Good morning readers! Check out what is in the news today:

Politics

-- Tsutomu Takebe, special advisor to the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, had a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on Tuesday. At the event, Takebe pledged continued efforts to foster bilateral ties, especially in constructing the Vietnam-Japan University.

Society

-- The Ho Chi Minh City People’ Committee has recently allowed private enterprises to sponsor the installation of more than 160 benches on the Nguyen Hue pedestrian street in District 1.

-- The Department of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism in the central city of Da Nang has announced that the city will put up signs from now to July 30 that prohibit littering on the beach as well as impose penalties on violators.

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Justice is pooling comments and suggestions of locals and foreigners on the adjustment of the draft Penal Code from now to September 14 via boluathinhsu@moj.gov.vn or its headquarters at 60 Tran Phu Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.

Business

-- Huynh Duc Tho, chairman of the People’s Committee in Da Nang, has required Coca- Cola Vietnam to strictly conform to regulations on wastewater treatment and environmental protection. If the company does not follow the rules, the local government will consider withdrawing its license. The move follows complaints from local residents about the company having discharged untreated sewage, polluting the environment.

Lifestyle

-- A music show featuring soundtracks from Disney’s famous animated movies will be organized at the Municipal Theater in Ho Chi Minh City at 8:00 pm on July 19. The event will feature the soundtracks of such films as “Pocahontas,” “Frozen,” “Mulan,” etc.

-- From July 11 to 14, philologists from the French Academy of the Far East made a trip to Phong Nha Cave in the central province of Quang Binh to carry out a research on an ancient epitaph written on the cave’s wall. According to the experts, the text was written by Cham people and dates back around 1,000 years ago.