A summary of what you need to know in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Speaking at a ceremony organized on Tuesday to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of Vietnam’s entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh reiterated the country’s resolve in further fostering the bloc’s growth and solidarity.Society

-- Downpours with the largest precipitation recorded in the northern province of Quang Ninh in the past 40 years and subsequent floodwaters have claimed 17 lives, with six more still missing, for the past three days. The calamity caused damage estimated at nearly VND1 trillion (US$ 45.23 million) in the province, which is home to the UNESO-recognized Ha Long Bay.

-- The Hanoi People’s Committee on Tuesday issued a decision to establish the municipal Department of Tourism by separating the state management function regarding tourism from that held by the Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

-- Lucky, a dog rescued by a group of animal lovers last week after apparently managing to escape from a slaughterhouse in the southern province of Ben Tre with his snout tightly bound with duct tape, which resulted in his slim chance of survival, is recuperating well, according to his Australian caretaker. 

-- According to the statistics released on Tuesday by the National Traffic Safety Committee, 12,910 road accidents happened nationwide during the first seven months of 2015, claiming 5,167 lives and injuring 11,484 people.

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a program worth VND11 trillion ($ 497.4 million) to provide public telecommunications services from now until 2020. The program will focus on the construction of broadband telecommunications infrastructure nationwide, particularly in remote, rural areas.  

-- To Van Dong, director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism told a meeting on Tuesday that 21 cannon shots will be given during a military parade, to be organized in the capital in commemoration of the 70^th anniversary of the August Revolution (August 19) and National Day (September 2). The parade is expected to be joined by around 10,000 people. 

Business

-- The Livestock Associations in the southeastern region and Dong Nai Province, which neighbors Ho Chi Minh City, signed a petition on Tuesday to urge the government and competent agencies to launch an anti-dumping investigation into and take legal action against chicken imported from the U.S. The two associations also proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and its Department of Animal Health facilitate local businesses’ export of chicken to Japan.   

-- The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has recently informed its credit card holders that it will cut interest rates on credit card loans starting Saturday, August 1.

Education

-- Professor Jerome Friedman, an American physicist who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics, on Tuesday addressed local lecturers, researchers and students at a talk taking place in the south-central Vietnamese province of Binh Dinh. The exchange was part of the 11th Rencontre du Vietnam (Meet Vietnam) program, which is centered on elementary particles.