Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc joined talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday as part of his stay in Japan to attend the state funeral for former PM Shinzo Abe.

Society

-- Typhoon Noru was located above the maritime area southeast of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago as of 4:00 am on Tuesday, packing wind speed of 150 to 166km per hour, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting reported, adding that the typhoon will continue picking up strength as it travels west.

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed a decision on Monday to establish a steering committee to respond to Typhoon Noru in central Da Nang City and appointed Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh as its head. 

-- The operations of five airports in Da Nang, Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue, Binh Dinh, and Pleiku in the central and Central Highlands regions will be halted from 12:00 pm on Tuesday to 11:59 am on Wednesday due to Typhoon Noru.

-- Authorities in central Da Nang City have allowed all workers to stay home from 12:00 pm on Tuesday in response to powerful Typhoon Noru. All schools in the city were also closed from Monday afternoon and will be used as storm shelters in the coming days.

-- Thousands of people were stuck in a serious traffic jam amid the rain at the intersection of Le Thi Kinh and Le Van Luong Streets in Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City due to the lack of traffic lights on Monday evening.

-- Police in Hanoi confirmed on Monday they had arrested a man and woman on suspicion of running illegal surrogacy services.

Health

-- The Ministry of Health documented 1,432 COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the national tally to 11,473,733, with 10,587,561 recoveries and 43,146 deaths.

-- The fertility rate increased in many regions of Vietnam in 2020 and 2021, head of the General Department of Population - Family Planning Nguyen Doan Tu stated, adding that people spent more time together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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