Enjoy your weekend after skimming these brief news items on Tuoi Tre News today, April 19

Society

-- The Ho Chi Minh City waterway port authority under the Department of Transport has just proposed spending VND32 billion (US$1.49 million) dredging up six wharfs, located in the outlying district of Can Gio.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has suggested the Prime Minister appoints an investor for a project to build the Song Viet Complex, which is situated in the core of the Thu Thiem New Residential Area in District 2.

-- The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the central province of Quang Nam said on Saturday that it has just sent a document to the provincial People’s Committee, refuting the information that watermelon grown in the province is being offered at dirt-cheap prices, and trucks loaded with them are waiting for their turn to cross the border with China for goods distribution. It affirmed that huge stocks of watermelon found in many places in the past few days are not those grown in the province.

-- On Saturday morning, a fishing boat captained by Huynh Duoc docked at Ly Son Island off the central province of Quang Ngai. Duoc recounted that around 11:45 pm on Thursday, while his boat was being anchored some 24 nautical miles from Tri Ton Island, part of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, the boat was rear-ended by an unidentified vessel. The great impact seriously injured one of his sailors and damaged part of the boat’s right stern.

-- Major General Do Minh Tuan, deputy commander of the Vietnamese Air Defense and Air Force, has told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that two Su-22 fighter jets had been smashed into pieces before plunging into the sea. His affirmation is based on the debris found after nearly three days of search efforts. The two jets, with two pilots aboard, went missing during training off the waters between Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan Provinces in south-central Vietnam on Thursday.

Business

-- According to a report which has just been released by the Vietnam Customs, China remains the country’s largest import market during the first quarter of this year, with shipments from China reaching $11.47 billion. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s exports to its neighbor were worth a mere $3.54 billion, thus widening its trade deficit with China to around $8 billion.

-- During the Saturday shareholder meeting at Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank), many shareholders expressed their disapproval of the bank’s decision to pay its dividends by shares, and insisted that the dividends be paid in cash.

Lifestyle

-- On Saturday, the management of Son Tra Peninsula and beaches in the central city of Da Nang kicked off activities to boost tourist arrivals to embrace this year’s sea travel season program. The program is poised to run from Saturday next week to May 2 at Bien Dong Park in Son Tra Peninsula.