Here are the leading news stories in brief for today, January 12, 2015.

Politics

-- The Party Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam convened a plenary session in Hanoi on Sunday during its ongoing 10th meeting under the chair of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Society

-- Snowfall damaged hundreds of hectares of vegetable crops in Sa Pa, located in the northern province of Lao Cai, as winter weather hit the tourism town over the weekend.

-- A three-year-old boy lost his hand after he was attacked by a home-raised bear in Hoc Mon District, Ho Chi Minh City, on Sunday.

-- A Vietnam Airlines airplane had to be sterilized after the sudden death of a Vietnamese-American passenger aboard a flight from Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday.

-- The National Steering Board for Traffic Safety signed Sunday a cooperation program with 250,000-member online forum Otofun, which focuses on automobile discussions, to raise public awareness of traffic safety.

Business

-- Vietnam’s car sales topped 157,810 in 2014, the highest number since 2009, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

-- Low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific is the airline with the highest rate of flight cancelation and delay in Vietnam, with 30.6 percent of its flights in 2014 delayed, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

-- A soft-loan package worth a total of VND30 trillion (US$1.4 billion) intended to assist homebuyers has helped ease the frozen state of the Vietnamese realty sector as many people have been able to borrow from the lending fund to buy apartments.

-- A farmer in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, has created a system that allows him to water his crops remotely via a mobile phone message.

-- Businesses in Ho Chi Minh City have earmarked around VND15 trillion ($700 million) for stockpiling goods in preparation for Tet (Vietnam’s Lunar New Year), which begins in mid-February, the municipal trade department said Sunday.

-- The Vietnam Air Services Co. (VASCO) will offer a 15-30 percent discount on the Ca Mau – Ho Chi Minh City and Con Dao – Ho Chi Minh City services starting January 15.

Lifestyle

-- A contestant mistakenly drank a cup of acid during his magic performance at the fourth quarterfinal of reality TV show Vietnam’s Got Talent on Sunday night.

-- The central Vietnamese tourism hub of Da Nang has been listed among 52 “places to go” in 2015 by The New York Times.

Sports

-- Many angered football fans sabotaged Stand B of Long An Stadium on Sunday after they were not allowed to enter the venue to watch the Dong Tam Long An – Hoang Anh Gia Lai match in the second round of the 2015 V-League 1, Vietnam’s top-tier football league.