Good morning from Vietnam, readers! Check out what is in the news today.

Politics

-- An international conference regarding East Vietnam Sea disputes which was organized in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday heard that China’s construction of artificial islands in Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in poses a grave menace to security, trade, maritime safety and the marine environment in the region and the world. A scientific seminar addressing the same issues also took place the same day in the city.

-- Delegations of high-ranking leaders in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday paid tribute visits to war martyr cemeteries within the city in commemoration of the 68^th anniversary of the Vietnam War Invalids and Martyrs Day, July 27.

Society

-- The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said on Saturday that police are detaining two dock workers, of the Hanoi Ground Services Co., for allegedly pinching a smartphone from a South Korean passenger. The passenger, who was on a VietJet Air flight from Incheon to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Monday, reported that her Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was missing later the same day.

-- Representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore on Friday continued to work with Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and demanded that checkpoint officials at Singapore Changi Airport clarify incidents in which a number of Vietnamese passengers, mostly women, have had their entry to the city-state denied and been forced to return to their home country immediately for unknown reasons in recent times. According to the embassy, the ICA affirmed their policy in welcoming tourists from other countries, including Vietnam.

-- According to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Office, Nguyen Huu Tin, the committee’s deputy chair, has ordered the municipal Tourism Department and competent agencies to speed up their plan to launch electric cars for tourism purposes in the downtown area on a pilot basis. Tin also tasked the Transport Department with working with relevant agencies and studying the feasibility of gradually replacing conventional buses with electric vehicles on certain routes in the central business district.

-- Senior Lieutenant Colonel Vo Trong Hai, chief of the Border Soldiers unit in the central province of Ha Tinh, on Saturday confirmed that his unit and competent agencies in Laos had jointly busted a drug trafficking ring led by a Thai national, and seized over 5.5 metric tons of drugs.

-- Nguyen Van Ton, general director of Vinaconex Water Supply Joint Stock Company, admitted on Saturday that the pipeline that transmits clean water from the Da River Water Plant in the northern province of Hoa Binh to Hanoi had broken again earlier the same day.  This was the 12th time the pipeline had either snapped or leaked for the past 41 months, according to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper statistics.

Business

-- Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, has told Tuoi Tre that individuals and organizations can now go to banks, their subsidiaries and the central bank to have their banknotes which are tattered or not eligible for circulation replaced with new bills with no fees charged and simple procedures.

Sports

-- English Premier League side Manchester City arrived at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Saturday evening and were heartily welcomed by hundreds of local fans in the rain. The club are slated to play a friendly with the Vietnamese national football team on Monday, July 27, in the capital city.