Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News — April 25

Politics

-- Meeting with Party General Secretary To Lam on Thursday, European Union Ambassador to Vietnam Julien Guerrier reaffirmed that Vietnam is a trusted and priority partner for the EU in the Asia-Pacific region and praised the country’s growing role and stature on the international stage, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

-- State President Luong Cuong announced on Thursday that Vietnam will gift Laos a district-level hospital worth US$3 million, expressing hope that the project will be completed next year.

Society

-- Between 1:30 am and 5:00 am on Friday, an estimated 23,200 lightning strikes—both cloud-to-ground and in-cloud—were recorded in northern Vietnam, including over 10,400 ground strikes, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

-- On Thursday, a court sentenced two defendants to death for their involvement in a drug trafficking and illegal drug use ring in Binh Phuoc Province, southern Vietnam.

-- Each year, Vietnam's Mekong Delta loses hundreds of hectares of coastal land and forest due to erosion. At a workshop on Thursday, experts proposed dividing the region into zones based on geomorphology and hydrology to develop appropriate, site-specific solutions.

-- On Thursday, the Kien Giang provincial police department announced that the Duong Dong Ward police had returned 1 million won (US$697) to a South Korean tourist who had lost it at Dinh Cau Beach in the ward under Phu Quoc City. Earlier, Tran Tin Nghia, born 1974, from Ho Chi Minh City, who was staying at a hotel in Duong To Commune, found a wallet at the beach. Inside the wallet were several items, including 1 million won, a credit card, and various personal documents.

Economy

-- On Thursday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer held a productive virtual meeting with Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien to discuss next steps in the bilateral trade relationship following President Trump’s April 4 call with General Secretary To Lam, with both sides agreeing on the need for swift progress toward balanced and reciprocal trade and directing their teams to begin technical discussions on expanding market access and addressing unfair trade practices.

-- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed on Thursday that Vietnam is ready to engage in discussions with U.S. authorities to resolve outstanding issues, following the United States' announcement of tariffs of up to 800 percent on solar panels from several Vietnamese companies.

-- More than 47 Chinese travel agencies on Thursdayt visited Phu Quoc on a tourism survey trip and were impressed with the island, expressing hopes that direct flights from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Macau to Phu Quoc would soon be launched.

Education

-- At the beginning of Wednesday afternoon classes, 27 students at Nuoc Hai Elementary School in Cao Bang Province, northern Vietnam experienced stomach pain, nausea, and skin rashes and were hospitalized, the provincial Department of Health reported on Thursday.