Check out the latest news in Vietnam today:

Business

-- Vietnam recorded 918,700 active businesses from the beginning of the year till February 19, representing a decline of 3,895 companies compared to the figure seen on December 31 last year, according to the General Department of Taxation.

-- Vietnam welcomed over 1.53 million international tourist arrivals last month, sending the total number of international visitors to the country during the January-February period to more than three million, surging nearly 69 percent year on year.

Society

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) issued a hot weather warning on Friday afternoon for the city and localities in southern Vietnam amid a spell of excessively hot weather, advising the public to take precautionary measures against the scorching heat to reduce a risk of heat-related health problems.

-- The Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that police of Japan have arrested a 49-year-old Japanese man for allegedly stabbing a Vietnamese citizen to death on February 26. The ministry’s representative bodies in Japan are working with authorities on the issue.

-- Police in Ho Chi Minh City announced on Friday evening that they have cracked down on an illegal weapon trafficking ring, seizing 230 guns of various types, 4,750 bullets, 23 gas cylinders, 54 ammunition boxes and many other related items that were smuggled from Thailand and Cambodia for reselling in Vietnam via social media platforms.

-- Eight crew members including five Vietnamese and three South Koreans were rescued after a fishing boat with 10 people on board capsized off the southern island of Jeju in South Korea on Friday, leaving two South Koreans missing, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

World News

-- Researchers in the Amazon have discovered the world's largest snake species - an enormous green anaconda - in Ecuador's rainforest that split off from its closest relatives 10 million years ago though they still nearly look identical to this day, Reuters reported.

-- Reuters cited International Energy Agency (IEA) as saying on Friday that global energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) hit a record high last year, driven partly by increased fossil fuel use in countries where droughts hampered hydropower production.

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