Check out what is in the news today, September 18:

Society

-- Two ten-year-olds drowned while swimming in a canal in Ngoc Lac District in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa on Friday afternoon.

-- Three workers died from gas asphyxiation and three others remain in a critical condition, as they were suffocated by gas released from a generator while sleeping in a warehouse in Gia Lam District, Hanoi, on Saturday.

-- Eleven soldiers of the Le Thanh International Border Gate in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai were mobilized promptly to rescue six locals isolated by raging flood currents early Saturday in Ia Dom Commune, according to Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Phan Dinh Thanh, the station head.

-- News surfaced on local social networks on Saturday that at least eight relatives, including wife, siblings and in-laws, of the secretary of the Party Committee in the northern province of Ha Giang are holding key positions in several of the locality’s agencies.

-- A man filed a complaint on Saturday that his son, a fourth grader at a school in Xuyen Moc District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, approximately 120 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, sustained injuries after being beaten by local police for allegedly stealing his teacher’s mobile phone. 

Business

-- Local consumers have been taken aback by the circulating news that Danone Vietnam Co Ltd., a subsidiary of French food giant Danone, most known for its Dumex milk products, will gradually shrink its corporate activities in Vietnam in the coming time.

-- Five realty members of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, including Vinhomes, VinCommerce, Retail Vincom, and Vinpearl, were listed in the "Vietnam’s Top 50 most valuable brands in 2016" released by the Brand Finance, a U.K-based brand valuation and strategy consultancy, earlier this week, with Vinhomes being the only realty brand to advance to the Top 5 in two consecutive years.

Education

-- Minister of Education Phung Xuan Nha urged at a conference on Saturday that educational institutions adopt international English programs along with other measures as part of a nationwide project designed to improve the quality of English teaching and learning.