Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News — February 20

Read what is in the news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnam’s Party General Secretary To Lam attended the inaugural meeting of the Gaza Board of Peace in Washington, D.C., on Thursday at the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump, the board’s founding chairman.

Society

-- Vietnam recorded 18,255 hospital admissions and emergency cases and 123 deaths suspected to be linked to traffic accidents during the first five days of the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday from February 14 to February 19, the Ministry of Health said in a preliminary report.

-- More than 200 rescuers were searching on Thursday for a 14-year-old girl and a 68-year-old man who remain missing after a family boat carrying seven people capsized on the Gianh River in Tuyen Binh Commune, Quang Tri Province, north-central Vietnam earlier that day, leaving two dead, local officials said.

-- Authorities are investigating the cause after a tourist boat caught fire on Thursday in An Thoi in Phu Quoc Special Zone, An Giang Province, southern Vietnam, causing damage estimated at VND1.9 billion (US$73,162).

-- Traffic police in Hung Yen Province, northern Vietnam on Thursday fined a bus driver VND75 million ($2,888) and deducted 10 points from his 12-point driver’s license for carrying 109 passengers on a 45-seat coach on a more than 300-km route, while the vehicle’s owner was fined VND150 million ($5,776) and had it suspended for two months.

-- The Ministry of Health on Wednesday ordered an urgent investigation, intensive treatment, and heightened food safety monitoring after two people were hospitalized with suspected pufferfish poisoning in Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam.

-- Vietnam’s drug administration has suspended circulation and ordered a nationwide recall of 131 cosmetic products manufactured by Vincos Vietnam Cosmetics Production JSC.

-- Thailand detained six Vietnamese nationals after they crossed a barbed-wire fence to enter the country illegally on Tuesday, while seven others from a group of 13 attempting to cross at a border checkpoint in Laem Klat subdistrict of Muang district remain unaccounted for, the Bangkok Post reported, citing a Thai naval commander.

Travel

-- Nearly 40,000 visitors flocked to the coastal hub of Vung Tau in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, the third day of the 2026 Lunar New Year, filling beaches, packing hotels to capacity and causing traffic congestion.

-- Da Nang’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in coordination with Da Nang Port and border guard authorities, welcomed the cruise ship Seabourn Encore on Thursday carrying more than 1,000 people, including 580 tourists from Britain, France and the United States and about 500 crew members, with the city set to receive about 2,800 European visitors on Friday and a further 650 on Sunday aboard additional international cruise ships, officials said.

Entertainment

-- Kim Jin Geun, CEO of Lotte Entertainment Vietnam, knelt and bowed three times before the audience during a cinetour event for the film ‘Mui Pho’ in Hanoi, urging support for the movie, which had earned VND12.6 billion ($485,177) as of 12:00 pm Thursday, the lowest box office revenue among four Vietnamese releases this Lunar New Year holiday.