Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News - November 22

Check out the latest news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnam and South Africa have issued a joint statement on the upgrade of bilateral ties to a strategic partnership during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's trip to South Africa to attend the G20 Summit and conduct a number of bilateral activities from Friday to Sunday.

Economy

-- The Hanoi administration has announced its plan to divest its entire 68.67-percent stake in Thuong Dinh Footwear JSC. The sale, scheduled for December 16, involves 6.38 million shares, expected to bring in at least VND130.9 billion (US$5 million) if fully subscribed.

-- OrthoLite, the U.S. company supplying premium shoe insoles to more than 550 global brands, has opened a new manufacturing facility in Ninh Binh Province, expanding its footprint in Vietnam to strengthen production capacity and shorten supply chains.

Society

-- Heavy rain may continue across parts of flood-ravaged south-central Vietnam on Saturday. Northern and north-central provinces will experience sunny daytime conditions, while some northern mountainous areas could remain in severe cold. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected in the south and other regions, according to the national weather agency.

-- An estimated 300,000-400,000 abortions involving girls aged 15-19 were recorded nationwide each year, according to new data released by the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, highlighting rising sexual-health risks among Vietnamese youth.

-- Police on Friday pressed charges against Mailisa beauty clinic owners Phan Thi Mai and Hoang Kim Khanh along with six associates for allegedly smuggling low-quality cosmetics from China into Vietnam and earning illicit profits worth trillions of Vietnamese dong. [VND1 trillion = $38 million]

-- About 110 Vietnamese nationals suspected of involvement in online fraud were returned to Vietnam via Xa Mat International Border Gate in Tay Ninh Province after Cambodian authorities dismantled several cyber-scam operations.

Ho Chi Minh City

-- Ho Chi Minh City leaders on Friday held a coordination meeting to prepare a disaster-relief mission to Khanh Hoa Province, led by the city’s Party Secretary Tran Luu Quang. The mission aims to support areas suffering the most extensive damage following days of intense rainfall, widespread flooding, and severe landslides across the south-central region.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City International Martial Arts Festival opened on Le Loi Boulevard on Friday evening, showcasing performances from 10 foreign teams and 15 Vietnamese groups, celebrating Vietnam’s martial spirit and promoting cultural exchange.

World News

-- At least five people, including a child, were killed and around 100 injured when a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Bangladesh on Friday, the government said, with buildings damaged in many areas including the densely populated capital Dhaka, Reuters reported.

-- Gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped at least 227 students and teachers at a Catholic school in the northwest on Friday, the Christian Association of Nigeria said, the latest in a spate of school attacks this week that has forced the government to shut 47 colleges, according to Reuters.