What you need to know in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- During a National Assembly meeting on Saturday before the law-making body approved the revised Civil Code, several delegates suggested that more stringent regulations be added to the ordinance in a bid to curb the rampant infringements of individuals’ privacy.

Society

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has just approved a project worth over VND74.2 billion (US$3.2 million) to renovate part of Gia Dinh Park, located in Go Vap District.

-- At a meeting on Friday, Le Minh Quy, deputy head of an office in charge of fighting social ills under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, announced the office’s proposal to set up a quarter dedicated to “sensitive” businesses on a pilot basis in order to better manage social ills and curb prostitution.

-- Representatives of airlines, including national carrier Vietnam Airlines, said dozens of flights scheduled to depart from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City suffered delays during a downpour on Friday evening. Since late last year, the streets leading to the airport have undergone serious traffic congestion, which is forecast to worsen due to the rising number of air passengers.

Business -- The General Statistics Office of Vietnam on Saturday announced a 0.11- percent rise in the country’s consumer price index (CPI) in October compared to last month. The index has surged 0.51 percent over the past 10 months. -- A leader of the Vietnam Export Import Bank (Eximbank) has told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the lender has submitted to the State Bank of Vietnam a plan to divest from Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, better known as Sacombank.

Education

-- Statistics by the Ministry of Education and Training showed that more than 1,100 foreign students are currently studying, serving their internships and joining academic exchange programs at 23 universities adopting all-English curricula in Vietnam.

-- The Vietnam Aviation Academy has just proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam allow it to use a Boeing 727-200 plane dumped by Cambodia’s Royal Khmer Airlines at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi in 2007 as a teaching aid.

Lifestyle

-- The first Book Bus, jointly organized by Tre (Young) Publishing House, Tuoi Tre, and the General Science Library, brought children’s publications to expectant students at an elementary school in the outlying district of Can Gio in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday morning.