Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News — October 17

What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- At a regular press conference in Hanoi on Thursday, when Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper asked for Vietnam’s response to the U.S. State Department’s 2025 global report on human trafficking, which includes content related to the Southeast Asian country, the Vietnamese foreign ministry's spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said that Vietnam welcomes Washington's objective assessment of the country’s positive results in combating human trafficking in recent years.

-- At the same press conference, Hang announced that Vietnamese Party General Secretary To Lam and his spouse, along with a high-level delegation, will pay an official visit to Finland from October 20 to 22.

Society

-- The People’s Court of Gia Lai Region 1 confirmed on Thursday that it had coordinated with the regional People’s Procuracy to detain the Panama-flagged vessel Zhi Ying Chang Shun at Quy Nhon Port. The detention followed a request filed on October 6 by the PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals Corporation, which sought the ship’s arrest to resolve its complaint over cargo damage estimated at US$300,000 that occurred during transport by the vessel.

-- Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Bien, head of Waterway Traffic Police Team No. 1 under the Khanh Hoa Provincial Traffic Police Department, told Tuoi Tre on Thursday that his unit had promptly rescued a foreign male tourist from drowning in the sea of Nha Trang and brought him safely ashore.

-- Police in Lam Dong Province, located in Vietnam's Central Highlands, on Thursday launched and put into operation the province’s centralized Security and Safety Monitoring Center to support digital transformation, socio-economic development, and cybersecurity incident response.

Sports

-- The Vietnam Mixed Martial Arts Federation (VMMAF) has finalized a roster of six fighters to compete at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, including four champions from the Lion Championship.

World News

-- "The European Commission on Thursday proposed four flagship European defence projects, including a counter-drone system and a plan to fortify the eastern border, as part of a drive to get the continent ready to defend itself by 2030," Reuters reported.