Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh virtually attended and delivered a speech at the launching ceremony of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) on Monday.

COVID-19 Updates

-- The Ministry of Health documented 1,179 COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the national tally to 10,710,066, with 9,405,908 recoveries and 43,076 mortalities.

Society

-- Police in Ho Chi Minh City confirmed on Monday afternoon they had arrested a 23-year-old man for robbing a gold shop with a hammer in Binh Thanh District earlier the same day.

-- A 34-year-old Russian man has been sentenced to seven months in prison after he was caught planting 27 cannabis trees at his rented house in south-central Binh Thuan Province in late 2021.

-- Rains in northern Vietnam are expected to decrease in intensity starting Wednesday, while southern provinces will continue to see sunny skies during the day and showers in the evening over the next few days. 

Business

-- Gasoline prices in Vietnam increased for the fifth consecutive time on Monday afternoon, with the RON95-III fuel now selling at VND30,653 (US$1.32) per liter.

-- Vietnamese technology startup True Platform announced on Monday it had raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by January Capital.

-- Vietnam’s textile and garment exports to the United States in the first quarter of 2022 reached nearly $4.36 billion, up 24 percent year on year, the highest ever since 2012, the Vietnam News Agency quoted the General Department of Vietnam Customs as saying.

Sports

-- The closing ceremony of the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games took place at My Dinh Indoor Athletics Arena in Hanoi on Monday evening with the participation of about 3,000 delegates, spectators, and members of sports delegations.

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