Briefs of some of the leading news stories published on Thursday (November 27) in Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Politics:

-- On November 26, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong landed in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, starting his three-day official visit at the invitation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. A welcome ceremony at Minsk national airport was hosted by Prime Minister Mikhai Myasnikovich, with many Belarusian government officials in attendance.

Society:

- After three years of experimenting, farmers in Chau Thanh District’s Phu Tan Commune in the southern province of Hau Giang have harvested the first crop of a new variety of grapefruit in the shape of the Buddha’s hand. The new species yields a profit five times higher for growers, according to Vo Trung Thanh, chairman of the grapefruit shaping club in Phu Tan Commune. 3,000 Buddha hand-shaped grapefruit are expected to be on sale for this year’s Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has recently issued a number of pilot policies to attract scientific experts, including a maximum monthly salary of VND150 million (US$7,060 ).

-- On November 26, Nguyen Van Cao, chairman of the Thua Thien – Hue Province People’s Committee, said the province has stopped implementing the Chinese-developed project to build the World Shine – Hue international resort at Hai Van Pass. According to Cao, the province has checked the project’s location after it was met with objections and found the location to have “defense and security problems.”

-- About VND17 trillion ($800 million) worth of damage was caused by detected corruption from October 1, 2010 to April 30, 2013, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport is calling on local enterprises and individuals to invest in the construction of 112 free public toilets.

Business:

-- Alexandre Dardy, CEO of the e-commerce site Lazada Vietnam, says the growth of e-commerce transactions in Vietnam has increased sharply. Statistics from Lazada show that there are around 12 million visits to the site per month. Customers mainly fall between the ages of 25-44 and buy 3,000 products on average per day.

-- The price of agricultural products in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat has risen recently due to the lack of sources after the rainy season.

Lifestyle:

-- Truong Thi May from Vietnam has been chosen as Asia’s sexiest vegetarian in 2014, as voted by the animal protection organization PETA.