Read what is in the news in Vietnam today:

Society

-- The Vietnamese government has issued a decree allowing support of up to 50 percent of initial investment costs for businesses engaging in semiconductor and AI research and development projects, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

-- Vietnam's Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank on Saturday rejected a rumor on social media that its senior leader gambled and transferred tens of millions of U.S. dollars abroad.

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked billionaire Pham Nhat vuong, chairman of leading private conglomerate Vingroup, to develop a metro line from downtown Ho Chi Minh City to outlying Can Gio District, the government leader said at a conference in the southern metropolis on Saturday afternoon.

-- Police in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam said on Saturday that they had arrested a man a day earlier as he insulted and slapped a local police officer in the face after being advised to visit a higher-level hospital for injury treatment.

-- A forest protection officer spotted a reticulated python which is some four meters long and weighs nearly 100 kilograms in a forest in Kien Giang Province, southern Vietnam and drove it back into the forest, the Phu Quoc National Park management board reported on Saturday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism has announced the suspension of tours of the office building of the municipal People's Council and People's Committee for site maintenance. The time to reopen the edifice to visitors is not disclosed. 

Business

-- Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc on Friday signed a decision to eliminate another decision to exempt the value-added tax and import duty on products each valued below VND1 million (US$39.3) imported via express delivery services.

-- Foreign investors net sold over VND93 trillion (US$3.7 billion) on the Vietnamese stock market in 2024, a fourfold increase over 2023 and the largest-ever sale in history, according to Fiintrade, a trading information and analytics platform.

World News

-- “The world's oldest person, Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, has died at the age of 116,” AFP cited the city of Ashiya where she lived as saying.

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