Catch up on the news in Vietnam today:

Society

-- More than VND152 trillion (US$5.9 billion) is needed to expand the 1,144-km North-South Expressway section from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to six lanes. If the National Assembly approves the expansion during its session in June this year, work on the project could begin in the fourth quarter of the same year, according to the Ministry of Construction’s report sent to the prime minister.

-- The Japanese government has announced a grant of $1.5 million to support the Vietnamese government in managing health risks.

-- Traffic police in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City issued an administrative violation record against a 75-year-old Chinese man for riding an electric suitcase while talking on the phone on Le Thanh Ton Street, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Police informed on Monday.

-- Authorities will quickly investigate a video showing a Vietnamese man letting a young girl, about 10 years old, to steer a car. Strict penalties will be imposed if any violations are found, said a representative of the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security.

Business

-- A delegation of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) will travel to Brussels this week to attend high-level meetings with European Commission’s leaders, laying the groundwork for the upcoming visit of EC president Ursula von der Leyen as well as some European commissioners to Vietnam in the coming time, said Bruno Jaspaert, chairman of EuroCham.

-- About 30 travel companies and tourism units from seven Chinese provinces came to Phu Quoc, an island city off the coast of Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam, on Monday to survey tourism products to bring visitors to the city during the upcoming Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers' Day (May 1) holiday.

Lifestyle

-- Art Republik Vietnam magazine, in collaboration with the Hue Monuments Conservation Center and the French Institute in Vietnam, on Monday organized an exhibition of paintings by Emperor Ham Nghi, who reigned the country for only one year from 1884 to 1885 before being exiled by the French to Algeria in 1888. 

-- Nguyen Lee Hieu, a nine-year-old Vietnamese Australian boy, has excellently won the gold medal in the preliminary round of the Chicago International Music Competition 2025, held in Vietnam last weekend, and will represent Vietnam in the final round in Chicago in July.

World News

-- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela will pay a 25% tariff on any trades made with the United States, according to Reuters.

-- Highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has increasingly spread to mammals and infected hundreds of people, raising concerns that it may lead to human-to-human transmission and turn into a new pandemic, Reuters reported.

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