Check out what is in the news today, December 17

Politics

-- Poland appreciates Vietnam’s position in Southeast Asia and wants to foster comprehensive ties with the country, Krzysztof Szczerski, Secretary of State at the Polish President’s Chancellery, said as he met Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi on Friday.

-- Vietnam is extremely worried about recent satellite images showing that China appears to have installed weapons on seven geographic features in the East Vietnam Sea, the Vietnamese foreign ministry said Friday.

Society

-- Minh Beo, the Vietnamese entertainer who was condemned to 18 months in a state prison in the U.S in April for sexually assaulting a minor and attempting to commit a lewd act on a fictitious minor will complete his sentence on December 19, and will be deported back to Vietnam in the subsequent 72 hours, a California court ruled Saturday.

-- A filling station in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City burst into flame on Friday, with the blaze completely destroying 22 motorbikes and slightly burning 13 others.

-- Twenty-five people have been killed by flooding in the south-central province of Binh Dinh since late November, while 57,400 houses were inundated and 348 others collapsed, the province’s steering board for disaster prevention, search and rescue said Friday, citing the most up-to-date data.

Business

-- Vietnam Airlines are auctioning four Boeing 777-200ER's in a plan to replace the fleet with more modern aircraft.

-- Ireland will work to push the Vietnam-European Union free trade agreement, the Irish Ambassador to Vietnam Caist Moran told Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a meeting on Friday.

-- Realty developer VinaCapital Group broke ground Friday on the $30 million Ocean Estates project, consisting of 33 beach villas,  in the central city of Da Nang, with completion slated for late 2017.

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