What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- State President To Lam met with U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on Thursday. During the meeting, President Lam emphasized that Vietnam considers the U.S. a strategically important partner and is committed to working with the U.S. to enhance their relationship in a deep, effective, and substantive manner, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Society

-- The owner of an apartment in the The Goldview condominium complex on Ben Van Don Street in Ward 1, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City discovered a Singaporean's body in their apartment and reported it to local police on Thursday. The investigative police agency of District 4 is still coordinating with relevant units to investigate the cause of the foreigner's death in the condominium. 

-- Currently, yellow-spined bamboo locusts have emerged and are causing damage in 11 out of 16 provinces in northern Vietnam, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a dispatch on Thursday, noting that in the next 10-20 days, the nymphs will mature into adults, posing a serious threat to various crops. Therefore, timely detection and control measures are necessary.

-- A Pakistani taekwondo referee, 58-year-old Murtaza Hassan Bangash, who is in Da Nang to officiate at the 2024 Asian Taekwondo Championships, suffered an acute myocardial infarction but was saved by coronary stent placement, Da Nang Family Hospital said on Thursday.

-- Police in An Giang Province, southern Vietnam said on Thursday that they had arrested a local man on Wednesday when he was trafficking over US$500,000 in cash to Cambodia. The man claimed to have been hired by another man to carry the amount to Cambodia and give it to an unknown individual.

Business

-- Cashless Day Festival, aninitiative spearheaded by Tuoi Tre in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade and the Payment Department of the State Bank of Vietnam, is scheduled to take place from Friday through Sunday on Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

-- On Thursday, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lam Dong Province in Vietnam's Central Highlands announced that it has been working with the MM Mega Market Vietnam supermarket chain to establish and standardize avocado growing regions for export to Singapore and Thailand.

World News

-- "Tesla shareholders approved CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, the electric vehicle-maker said on Thursday, a big thumbs-up to his leadership and an incentive to keep his focus on his biggest source of wealth," Reuters reported.

-- "The United Nations refugee agency on Thursday said the number of people forcibly displaced stood at a record 117.3 million as of the end of last year, warning that this figure could rise further without major global political changes," according to Reuters.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on X to get the latest news about Vietnam!