Read what is in the news today:

Politics

-- Vietnam always considers Germany an important partner, Vietnamese National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan told President of Germany’s Hessen State Parliament Boris Rhein during a reception in Hanoi on Tuesday.

-- A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung attended the second Paris Peace Forum that opened on Tuesday under the chair of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Society

-- There has been an uproar in Hanoi after local authorities sought to spend VND200 billion (US$8.6 million) subsidizing local water companies which purchase treated water from the Song Duong Surface Water Treatment Plant at an unreasonably high price of VND10,246 ($0.44) per cubic meter, as its loan interest accounts for 20 percent of the wholesale price.

-- Japan will provide Ho Chi Minh City with $17.5 million in non-refundable aid to restore 2.75 kilometers of a storm drain dating back to the French colonial period on the four downtown streets of Hai Ba Trung, Yersin, Cong Quynh, and Cach Mang Thang Tam.

-- Vietnamese lawmakers on Tuesday called into question the estimated cost of developing Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai, as the project has been found to be even more expensive than the recently inaugurated mega-airports in Beijing and Istanbul while having a similar capacity.

-- The lawmaking National Assembly on Tuesday approved raising the base monthly salary for public servants by over 7.3 percent, from VND1.49 million ($64.2) to VND1.6 million ($68.94), from July 2020.

Business

-- Seven.AM, a popular Vietnamese fashion brand with 24 stores in Hanoi and northern localities, had its locations shut down en masse on Tuesday morning after market control officials had confiscated thousands of its fashion items suspected of fraudulent labelling.

-- Vietnamese premium fragrant rice ST25 has been crowned the world’s best rice during the 11th The Rice Trader World Rice Conference 2019 held in Manila, the Philippines from November 10 to 13.

-- Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup has announced an ambitious plan to open more than 300 VinMart supermarkets and 10,000 VinMart+ convenience stores in all 63 cities and provinces of Vietnam by 2025. It currently operates nearly 2,600 supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide.

Lifestyle

-- A Palestinian cultural – cuisine day, organized by the Palestinian Embassy in Hanoi, was held for the first time in the Vietnamese capital city on Tuesday to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (November 29).

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