Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- The second defense policy dialogue at the deputy ministerial level between Vietnam and the U.K. took place in Hanoi on Monday under the co-chair of Deputy Minister of National Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh and Minister of State for Defense Baroness Goldie.

-- The Central Inspection Commission of the Vietnamese Party has proposed that Nguyen Bac Son and Truong Minh Tuan, who are former Ministers of Information and Communications, be expelled from the Party for their roles in the scandalous deal between state-run MobiFone and AVG, a private company.

Society

-- High tide in Ho Chi Minh City reached its all-time record at 1.75 to 1.77 meters on Monday evening, submerging many areas in the metropolis and creating a lot of difficulties for local residents.

-- Border guard officers in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa, in coordination with Laotian police, have arrested a Vietnamese man and a Laotian suspect for attempting to smuggle 32 bricks of heroin.

-- Police in Hanoi confirmed on Monday they had apprehended two suspects, aged 19 and 24, for stabbing to death a GrabBike driver after being unable to pay for the fare on the night of September 26.

-- A truck had its brake fail and crashed into a passenger bus inside the Saigon River Tunnel (Thu Thiem Tunnel) in Ho Chi Minh City at around 2:30 am on Tuesday. The truck driver survived with minor scratches while everyone on the coach was unharmed.

-- Three people were hospitalized after about 40 young men from two gangs engaged in a fight in front of a beer parlor on To Hien Thanh Street in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City on Monday night.

-- Two men in the north-central province of Nghe An have been fined a combined VND15 million (US$645) for insulting traffic police officers on Facebook.

Business

-- Vietnam exported $30.02 billion worth of agro-forestry-fishery products in the first nine months of 2019, a year-on-year rise of 2.7 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

-- Vietstar Airlines, which was the first carrier to be permitted to fly business jets in Vietnam in late July, is expected to offer its VIP Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi flights at prices from VND80 million ($3,440) to VND230 million ($9,890) per hour.

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