Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News — October 31

What you need to know today:

Politics

-- Vietnam's State President Luong Cuong on Thursday held talks with President Lee Jae Myung on the occasion of his visit to attend the 2025 APEC Leaders’ Week in Gyeongju, South Korea, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. President Lee warmly welcomed President Cuong and affirmed that South Korea considers Vietnam a key partner in its regional foreign policy, emphasizing that the Vietnamese official’s visit holds significant importance for joint cooperation toward peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Society

-- Visiting Hoi An in late October, many foreign tourists had a unique experience witnessing the ancient town submerged in floodwaters, while scenes of local residents helping one another deeply moved them.

-- Floods in central Vietnam had left 10 people dead, 12 missing, 22 injured, and more than 128,000 homes severely inundated as of 5:30 pm on Thursday, according to a report from the National Civil Defense Steering Committee.

-- Around 7:30 pm on Thursday, Bui Vien Walking Street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City was aglow with Halloween colors as thousands of revelers gathered to celebrate, dress up, and take photos. Costumes splattered with fake blood, witches, vampires, pumpkins, cobwebs, and skeletons all came together to create a bizarre and haunting Halloween night in Ben Thanh Ward.

-- From tonight through November 1, heavy rainfall is forecast across areas from Nghe An to northern Quang Tri, with total precipitation ranging from 200 to 400 millimeters and some places expected to exceed 700 millimeters. Low-lying and riverside areas in these provinces face a high risk of flooding.

Economy

-- V-Film Cinema Development Joint Stock Company announced its business registration on Thursday. The company is headquartered at Symphony Building in the Vinhomes Riverside urban area of Hanoi, with a charter capital of VND10 billion (US$380,000). Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of Vingroup — Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate — contributed VND4.5 billion to establish V-Film, while other family members chipped in with an additional VND4.5 billion.

World News

-- "The U.S. Federal Reserve has moved back into line with other major rate setters after it cut rates by a quarter point on Wednesday but pushed back against market bets that it would keep going as the Washington shutdown fogs up its forecasting lens," Reuters reported, adding that the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank left rates unchanged on Thursday. 

-- Deep in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, scientists have created a 'time machine' that releases carbon dioxide into the forest canopy to mimic future atmospheric conditions and study how the ecosystem responds — a key question set to be discussed at next month’s COP30 United Nations climate summit hosted by Brazil, according to Reuters.