Read what is in the news in Vietnam today:

Society

-- Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has approved a nine-day holiday for the upcoming Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), from January 25 to February 2, 2025.

-- The temperature in the north may drop sharply on Wednesday, reaching 10 degrees Celsius in mountainous areas, while the central region is supposed to see heavy rain in many places, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

-- A 150-kg Asian black bear, an endangered species, was recently captured by a camera trap in the Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserve in Quang Tri Province, north-central Vietnam.

-- An elephant unexpectedly escaped from a tourist area on Tuesday, traveling about five kilometers to a road in Thang Binh District, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam.

-- The family of an 18-year-old man from An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, has agreed to donate his organs to save seven lives, Thong Nhat Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City reported on Tuesday.

Business

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has urged Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue Provinces to accelerate infrastructure projects, including warehouses, conveyor belts, ports, and roads, to facilitate increased coal imports from Laos to Vietnam.

-- Nearly 400 domestic and international booths were featured at Techfest Vietnam 2024 during the inauguration of the startup products and services exhibition in Hai Phong City on Tuesday afternoon.

-- Vietnam’s Grand Pioneers Cruise, operating in Ha Long Bay by the Viet Thuan Group, has outpaced 19 other nominees from Germany, Italy, Norway, France, Ecuador, Sweden, the UK, and the U.S. to win the World’s Best Green Cruise Line 2024 award. The award will be presented at the annual World Cruise Awards in Madeira, Portugal on Sunday.

World News

-- Police in Laos have detained the Vietnamese manager and seven Vietnamese staff members of a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng following the deaths of six Danish, American, Briton, and Australian tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, AFP quoted Lao state media as reporting on Tuesday.

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