Read what is in the news today, January 18:

Politics

-- U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink said on Wednesday he and U.S. President Donald Trump had absolute faith in Vietnam to be a trusted partner of the U.S. in the modern era during a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on “Vietnam – U.S. Relations under President Donald Trump’s Administration."

-- Two Vietnamese deputy ministers of foreign affairs – Ha Kim Ngoc and Dang Dinh Quy – will take office as Ambassador to the U.S. and Ambassador to the United Nations, respectively, as the lawmaking National Assembly approved the government appointments on Wednesday.

-- Parliamentary delegations from 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region will be in Vietnam from January 18 to 21 to attend the 26th Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), during which matters that affect the region will be discussed.

Society

-- Crew members of fourteen sand-mining vessels were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday as they were found illegally extracting thousands of cubic meters of the resource near the waterfront in Can Gio District.

-- Dozens of households in northern Lao Cai Province were flooded by a massive mudslide of around 84,000 cubic meters in volume on Wednesday following a leak in the waste pond of a local ore processing plant.

Business

-- Vietnam’s shadow economy makes up 25-30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provides jobs for around 57 percent of its workforce, according to a recent study by Fulbright University Vietnam.

-- Agriculture pesticides containing the active ingredients 2.4D and paraquat will be banned from being imported into Vietnam starting October 2018 due to the widespread use of these products for suicidal purposes, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

-- More than 24 million SIM cards in Vietnam were deactivated or blocked in 2017 as a result of authorities’ crackdown on telephone numbers not properly registered in accordance with Vietnamese regulations, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

-- Truong Minh Tuan, Vietnam’s Minister of Information and Communications, demanded that Google open a representative office in Vietnam to provide better services to local users and comply with Vietnamese laws as he received a delegation of Google executives in Hanoi on Wednesday.

-- Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda have announced that they would cease export of foreign-made cars to Vietnam starting 2018, citing inability to comply with a recent government decree that requires imported cars to be inspected.

Sports

-- Vietnam’s under-23 soccer team made history at the 2018 AFC Under-23 Championship in China on Wednesday as they pulled off a draw against Syria, securing the second place in the group stage and making it to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time ever.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!