What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- Vietnam opposes Australia minting a A$2 coin featuring the flag of the defunct Republic of Vietnam, Pham Thu Hang, deputy spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday, demanding that Australia cease circulating this coin.

-- Vietnam's State President Vo Van Thuong arrived in the UK on Thursday (local time) in preparation for King Charles III’s coronation, scheduled for Saturday, at the invitation of the Royal Family.

Society

-- Police booked a pickup truck driver on Thursday for driving in the wrong direction on an expressway in southern Vietnam on Wednesday.

-- Vietnam adjusted gasoline prices down by over VND1,000 a liter on Thursday.

Business

-- The administration in Khanh Hoa Province, south-central Vietnam said they were seeking local and international investors for a project to develop an urban area along Cam Ranh Bay on an area of over 1,254ha.

-- Vietnam likes to learn from the development model of Luxembourg, which has transformed to an advanced economy and Europe's financial center from an agricultural country, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said during a press conference co-chaired with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel in Hanoi on Thursday.

Sports

-- Vietnam will be stripped of five gold medals in track and field at the 31st Southeast Asian Games, hosted by Hanoi and some neighboring provinces in May last year, over positive doping test results Southeast Asian sports authorities announced on Thursday.

-- "Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Alexis MacAllister fired the winner from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time to snatch a 1-0 win for his side over Manchester United in a pulsating Premier League clash on Thursday," according to Reuters.

World News

-- The Hollywood writers' strike that kicked off this week could last well into the summer and likely beyond, top executives close to the discussions told Reuters this week.