Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Party chief and State President Nguyen Phu Trong chaired a conference of the Central Military Commission in Hanoi on Monday to issue a resolution directing the fulfillment of national defense and military tasks, along with building the army’s Party committee. 

Society

-- One man was injured and about ten houses in the south-central province of Quang Ngai were damaged on Monday afternoon after an excavator hit and triggered a bomb as it was digging up the ground to build a sewer line.

-- A trailer truck driver was chased down by local residents as he attempted to flee the scene after fatally crashing into a 57-year-old motorcyclist in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City at around 5:30 pm on Monday.

-- A 40-year-old teacher in the northern province of Quang Binh has been accused of slapping a first-grade student, resulting in his ear bleeding and some signs of a brain concussion.

-- One man was killed and a woman injured after a seven-seater car collided with the fence along an expressway heading toward Da Lat, a resort city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, on Monday afternoon.

-- A total of 70 people were killed and went missing due to tropical storms in 2018, the Central Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention said, adding that the storms also caused damage worth more than VND10 trillion (US$430 million).

-- Police in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City have arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly murdering another man after the catching the victim urinating in front of his house on the evening of January 4.

Business

-- The number of bus users in Ho Chi Minh City was recorded as 571 million in 2018, falling by 21 million compared to the previous year, the municipal Department of Transport said on Monday, adding that multiple measures will be taken to encourage more residents to use the form of public transportation.

-- Farmers of ‘cuc mam xoi,’ a special kind of daisies that is often used during the Lunar New Year holiday, in Sa Dec Village in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap have had a successful season as most of their flowers have already been sold to merchants at higher price compared to last year.

Sports

-- Vietnam will compete against Iraq in their opener game at the AFC 2019 Asian Cup in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates at 8:30 pm on Tuesday (Vietnam time). The game will be aired on VTV6 Channel.

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