Here are some of the most important news stories in Vietnam to read along with your breakfast today, March 9.
Society
-- One drug trafficking suspect was shot dead as his ring exchanged fire with local police in a forest in the northern Vietnamese province of Son La, which borders Laos, on Saturday night, officers said Sunday.
-- A man was filmed driving a motorbike with his legs on a road in the southern province of Vinh Long in a video sent to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Sunday.
-- A 40-year-old elephant died suddenly on Sunday when it was serving tourists at a tourism attraction in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.
-- A 24-year-old man was stabbed to death by an apparent friend of his in the southernmost province of Ca Mau on Sunday night.
-- Thousands of blood donors defied heavy rain to join the Red Spring Festival, known as the largest blood donation drive in Vietnam, in Hanoi on Sunday.
-- Eight people were injured in a head-on crash between a refrigerator truck and a passenger bus in the northern province of Quang Ninh on Sunday.
-- A Panama-flagged cargo vessel suddenly burst into flames when it was docked off a beach in Vung Tau in the southern Vietnamese province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on Sunday. Twenty crew members of the ship, including three Vietnamese, were safely evacuated.
Business
-- Trade value between Vietnam and Singapore rose 5.2 percent year on year to more than US$1.4 billion in January 2015, according to Singaporean data.
-- No-frills carrier VietJet Air is selling 3,000 tickets for the Hanoi-Seoul service at VND0 (zero) from March 9 to 14.
-- Vietnam welcomed around 1.45 million international tourists in February, down 10 percent from the same period last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
Lifestyle
-- A tourism diving company in the resort city of Nha Trang has received permission from the local administration to offer a special service that allows tourists to walk on the seabed of Nha Trang Bay.
-- Fifty students aged six to 15 participated in a drawing contest centered on the Vietnam-India friendship that took place in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.
Education
-- A lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City International University, Dr. Tran Ha Lien Phuong, will be the first Vietnamese woman to receive the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science award. Phuong will receive the award along with 14 other outstanding female scientists from around the world in Paris on March 18.