Read what's in the news today.

Politics

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Embassy in Vietnam held a ceremony in Hanoi on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam – Sweden diplomatic ties.

Society

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Health held a press conference on Friday to clarify misconception about using beer for alcohol detoxification, which has become the talk of the town following a case in the north-central province of Quang Tri where doctors feeding a patient poisoned by methanol-tainted alcohol 15 cans of beer in a bid to save his life.

-- A seventh-grade teacher in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 12 has been sanctioned by her school after she gave one of her students an invitation letter to parent-teacher meeting, with the recipient section filled as “Born Fatherless”, head of the district education department told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday.

-- A security officer at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi was trying to stop a group of illegal taxi brokers from luring passengers to their unauthorized services when he was assaulted by the men, having four of his teeth broken and scratches left across his body.

-- In order to serve the organization of the 2019 Ho Chi Minh City Marathon by the municipal Department of Culture and Sports, the city’s Department of Transport will ban motorbikes from transportation to a section of Phu My Bridge, marked by the beginning of Nguyen Van Quy Street to Vo Chi Cong Street, in the direction from District 7 to District 2 between 4:00 am and 8:00 am on Sunday, January 13.

-- The north-central province of Nghe An is searching for a sixth grader, who unfortunately fell into the sea and was swept away on Friday morning as he and his friends went to play at the Cua Hoi Port, which is less than one kilometer away from their secondary school.

Business

-- Cai Mep International Terminal in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau on Friday afternoon welcomed the CMA CGM Marco Polo ship of the France-based shipping group CMA CMG, which is the largest container ship in the world that can carry up to 17,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), with weekly direct cargo shipping from Vietnam to Northern Europe.

-- Shim Won Hwan, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics Group, affirmed at a working session with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi on Friday that the South Korea-based conglomerate committed to expanding investment and long-term business in Vietnam and considered the Southeast Asian country an important strategic location in the global strategy of the group.

-- Vietnam’s low-cost carrier Vietjet on Friday launched its third route connecting Hanoi and Tokyo, Japan, which operates daily return flights with a flight time of around six hours per leg.

Sports

-- Vietnam will face Iran at 6:00 pm on Saturday in their second Group D game at the ongoing 2019 Asian Cup taking place in the UAE from January 5 to February 1.

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