What you need to know in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with his Dutch counterpart Dick Schoof in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday (local time) on the occasion of the 55th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) there, with the latter underscoring the Netherlands’ interest in exploring investment opportunities in Vietnam’s semiconductor sector.

-- PM Chinh emphasized at a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop in Davos the same day that Vietnam is always closely monitoring the situation in Myanmar and hopes for a prompt return to stability there, for the benefit of the local people as well as for regional and global peace and stability, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

Society

-- The Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday held a ceremony to receive the Gold Seal of Approval from the U.S.-based Joint Commission International, making it the first public hospital in Vietnam to be accredited for medical service quality by the global leader in health care accreditation.

-- Booking ride-hailing services in Ho Chi Minh City during the days leading up to the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) is quite stressful as customers face long waits, while drivers, frustrated by traffic congestion, turn off their apps to finish work early. 

-- A man found a Javan pangolin, a rare species of anteater, on a street near a residential area in Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City and handed it over to rangers on Wednesday. The animal was estimated to weigh some four kilograms.

Business

-- The Vietnamese government is expected to maintain a moderately expansionary fiscal stance to boost domestic economic growth, with the fiscal deficit largely unchanged at 3.5 percent of GDP in 2025, from 3.6 percent in 2024 , according to a recent report from BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

-- Many bonsai pots made from vibrant, colorful aluminum wires are displayed in front of a house in Quang Duc Village in Cam Hiep Nam Commune, Cam Lam District under south-central Khanh Hoa Province, attracting lots of passers-by.

World News

-- A rapidly growing wildfire broke out some 50 miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, burning 5,054 acres (20 square km) while two major fires burning in the metropolitan area for more than two weeks were getting under control, Reuters reported citing fire officials.

-- A historic January storm dumped more deep snow along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday after bringing Houston and New Orleans to a near standstill over the past two days and burying parts of Florida's Panhandle with accumulations more typical of Chicago, according to Reuters.

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