Vietnam’s Communist Party chief elected as new president

Vietnam’s National Assembly has elected Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong as president, succeeding Tran Dai Quang, who died last month, AP reports. The 74-year-old Trong is the first to hold both positions since founding President Ho Chi Minh in the 1960s. The merger will unlikely change the country’s course or economic policies, according to analysts. Trong, a former chief ideologue of the party, was elected to the Politburo in 1997. He was elected general secretary in 2011 and re-elected in 2016.