Politics

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met Stephen Green, UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, in Hanoi on Wednesday, expressing hope that the kingdom will back Vietnam in its negotiation of a free trade pact with the European Union, continue providing official development assistance to Vietnam, and foster cooperation in aviation with the country.

Society

-- A fierce fire consumed 89 houses in the southern province of An Giang on Wednesday. No casualties have been reported.  

-- A magistrate in the southern province of Tien Giang has handed in a resignation following the discovery of him using drugs, a local chief judge said Wednesday.

-- Hectares of crops were destroyed when a hydropower dam broke Wednesday in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. Nobody was killed in the accident.

-- Five justice deparment officers in the southern province of Tien Giang have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus for the last week, a local healthcare official said Wednesday.

Business

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the country’s main bourse, has asked the State Securities Commission of Vietnam for permission to extend its afternoon trading hours by 45 minutes. It plans to close afternoon sessions at 3:00 pm, instead of 2:15 pm in an attempt to boost liquidity and lure more investors.

-- Vietnam’s pangasius exports to the U.S. increased 3.8 percent year on year to US$150.8 million in the first five months of this year.

-- TCIE Vietnam Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Tan Chong Motor Group, has put an automobile assembly plant into operation in the central city of Da Nang. The facility was built on a 129,500 square meter area at a cost of $40 million and is capable of assembling as many as 30,000 cars a year.

Lifestyle

-- Vietnamese singers are following one after another a trend for shooting music videos, instead of recording new albums like before, with three to five clips to be released every week.  

Lifestyle

-- Vietnamese singers are following one after another a trend for shooting music videos, instead of recording new albums like before, with three to five clips to be released every week.   

-- French contemporary circus troupe Chabatz d'Entrar will perform in Ho Chi Minh City on June 20 as part of the celebration of the Vietnam-France year, scheduled to last from April this year to mid-2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ bilateral diplomatic ties.

Sports

-- Vietnam’s number one badminton player Tien Minh lost 0-2 (19-21, 15-21) to his Chinese rival Du Pengyu in the first round of the 2013 Djarum Indonesia Open championship on Wednesday.

Education

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training is verifying videos that display cheating happnening at a high school in Hanoi during the 2013 national high school graduation exam, taking place from June 2 to 4.