Check out what’s in the news today.

Politics

-- Nicaragua considers Vietnam a friend and an important partner in Asia-Pacific, visiting Nicaraguan foreign minister Denis Ronaldo Moncada Colindres underlined at his talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi on Friday.

Society

-- The Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment said on Friday that it has required the Rang Dong Light Source & Vacuum Flask JSC, whose factory was engulfed in a six-hour inferno last month, releasing between 15.1 and 27.2 kilograms of mercury to the environment, to install a water spray system to control the mercury level and temperature around the site of the fire.

-- Ho Chi Minh City police have detained and launched legal proceedings against a former officer of the municipal customs for importing 1,895 used automobile parts that are banned from import in 2017.

-- Police of Bat Xat District in the northern province of Lao Cai said on Friday they have arrested four young men for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl after a drinking party on Wednesday.

-- A villa illegally built on the bank of the A Trum stream in the central province of Quang Tri collapsed into the water body on Friday.

-- A 46-year-old Russian man drowned while swimming at Mui Ne beach in the south-central province of Binh Thuan on Friday morning, according to online news site VnExpress.

Business

-- Vietnam has culled about 4.7 million pigs to contain an outbreak of African swine fever that has spread to all 63 provinces in the Southeast Asian country, Reuters reported, citing an official as saying on Friday.

-- The VN-Index, Vietnam’s benchmark stock index, declined for the fourth straight day on Friday as many large caps unexpectedly lost value by the end of the session.

-- Vietnam’s low-cost carrier Vietjet is seeking approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to provide ground services for its flights at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and the Cam Ranh International Airport in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa on its own, instead of relying on a third party, from 2020.

-- The first batch of fresh Vietnamese longan has landed in Melbourne airport and is scheduled to go on sale in the Australian city on September 9, according to the Vietnam News Agency.