Read what is in the news today:

Politics

-- The 26th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Retreat, which took place in the central city of Da Nang on Tuesday, approved Vietnam’s 12 prioritized initiatives on economic cooperation in ASEAN during the ASEAN Chairman Year 2020.

Society

-- An eight-year-old child died while six others are in hospital after eating a species of horseshoe crab in the southern province of Binh Duong on Tuesday evening.

-- The state-run Vietnam Electricity (EVN) plans to increase the output of coal-fired and oil-fired power by 2.96 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) and 1.52 billion kWh, respectively, to ensure enough electricity as the total output of hydropower plants will be reduced by 4.2 billion kWh during the six dry months of this year.

-- The private jet which transported Vietnam’s 32nd novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient from London to Ho Chi Minh City on Monday is an ultra-long-range Dassault Falcon 8x jet which reportedly costs renters around US$360,000 for a flight from London to Southeast Asian destinations.

-- A list of Hanoi’s popular historical landmarks such as Hoa Lo Prison, Ngoc Son Temple, and the Monument of King Le Thai To were closed to visitors on Tuesday, as authorities disinfected the areas where two British tourists infected with COVID-19 had visited in the Vietnamese capital.

Business

-- Vietnam is forecast to lose some 0.41 percent of GDP due to COVID-19, according to the latest report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) cited by the Vietnam News Agency.

-- State-run mobile network operator MobiFone announced on Tuesday it had successfully tested 5G networks in Ho Chi Minh City and other locations, becoming the second mobile carrier, after military-run Viettel, to conduct a successful test of the wireless technology in Vietnam.

-- Enterprises, economic organizations, household businesses, and individuals directly and severely hit by the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam are eligible to have the due date of their value-added tax (VAT) and land rent pushed back for five months, according to Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung.

Sports

-- The Vietnam Football Federation said on Tuesday it has decided to make adjustments to the schedule of professional and non-professional football tournaments in 2020 due to the complicated developments of the COVID-19 epidemic.

World News

-- The novel coronavirus has infected over 114,000 people and killed more than 4,000 globally as of Wednesday morning, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

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