Society

-- Police in the central city of Da Nang on Thursday detected hundreds of boxes of fake goods, including Omega and motion sickness prevention patches made in China at the store of Vinadaco Ltd. Co. Authorities also discovered nearly 3,500 fake anti-counterfeiting stamps at the place.

-- To Quoc Nam, vice director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the southern province of Ca Mau, on Thursday said the province had decided to construct a 8,000-cubic-meter freshwater reservoir at a cost of more than VND30 billion (US$1.34 million) on Hon Khoai Island in Ngoc Hien District due to the shortage of fresh water at the locality.

-- Duong Minh Phat, a little boy who was stabbed by a woman who slept in an empty bed in the room shared by the baby and his mother and many others at a general hospital in the southern province of Vinh Long last August, when he was 12 day olds, on Thursday underwent a surgery because he had plenty of fluids accumulated in his head. This is the third time the boy has gone under the knife since he was stabbed.

Business

-- The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact marks a new development stage in the relationship between Vietnam and the U.S. and will accelerate Vietnam’s economic growth in the next years, experts said in a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.

-- Vietnam imported almost 500,000 tons of charcoal in 2015 though the country exported 1.26 million tons of the fuel, the Vietnam National Coal - Mineral Industries Group said.

-- Leading Vietnamese tour organizer Vietravel will collaborate with the Vietnam Air Services Company to offer services on the Can Tho – Nha Trang route with three flights a week from January 21, as well as consider operating flights from those Vietnamese localities to Bangkok and Singapore.

Education

-- The STEM festival will be held at Saigon University in Ho Chi Minh City with the aim of offering chances to primary school students to practice science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The two-day event, which will kick off on Saturday, is expected to welcome around 5,000 primary school students, parents and teachers.