Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his Lao counterpart Saleumxay Kommasith on Tuesday co-chaired the 8th Vietnam-Laos political consultation in Hanoi, as the latter arrived in Vietnam for a two-day visit from December 28 to 29.

-- Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday called on Da Nang to become a liveable city that can easily attract investments when attending an event to mark 25 years since the city was recognized as a centrally-governed municipality, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Society

-- As of Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) had reached agreement with the aviation authorities of Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Cambodia, and the U.S. to resume regular international flights from January 1. South Korea, Laos, and China have yet to approve the flight resumption plan while Thailand has proposed more discussion.

-- Police in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday initiated legal proceedings against a 36-year-old man for duping more than 150 victims into investing in virtual currencies and appropriating over VND23 billion (US$1 million).

-- Doctors at Dong Nai General Hospital 2 on Tuesday successfully performed a hip replacement surgery on a 103-year-old woman who had broken her left femur neck.

Business

-- The Quang Ninh Department of Industry and Trade advised other provinces on Tuesday to temporarily halt transporting goods to the province's border gate for export to China, citing the neighboring country's sustained strict management of the flow of goods and people into the Chinese territory.

Education

-- K-12 students in Ho Chi Minh City will have a nine-day break during the upcoming Lunar New Year, or Tet, holiday from January 29 to February 6, according to the municipal Department of Education and Training.

World News

-- Reuters cited the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as saying on Tuesday that the Omicron variant was estimated to be 58.6 percent of the coronavirus variants circulating in the country as of Christmas Day.

-- Mexico on Tuesday allowed a cruise ship to dock and disembark tourists in spite of an outbreak of COVID-19 on board, as the government vowed to keep the country open to cruise vessels provided sanitary precautions are met, Reuters reported.

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