What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- "Within the framework of the Vietnam - Laos, Laos - Vietnam Friendship Year 2022 and on the occasion of the 78th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), the Defense Attaché Office and the Embassy of Vietnam in Laos coordinated with the Lao Ministry of National Defense to hold a get-together on [Thursday] in Vientiane for Lao military students who once studied in Vietnam," according to the Vietnam News Agency.

-- Vietnam is Indonesia's strategically important partner in ASEAN, President Joko Widodo said on Thursday during Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's ongoing visit to the country. Trade between Vietnam and Indonesia hit US$11.6 billion last year. 

Society

-- Police in Dak Lak Province, located in Vietnam's Central Highlands region, said on Thursday that they had arrested four people for growing cannabis plants and selling them over Facebook.  

-- The overweight and obese rate among school students in Ho Chi Minh City surged to 43.7 percent in 2019 from 21.9 percent in 2009, according to a study on 12,000 students whose results were unveiled by Pham Ngoc Oanh, head of the nutrition department at the municipal Center for Disease Control, on Thursday.

-- The Hanoi Depatment of Health has fined 1,403 facilities VND24.8 billion ($1 million) over their violations of food safety regulations in 2022.

Business

-- Vietnam exported over $3.1 billion worth of vegetables and fruits in January-November, according to Vietnam Customs, which said the figure is forecast to increase to $3.4 billion at the end of this year.

-- Vietnam Electricity (EVN) has just sent a proposal to the Ministry of Industry and Trade on hiking power prices in 2022, citing rising costs and a loss of more than VND31.3 trillion ($1.3 billion).

World News

-- "A Shanghai hospital has told its staff to prepare for a "tragic battle" with COVID-19 as it expects half of the city's 25 million people will get infected by the end of next week, while the virus sweeps through China largely unchecked," Reuters reported.

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