Hanoi (VNA) - The following is a list of selected news summaries reported last night by the Vietnam News Agency.

- The Party and State held a solemn ceremony at the Hanoi-based Military Central Hospital 108 on July 18 afternoon to award the Gold Star Order to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

On behalf of Party and State leaders, Politburo member and President To Lam announced the decision to confer the order on Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and presented the Order to the Party chief. Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on July 18 chaired a meeting with heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to discuss the promotion of economic diplomacy to boost the country's economic growth in the second half of 2024 and the following years.

The event was connected with the overseas representative agencies and the People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities via videoconference. Read full story

- Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang on July 18 received Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo who came to say goodbye at the end of his tenure.

Looking back at the progress of Vietnam-China relations during the ambassador’s term of office in Vietnam since September 2018, both host and guest agreed that with the joint efforts of the two sides, the relationship between the two Parties and the two countries has never reached such a profound, comprehensive and practical level as it is today. Read full story

- Minister of Public Security Sen. Lt. Gen. Luong Tam Quang received United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis in Hanoi on July 18.

Quang highly appreciated Tamesis’s active assistance to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) during the preparation and deployment of personnel to UN peacekeeping operations, as well as her support for the MPS’s cooperation programmes with UN agencies like the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). Read full story

- Vietnam has informed relevant countries about the presentation of its Submission on the Limits of the Extended Continental Shelf in respect of the Central Area of the East Sea, to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) via the diplomatic channel, said Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Pham Thu Hang.

At the ministry’s regular press conference on July 18, the spokeswoman noted that Vietnam’s viewpoint is reflected clearly in the MoFA’s statement on the country’s presentation of the Submission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf extending beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines in respect of the Central Area of the East Sea. Read full story

- The Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand has been coordinating closely with Thai authorities to stay updated on and assist with the investigation into the incident involving six people, including four Vietnamese, found dead at a Bangkok hotel, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said on July 18.

At a regular press conference of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the spokeswoman said the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand has asked the police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand to provide information about the incident and create conditions for it to take citizen protection measures. Read full story

- Going on an island-hopping snorkelling tour, taking the cable car to an amusement park on Hon Thom (Pineapple Island) and visiting Sunset Town are among top activities while travelling Phu Quoc island in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, recommended Lonely Planet, the travel information website dubbed “the backpacker's blue bible”.

In a recent post, Lonely Planet gave a guideline for visitors who travel the “pearl island” for the first time. Read full story

- The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has ended in its entirety the probe into trade remedy tax evasion on wooden cabinets imported from Vietnam, according to the Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Following an investigation into the scope of products, the US side has maintained that the preliminary conclusion had been adjusted in September 2023, the TRAV cited the conclusion issued recently by the DOC. Read full story

- The Petrovietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) has proposed the implementation of the Lam Son Clean Energy Production Complex project, with an investment of nearly 4 billion USD in Ninh Thuan province.

The complex will consist of three components: a 1,440 MW pumped-storage hydropower plant with six units; a 3,500 MWp solar power project; and a 350 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). Read full story

- The Authority of Information Security (AIS) under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and Meta - the parent company of Facebook have launched the “Identifying Scams” campaign in Vietnam for 2024.

The campaign aims to help social media users to avoid six of the 24 online scam types that the AIS identified as "hot spots" in Vietnam. These are investment scams, job scams, financial scams, loan scams, lottery scams, and impersonation scams./. Read full story