Catch up on the news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Thanh Binh hosted a reception in Hanoi on Wednesday for Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki, who delivered Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's message of sympathy to his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh regarding the impact of typhoon Yagi on Vietnam.

-- During a meeting with Lao Party General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith in Hanoi on Wednesday, Vietnamese Party General Secretary and State President To Lam stressed that the Vietnam-Laos relationship is always the top priority in Vietnam’s foreign policy. The top Lao leader is paying a visit to Vietnam through Friday this week.

Society

-- Site clearance for the first phase of the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) Can Tho in the namesake southern city is now 99 percent complete, and the remaining five project-hit households committed to handing over their land this week, a local official said on Wednesday.

-- The U.S. Embassy to Vietnam announced on Wednesday that the U.S. would provide US$1 million in immediate humanitarian aid to support Vietnam’s efforts to respond to the devastating impacts of typhoon Yagi, while Australia announced an initial aid package worth A$3 million (US$2 million) for Vietnam. The first shipment of Australia’s relief supplies arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday evening.

-- Scuba divers have collected nearly 11 metric tons of garbage from the seabed and coral reefs off the shore of Con Dao Island in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, southern Vietnam over the past month, according to the Con Dao National Park.

-- Typhoon Yagi, which hammered northern Vietnam on Saturday last week, and ensuing downpours, landslides, flash floods and bridge collapse had left 179 people dead and 145 others missing as of 5:30 pm on Wednesday, according to a report from the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

-- As of 5:30 pm on Wednesday, authorities have found the bodies of seven people and taken 11 injured people out of the scene of a landslide on Tuesday in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam. Eleven others remain missing, a representative of the local authorities told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has asked relevant units to check the status quo of all bridges in the city, especially Saigon, Binh Trieu 1, and Tan Thuan 1, following a bridge collapse in Phu Tho Province in northern Vietnam in the wake of typhoon Yagi.

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