Check out the news you should not miss today, August 5

Politics

-- Vietnam is committed to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the country’s law on children, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh said as she received UNICEF chief pepresentative Youssouf Abdel-Jelil in Hanoi on Friday.

Society

-- As of the end of Friday, heavy rains and floods have killed 13 people and injured 19 in Vietnam’s northern mountainous provinces including Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Son La and Cao Bang, according to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

-- The Vietnam Red Cross approved on Friday an urgent aid worth more than VND1 billion (US$43,990 USD) for flood-stricken provinces in the northern mountainous region.

-- The environment department of the southern province of Dong Nai on Friday rejected rumors that the local Dong Nai River is contaminated with dioxin, elaborating that results of sediment sampling and analysis show that the amount of the agent there is much lower than the allowed figure.

-- Authorities in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam have banned local fishermen from catching too small fish to protect the aquatic product resources.

Business

-- Vietnam’s retail petrol prices were raised on Friday, with RON 92 petrol selling at 17,025 VND a liter.

-- Despite a laxer rule for foreigners to own houses in Vietnam, few have been able to start purchasing houses as it is not easy to determine if an apartment project is eligible for foreign ownership or not, experts said at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

Sports

-- More than 5,000 athletes and tourists are expected to join in the annual Manulife Da Nang International Marathon, one of the biggest sport events in central Vietnam, this Sunday.

-- Team Vietnam received Friday VND1 billion sponsorship contract for their participation at the upcoming 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia from CMG.ASIA Group.

-- Dao Thien Hai, one of the first Vietnamese chess players to achieve the international grand master title, inaugurated his own chess school in Ho Chi Minh City today August 5, hoping to train a new generation of chess talents for the southern city.

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