Tuoitrenews briefs some of the leading stories published today on Vietnamese media:

Politics

-- UK Queen Elizabeth II has expressed keen interest in the cooperative and friendly ties between the UK and Vietnam and voiced strong support for bilateral collaboration programs while receiving Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK and Northern Ireland Nguyen Van Thao who presented his credentials to the Queen in London on Tuesday. The Vietnamese embassy is working with UK partners to design an action program to deepen the bilateral strategic partnership in the next five years, said Ambassador Thao.

-- The year of 2014 is a successful year for the relationship between Vietnam and Japan since the two countries elevated their ties to an extensive strategic partnership, and the bilateral cooperation in various fields from politics, national defense, and security to economics, culture and education have produced substantial outcomes, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Doan Xuan Hung.

Society

-- Over a hundred of foreign students attending universities and colleges in Hanoi are celebrating the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) festival in Vietnam.

-- As many as 112 road traffic accidents took place nationwide on the last two days before the beginning of the lunar New Year, leaving 81 dead and 52 others injured, of which 38 people lost their lives in accidents in Wednesday alone, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. During the two days, traffic police force handled over 4,700 cases of violations of regulations on traffic safety, while sequestering 31 cars and over 1,000 motor bikes, and confiscating 165 driving licenses, said the committee.

Business

-- The central province of Thua Thien-Hue province has reached agreement with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Company of Malta on speeding up the upgrade of Chan May Port to welcome cruise liners, and all dredging works and upgrade will complete before April 30, said Nguyen Van Cao, Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue People’s Committee. The upgrade project, which may cost VND85 billion (US$3.96 million), will allow the port to receive super-size ships, like Quantum- or Oasis-class super-large ships, and contribute to the province’s increasingly important tourism.

-- The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) plans to deal with six or eight banks in 2015 to create banks with bigger operational scale and better performance by merging with the others including efficiently-operating ones, according to Governor Nguyen Van Binh.