Tuoitrenews briefs some of the leading stories published today on Vietnamese media:

Politics:

-- Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, on Thursday started his two-day official visit to Laos at the invitation of his Lao counterpart Thonglun Sisulith.

-- A conference on youth cooperation among Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia has been held in Hanoi and the northern province of Quang Ninh with the participation of 60 delegates from the three countries to discuss measures to boost youth cooperation and exchange experience in mobilizing young people to play a greater role in socioeconomic development and voluntary community activities. The week-long conference, which will conclude next Thursday, is jointly organized by the Commission for Foreign Relations of the Party Central Committee and the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

-- The national information security index of Vietnam in 2014 is 39 percent, a slight rise against the previous year’s figure of 37.5 percent, according to a report released in Hanoi on Thursday at the launching ceremony for the 2014 Vietnam Information Security Day. However, assessments from international organizations still showed that Vietnam is among countries with high rate of harmful software transmission, which significantly affects the country’s credit in the digital world.

Society:

-- The preventive medicine bodies of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia on Thursday agreed on a plan that will coordinate their actions in combating infectious diseases, especially Ebola, at the shared borders at a conference in the central city of Da Nang

-- Vietnam and the European Union (EU) on Thursday signed a financial agreement worth 114 million euros in Hanoi for the second phase of the EU Health Sector Policy Support Program, EU-HSPSP-2, in Vietnam. The EU-HSPSP-2, targeting sustainable poverty reduction and harmony growth in Vietnam through assistance in boosting the healthcare sector towards fairness, efficiency and quality, aims at supporting Vietnam in restructuring its health sector and implementing reform plans and programs for 2015-2017 period.

Business:

-- The European Union on Thursday announced the launch of a new multi-annual indicative program (MIP) for Vietnam in the period of 2014 – 2020 at a press conference in Hanoi. The 400 million euros program, up 30 percent in value compared to the figure of the previous seven-year-period, is designed to assist the country’s socio-economy via boosting energy sector and improving public management and jurisdiction, said Pierre Amilhat, EuropeAid’s Director for Asia, Central Asia, Middle East/Gulf and Pacific.

-- General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan on Thursday announced the new Vietnam - Timeless Charm Tourism Brand Guidelines in Hanoi. The Vietnam - Timeless Charm Tourism Brand Guidelines, including a colorful petal lotus and a slogan “Vietnam – timeless charm”, was developed with support of the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism (ESRT) Capacity Development Program and applied in Vietnam tourism promotion programs worldwide since 2012.

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on Thursday co-organized a workshop in Hanoi to discuss measures to generate more capitals for social housing construction in Vietnam after Vietnam’s National Assembly ratified the amended law on housing and real estate business that will take effect in early July next year. The law will help the housing market in Vietnam become more attractive, especially for foreigners living and working in the country, as well as creating a healthy and stable estate market.