Here are today’s news stories:

Society

-- Tropical Storm Pabuk became slightly stronger on Thursday morning and is expected to be about 280 kilometers southwest of the Ca Mau Cape in the namesake southernmost province by Friday morning.

-- Customs officers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday caught a Vietnamese- American passenger attempting to smuggle 2.3 kilograms of drugs from the United States.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Management Board of Urban Railway and South Korean consulting units have finished their feasibility report on the construction of a 1,894-meter metro route connecting Hoang Van Thu Park in Tan Binh District with Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is expected to cost about US$296 million.

-- The Department of Transport in Ho Chi Minh City is set to start pulling down the over a century old Phu Long Bridge, connecting District 12 and Thuan An Town in neighboring Binh Duong Province after the 2019 Lunar New Year holiday.

-- A 47-year-old car driver in the north-central province of Nghe An turned himself into police on Tuesday after crashing the vehicle into two elderly women, killing one and injuring the other, on December 29. Following the incident, officers released CCTV footage of the crash to hunt for the culprit.

-- A container truck broke down and another had its wheels stuck in the muddy section of the Phuong Hoang Pass, which connects south-central Khanh Hoa Province and the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, on Wednesday night, causing serious congestion that lingered until Thursday morning.

-- Police in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa on Wednesday morning caught a truck carrying over 850 bottles of smuggled alcohol along National Highway 1. The illegal products were being transported to northern provinces for distribution.

Business

-- Owners of ‘Lai Vung’ tangerine gardens in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap are offering tourists an opportunity to visit their gardens as well as have a taste of the special fruits and other products made from tangerines.

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