Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Vietnam and Australia have officially taken over the role of co-chairs of the Southeast Asia Regional Program (SEARP) under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the 2022-25 term from Thailand and South Korea, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Society

-- A woman and her daughter were hospitalized with serious injuries after being hit by a falling tree while traveling on a street in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday evening. There was neither rain nor wind at the time of the incident.

-- Police in northern Thai Binh Province confirmed on Wednesday that a 38-year-old man was found dead inside a car that local residents had spotted in a river on Tuesday.

-- Health workers at 36 vaccination sites in Ho Chi Minh City administered COVID-19 vaccine to about 13,000 people during the Lunar New Year holiday from January 29 to February 6, according to the municipal Department of Health.

-- The Hanoi Department of Health has appointed Truong Quang Viet, deputy director of the city’s Center for Disease Control, as director of this agency after the post had been vacant for nearly two years.

-- Police in northern Dien Bien Province have initiated legal proceedings against two brothers for attacking officers at the police station in Pa Thom Commune on February 4.

Business

-- FLC Group has proposed developing a project in an urban area complex which covers nearly 1,200 hectares and costs about VND80 trillion (US$3.5 billion) in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

-- Vietnam’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January posted a year-on-year rise of 1.94 percent and inched up by 0.19 percent compared to the previous month, according to the General Statistics Office.

-- Many shops in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City began preparing grilled snakehead fish on Wednesday night to sell to local residents on the occasion of the God of Wealth Day, which falls on February 10 this year.

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