Here are the news stories you should not miss today, February 6:

Politics

-- A total of 12 cooperation documents were signed during the 40th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee in Vientiane on Monday, which was co-chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Laotian counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith.

Society

-- Due to the effect of a cold spell, temperatures in southern Vietnam dropped to 18 to 21 degrees Celsius on Tuesday morning.

-- The Hanoi People’s Court on Monday sentenced Trinh Xuan Thanh, former chairman of a subsidiary of the state-run oil and gas group PetroVietnam (PVN), to life in prison for the embezzlement of VND14 billion (US$616,502) at PetroVietnam Power Land Joint-Stock Company (PVP Land). Thanh had already been given a life sentence for his violations in another case.

-- During a meeting on Monday, the Party Committee in the central city of Da Nang reprimanded five high-ranking officials, including the city’s chief inspector and deputy director of the Department of External Affairs, for several offenses.

-- A program co-organized by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and Bright Future Fund took place at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion in Hanoi on Monday, offering gifts to 200 children suffering cancer on the occasion of the coming Lunar New Year.

-- A gas tank exploded during a fair at an elementary school in the north-central province of Ha Tinh on Monday afternoon, causing severe burns to seven pupils.

-- Police in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang have arrested and initiated legal proceedings against three suspects who were caught storing nearly 3,000 pills of synthetic drugs. They are members of a Ho Chi Minh City-An Giang drug ring.

-- A ninth-grade schoolgirl in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang was run over and killed after a tipper truck driver carelessly backed his vehicle.

Business

-- The online shopping market is heating up prior to the Lunar New Year holiday as consumers have increasingly preferred the model thanks to its convenience.

Lifestyle

-- The iconic Dragon Bridge in Da Nang City is set to perform its famous water and fire breathing show for five consecutive days from February 14 to 18 to mark the Tet holiday.

Sports

-- Vietnam have advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship after beating hosts Taiwan 3-1 on Monday evening, and are scheduled to face Uzbekistan on February 8.

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