Read what’s in the news today!

Politics

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted separate receptions for former U.S Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson and former U.S Secretary of State John Kerry in Hanoi on Friday

-- Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong stressed at a reception for visiting Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshiko Abe on Friday that Japan is one of the southern metropolis’ most important partners in many spheres, from economy and investment to education.

Society

-- As many as 54 second- and third-graders were hospitalized with unusual symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, and diarrhea after having breakfast at the canteen of the Thanh Duc Elementary School in the southern province of Long An on Friday morning.

-- The Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (C04) said on Friday that the unit successfully destroyed three lines of trafficking and transporting bulk drugs involving several localities in northern Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia within six weeks of investigation, seizing 57 bricks of heroin and 50 kg of synthetic drugs.

-- The Bo Trach District People's Committee in the north-central province of Quang Binh said on Friday that it had just suspended Le Xuan Duan, chairman of the district’s Ly Trach Commune, from work to review his responsibility after he allowed a wedding party to be held on the commune building’s grounds.

Business

-- IKEA, a world-class Swedish furniture designer and supplier, is considering building a US$450 million warehouse in Hanoi this year, the capital’s chairman Nguyen Duc Chung revealed at a meeting on Thursday.

-- The Vietnam Sustainability Forum 2019 took place in Hanoi on Friday as a platform for policymakers, non-governmental organizations, businesspeople, and experts at home and abroad to exchange ideas to promote economic growth and sustainable society, following the successful organization of the first event last year.

Education

-- Up to 1,180 students of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Language and Information Technology, who graduated last October, eventually had their graduation ceremony organized on Friday after nearly four months of delay as the university’s headmaster was dismissed for allegedly using an unaccredited doctoral degree.

Lifestyle

-- The Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC) has received several objects consisting of a Vietnamese flag and a video of greetings of Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai from the International Space Station (ISS), an ISS model, a model of the Japanese experiment module KIBO on the ISS, and a model of the H-IIA launch rocket, from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for exhibition at the country’s space museum.

-- A book themed “Tourism Stories – The Vietnam Edition” was launched on Friday within the framework of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Tourism Forum 2019 taking place in Ha Long, the capital of the northern province of Quang Ninh.

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