Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc held talks with Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Hanoi on Saturday, as part of the latter’s official visit to the Southeast Asian country from May 2 to 4.

-- Vietnam resolutely rejects China’s unilateral decision to ban fishing in the East Vietnam Sea from May 1 to August 16, 2019, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said in a press meeting on Saturday.

Society

-- The Ministry of Public Security has requested that the Supreme People’s Procuracy indict Le Bach Hong, former Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, along with five other suspects for their roles in violations that led to losses worth VND1.7 trillion (US$73 million).

-- Police in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa on Saturday arrested and initiated legal proceedings against Do Manh Chieu Minh, 25, for killing an elementary school student and injuring five others, including one teacher and four students, with a knife on Friday morning.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Media Center, located on Tran Hung Dao Street in District 1, is scheduled to be put into operation on Sunday, with Tu Luong, deputy director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, being the director of the venue.

-- Doctors at a general hospital in the north-central province of Nghe An confirmed on Saturday they had been able to save a 42-year-old man suffering five stab wounds to his chest, one directly to his heart.

-- The owner of a diner in the Mekong Delta province of Long An has shut down his business after assaulting two of his customers, who complained they had been overcharged by the eatery, on Wednesday. The venue was repeatedly vandalized by some unidentified people after the footage of the violence was uploaded to social media.

-- Police in the northern city of Hai Phong have initiated a manhunt for a masked man who poured gasoline at a local clothing store and set it on fire on Saturday afternoon.

Business

-- Hoang Quoc Vuong, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, has confirmed that the agency would consider adjusting electricity prices after many residents recently reported a sharp increase in their power bills.

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