HANOI — Hundreds of delegates from Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party will gather Monday under tight security for a congress that will select the single-party country’s top leader and set economic goals for the remainder of the decade.

The week-long event, which operates under opaque rules and convenes every five years, could cement and possibly expand power for the party’s current general secretary, To Lam, who has launched sweeping bureaucratic reforms at home and become Vietnam’s public face overseas.

About 1,600 delegates will elect a 200-person Central Committee, which then will pick up to 17 to 19 members of the Politburo from which the general secretary is chosen.

Mr. Lam is seeking to retain his role and possibly take on the state presidency, which has recently been held by a military leader, officials briefed on the matter said.

The congress is likely to confirm him as general secretary, according to multiple officials, although surprises cannot be ruled out, while the decision about the presidency is expected to be made at a later meeting where the outcome is even less clear.

After the congress, the Politburo will nominate the heads of state, government and Parliament. Parliamentary elections will take place only after leaders are chosen by the party.

RISK-TAKING LEADER
Mr. Lam, 68, has launched several major reforms during his brief tenure as party chief, the country’s most powerful job. He ascended to the position following the death of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong, in July 2024.

Widely viewed as a risk-taker, Mr. Lam introduced the most significant administrative reform in decades when he cut tens of thousands of jobs in an effort to speed up decisions. The impact has yet to be fully assessed as officials adapt, but approval timelines for some investment projects have shortened.

That acceleration is tied in part to the scaling back of a sweeping anti‑corruption drive launched under Mr. Trong, an effort that Mr. Lam helped lead as public security minister. The campaign, which was meant to combat systemic bribery, at times paralyzed government decision‑making and led to the downfall of senior figures – including two presidents – clearing Mr. Lam’s path to the top.

Mr. Lam has also launched economic reforms and a burst of infrastructure projects, winning favor with foreign investors while stoking concerns about favoritism and waste.

In a country that allows no opposition, Mr. Lam has presided over a strengthening of the security forces and a tightening of controls over media and dissidents.

ECONOMIC GROWTH, SECURITY TOP NEXT FIVE-YEAR AGENDA
The congress’ delegates represent 5.6 million party members in a country of 100 million.

Under tight security – mobile phones will be jammed in the Hanoi building where the congress will take place – they will also refine the text of a resolution to be approved by the end of the congress, which is scheduled to wrap up on January 25.

A party draft released in October on the party’s website suggests the final text will prioritize security and ambitious growth, targeting at least 10% annually over the next five years, from the 6.5% to 7.0% target that was missed in the first half of the decade.

The draft mentions security dozens of times and highlights the importance of diplomacy and defense in a “more dangerous” world. The party intends to increase its defense forces, especially in border areas, the draft text says.

Environmental protection, which has been increasingly debated recently in the heavily polluted country, has also gained prominence, according to Politburo member Nguyen Xuan Thang.— Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government’s deportation drive, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday.

The US Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the midwestern state escalates, the officials said, though it is not clear whether any of them will be sent.

President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to use the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces if officials in the state do not stop protesters from targeting immigration officials after a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Increasingly tense confrontations between residents and federal officers have erupted in Minneapolis since Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot behind the wheel of her car by ICE officer Jonathan Ross on January 7.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said on Sunday that any military deployment would exacerbate tensions in Minnesota’s largest city, where the Trump administration has already sent 3,000 immigration and US Border Patrol officers to deal with largely peaceful protests.

“That would be a shocking step,” Mr. Frey said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “We don’t need more federal agents to keep people safe. We are safe.”

Clashes in the city intensified after the federal ICE surge and the killing of Ms. Good. US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS’ “Face the Nation” program on Sunday that Mr. Frey should set up “a peaceful protest zone” for demonstrators.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly invoked a scandal around the theft of federal funds intended for social welfare programs in Minnesota as a rationale for sending in immigration agents. The president and administration officials have singled out the state’s community of Somali immigrants.

ICE agents are targeting other immigrant communities as well.

Agents with weapons drawn entered a St. Paul house on Sunday and removed a man who was wearing only shorts and a blanket as onlookers honked horns, blew whistles and shouted at them to leave. The man was a member of the Hmong community, which came to the region from Laos starting in the 1970s after siding with the US in the Vietnam War. Roughly one-third of the US Hmong population are immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center.

Federal agents three days ago also arrested three workers from a family-run Mexican restaurant in the city of Willmar hours after eating lunch there, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

THREAT OF TROOPS FOLLOWS SURGE OF IMMIGRATION AGENTS
If US troops are deployed, it is unclear whether the Trump administration would invoke the Insurrection Act, which gives the president the power to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops to quell domestic uprisings.

Even without invoking the act, a president can deploy active-duty forces for certain domestic purposes such as protecting federal property, which Mr. Trump cited as a justification for sending Marines to Los Angeles last year.

In addition to the active-duty forces, the Pentagon also could attempt to deploy newly created National Guard rapid-response forces for civil disturbances.

“The Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the commander-in-chief if called upon,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, using the Trump administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the order, which was first reported by ABC News.

The soldiers subject to deployment specialize in cold-weather operations and are assigned to two US Army infantry battalions under the 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska, the officials said.

Mr. Trump, a Republican, sent the surge of federal immigration agents to Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul early last week, as part of a wave of interventions across the US, mostly to cities run by Democratic politicians.

He has said troop deployments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, Memphis, and Portland, Oregon, are necessary to fight crime and protect federal property and personnel from protesters. But this month he said he was removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, where the deployments have faced legal setbacks and challenges.

Local leaders have accused the president of federal overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of violence to justify sending in troops.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, against whom the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation, has mobilized the state’s National Guard to support local law enforcement and the rights of peaceful demonstrators, the state’s Department of Public Safety posted on X on Saturday.— Reuters

Billionaire wealth surged at three times its recent pace last year to reach its highest level on record, deepening economic and political divides that threaten democratic stability, anti-poverty group Oxfam said on Monday.

In a report timed for the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the charity said the fortunes of global billionaires jumped 16% in 2025 to $18.3 trillion, extending an 81% rise since 2020.

The gains happened even as one in four people worldwide struggle to eat regularly and nearly half the global population live in poverty.

Oxfam’s study, which draws on academic research and data sources ranging from the World Inequality Database to Forbes’ rich list, argues that the wealth boom is being matched by a dramatic concentration of political clout, with billionaires 4,000 times more likely than ordinary citizens to hold political office.

The group links the latest wealth surge to policies under U.S. President Donald Trump, whose second administration has cut taxes, shielded multinational corporations from international pressure and eased scrutiny of monopolies.

Soaring valuations of artificial intelligence companies have added further windfall gains for already wealthy investors.

“The widening gap between the rich and the rest is at the same time creating a political deficit that is highly dangerous and unsustainable,” Oxfam’s executive director Amitabh Behar said.

Oxfam urged governments to adopt national inequality reduction plans, impose higher taxes on extreme wealth and strengthen firewalls between money and politics, including curbs on lobbying and campaign financing.

Wealth taxes are levied in just a few countries such as Norway at present but others, from Britain to France and Italy, have debated similar moves.

The Nairobi-based charity calculates that the $2.5 trillion added to billionaires’ fortunes last year is roughly equal to the stock of wealth held by the poorest 4.1 billion people.

The world’s billionaire population surpassed 3,000 for the first time last year, with Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk becoming the first individual to exceed $500 billion in net worth.

Behar warned that governments are “making wrong choices to pander to the elite,” pointing to aid cuts and the rollback of civil liberties.

The report highlights what it calls the expanding grip of ultra‑wealthy business figures over traditional and digital media.

Billionaires now own more than half of the world’s major media firms, Oxfam said, citing holdings by Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Patrick Soon‑Shiong and France’s Vincent Bolloré. — Reuters