Have a nice Sunday!

Politics

-- Chinese officials confirmed on Saturday that Beijing will launch regular flights to its illegal airfield on Phu Lam Island, part of Vietnam's Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, in 2016, and call for investors to build infrastructure on its unlawfully occupied islands.

Society

-- A representative of the Vietnamese Embassy in the Republic of Korea said on Saturday that they had found 19 people among the 56 Vietnamese tourists ‘vanishing’ into thin air on Wednesday, when they were visiting the South Korean resort island of Jeju. These visitors will be deported and face penalties if they are found trying to look for illegal employment in South Korea.

-- Work is slated to start on Sunday on a memorial to Vietnam's fallen Hoang Sa (Paracels) soldiers, which is perched on a mountain on Ly Son Island off the central province of Quang Ngai and looks toward Vietnam’s Hoang Sa, after months of thorough preparation.

-- Road signs which feature incomprehensible, wrong directions remain rampant along streets and highways throughout Vietnam.

-- According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, a cold spell will persist in northern provinces on Sunday, with rains and drizzles forecast for different parts of the northern and central regions. 

Business -- Imported confectionery products have begun to flood the local market for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) after their import duty has been lowered or even waived, as a result of many free trade agreements Vietnam had signed. This has left local firms struggling to compete with their foreign rivals.

-- Delegates at the Phu Quoc Meeting 2016, which took place on Friday and Saturday on Phu Quoc Island, a heavenly resort town off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, discussed ways to fully tap into the island’s economic and tourism potential and turn it into a magnet for major domestic and international investors.

-- Nguyen The Lam, vice board chair of C.E.O. Group, a local realty firm, said on Saturday that they will inaugurate Novotel Phu Quoc Resort, which is located on Bai Truong Beach in Phu Quoc District and boasts 400 five-star rooms, on Monday (January 18).Lifestyle -- The People’s Committee of Hoi An City, located in the central province of Quang Nam, on Saturday organized the first Cam Ha Kumquat Festival, which drew some hundred growers of the ornamental citrus fruit from around the city, home to the UNESCO-recognized Hoi An Ancient Town.