Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News — April 22

Check out the latest news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese State President Luong Cuong will pay a state visit to Laos from Thursday to Friday this week at the invitation of General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, according to an announcement of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Society

-- Police in Phu Loi Ward in southern Binh Duong Province on Monday summoned a disabled man after a video surfaced on social media showing him letting go of both hands and lying on his back while riding a motorbike on a road, speeding past many other vehicles.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on Monday sent a document to the Ministry of Construction, urging the ministry to propose the government approve the use of the state budget for the Thu Thiem – Long Thanh railway project connecting the city and neighboring Dong Nai Province. The nearly-42-kilometer line is estimated to cost over US$3.4 billion.

-- A 76-year-old war veteran from Nghe An Province in north-central Vietnam is riding his motorbike over 1,300 kilometers to Ho Chi Minh City to watch the military parade commemorating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of southern Vietnam and Reunification Day (April 30).

-- Authorities in Kien Giang Province, southern Vietnam have proposed the government allow the province to pilot a number of special mechanisms and policies related to mineral exploitation and aviation infrastructure development, in preparation for hosting the 2027 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting on Phu Quoc Island.

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh required efforts to start the construction of the Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho high-speed railway in 2027 and extend the railway from Can Tho to Ca Mau in 2028 at a meeting with southern localities on Monday.

Economy

-- Total sales of the e-commerce market in Vietnam in the first quarter of this year reached VND101.4 trillion (US$3.9 billion), surging 42.29 percent over the same period last year, according to a report by e-commerce market research platform Metric.

-- Shops operating at the iconic Ham Ca Map (Shark Jaw) building in Hanoi ceased business on Monday to clean up and move out their belongings, preparing to hand over the premises to local authorities for demolition in the near future, a local official told Tuoi Tre (Youth) the same day.