Politics

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hosted a reception on Thursday in Hanoi for the Norwegian and Saudi Arabian ambassadors, who came to bid farewell to the premier at the end of their tenures in Vietnam.  

-- Vietnam will criminalize those who suddenly become rich and cannot justify the origin of their wealth when the country’s Criminal Code is revised, the official Vietnam News Agency quoted Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong as telling the National Assembly at a hearing on Thursday.   

Society

-- Authorities in the central province of Binh Thuan paid a visit to Kurt, a Dane, and his wife at their small tent on Thursday following online hype that he had been deceived two times when buying land in Binh Thuan and neighboring Ninh Thuan Province. It is said that the couple have used their own money to build many bridges and schools in the Central Highlands province Lam Dong.

-- A subsidiary of a state-owned shipbuilding company launched the second steel-lad fishing ship on Thursday amidst tensions between Vietnam and China over an oil rig Beijing has illegally placed in Vietnamese waters in the East Vietnam Sea since May 1. The first was handed over to a fisherman in the central province of Quang Ngai on April 10.

-- A director of a state-owned lottery company has been suspended for his financial wrongdoing in the 2011-12 period.

-- Vietnamese doctors have saved a little girl who suffered a rare skin infection that affected her whole body. She was found nearly dead in the forest in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum in February and completely recovered late last month following treatment at a local hospital.

Business

-- Growers are chopping down their rubber trees in Vietnam to plant others as latex prices have been plummeting lately.

-- The taxman in Ho Chi Minh City honored 1,214 organizations and individuals, including Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, on Thursday for doing good business and fulfilling their tax payment duty last year.  

Lifestyle

-- Many young Vietnamese have followed the trend of freelancing instead of doing a full-time job.     Sports

-- Hosts Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 in the opening game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in São Paulo on Friday.

Education

-- Accidents in the classroom are stalking preschool kids in Vietnam, causing nervousness and anxiety for their parents.