The 12th Party Central Committee opened its third meeting in Hanoi on July 4, with its agenda focusing on working regulations of the Party’s agencies and recommendations on high-ranking State personnel, among others.

 The national women’s football squad have jumped one step forward to No. 34 in the world ranking, according to FIFA’s latest release.

 The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho plans to solicit investment in and offer incentives to the information technology industry.

Dau Tu last week reported that Compal’s plan on reviving the $500 million project in Ba Thien Industrial Zone (IZ) in Vinh Phuc province has not started, and the fate of the factory remains unclear.

 The budget deficit in the first half of the year hit VND82.9 trillion (US$3.7 billion) due to rising recurrent expenditures and the repayment of debts, the General Statistics Office reported.

 The Ministry of Industry and Trade is planning to continue its regulation on auto imports.

  The Mekong Delta region has been facing worsening land subsidence, which has been compounded by the prolonged drought in the region this year.

  IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Singapore-based Armstrong S.E. Clean Energy Fund have announced investments in the Gia Lai Electricity Joint Stock Company (GEC).

 The MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation (MobiFone) launched the north-south transmission backbone at a ceremony in Hanoi on July 1.

 Google has announced it offered free access for large and small-scale businesses in Vietnam to Google Apps for Work by the end of June this year, according to ICT news.

 Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung paid a working visit to the Australian State of Victoria to strengthen bilateral understanding and learn the locality’s experience in urban management and building a green and modern city.

VietNamNet Bridge - Government officials and experts have mixed views about the collection of taxes from Uber, Coca-Cola and Big C.

VietNamNet Bridge - Scientists from the Hanoi University of Engineering & Technology, a member school of Hanoi National University, have invented an air pollution warning system by using satellite images.

The historic drought this year affected 45,000 hectares of rice and crops, causing a loss of VND8.114 trillion in total. The drought and saline intrusion caused 2 million people to lack water for daily use,

 VietNamNet Bridge – The photos showing an old lady in swimwear, smiling happily next to her husband on the beach, have been shared by millions of people on the Internet in recent days.

VietNamNet Bridge - Investors from South Korea have been topping the list of foreign investors in Vietnam in the last two years.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many vocational schools have closed some training majors, and analysts say they may have to shut down entirely as they cannot find students.

 A recently released study by the Vietnam Industry Research and Consultant (VIRAC) shows that beer production and consumption in Vietnam for 2014 reached an all-time record high of 3.1 billion litres with revenue of US$4.56 billion.

 The Ministry of Health has suspended sales of 13 beverage products of Coca-Cola Vietnam categorised as “supplement food” because the company does not have certificates on food safety for supplement food production.

 Vietnam’s public debt may be higher due to the stronger Japanese Yen emerging from the Brexit crisis, according to Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI).