What you need to know in Vietnam today:

Society

-- The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has just submitted to the prime minister a proposal to invest in a project to build Metro Line No.5, which is designed to be approximately 24 kilometers long, running from the Saigon Bridge in Binh Thanh District to Can Giuoc Bus Station in Binh Chanh District. Costs are projected at VND99.7 trillion (US$4.4 billion). 

-- An unprecedented rule in the revised Social Insurance Law allowing male workers a paternity leave of between five and 14 days following their wife’s baby delivery will take effect on January 1, 2016.

-- Le Van Duc, director of the Hanoi Department of Construction, said on Tuesday that the municipal government has given the green light to their proposal regarding the construction of a Hong River Surface Water Plant, which will cost an estimated VND3.7 trillion ($163.4 million).

-- Colonel Nguyen Tri Phuong, director of the police department in the southern province of Tay Ninh, announced on Tuesday that Lieutenant Colonel Ly Cong Van has been suspended from work for slapping a 23-year-old female worker on the face and hitting her leg with his club during an interrogation on October 20. The woman had been suspected of pinching her colleague’s cellphone.

-- A wooden mezzanine at a motorbike parts workshop in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City gave way suddenly on Tuesday morning, killing two female workers and injuring two others, with one remaining in critical condition.

-- The Ministry of Finance has approved a proposition from its transport counterpart regarding the launch of a scanning checkpoint to be jointly used by the customs and airport security units at the international terminal of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. The move, to take effect on November 15, is meant to cut the time needed to carry out entry and exit procedures at the airport.

Business

-- Tran Binh Minh, general director of national broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV), has announced that VTV will divest from three pay TV units which the station is owning or co-owning, namely VTVcab, SCTV, and K+, known for its English Premier League television rights.  

-- The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, better known as Agribank, said in its press release on Tuesday that they have dropped a plan to give priority to those who are the family members of its current employees in the ongoing recruitment campaign, and extended the deadline for applications by two days.

-- On Tuesday, Saigon Co.op, one of Vietnam’s largest supermarket chains, and Singapore’s Wilmar International Limited inked a deal to invest in the former’s Nam Duong brand, long known for its soybean and fish sauce products. The Singaporean group will pour $13 million into the joint venture.

Education

-- The Vanguard Youth Public Services Co. has piloted a program to take K-12 and university students to school and back home since early this month. The service is believed to ease congestion in front of school entrances and relieve parents’ burden in carrying their children to school several times each day.