Check out the news you should not miss today, January 17, the 20^th day of the last month of the lunar calendar, or ten days away from Tet, or Lunar New Year, holidays.

Politics -- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe agreed to push forward the comprehensive, practical and effective development of the bilateral extensive strategic partnership as they met in Hanoi on Monday.

-- Japan will provide Vietnam with six new patrol boats for the Southeast Asian country to enhance its maritime law enforcement capability, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised during his visit to Vietnam on Monday.

Society

-- A new bus route connecting District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, with Go Cong Town of neighboring Tien Giang Province was launched on Monday, tapping into the high travel demand between the city and localities in the Mekong Delta.

-- Hanoi police are hunting for individuals involved in a row that took place in front of a café in Hoan Kiem District on Monday night, in which three gunshots were heard and an apparently injured man quickly fled the scene.

-- Starting tomorrow, January 18, traceable vegetables, produce whose origin and grower’s information can be tracked by consumers via smartphone apps, will be officially available in Ho Chi Minh City, meeting local demand to have clean and fresh green produce for Tet celebrations.

-- Internet service provider Vinaphone has pledged to maintain ‘smooth’ connectivity for its users during the Tet holiday, running from January 28 to the end of this month. Vietnam’s Internet has been hit by three submarine cable problems at a time, slowing connection since early this month.

-- A mother and son were killed when a trailer truck crashed into their house and pulled it down in the southern province of Tien Giang on Monday.

Business

-- Japan pledged $1.03 billion in official development assistance for Vietnam in fiscal 2016, visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a reception hosted by his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi on Monday.

-- Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage Joint Stock Corporation, commonly known as Habeco, is poised to start trading on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on January 19, with a total listing value of $103 million, the stock exchange announced on Monday.

-- The Vietnam Competition Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said they have found numerous violations at Amway Vietnam and Thien Ngoc Minh Uy, two leading multi-level marketing companies infamous for duping locals into joining their networks by promising false lucrative monthly incomes.

Sports

-- V-League side Ho Chi Minh City FC has become the first-ever Vietnamese football club to issue e-tickets for the whole season to supporters, after concluding the first ticket sales on its website on Monday.

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