Below are some of the main stories published today, November 9, in the Vietnamese press.

Politics --  The 8th Vietnam-India National Defense Strategic Dialogue opened in Ho Chi Minh City on November 8, under the co-chair of Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, who together with his Indian counterpart Radha Krishma Mathur. The event focused on measures to step up the two countries’ defense, including increasing high-level meetings between the two defense ministries and cooperation in personnel training, defense industry, naval and air forces.

Society -- Super typhoon Haiyan, with sustained winds of 315 kph, entered the East Sea last night and is moving towards central Vietnam. The storm, which is considered by international experts as the strongest tropical storm ever observed in the human history, is forecast to hit the Thua Thien-Hue  --  Quang Ngai region at about 4 am Sunday, November 11. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday chaired an online meeting with all local authorities in the region from Thanh Hoa to Ca Mau Provinces to discuss measures to cope with the typhoon. Authorities of Da Nang and Quang Nam Provinces have asked all schools to close from Saturday afternoon.     --  A requiem for the peace of the souls of traffic accident victims will be held at Bai Dinh Pagoda in Ninh Binh Province on  Vietnam Buddhism Academy in Hanoi on November 16, with the attendance of about 15,000 people. This will be the first time that such a requiem is organized in Vietnam, in response to World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Road Traffic Accidents, which falls on the third Sunday of November every year. -- Police in Ho Chi Minh City are hunting for 49-year-old man of Ha Tinh Province, Le Dang Luu, who posed as Le Duc Minh, the son of the former State Bank of Vietnam governor Le Duc Thuy, to swindle two city-based companies of VND7 billion (nearly US$300,000). Luu has a previous conviction of swindling to appropriate assets.    -- Police in HCMC have busted a large ring that counterfeit ID cards, birth certificates, diplomas, school reports, health certificates, and others, arresting three people, including a retired female teacher. Police have seized from them a large quantity of fake papers including 1,500 blood test result sheets, and 250 fake stamps of police units, people’s committees in various localities across the country. Business --  The Vietnam National Agriculture Fair (VIAF) kicked off on Friday in the southern city of  Can Tho City, with 450 booths highlighting domestic and foreign products, including machinery, farming tools, production lines, processed products, fertilizers, animal feed, agro-forestry products, seafood, seeds, and traditional handicrafts. The event, with an aim to boost agricultural production in the Mekong Delta region and the country at large, will last until November 14. -- Vietnam exported over 5.7 million tons of rice worth about US$2.5 billion in the first ten months of this year, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. The amount included more than  537,000 tons shipped in October, an increase of 10,500 tons from September, the Vietnam Food Association said. However, export price of rice fell from US$437.63 per ton in September to $435.37 last month. Vietnam has lowered its 2013 rice export target from 7.5 million tons to between 7 to 7.2 million tons.

Lifestyle -- The final round of the Miss Universe 2013 pageant will take place in Moscow, Russia on Saturday evening, with 86 beautiful contestants from all over the world, including 25-year-old Truong Thi May from Vietnam, competing for the crown.  May, Miss Vietnam 2013, is a professional model and is 1.75 m tall.Sports

-- The U-19 Barcelona squad has agreed to arrive in Vietnam for a friendship match with Vietnam’s U-19 team in the framework of the 2014 Nutifood Cup, which will take place in HCMC in January 2014, said the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).