Read what’s in the news today, January 24!

Society

-- Two Vietnamese officers joining UN peace-keeping missions in Africa were praised by the association for their excellent performance – a compliment only two percent of peace-keeping officers can get, colonel Hoang Kim Phuong said Wednesday, adding this was a pride for the country.

-- An unidentified person robbed an Agribank bank in the northern province of Thai Binh, running away with around VND200 million ($8,600) after wounding eight people on Wednesday afternoon.

-- A woman was found making vinegar from water and industrial-grade acetic acid Wednesday at her home in the central province of Quang Ngai, police said. Vinegar with the acid may harm the stomach, according to the local authorities.

-- A firecracker explosion wounded five people, including two young children in Nghe An Province, north-central Vietnam, as the 18-year-old victim was making firecrackers, local police said Wednesday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City government ordered the urgent evacuation of 38 families in a downtown apartment building as a preemptive action against the danger posed by the high rise that was leaning.   

-- Temperatures dropped to a minimum low of 18 degrees Celsius in southern Vietnam Wednesday, and a cool weather with lots of sunshine is forecast to continue over the next several days, the southern meteorological agency said.

-- A passenger boat crashed into a fishing boat near the Ly Son Island off Quang Ngai Province’s coast Wednesday, causing the second to sink but no human fatalities were reported, the sea port and waterway agency the central province said.

Business

-- Vietnam’s transport ministry proposed using South Korea’s financial aid to build a $227-million two-kilometer-long bridge linking the two southwestern provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre. This may mean the bridge require no toll gates.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City administration has planned to build smart management center costing an estimated VND30 billion ($1.3 million) for traffic monitoring purposes.

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