Vietnam party meeting opens with leadership and economic growth
hanoi: Vietnam’s most important political conclave began Monday, as the ruling Communist Party convened to decide the country’s leadership and broad policy course for the next five years. A total of 1,586 delegates from across Vietnam gathered in the capital, Hanoi, for the National Congress, the party’s highest decision-making body, which meets every five years to elect its top leadership and set priorities shaping the country’s political and economic direction. Delegates will elect about 200 members to the party’s Central Committee, which in turn appoints 17 to 19 members to the powerful Politburo in a tightly choreographed process.
School bus crash in South Africa kills at least 13 children, police say
johannesburg: A truck and a school minibus were in collision in South Africa’s Gauteng province Monday, killing at least 13 children, authorities said. Preliminary reports indicated at least 11 schoolchildren died at the scene, with two others succumbing to their injuries in the hospital. The private vehicle was transporting students to various primary schools and high schools in the southwest of Johannesburg on Monday when the incident occurred around 7 am, according to authorities.