Good morning from Vietnam!

Politics

-- Vietnam has kick-started a series of events in preparation for the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in 2017 with a conference in Hanoi on Thursday to discuss priorities for the meetings’ agenda.

-- Vietnam’s lawmaking National Assembly chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on Thursday led a delegation of senior legislators on a working visit to India on the invitation of leaders of the country’s bicameral parliament.

Society

-- Nguyen Thanh Dung, 34, who was Wednesday arrested by Vietnamese police for alleged torture and rape of a number of Cambodian children, claimed he was under the influence of narcotics during the act, while Vietnam’s police said it had “no plans yet” to extradite the suspect to Cambodia for legal proceedings.

-- The People’s Council of Hanoi on Thursday passed a bill which looks to subsidize 65 percent of treatment costs for voluntary drug rehabilitators in the city.

Business

-- Ho Chi Minh City administration is seeking government permission to call for contractors for its VND15 trillion (US$670 million) plan to build an elevated highway connecting Tan Son Nhat airport with the city’s center.

-- Several locations of local hotel chain Muong Thanh across Vietnam have been found to be either lacking or violating construction permits, as local administrations struggle to enforce administrative power upon the violators.

-- Uber Vietnam has been authorized by its parent company Uber B.V. in the Netherlands to pay nearly VND13.3 billion (US$593,750) in tax for its operations in Vietnam, while Vietnamese tax officials say the sum only represents the firm’s shared revenue, and most of the income of Uber drivers are still untaxed.

Education

-- An Giang University in the namesake province in the Mekong Delta will become a member university of Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City, according to a recent proposal approved by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

-- Over 50 percent of international scientific publications about Vietnam are penned by foreign authors, according to figures announced by vice director of Vietnam National University, Hanoi Nguyen Huu Duc at a press conference in Hanoi on Thursday. 

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