Read what’s in the news today, February 3:

Politics

-- Vietnam’s embassy in Tokyo has asked the Japanese foreign ministry to help speed up the trial of the prime suspect in the death of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl who was allegedly murdered and abandoned near a ditch in Chiba Prefecture last April.

Society

­-- Thu Dau Mot City in the southern province of Binh Duong was upgraded into a first-class city in Vietnam’s metropolitan classification system on Friday, paving the way for the provincial capital to become a future hub of the southeastern region.

-- Ha Dong Phong, deputy Party chief of Dong Hoi, the capital of the north-central province of Quang Binh, has been asked to ‘draw experience’ from allowing his son to climb too quickly on the political ladder, according to inspection conclusions announced on Friday.

-- Two officials in south-central Phu Yen Province are facing demotion from all of current positions after they were found to be untruthful in listing academic qualifications.

-- Twenty-one weasels were rescued and released into the wild by authorities in southern Kien Giang Province after they found the wild animals being transported on a taxi to be sold to restaurants in the Mekong Delta region.

-- The traffic safety committee of Tien Giang has warned of foreseeable congestion on the National Highway 1 through the southern province during the upcoming peak traveling season as millions are expected to leave Ho Chi Minh City for their hometowns in the Mekong Delta region to observe Tet, or Lunar New Year.

Business

-- Over VND53 billion (US$2.33 million) in transactions were made via digital wallets in Vietnam in 2016, equaling roughly a third of the transaction value made through international payment cards the same year, as e-wallets are forecast to continue to expand their market share in 2018.

-- Police in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City on Friday busted into a facility producing counterfeit perfume and confiscated over 8,800 bottles of perfume mimicking famous brands such as Chanel, Tommy, Versace and Gucci.

Education

-- Vietnam added 1,141 new associate professors and 85 new professors in 2017, a rate that nearly doubled that of 2016, according to statistics from the Board of State Professors.

Sports

-- Vietnamese midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai has won a public poll for the best goal of the 2018 AFC U23 Championship that wrapped up in China last week, with over 65 percent of voters picking his stunning free kick into the net of Uzbekistan in the final as the most sensational in the tournament.

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