Have a hearty breakfast, readers!

Politics

-- The Ministry of Information and Communications is coordinating with authorities in the central city of Da Nang to prepare for hosting the ASEAN ministerial conference on telecommunication and information technology from November 23 to 27.

Society

-- The average income of officials at state-owned companies under the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City last year was over VND33.5 million (US$1,500) a month, a 3.2 percent rise against the previous year. Meanwhile, the average income of white-collar workers was VND11 million ($489) a month in 2014.

-- The Department of Health in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak spent over VND150 billion ($6.7 million) buying health equipment in 2012-14 but much of it has been left unused, according to the inspectorate of the locality.

-- From November 15, the prices of health checks and other services will surge by 2-7 times. In March next year, hospital fees will increase for the second time.

-- Ho Chi Minh City officials fined 4,400 overloaded trucks VND70 billion ($3.1 million) in the first nine months of this year.

Business

-- The Ministry of Health has said it had imported only 3.5 metric tons of salbutamol, a chemical used in animal feed to help cattle gain weight, in the first ten months of this year. Earlier, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the health ministry had imported 68 metric tons of the chemical.

-- Till October 26 this year, Vietsopetro had not paid over VND2 trillion ($86 million) in tax, according to Deputy Minister of Finance Do Hoang Anh Tuan. Firms and individuals all over the nation owe a total of VND76 trillion ($3.38 billion) in tax.