Check out what is in the news today:

Society

-- A blaze raged across 11 kiosks in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City around 1:30 pm on Tuesday, killing one young woman and burning down property in six shops.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has submitted to the prime minister a plan to combat tide-caused flooding, which also takes climatic conditions into consideration. The proposition, projected to cost an estimated VND9.85 trillion (US$432 million), includes the construction of tide-control sewers and dykes in several districts.

-- Speaking to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters on Tuesday, Truong Trieu Duong, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines, cautioned that staffers at some airports in that country have been found stuffing ammunition into passengers’ luggage to extort money from them.

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved some propositions meant to speed up the construction of the new Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Business -- Work began on Tuesday on a project to build the Saigon Silicon City, located in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City. The project, modeled after Silicon Valley in the U.S., is expected to cost VND860 billion ($37.8 million).   -- The administration of Da Lat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on Tuesday decided to lift a ban on traders at a wholesale market from selling Chinese potatoes on condition that they clearly indicate the produce’s origin and do not disguise them as local specialty potatoes.

-- Nguyen Van Thang, board chair of the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), announced on Tuesday that the bank will earmark approximately VND20 trillion ($879.4 million) for realty projects in Ho Chi Minh City, including those carried out by Khang Dien Co., a Vietnamese real estate development firm.

Lifestyle

-- Vuong Anh Tuan, vice general director of Saigontourist, a local travel firm, told Tuoi Tre that the upcoming edition of Ho Chi Minh City’s iconic Tet (Lunar New Year) flower street will run on the Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, located in the downtown area, and be one day longer than last year’s.

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has ratified the foundation of a Type-2 Maths and Physics Center in Vietnam under the organization’s patronization. The approval was made at the ongoing 38th session of the UNESCO General Conference in Paris.