Check out what is in the news today, October 19

-- Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper’s first aid relief reached needy residents in the north-central province of Quang Binh, one of the localities stricken by flood that ravaged the central region a few days ago, on Tuesday. The newspaper office in the central city of Da Nang has also received VND1.3 billion (US$57,229) in donations.

-- Typhoon Sarika is forecast to make landfall in the northern province of Quang Ninh on Wednesday evening, triggering downpours and strong gusts in the area before weakening into a tropical depression, according to Vietnam's National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

-- Representatives of Vietnamese and U.S. governments on Tuesday kick-started the second phase of a project to cleanse the Da Nang International Airport in the central city of Da Nang of dioxin, a pollutant that inflicts great damage on human health, causing cancer together with reproductive and developmental problems and other illnesses. The contamination removal is expected to complete in mid 2017.

-- A source close to Tuoi Tre revealed on Tuesday night that investigators had located the crash site of a helicopter which had gone missing during a training flight the same morning in the latest in a series of Vietnamese aviation setbacks. The Airbus helicopter was carrying an instructor and two trainee pilots when it disappeared off radar screens in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, around 120 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City.

-- Nguyen Hanh Phuc, general secretary of the National Assembly, asserted at an international press conference on Tuesday prior to the law-making body’s second plenum  that public debts are not allowed to exceed the limit, or 65 percent of gross domestic product value.

Business

-- The European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) on Tuesday announced its Business Climate Index survey conducted in the third quarter of 2016, in which business outlook among European businesses in Vietnam has surged to 84 points, up 10 points against the previous quarter. More than 70 percent of polled European enterprises are satisfied with the Southeast Asian country’s corporate environment.

-- Vuong Ngoc Tuan, vice general secretary of the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association, has confirmed with Tuoi Tre that though nearly 70 percent of fish sauce samples taken in a recent survey by the non-profit organization had been found to contain excessive amounts of arsenic, the chemical remains within the safety range.

Lifestyle

-- Three Vietnamese documentaries and television reality programs have advanced to the final round of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s 2016 ABU Prizes and also been named candidates for the jury’s special prize. Prizes will be awarded in Bali, Indonesia on Monday next week.

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