Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- The Embassy of Vietnam in Russia hosted a press conference and a reception in Moscow on Wednesday (local time) to mark 70 years of the Vietnam-Russia diplomatic relations (January 30, 1950).

Society

-- Two Chinese citizens have been quarantined at Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital after they tested positive for novel coronavirus (nCoV), which previously caused an acute pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan City, China.

-- Police in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday arrested a 20-year-old man for possessing a large amount of firecrackers. The suspect claimed he had purchased the products from a seller on Facebook in order to resell them for a profit.

-- Authorities in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang are looking for an unidentified man after he abandoned his bicycle and jumped from the Rach Mieu Bridge on Thursday morning.

-- Four members of a loan shark gang in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho have been apprehended for offering loans with interest rates of up to 150 percent per month and terrorizing their debtors.

-- The amount of garbage has increased significantly in the past few days as local residents began cleaning up their homes and throwing away old objects to prepare for the Lunar New Year.

Business

-- Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and Nomura Real Estate Development will join hands with Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup on a smart urban development project in Ho Chi Minh City, Nihon Keizai daily business newspaper reported, adding that the Japanese companies will invest nearly US$908 million in the project.   

-- Taipei-based StarLux Airlines has launched a new air route linking Taiwan and Vietnam’s central city of Da Nang. The maiden flight of the route took off at Taoyuan International Airport and arrived at Da Nang International Airport on Thursday, carrying 188 passengers.

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