Good morning from Vietnam!

Politics

-- The relations between Vietnam and Laos are “special,” visiting Vietnam’s Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong said during a reception by the Lao State President Bounnhang Vorachith on Thursday.

Society

-- Solutions to the chronic flooding in Ho Chi Minh City were sought by experts at a conference hosted by the municipal Department of Transport, Institute for Development Studies, and Association of Bridges, Roads and Seaports on Thursday.

-- A tropical depression with wind power reaching between 40 and 50 kilometers per hour has conjured up in the body of water east of southern Philippines on Thursday, and is expected to approach the East Vietnam Sea in the coming days.

-- Da Nang City administration on Thursday proposed its plan to regroup its 5,870 residential quarters, the smallest administrative division of Vietnamese cities, to reduce this number down to 2,760 to improve efficiency in management.

-- Two cases of Chinese nationals caught red-handed stealing from the carry-on luggage of fellow passengers were reported on Thursday, both on Vietnamese Airlines flights on the Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City route.

Lifestyle

­-- Stefan Kendal Gordy, better known by his stage name Redfoo, the DJ and singer part of the musical duo LMFAO which produced the 2011 hit song Party Rock Anthem, will perform in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday in the 2016 Yan Beatfest outdoor music event.

Business

-- South Korean investors who attended a meeting on Thursday with Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railways Management Authority showed interest in the US$2.4 billion fifth metro line in Ho Chi Minh City, which will run 14.5 kilometers from Can Giuoc bus station in District 8 to Bay Hien intersection in Tan Binh District.

-- The administration of central Vietnam’s Quang Binh Province on Thursday chaired a meeting with around 500 local tourist businesses urging for a cut in service prices to attract more tourists to the province, the tourism industry of which has since April suffered a loss of over VND1.8 trillion due to the Formosa environmental crisis.

-- Ho Chi Minh City Party chief Dinh La Thang on Thursday told constituents in the districts of Cu Chi and Hoc Mon to “rest assured” despite the recent announcement of Vietnam’s budget plan for the 2017-2020 period, which looked to cut the city’s retained money from 23 to 18 percent of its revenue.

-- Three state-invested multimillion-dollar ethanol manufacturing projects in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai are left unfinished and gathering dust, generating annual loss amounting to hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dongs, the Government Inspectorate said in its inspection report of the projects on Thursday.

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