Briefs of some of leading news stories published Tuesday (June 21) in Tuoi Tre Newspaper that will be carried today on Tuoitrenews.vn:

Polictis:

- National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan welcomed Secretary General of the Senate of Thailand in Hanoi on June 20. Ms. Kim Ngan suggested that  Vietnam and Thailand should further increase exchanges and contacts between their legislative bodies’ senior officials and parliamentarian groups, thus strengthening mutual understanding and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries and peoples.

- Director General Irina Bokova from UNESCO said the organization will assist Vietnam in the transfer of experience and expertise for sustainable development, while meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on June 20. Bokova will stay in Vietnam until June 23 to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the 2003 Convention on protecting world intangible cultural heritages and to review the implementation of the UNESCO–Vietnam agreement signed 3 years ago.

Society:

- The Thu Duc Animal Quarantine Station and a traffic police unit in Dong Nai caught a bus carrying 135kg rotten pork when it ran into the city yesterday. Also, another truck carrying 1.3 tons of expired chickencoop was also detected in the city on the same day.

- HCMC Department of Health has recently submitted an adjustment plan for local hospital charges. According to the plan, the fee for health examination will get 3.75 times increasing, the hospitals’ bed charge will see a 7.42 times up and technical test fee will be 3.44 times higher. The plan will be proposed to the city’s People's Council next month. It the plan is approved, the new fee is expected to be applied at the beginning of August.

Business:

- Vietnamese tour operator Travel Life probably has to face with a VND80million (US$3,846) fine after 701 travelers it sent to Thailand were abandoned in the foreign country and forced to survive on their own. The group of tourists experienced several uncomfortable days in Thailand after they were “abandoned” there by a Thai tourist company, which did not receive enough payment under a contract with Travel Life.

- HCMC’s CPI in June has seen an light increase of 0.12%, after three months of continuous decrease, announced by the city’s Statistics Bureau.

Lifestyle:

- An exhibition featuring journalism documents as well as portraits and works of outstanding journalists is opening at the HCMC General Science Library. It is part of activities to celebrate the Vietnam’s Journalism Day on June 21.