Good morning from Vietnam!

Politics

-- Vietnam’s leading state positions, including the President, Prime Minister and National Assembly Chairman, are poised to be elected at the last meeting of the 13th tenure parliament, from March 21 to April 12,the National Asssembly’s Secretary-General Nguyen Hanh Phuc said at an international press conference in Hanoi on Friday.

-- Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung believe Myanmar will gain further achievements in the nation’s construction and development, they said in separate congratulations conveyed to newly elected President of Myanmar Htin Kyaw on Friday.

Society

-- A man who was serving his eight-month sentence at a local prison was found dead at his home in the northern province of Hai Duong on Friday. It was not immediately clear while he was at home instead of the jail.

-- A man was stabbed to death by his friend as he tried to stop him from beating his pregnant wife in the southern province of Long An on Friday.

-- Security at the Da Nang International Airport in central Vietnam have discovered 77 metal batons among the mail cargo of the local forwarder, who does not have a license to use these tools.

-- A Malaysian named Leong Sau Voon has been found using three fake credit cards to buy three Dior bags worth a total of VND205 million (US$9,152) at a trade center in Ho Chi Minh City, police said Friday.

-- Twenty firefighting trucks were dispatched to extinguis a raging hours-long fire that engulfed the warehouse of a fabric firm in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, on Thursday.

-- There were more than 1 million unemployed people in Vietnam as of the fourth quarter of last year, according to the latest data released on Friday by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Business

-- The International Monetary Fund is committed to help Vietnam to implement critical reforms, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said as she met with Vietnam’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

-- The administration of the central city of Da Nang is calling for investment to build a VND4 trillion ($178.57 million) seaport in Lien Chieu District.

Lifestyle

-- Two hundred cherry blossom trees and 10,000 branches were brought from Japan to Hanoi on Friday, as gifts to celebrate a cherry blossom festival in the capital city on Saturday and Sunday this week.

-- Vietnam’s renowned rocker Tran Lap, who died of cancer at 42 on Thursday, will be honored with a posthumous medal for his contribution to the country’s music, the Vietnam Musicians Association said Friday.

Sports

-- Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Lua grabbed a ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympics after advancing into the finale of the ongoing 2016 Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Kazakhstan on Friday.

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