Have a nice Sunday!

Politics

-- U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi tonight (May 22) for his official visit to the Southeast Asian nation, which is earlier than scheduled, an officer at the U.S. Embassy in the Vietnamese capital confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) Newspaper on Saturday.

-- Today (May 22), more than 69 million eligible Vietnamese voters across the country select deputies to the 14th National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils for the 2016-2021 period, while 100 percent of voters turned up at early polls held in mountainous, remote localities and island districts.

-- Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, Party Central Committee member and Deputy Defense Minister, was named Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army at a ceremony held in Hanoi on Saturday.

Society

-- The U.S. Air Force’s Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft landed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City amidst a torrential rain on Saturday evening, while security has been strictly tightened across the two cities to ensure the safety and the success of President Barack Obama trip to Vietnam.   

-- The People’s Committee of Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta and representatives of the Denmark Embassy in Vietnam on Saturday put into operation two solar energy-generated electricity systems at two water plants in Ba Tri and Chau Thanh Districts. The project, sponsored by the Danish government, is meant to provide sustainably clean water for 4,200 local households.

-- A construction company has submitted a proposal to the administrations of Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring Dong Nai Province regarding a VND5.7 trillion (US$252.5 million) project to build a bridge which will connect District 2 and Nhon Trach District respectively in place of the current Cat Lai ferry station.

-- Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Dinh La Thang gave an ultimatum during a working session with the director of the municipal Department of Planning and Architecture on Saturday that the department complete adjusting and re-zoning sluggish projects by July 21.

-- A traffic police officer in Krong Nang District in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak had his hand chopped off by an aggressive 29-year-old man after he stopped him for a traffic violation on Thursday, according to a video clip capturing the assault going viral on Facebook.

-- The Truong Sa Town Clinic, part of Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, will be upgraded into a “sea medical hub” under a project jointly implemented by Ho Chi Minh City-based 175 Military Hospital, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and the Vietnam People's Navy, slated for completion in January 2017.

Business

-- Thousands of farming households across coastal districts in the north-central province of Ha Tinh have benefited greatly from a project to cultivate 400 hectares of safe greens on the sand with the use of the Israeli irrigation technology.

Lifestyle

-- The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha on Saturday morning organized a solemn ceremony to celebrate Buddha’s 2560th birthday at Hanoi’s iconic Quan Su pagoda, during which State President Tran Dai Quang highlighted Vietnamese Buddhism’s contribution to the national liberation and growth, and sovereignty protection. Similar events held throughout Ho Chi Minh City also lured thousands of Buddhists the same day.

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