A quick scan of these news pieces will keep you informed of current affairs in Vietnam:

Politics

-- The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday evening (Vietnam time) organized a conference on the East Sea. The conference gathered a clutch of reputable experts as well as accomplished scholars from the countries which claim sovereignty over the sea. Vietnam sent two representatives to the event.

Society

-- On Tuesday evening, the Ministry of Public Security’s investigative agency announced their decision to indict and detain Nguyen Xuan Son, who had been relieved of his post as the chairman of state-owned Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam. Son is charged with abusing positions and/or power while performing official duties and violating state rules on economic management, causing grave consequences. Police officers had earlier searched Son’s home in Tay Ho District, Hanoi.

-- Nguyen Van Quyen, deputy director of the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday that from October 1 on, the directorate and transport departments in cities and provinces nationwide will issue International Driving Permits to Vietnamese citizens and expats with permanent residency in the country. These permits will be valid within three years, and be recognized in 85 members of the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic.  

-- The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has recently proposed a new vehicle registration fee scheme to the municipal People’s Council for approval. The proposition says fees for certain vehicles, including cars with less than 10 seats, should be raised.

-- A nationwide inspection launched by the Government Inspectorate at 1,261 businesses has revealed that their social and medical insurance debts total more than VND1.44 trillion (US$64.97 million).

-- According to a representative from SaigonBus, a local transport company, shuttle buses operating at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City will resume their passenger transport activity to and from the airport’s international and domestic terminals from Wednesday, July 22.

-- Dr. Pham Thi Ngoc Thao, vice director of Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, said on Tuesday that the hospital staff had conducted kidney transplant surgeries on two terminally ill patients. This is the first time ever in Vietnam that transplants have been performed with organs from a donor whose cardiac activity had ceased altogether.

-- Nguyen Anh Viet, director of Viwaco, a local water supply company, said on Tuesday that his company has been informed that the pipeline that transmits clean water from the Da River Water Plant in the northern province of Hoa Binh to Hanoi had broken again, causing many households in the capital city to have no access to clean water. This was the 11th time the pipeline had either snapped or leaked for the past 41 months, according to Tuoi Tre statistics.

Business

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Trade Promotion and Investment on Tuesday put into operation a Saigon Expo showroom, located on Nguyen Hue Street in the downtown area. The showroom, which features a wide array of items from nearly 80 enterprises, is part of a chain of such facilities to be launched under an on-site export support program of the city.

Lifestyle

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the U.S. Embassy jointly organized a press meeting in Hanoi on Tuesday to announce a program called “Vietnamese Cultural Days in the U.S.” as part of the activities to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the two countries’ normalized diplomatic ties. The program, to run from August 8 to 12 in Washington, D.C., and New York, will have a wide range of Vietnamese music and fashion performances.