Read what is in the news today, July 4!

Politics

-- Bounnhang Vorachith, General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and President of Laos, is on a five-day official visit to Vietnam from July 3 to 7 at the invitation of Vietnamese Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong and State President Tran Dai Quang.

-- Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue affirmed Vietnam’s appreciation for the status and role of Brazil in the international scene and attached importance to their bilateral ties as he paid a visit to the Latin American country from July 2 to 3.

Society

-- Police in Hoa Binh Province in northern Vietnam has launched legal proceedings against a deputy director and an employee at a provincial hospital where nine patients died after receiving renal dialysis last year, which has been found to be caused by contaminated water.

-- Forty percent of personnel at state-run broadcaster Hanoi Radio Television cannot be dismissed despite their poor performance at work because they are relatives of state and city officials, the TV station’s general director To Quang Phan said on Tuesday at a meeting of Party members in the capital city.

-- A VND10 trillion (US$435.5 million) project to eliminate flooding in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to be finished by the end of 2019 after a period of lackluster construction due to a lack of capital and difficulties in land clearance, city officials say.

-- The administration of Hoi An City in the central province of Quang Nam is working with a local private company to consider its proposal to develop cruise tours between neighboring Da Nang City and the Cham Islands off Hoi An.

-- The scorching heat wave in Hanoi is sending people to hospital for dizziness, high fever and other related conditions as doctors warn residents against staying out too long in the sun.

Business

-- Vietnam’s central bank has lowered its selling price of the U.S. dollar in an effort to stabilize the market as the currency’s forex rates continue to climb in recent days.

Sports

-- Vietnam’s national under-18 football team on Tuesday defeated the Philippines 5-0 in the second match of Group A at the ongoing ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U19 Youth Championship in Indonesia.

-- Vietnam’s national women’s football team on Tuesday routed hosts Indonesia 6-0 in their opener at the AFF Women’s Championship.