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

Politics

-- Vietnam inaugurated a national flagpole that serves as a marker of the country’s marine sovereignty on Saturday morning. The flagpole, erected on Tran Island off Quang Ninh Province’s Co To District, cost almost VND2 billion (US$ 87,474) to build.

Society

-- Those Vietnamese airlines offering services to Singapore have just petitioned the government, competent agencies and the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore for help over complaints that Vietnamese were denied entry into the city-state for 2,000 times in the first seven months of this year, thus causing them colossal losses.  -- Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a meeting on Saturday to review this year’s amnesty that is about to be given on the occasion of National Day (September 2) under a decision signed July 10 by State President Truong Tan Sang. Over 18,000 prisoners, including 32 expat inmates, are eligible for a pardon this time.

-- The body of the last victim in a coal mine accident that killed another worker and injured ten other people in the northern Vietnamese province of Quang Ninh on Thursday was retrieved on Saturday, after 59 hours of burial beneath the rubble, local authorities said. Twelve miners were working in a coal mine in the province’s Ha Long City at 1:30 am on Thursday, when an underground water system there broke out of a sudden.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment has recently proposed that the municipal People’s Committee approve a project to dredge, and improve the urban facilities around, the Xuyen Tam Canal, which spans Binh Thanh and Go Vap Districts, under the public-private partnership mechanism. The project, to cost a total of VND5.1 trillion ($223 million), is likely to receive a loan which accounts for 70 percent of the entire projected investment from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Business

-- The management of Tram Chim National Park in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has launched ecotourism at the site, using solar-powered boats and electric cars. 

-- Le Tien Truong, CEO of the state-run Vietnam National Textile And Garment Group, has proposed the central government and relevant agencies allow local businesses to include brand protection fees in their prices to compete with foreign rivals.

Lifestyle

-- The Vietnam division of the Europe Music Award is on the lookout for an outstanding Vietnamese singer to represent the country for the award for the Best Worldwide Act.