-- Territorial disputes in the East Sea should be resolved by peaceful means without coercion or the use of force, Vietnam and the U.S. said Wednesday in Hanoi at their fifth annual Political, Security and Defence Dialogue, adding territorial and accompanying maritime claims should comply with international law, including as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982.
-- The National Assembly passed Wednesday five laws, including the Law on Price, the Law on Judicial Assessment, the Law on Law Dissemination and Education, the Law on Dealing with Administrative Violations and the amended Law on Trade Union.
-- The outgoing Hungarian Ambassador, Vizi Laszlo, was awarded Tuesday the friendship order for the contributions he has made to the friendly relationship between the two countries during his term in Vietnam. Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh presented the award to Vizi Laszlo in Hanoi.
Society
-- Yahoo! Vietnam launched a new blogging service named Yahoo! Blog on Wednesday. The service was upgraded from Yahoo! 360plus, another popular blogging platform Yahoo! Vietnam has offered for years in Vietnam.
-- U.S. Consul General Le Thanh An visited and extended Wednesday his compliments to Tuoi Tre Newspaper on the occasion of Vietnam Journalism Day, which falls on Thursday.
-- Around 70 percent of traffic fines were found being distributed to traffic police last year.
-- A Ho Chi Minh City court sentenced a 23-year-old college student to death following a conviction for drug transport.
Business
-- The Consumer Price Index slumped 0.43 percent from last month in Ho Chi Minh City while Hanoi witnessed a monthly 0.17 percent drop this month.
-- The finance ministry hiked Wednesday the tariff on gas imports to 5 percent from a previous 0 percent amidst plummeting world prices.
-- Many local banks have been discovered doubling ATM service charges without any prior notice.
-- Vietnam is facing a hike in sugar prices because the white crystals have been exported to China in the form of unofficial cross-border trade, according to a vice minister of agriculture.
Lifestyle
-- The Ho Chi Minh City Chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union will send around 130 young Vietnamese to do community service in Laos and Cambodia from late July to late August.