Here are the top news stories about Vietnam you may have missed in the past 24 hours.

Society

-- The Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance hiked petrol prices in Vietnam by VND1,950 (US$0.1) per liter at 9:00 pm on Tuesday. The Ministry of Trade and Industry attributed the hike to the unexpectedly surging world rates.

-- The central Vietnamese province of Nghe An has incurred around 10 whirlwinds and hailstorms within the past week, blowing roofs off over 500 houses and causing damage to some hundred hectares of crops.

-- The Hai Chau District People’s Committee in the central city of Da Nang announced on Tuesday that each tip-off to its hotline, 05113.881888, regarding those who force children or physically challenged people into beggary will be awarded VND500,000 (US$23.3.)

-- On Tuesday, a fisherman in Ly Son Island District, located off the central province of Quang Ngai, said that a boat captained by Nguyen Thanh Chau, his fellow, which had 16 hands on board, broke down some 1.5 nautical miles to the west of Gaven Reef, part of Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, one day earlier. While trying to dock their boat at the reef for repair, Chau and his crew were stopped from doing so by a group of Chinese men who were riding in a speedboat.

-- A woman and her two children were killed on Tuesday morning when she was riding her bike past the construction site of the Hong Ngu 2 Bridge on Provincial Highway 842, located in Hong Ngu Town in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, where a crane gave way. 

Business

-- ABBank on Tuesday announced that Pham Duy Hieu has stepped down as CEO. The bank said it will officially appoint the current deputy CEO Cu Anh Tuan as Hieu's successor, pending the State Bank of Vietnam's approval.

-- On Tuesday morning, Vu Huy Hoang, Vietnamese Minister of Trade and Industry, and his Korean counterpart Yoon Sang Jick signed the Vietnam – South Korea Free Trade Agreement at the Vietnamese Government Office in Hanoi.

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently notified the French Embassy in Vietnam that boneless beef from the European country will be allowed entry into Vietnam starting May 1 as long as the meat is taken from cows less than 30 months old.

Education

-- Thirty two teams from universities across the country have been selected to enter the final round of the Vietnam Robocon Contest, to run in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho from Tuesday to Sunday next week. The champion will represent the country at the 2015Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon), which will be held in Indonesia in August.

Lifestyle

-- The European Union (EU) Delegation in Vietnam on Tuesday held a press conference on the “Europe Days” program in Vietnam. The program, which will be organized Friday to May 31 to mark the 25th anniversary of the relationship between the EU and Vietnam, will boast a wide array of cultural and artistic events.