(VOVWORLD) - The 13th session of the 12th Party Central Committee opened in Hanoi on Monday. At the opening session, Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong stressed the need to focus discussion on the socio-economic situation in 2020, the plan for 2021, documents for the 13th National Party Congress, and a personnel plan for the next Party Central Committee.

(VOVWORLD) - The Ministry of Science and Technology has launched a program called “Connecting millions of hearts” on the iNhandao digital platform. It’s part of a national project to develop a Vietnamese digital knowledge system.

(VOVWORLD) - At the government’s regular meeting for September, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged faster economic recovery in order achieve a GDP growth rate of 2.5 to 3% this year. The Prime Minister said many foreign and Vietnamese survey organizations have made similar forecasts. With COVID-19 under control, Vietnam’s economy is recovering quickly.

(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam has international commercial flights to some designated destinations. As COVID-19 continues, countries are working out ways to live with the epidemic while resuming normal life. Quarantining and testing of travellers will be commonplace when international commercial flights resume.

(VOVWORLD) - The European Commission (EC) on Thursday sent “a letter of formal notice” to the UK government, the first step in legal proceedings, for the UK’s violation of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Deep disagreements around the UK's departure from the EU have not yet been resolved, signaling a new period of tension in bilateral ties.

(VOVWORLD) - The Communist Party of Vietnam is collecting opinions of Party members and the public to finalize draft documents of the upcoming National Party Congress. This is an important task to promote democracy and the creativity of the Party and people in building guidelines and strategies for national development. Hostile forces try to use this process to introduce false information about the political regime, the Party leadership, personnel work, and Party Congress issues, but their distortions cannot obscure the democracy of Party activities.

(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.12% during the first nine months of the year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). Although the slowest growth in the past decade, it has to be considered a success given the heavy toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on the global economy.

(VOVWORLD) - The Ministry of Health has approved a project to expand remote medical examination and treatment for the next five years. Telemedicine is seen as an effective way to control the current epidemic and improve the economy.

(VOVWORLD) - Armenian and Azerbaijani armies fought a large-scale battle in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Sunday, using large-caliber weapons, mortars, artillery, and jet fighters. Observers say if the dispute between the two former Soviet republics is not promptly ended, it could spiral out of control.

(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam’s agricultural sector is training human resources for the sector’s restructure, particularly high-tech agriculture. FTAs and foreign certification of Vietnamese agricultural products will boost Vietnam’s agricultural exports.