Good morning from Vietnam!

Society

­-- Vietnam’s lawmaking National Assembly will begin a two-day query session next Tuesday, when five critical issues, regarding loss-making projects, law on public investment, education system reform, waste treatment, and downsizing of the public payroll, will be raised for relevant ministers.

-- A group of fishermen in the southern Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc has drawn in public criticism after photos posted on social media Facebook on Thursday afternoon showed them beheading and eviscerating a dolphin, a species that is protected by Vietnamese law from fishing activities and plays a spiritual role in the life of Vietnamese fishermen.

-- The species of mosquito that carries the Zika virus has been found in Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal administration said in its announcement as nearly 30 cases of the virus’ contraction have been reported so far in the southern Vietnamese metropolitan.

Lifestyle

­-- The beach city of Da Nang in central Vietnam will be welcoming Hong Kong shipyard Dream Cruises’ Genting Dream cruise ship, Asia’s largest of its kind, every Thursday starting this week, director of the municipal Department of Tourism Ngo Quang Vinh said during the ship’s first visit.

-- A pack of around 70 endangered red-shanked doucs, also known as ‘costumed apes’ for their extravagant appearance, have been discovered at Hai Van Pass in central Vietnam, head of the Northern Hai Van Pass Forest Protection Management Unit Nguyen Ngoc Van said on Thursday.

-- The Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program 2016 (SSEAYP 2016) on Friday arrived at Ho Chi Minh City with its delegation of 329 young leaders from ten Southeast Asian countries and Japan for their two-day exchange activities in Vietnam’s southern economic hub.

-- The week-long Third International Experimental Theater Festival will return to Hanoi on Saturday after a ten-year interval from its last edition, welcoming 16 acts from ten countries in Asia, Europe, and America.

Business

-- GrabTaxi, the largest mobile taxi booking app firm in Southeast Asia, has been demanded by Vietnamese authorities to be responsible for paying the tax of its partnered drivers, according to a recent tax guideline issued by Vietnam’s General Department of Taxation.

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