Read what is in the news today, April 22!

Politics

-- Two Vietnamese coast guard ships left the northern port city of Hai Phong on Sunday, beginning a patrol to examine the enforcement of a Vietnam-China agreement on fishery cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin. The trip will include an exchange program on Vietnam’s Con Co Island and activities to increase fishermen’s awareness of the agreement.

Society

-- No Vietnamese citizens have been reported among the victims of bomb attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday, according to the Vietnam Embassy in the South Asian country. The explosions that ripped through churches and hotels on the Indian Ocean island killed more than 200 people, including over 30 foreigners, and injured at least 450.

-- A draft of Vietnam’s revised law on public officials, recently submitted by the Vietnamese government to the lawmaking National Assembly for feedback, is looking to prevent government officials from remaining on the public payroll for their lifetime despite not fulfilling their duties.

-- Ho Chi Minh City has since April launched a campaign to tighten control over sales of prescription drugs at local pharmacies to squash the ‘epidemic’ of self-medication among the public, especially concerning the widespread non-prescribed use of antibiotics.

-- The 115 People’s Hospital in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City has become the first hospital in Asia to receive Gold status certification in treatment for stroke as part of the ESO Angels Awards quality improvement program initiated by the European Stroke Organization.

Business

-- Vietnamese low-cost carrier Vietjet has officially launched a Phu Quoc-Hong Kong route, making it the first airline to operate direct services between the two destinations. This is Vietjet’s second route to Hong Kong from Vietnam, following the Ho Chi Minh City-Hong Kong service.

-- Over 39,000 automobiles, worth US$883 million, were imported into Vietnam in the first three months of 2019. The majority of the imported vehicles originate from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), thanks to zero-percent import tariffs on CBU units from within the bloc.

Education

-- Students who had their scores manipulated by insiders in the 2018 National High School Examination in Vietnam will be expelled from their respective higher education institutions, whether their real scores meet the schools' admission requirements or not, Education Minister Phung Xuan Nha told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in an interview.

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