Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – August 11

Check out the latest news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- During his state visit to Australia, Vietnam’s Party General Secretary and State President To Lam on Monday received Australia’s Special Envoy for Southeast Asia Nicholas Moore, who discussed opportunities to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam, including the implementation of Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040.

Society

-- Police in the northern city of Hai Phong, in coordination with the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security representative office in Cambodia, have arrested Dao Thi Trang, born in 1994, who had been wanted since 2022 for allegedly committing property appropriation fraud.

-- Son La Province’s Department of Home Affairs has proposed a roadmap to reduce normal working hours for private-sector employees to 40-44 hours per week, in line with the public sector.

Economy

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is negotiating with China’s General Administration of Customs to standardize durian testing requirements and establish a mechanism for mutual recognition of test results, with the aim of reducing customs clearance times.

Vietnam Life

-- Vietnam’s largest-scale ceramic exhibition, featuring 414 Buddhist-inspired ceramic sculptures by artist Nguyen Tuan and artisans from Bac Ninh's Phu Lang craft village, is taking place at Ba Den Mountain from August 8 to September 30.

Education

-- Hanoi has asked relevant agencies to draft a plan to provide free textbooks to general education students for approval by the municipal People’s Committee in August, while fully implementing policies supporting tuition fees, school supplies, school meals, and health check-ups.

-- Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Education and Training Le Quan said three universities have registered to become 'elite universities,' a group that, under the country’s draft higher education development strategy, is expected to conduct cutting-edge research, compete internationally, play a leading role in providing human resources and scientific and technological products, and driving economic development.

World News

-- A consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is close to agreeing a deal to acquire a stake of about one-third in Premier League club Liverpool, multiple media outlets reported on Monday, Reuters reported.

-- A powerful earthquake rocked Colombia and neighboring Latin American countries on Monday, with at least 18 people confirmed dead in first reports as shocked residents surveyed destroyed buildings, AFP reported.