but postponed recommendations on cutting back wasteful government investment, an economist who was present said Monday.
Hanoi - Some 2,000 workers at two foreign-owned companies have gone on strike, demanding better pay and allowances, company and union officials said Friday.
