Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted Qatari Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Hanoi on Monday, as part of the latter’s visit to Vietnam on August 14 and 15, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

COVID-19 Updates

-- The Ministry of Health documented 1,695 COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the national tally to 11,367,479, with 10,029,826 recoveries and 43,098 deaths.

Society

-- A heavy downpour battered Ho Chi Minh City on Monday afternoon and lingered until the evening, resulting in serious flooding and traffic congestion across the metropolis.

-- One person drowned and four others went missing after a boat capsized in a river in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam on Monday morning, authorities confirmed later the same day.

-- Rain is expected to continue lashing southern Vietnam in the coming days due to the combined effect of the southwest monsoon and a low-pressure area in the East Vietnam Sea, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting reported.

-- A police officer in southern Long An Province was critically injured after he was hit by a motorbike while guarding the scene of a traffic accident on National Highway No. 1 on Monday.

-- A three-year-old boy from northern Ha Nam Province, who was beaten and locked in a freezer by his neighbor last weekend, was discharged from the hospital on Monday.

-- Germany will temporarily recognize Vietnam’s new passport with information on holders' place of birth added in the annotation section, according to a diplomatic note the German Federal Foreign Office sent to the Embassy of Vietnam in Germany on Monday.

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