Tuoitrenews briefs some of the leading stories published today on Vietnamese media:

Politics:

-- Vietnamese State President Truong Tan Sang on Saturday met with more than 100 outstanding Vietnamese entrepreneurs in Hanoi to ask the business community to uphold their role as a en engine for Vietnam’s industrialization and modernization process which is expected to be done by 2020. Sang stressed that the country will be fully integrated into the world’s economy in the next five years, which will bring about even greater competition from international businesses and require Vietnamese businesses to better gear up to cope with their foreign rivals.

Society:

-- The obesity rate has skyrocketed, especially among children under five, with the number of children under five who are overweight or obese reaching 6.3 percent in 2013, an increase of 900 percent compared to 2000, while the number of overweight and obese adults doubled from 6.6 percent in 2005 to 13 percent in 2013, according Le Bach Mai, Deputy Director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in a conference in Ho Chi Minh City.

-- A national campaign on measles-rubella vaccination was launched in Hanoi on Saturday, part of an expanded national immunization program that has been carried out in Vietnam for nearly three decades to prevent infectious diseases threatening children’s health and life.

Business:

-- The Ministry of Transport has asked bus and taxi companies to lower their fees in response to recent falls in the price of fuel, as fees for air and railway transport have begun to drop, said Deputy Minister Nguyen Hong Truong. Many local bus companies refused to lower fees even after the fuel price fell by 8 percent compared to the first quarter of the year.

-- The Central Highlands provinces are expected to produce 1.3 million tons of coffee bean this crop, an increase of 600,000 tons against the previous crop, as farmer households and coffee production businesses in the region have actively prepared for the start of the November harvesting season, ensuring high-quality products for exports, according to the Central Highlands Region Steering Committee.

-- Vietnamese-made products have won consumers’ favor since a campaign titled “Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese goods” was launched five years ago, said Nguyen Thien Nhan , President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee, at a conference in Hanoi on October 11 to review the five-year implementation of the campaign.

Lifestyle:

-- The US Department of State will provide a $700,000 aid channeled via the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City to the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to help restore the deteriorating front facade of the Trieu To Temple in Hue imperial city.

-- The Vietnamese Cultural Festival 2014 (Vietfest 2014) has been organized  at the Australia National University (ANU) in Canberra, drawing the participation of around 1,000 overseas Vietnamese and foreign students.  The festival, jointly held by ACT Vietnamese Overseas Students Association (ACTVOSA) and the Association of Vietnamese Students at the ANU, aims to introduce and promote the special cultural identities of Vietnam to people in the host country and international friends.