Good morning from Vietnam!

Politics

-- Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung has said that Hanoi is deeply concerned over the escalating disputes in the East Vietnam Sea and their potential consequences during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Liú Zhènmín.

-- A conference was organized by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday to introduce 175 candidates for the membership of the municipal People’s Council.

Society

-- About 30,000 people in Ho Chi Minh City left Mien Dong (Eastern) Bus Station and 40,000 others departed Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station for their trips during the three-day holiday commemorating the death of Hung Kings, according to the operators of the two stations.

-- A five-story house in the northern province of Cao Bang collapsed on Sunday morning, burying six people in a family, of whom three were killed.

-- Colonel Tran Huu Tuong, a police official in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, announced on Sunday that the provincial Department of Police had established an official Facebook page, along with a hotline, to receive citizens’ reports of criminal activities in the locality.   

Business

-- About 94 percent of people in Vietnam book their flight tickets online, according Helena Lersch, from Google’s Government Relations.

-- Pork prices in southeastern Vietnamese provinces have increased by VND1,000 (US$0.04) to the highest since the beginning of this year. The price hike was due to the fact that Chinese traders had bought pork in large volumes, owners of several breeding farms explained.

-- Authorities in the north-central province of Quang Binh on Sunday launched the first steel-hull fishing boat, which was built by a local company at a cost of VND14.5 billion ($650,180).

Sports

-- Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, an accomplished young Vietnamese swim star, left the 2016 Arena Pro Swim Series, organized in Arizona, the United States, empty-handed on Sunday. The competition was a qualifier for the 2016 Olympics scheduled for August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Lifestyle

-- A Flashmob dance was performed by 1,000 people, of whom 30 are disabled, in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, on Sunday afternoon to spread the message of environmental protection.