Check out the news you should not miss today, June 24

Politics

-- Vietnam calls on the US to lift its embargo against Cuba, which has been enforced for more than five decades, foreign ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said Friday, responding to reporters’ question regarding Washington’s recent adjustment of its policy towards the Caribbean island nation,

-- Cambodian National Assembly chairman Heng Samrin arrived in Hanoi on Friday, commencing a four-day official friendship visit to Vietnam on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic ties.

Society

-- The Hanoi administration has proposed a roadmap to revoke outdated motorbikes, which it sees as one of the main causes of pollution, by 2020.

-- An apparently drunk driver sped through the Saigon River Tunnel before crashing into two cars on Thursday night, the tunnel management said Friday.

-- A pagoda abbot in the northern province of Hung Yen was arrested on Friday for storing crystal meth.

-- In the first half of this year, 9,593 traffic accidents occurred across Vietnam, killing 4,134 people and injuring 7,935 others, the National Committee for Traffic Safety said on Friday.

-- Anti-drug police in the north-central Vietnamese province of Ha Tinh and their counterparts in the Lao province of Bolikhamsai have busted a five-member trafficking ring, confiscating 40 bricks of heroin and 120,000 pills of synthetic drugs.

-- Banks in Vietnam sold U.S. dollar at a record VND23,105 a greenback on Friday, with the State Bank of Vietnam keeping the midpoint rate as high as VND22,432 a dollar.

Business

-- Ho Chi Minh City should create a favorable start-up environment, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested during a meeting with the municipal leaders on Friday.

-- The World Bank has approved a US$300 million credit to support Vietnam in enhancing transport connectivity in countryside and forest protection in eight coastal localities, it announced on Friday.

Lifestyle

-- A concert celebrating 40 years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Spain,featuring Spanish conductor Unai Urrecho and pianist Alexander Selitser, is scheduled for tonight June 24 at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music.

-- The 3rd International Yoga Day is scheduled to take place at the Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City at 6:00 am on Sunday.

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