Check out the news you should not miss today, August 15:

Politics

-- Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc received President of the National Legislative Assembly of Thailand Pornpetch Wichitcholchai in Hanoi on Monday, informing his guest that he is scheduled to lead a high-level government delegation to visit Thailand from August 17 to 19.

Society

-- Nguyen The Thang, a reporter of the Central Highlands office of Radio the Voice of Vietnam, has been fired for attempting to extort money from a group of locals earlier this month, his employer confirmed on Monday.

-- Construction of a steel flyover, hoped to reduce congestion at the infamous Nguyen Thai Son – Nguyen Kiem Intersection, leading to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, has been suspended for two months for violating the construction law, the municipal transport department said on Monday.

-- Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism department has sought government permission to extend its visa exemption policy for international tourists from nine countries, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, South Korea, the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, to 30 days from the current 15 days.

Business

-- Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has called for an increase in credit growth to 21 percent this year to help the Southeast Asian country hit its economic growth target of 6.7 percent. The credit growth target announced in February by the State Bank of Vietnam was only 18 percent.

-- Many GrabBike drivers in Ho Chi Minh City have turned off their app in a protest after the mobile-based xe om (motorbike taxi) service increased the revenue-sharing ratio between the app operator and drivers from 15:85 to 20:80.

-- Even though mobile service operators in Vietnam are repeatedly inviting subscribers to switch from their 3G data plan to 4G, few have taken up the next-gen mobile telecommunications technology as their quality is not good enough.

Lifestyle

-- The second edition of Savour Vietnam, a contest jointly held by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and local tour operator Saigontourist, is open to entries, in the form of articles, video clips and photo essays, between August 15, 2017 and March 31, 2018. Vietnamese and foreigners are encouraged to join the contest to share their feelings and experience with the beauty of Vietnam’s nature, landscape, culture and people.

Sports

-- Vietnam U-22s will play their Group B opener at the men’s football tournament in the 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games against Timor Leste at 3:00 pm today (Vietnam time). 

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