Here’s what’s in the news today.

Society

-- Six workers were killed while another was injured as a fire engulfed a drinking shop that was under restoration in the southern province of Dong Nai on Friday afternoon. The construction’s contractor was arrested.

-- Tran Thi Them, a female vendor at a wet market in the northern province of Bac Giang, cut the neck of Vu Thi Nga, one of her fellow traders before stabbing her to death, out of a superstitious belief that doing so would give herself a longer life, police said on Friday, concluding a three-day investigation.

-- Traffic through the section of Tran Quoc Thao Street passing the headquarters of the administration of Ho Chi Minh City's District 3 will be restricted from 8:00-10:00 am on Sunday (December 23) for activities to celebrate the 74th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22), the municipal department of transport announced on Friday.

Business

-- Samsung on Friday appointed Choi Joo Ho as new general director of Samsung Vietnam, which has so far invested US$15.6 billion out of its $17.3-billion registered capital investment in the Southeast Asian country, in replacement of Shim Wonhwan.

-- Unilever Vietnam International Corporation, the Ho Chi Minh City-based wing of the British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company co-headquartered in London and Rotterdam, sent a letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc calling for help after the company was warned by the municipal tax department that its bank account will be blocked if it fails to pay more than VND575 billion ($24.6 million) in corporate income tax.

-- Vietnam's GDP growth rate is likely to reach a decade high of 6.9 - 7 percent in 2018 and maintain a pace of seven percent next year, according to the National Financial Supervision Committee.

Education

-- The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Industry and Trade concluded on Thursday that a number of students of the Hanoi University of Industry being forced to pay the ‘no-fail’ fee of VND1.9 million ($81.33) each, which was said to ensure their passing the final test of an advanced English class, was solely the personal idea of the dean of the foreign language department without approval of the school.

Lifestyle

-- A mass wedding ceremony in Buddhism was organized for as many as 50 pairs of impaired grooms and brides at the Giac Ngo Pagoda in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City on Friday morning, marking the largest Buddhist wedding with the most grooms and brides in Vietnam recognized by the Vietnamese records organization Vietkings.

Sports

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Friday granted a Friendship Order to head coach Park Hang-seo of Vietnam’s national football team, and a first-class Labor Order to the squad, one week after the South Korean manager and his players won the country's second ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup.

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