Good morning from Vietnam!

Society

-- Seventy-nine people were killed and 54 others injured in 93 traffic accidents in Vietnam over the three-day New Year holiday that ended on Monday, according to the country’s office of the National Traffic Safety Committee.

-- Seven Vietnamese fishermen onboard a ship captained by Vu Van Quang were brought safely ashore on Monday after their vessel malfunctioned two days earlier in a body of water 70 kilometers off north-central Vietnam’s Nghe An Province.

-- A four-kilometer line of congested traffic was recorded on Monday night on the Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway amid an influx of vehicles carrying people back to the city after the three-day New Year holiday.

-- Twenty metric tons of frozen sea fish has been destroyed by authorities in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue after they were found containing toxins from the Formosa environmental crisis that led to mass fish deaths across central provinces in April.

Business

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a plan to develop Da Nang’s Lien Chieu Port into a logistical hub while its Tien Sa Port will gradually become a tourist port.

-- Vietnam imported over 107,000 automobiles worth US$2.22 billion in 2016, with forecasts of even bigger numbers in 2017 as lower import taxes come into effect for cars originating from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

-- More than 1,000 hectares of salt-making fields in Can Gio District, Ho Chi Minh City, will be turned into either farmland or animal farms in 2017 for better profits, according to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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