Politics

-- Malaysian King Abdul Halim Mu’adzam’s is scheduled to pay a state-level visit to Vietnam from September 5 to 8. He will discuss bilateral cooperation in economics, trade, and labor in order to develop a strategic partnership with Vietnam.  

-- Nguyen Bac Son, Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications, wrapped up his three-day working visit to Russia on Wednesday. During the visit, Son and host Nikolai Nikiforov, Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media, exchanged experience in managing the mass media and briefed each other on the development of Internet services, frequency management and digital information in their respective countries.

Society

-- Waterway authorities in Ho Chi Minh City suspended Wednesday six one-engine hydrofoils that used to carry tourists from Ho Chi Minh City to the coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Breakdowns have occurred on the hydrofoils so often that it would risk passengers’ lives if the vehicles continued being used, the authorities said.

-- A flash flood killed Wednesday three people and caused physical damage worth VND21 billion (US$1 million) in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau.

-- Eight executives of four state-owned public utility companies were suspended on Wednesday in the aftermath of a scandal in which they were found earning an annual salary 41 times higher than that of the average worker.

-- Six people died possibly of suffocation in a tragic accident in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap on Wednesday. One of them climbed down a fish fat container to get a sample for analysis and fainted due to a lack of air. The others tried to get down to save him and lost their lives in the same container.

Business

-- Vietnam climbed five notches from last year to position 70 on the list of 148 economies surveyed in the 2013-2014 Global Competitiveness Index released Wednesday by the World Economic Forum.

-- A large-scale plant to mine and process titanium ore is set to be built in the central province of Binh Thuan by 2015, according to a decision recently annouced by the government. It is estimated that Binh Thuan holds 599 million tonnes of titanium ore, equal to 92 percent of Vietnam’s total reserves.

Sports

-- Vietnam’s number one badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh quickly defeated Taiwanese rival Loan Yang Chih Hsun 2-0 (21-8, 21-8) at the 2013 Taiwan Open Grand Prix Gold on Wednesday.

-- Myanamar demands seven gold medals for the Vovinam (Vietnam’s traditional martial art) event if the sport is to be included in the 27^th Southeast Asian Games, to be held in Naypyidaw at the end of this year, the Vietnam Olympic Committee said Wednesday.

Education

-- Almost 20 million Vietnamese K-12 students formally begin their school year on Thursday. According to the Ministry of Education and Training, 4.7 million children are enrolled in kindergarten, 7.43 million students in elementary school, 4.95 million in middle school, and 2.72 million in high school.