Read what is in the news today, March 21!

Society

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requested that efforts be made to shorten the average time it takes to issue construction permits in the country from 82 days to 63 days to catch up with more developed countries in Southeast Asia in terms of administrative procedures.

-- Two Vietnamese fishermen working on a South Korean fishing vessel are missing at sea after their boat capsized around midnight on March 6, killing four.

-- Photos of intimate text messages between the deputy Party chief of Thanh Hoa Province in north-central Vietnam and a woman with whom he was accused of having an affair were fake, said the provincial propaganda and education committee.

-- Recently reported flooding inside an underpass in Da Nang City in central Vietnam had been caused by osmotic pressure from a nearby water reservoir and does not pose risks to commuters, according to a local infrastructure development watchdog.

Business

-- Le Diep Kieu Trang, a.k.a. Christy Le, a Vietnamese businesswoman and MIT graduate who co-founded fitness company Misfit Wearables that has been acquired at the price of US$260 million, has been appointed director of Facebook in Vietnam.

-- Vietnamese importers spend VND14.3 trillion ($626.34 million) and 28.6 million days in total every year to deal with inspections of their imports, according to the general secretary of Vietnam Logistics Association.

-- The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) has said it would file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to the U.S. Commerce Court to protest the department’s latest imposition of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese catfish.

-- VTV4, a foreign-language channel of state-run Vietnam Television (VTV), will no longer provide satellite coverage overseas starting March 31 due to low ratings and viewers’ switch to online streaming services.

Sports

-- Players on Vietnam’s national football team that won silver medals at the AFC U-23 Championship in China earlier this year will not be taxed on rewards given by the state, according to a General Department of Taxation official.

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