Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News — December 26

Read what is in the news in Vietnam today:

Society

-- Police in Quang Tri Province, north-central Vietnam said on Thursday they had handed over 676 undocumented cobras weighing more than 924 kg to a state-run snake research and breeding center after seizing the animals last week from a bus transporting them illegally from Laos into Vietnam.

-- MIK Group said it has asked Hanoi authorities to withdraw from an investor consortium developing the Red River landscape boulevard in central Hanoi under a public-private partnership scheme.

The project, which broke ground last week after city approval of a consortium including Dai Quang Minh, Van Phu, MIK Group, Thaco, T&T Group and Hoa Phat, has a preliminary investment estimated at about VND855 trillion (US$32.5 billion) and a planned area of roughly 11,000 hectares.

-- Police said on Thursday they recovered a mobile phone for a Hong Kong tourist after it fell into a storm drain in central Da Nang, following a joint response by firefighters and local officers amid heavy rain.

-- Local authorities in Binh Hung Commune, Ho Chi Minh City said on Thursday they would intensify waste collection, review surveillance cameras and impose fines after household garbage was found dumped around the foot of Ong Be Bridge and along Nguyen Van Linh Street.

-- Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke in hotels in Vietnam fell by 14.6 percent in 2024 from 2020 levels, according to the results of an adult tobacco survey.

Economy

-- Vietnam’s customs authority said on Thursday the country’s total import-export turnover had reached a record $900 billion so far this year and is projected to rise to about $920 billion for the full year.

Education

-- Vietnam has become the largest source of international students in South Korea, with enrollments reaching 107,807 as of August, surpassing China’s 86,179, The Korea Times quoted South Korea’s justice ministry.

Travel

-- Hanoi is expected to receive about 33.7 million visitors in 2025, including more than 7.8 million international arrivals, with tourist spending exceeding VND134 trillion ($5.1 billion), all up more than 20 percent from 2024, the city’s tourism department said on Thursday.

-- Lung Cu in Vietnam’s Tuyen Quang Province will hold its first wild Himalayan cherry blossom festival from January 2 to 4, 2026, an event expected to draw 3,000 to 5,000 visitors, local authorities said.