Read what is in the news today, July 3!

Politics

-- Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung will pay working visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Tanzania from July 6 to 13 at the invitation of their governments, Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

-- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his spouse will pay an official visit to Vietnam from July 4 to 7 as the countries look to boost their traditional friendship and cooperation, which have seen great strides since diplomatic ties were established in July 1992.

Society

-- Mobile apps that offer instant personal loans with few requirements are mushrooming in Vietnam, but borrowers who are tricked into taking easy loans often find themselves stuck with through-the-roof interest rates and receive gangster-like threats from debt collectors.

-- Mun, the second tropical storm to affect Vietnam in 2019, was 410 kilometers from the northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Hai Phong at 4:00 am on Wednesday, packing winds of 60-75 kilometers per hour and heading west-northwest toward northern Vietnam at a speed of 10-15km/h.

-- Two people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured when a tourist bus carrying 21 Vietnamese plunged off a cliff in the northern province of Quang Ninh on Tuesday.

-- Quang Ngai should improve its investment climate in order to raise the provincial competitiveness index (PCI), which currently stands at 41st position, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at an investment promotion conference in the central province on Tuesday.

Lifestyle

-- Two elephants, aged 60 and 37, that had been used to transport tourists at the a tourist site in Dak Lak Province of the Central Highlands region were on Tuesday released back to the wild in the Yok Don National Park in Dak Lak.

Business

-- Vietnam’s total revenue from retail sales and services saw a significant growth of 11.5 percent to more than VND23.9 quadrillion (US$102 billion) in the first half of 2019, the highest growth rate in three years, according to a General Statistics Office report.

Sports

-- Vietnam’s top dairy producer Vinamilk has signed a contract with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) to sponsor the national men’s and women’s football teams for three years from 2019 to 2022, according to a signing ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday.

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