Read what is in the news today, February 7:

Politics

-- Defense and foreign ministers of ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called for solidarity and coordination in resolving disputes in the East Vietnam Sea as they met in Singapore on Tuesday for an annual retreat.

Society

­-- At least 20 Vietnamese fishermen died or were lost at sea in the first month of 2018 due to weather volatility and lack of safety equipment, according to statistics from the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center.

-- The cold spell that has swept through northern Vietnam over the past few days is forecast to linger for two more days before giving way to warmer weather, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

-- Withdrawing cash from ATMs in Vietnam has become a challenge in recent days with less than two weeks from Tet, or Lunar New Year, as there is a surge in demand for cash used in holiday shopping, leading to the machines quickly running out of banknotes.

-- There is expected to be an influx of tourists from China, South Korea and Japan to the central city of Da Nang during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday season, with officials putting the number down to over 285,000 visitors from these Asian countries in total, a 9.7 percent increase from 2017.

Business

-- Ho Chi Minh City received US$5.2 billion in inward remittances in 2017 as overseas Vietnamese continued to contribute to the city’s economy, its chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said during an event on Tuesday with 800 Vietnamese expatriates.

-- Fuel stations in Ho Chi Minh City that refuse to sell the E5 biofuel pursuant to earlier government directives will be subject to administrative penalties, the municipal People’s Committee said on Tuesday.

-- An economic court in Ho Chi Minh City was assembled on Tuesday to hear a civil dispute between plaintiffs Vinasun Corp and defendants GrabTaxi Vietnam, after the former had filed a lawsuit accusing Grab of illegal business practices in Vietnam.

-- Nearly $6 billion in market capitalization was lost on the Vietnam Stock Index (VN-Index) during Tuesday’s trading session as plunging stock prices continued to have investors sitting on fire.

Education

-- Experts are raising concerns over Vietnam’s recognition of 1,226 new professors and associate professors in 2017, which has been dubbed an ‘inflation’ of professors considering the fact that there were only less than 12,000 professors and associate professors recognized during the 35-year span between 1980 and 2015.

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