Check out news you should not miss today, December 1:

Politics

-- Vietnam highly values the EU’s commitment to further enhancing its cooperation with ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular and is committed to constructively working with other relevant countries to consider the EU’s proposal to join the East Asia Summit (EAS), foreign ministry’s spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said at a regular press conference in Hanoi on Thursday.

Society

-- Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc decided to provide VND1 trillion (US$44 million) for south-central provinces affected by typhoon Damrey early this month, as he toured Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen on Thursday.

-- Vietnam’s foreign ministry has sent a diplomatic note to the Supreme Court of Indonesia, suggesting the country release five Vietnamese fishermen who were captured by local authorities for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters on April 13, if there is no evidence to find them guilty, spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said on Thursday.

-- The SAR 413 rescue vessel of the Vung Tau Regional Marine Search and Rescue Center III on Thursday towed the BV 94184 TS fishing boat and its 12 fishermen to shore safely, one day after the center received rescue message from the fishing boat which broke down under bad weather.

-- More than 60 Vietnamese citizens stranded in Bali, Indonesia by volcano eruption on November 26 had left dangerous areas and moved to safe zones, the Vietnamese foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday.

 -- Vietnamese netizens are commending a young traveler who is seen trying his best to rescue a drown puppy in a video clip, believed to be filmed in the southern province of Ben Tre, that went viral on social media on Thursday.

-- A court in the south-central province of Binh Dinh on Thursday sentenced local Nguyen Tham, 52, to six months in prison for child molestation.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has proposed a target to increase the average height of local young people to 1.67m for male, and 1.56m for female, by 2020.

Business

-- Vietnam’s seafood exports in 2017 topped a record $8.4 billion, $1.4 billion higher than last year, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said on Thursday.