Here are today’s leading news stories:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Health reported 120,000 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising the national tally to 8,599,751, with 4,826,024 recoveries and 42,145 deaths.

Society

-- The People’s Court in north-central Nghe An Province gave on Thursday a life sentence to a 38-year-old former police officer for illegally trading narcotics in 2020.

-- Authorities in northern Thai Binh Province confirmed on Thursday they were looking for the family members of a newborn baby girl after she was found inside a cardboard box on a local street earlier the same day.

-- Nguyen Phuong Hang, a Vietnamese businesswoman who became famous with her Facebook livestream videos, was arrested on Thursday for abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state, and the rights and interests of individuals.

-- The refinancing procedures for a VND10 trillion (US$437 million) anti-flooding project in Ho Chi Minh City have been finished, allowing the project to possibly reach completion within this year.

-- Police in north-central Ha Tinh affirmed Thursday they were investigating a case where a tenth grader was assaulted by a local man last week, which caused the young girl to suffer a brain concussion.

-- Officers in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City have separated a 12-year-old girl from her mother after CCTV footage of the woman beating the young girl was posted to social media earlier this week.

Business

-- State-owned enterprises (SOEs) should play a pioneering role in renovation and science-technology development, and demonstrate their leading role of the economy, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said during a national videoconference with SOEs on Thursday.

Lifestyle

-- Thousands of people witnessed the ‘Legendary My Son Night,’ an outdoor art performance that recreates the values of Cham culture, at the My Son relic site in central Quang Nam Province on Thursday evening. The show is also a new tourism product aimed to attract more visitors to the site.

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