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Each morning, we select some of the most important stories from Saigon, the rest of Vietnam and beyond, and digest them into short, accessible links so you can easily keep up with current affairs.

Saigon

- Saigon and Hanoi's livability has greatly improved over the past five years. [Dan Tri]

- Dam Sen Amusement Park to hold vegetarian food festival this weekend. [Saigon Times]

Vietnam

- Vietnamese Professor Dam Thanh Son from the University of Chicago was recently named one the three winners of the 2018 Dirac Medal and Prize by International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). [Dan Tri]

- More than 600,000 people from the army, militia and military reserve are ready to be mobilised to respond to storm Bebinca. [VietnamNet]

- Sa Pa in northwestern Vietnam has carried out dozens of hydropower projects which are now seriously devastating the environment. [VietnamNet]

- Two black bears that were held captive for bile were released after 18 years in Vietnam. [VnExpress]

- Vietnam enters top 16 of Asian Games' football after beating Nepal 2-0. [VnExpress]

Other

- Vietnamese pho has been named the world’s 20th best food experience by world travel guide book publisher the Lonely Planet. [SGGP]

- Aretha Franklin, universally acclaimed as the “Queen of Soul” and one of America’s greatest singers in any style, died on Thursday at her home in Detroit. [New York Times]

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