Politics

-- The United States has said it is concerned by an incident on March 20 in which a Chinese vessel shot at a Vietnamese fishing boat, which caught fire then, when the latter was fishing in Vietnam’s waters. Patrick Ventrell, the Department of State’s Acting Deputy Spokesperson, said Tuesday that the U.S. “strongly [opposes] the threat or use of force or coercion by any claimant to advance its claims” in the East Sea.

“As a Pacific nation, the U.S. has a national interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law, freedom of navigation, and unimpeded lawful commerce” in the East Sea, Ventrell added.

-- Vietnam and Australia celebrated Wednesday the 40^th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. During a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City, Australian Consul General John McAnultysaid that the Southeast Asian nation is one of Australia’s most important partners and the two’s relations will grow further on the basis of their established cooperation.

-- Vietnam will continue helping Laos in training personnel, building forces, strengthening Party work, and boosting communication activities, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday during a meeting with its Lao counterpart in Hanoi.

Society

-- Twenty-six people were injured and 10,500 houses were damaged in a rare hailstorm that struck the northern province of Lao Cai on Wednesday.

-- Ho Chi Minh City police busted a gambling ring and arrested 46 gamblers in District 4 on Wednesday.

-- Doctors in Ho Chi Minh City managed to pull a leech, 5-6 centimeters long and still alive, out of the nasal cavity of a 4-year-old baby on Tuesday. The worm had stayed inside the baby’s nose for ten days.

-- Police in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau captured Tuesday a 23-year-old man for beating his child, only 17 months old, to death.

-- Forty-four percent of young Vietnamese people and minors are willing to enage in premarital sex, the Ministry of Health said Wednesday, citing a report.

Business

-- The price of Vietnamese tra fish has gone up by 0.3-0.4 U.S. dollars to 3.56-3.75 U.S. dollars per kilo when it is sold in the United States, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producerssaid Wednesday.

-- The State Bank of Vietnam is scheduled to put up about 1 tonne of gold for auction in Hanoi on Thursday at 8:30 am. Banks and gold companies which are authorized to trade in gold with the central bank will attend the auction, held in an attempt to stabilize domestic gold prices.

Sports

-- The Vietnam Football Federation is going to organize a meeting on Thursday to review the preparation for its assembly to elect a new chairman on June 5.