Here are today’s leading news stories:

Society

-- Two foreign women, one from South Africa and the other from Russia, were killed after a fire broke out at a tenanted house on Phu Quoc, a famous tourist island off the southern Vietnamese province of Kien Giang, on early Saturday morning.

-- Five people were killed and two others injured after a wall collapsed onto them during the dissembling of a house in the northern province of Ha Giang on Saturday afternoon.

-- The Ministry of Public Security has arrested and initiated legal proceedings against four suspects for smuggling a large volume of products from southern Vietnam to Cambodia.

-- A VND185 billion (US$8 million) bridge connecting Hai Phong City and Thai Binh Province in northern Vietnam was opened to traffic on Saturday following its over-seven-month construction.

-- Disciplinary actions have been imposed upon multiple forest protection officials in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa for letting deforestation occur within a two-hectare section of a local forest.  

Business

-- Vietnam recorded a year-on-year increase of 2.79 percent in the consumer price index (CPI) in 2019, the lowest growth in the past three years, according to the General Statistics Office.

-- Vietnamese automaker Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco) held a ceremony in the central province of Quang Nam on Saturday to mark the export of its 15 buses to the Philippines.

-- The annual Consumption Promotion Fair 2019 kicked off at Phu Tho Stadium in District 11, Ho Chi Minh City on Friday and will last until January, featuring products of 230 enterprises with a total of 430 booths.

Lifestyle

-- The 2020 Spring Volunteer Campaigncommenced in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday morning with the participation of approximately 2,000 youths. Lasting until January 22, the campaign is aimed at helping underprivileged children and poor people ahead of the Lunar New Year.

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