Read what is in the news today, July 18!

Society

-- Three consecutive earthquakes of magnitudes 2.7-3.9 on the Richter scale hit the central province of Quang Nam between June 25 and July 17, according to the Vietnam Earthquake Information and Tsunami Warning Center under the Institute of Geophysics.

-- Typhoon Son-Tinh, which entered the East Vietnam Sea on Tuesday and became the third storm to hit Vietnam this year, is forecast to hit provinces in north and north-central Vietnam from Hai Phong to Ha Tinh on Wednesday afternoon with winds packing 60-75 kilometers per hour.

-- The chief of the Party Committee of Binh Thuan Province in south-central Vietnam said on Tuesday the province had cancelled a planned Germany trip for its officials, sponsored by a private company, after the company raised eyebrows by including nearly-retired and irrelevant officials on its list of invitees.

-- Drug-fighting police and customs officers in the north-central province of Ha Tinh on Tuesday captured red-handed three Laotians transporting 25 kilograms of crystal meth and 52 bricks of heroin from Laos into Vietnam on a white pick-up truck.

-- A former chairman of Vung Tau City in southern Vietnam is on trial for violations in land management, after he allegedly approved the repurposing of more than 86,000 square meters of non-residential land into residential land.

-- The Office of Vietnam’s State President Tran Dai Quang on Tuesday requested that an inspection be launched into legal proceedings against a Vietnamese man who was sentenced to death this month for killing three who attacked his residence in a land dispute.

Business

­-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has approved a plan to upgrade the Dong Hoi Airport in the north-central province of Quang Binh with the aim of raising its capacity to three million passengers yearly by 2030.

-- Hundreds of tourists are stranded on Phu Quoc Island off southern Vietnam as ferries taking them to shore has temporarily halted operations since Tuesday due to unfavorable weather conditions.

-- An investigative unit has been assembled by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam to look into a landing mishap at the Vinh International Airport in the north central province of Nghe An on Monday evening, when a Vietnam Airlines plane bust its front wheel tire and had to be towed off a runway.

Education

-- An unprecedented cheating scandal has hit Vietnam’s National High School Exam when the scores on 330 test papers in the northern province of Ha Giang were found to have been manipulated by a provincial education official who was in charge of operating a computer where exam results were stored.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!