Read what is in the news today.

Politics

-- A teleconference between the Government and localities to review socio-economic development in 2019 and set up orientations for task performance next year is scheduled to take place on December 30 and 31 under the chair of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Society

-- A 43-year-old man died while getting an abdominal liposuction at Viet Han beauty salon on Nguyen Khang Street in Cau Giay District, Hanoi on Friday.

-- A 31-year-old man, who was under treatment at the Quynh Lap Central Leprosy – Dermatology Hospital in the north-central province of Nghe An for injuries from a traffic incident, set part of the infirmary on fire after being told not to smoke in the venue on Thursday.

-- The family of a former Vietnamese Information and Communications Minister Nguyen Bac Son has returned US$3 million that he had admitted to having received in bribe in order to facilitate a scandalous $391 million deal where state-run telco MobiFone attempted to acquire almost the entirety of a private firm, before the court is set to make its ruling on Saturday morning.

Business

-- Vietnam’s foreign trade for the first time reached $517 billion in 2019, with trade surplus at a record-high of $9.9 billion, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh told a conference held in Hanoi on Friday.

Lifestyle

-- Artists giving walls along Tran Quoc Toan Street in Ninh Kieu District in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho a new paint job with recreations of the city’s old and current images in preparation for the 2020 Lunar New Year, which will fall on January 25.

-- The second puppetry festival is taking place on Ho Chi Minh City’s Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street on Saturday and Sunday, with the aim of creating a cultural exchange site for local residents on the occasion of the New Year and honoring traditional Vietnamese puppetry art.

-- ‘The Silent Cube’, a three-day exhibition taking place in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City from Friday to Sunday, is showcasing ten collections created by Nguyen Cong Tri, one of Vietnam's top fashion designers, since he first got his start in fashion more than ten years ago.

-- A number of art programs will be staged in Hanoi to ring in the New Year, including a countdown event that will start from 7:00 pm on December 31 at Ly Thai To flower garden in Hoan Kiem District, according to the municipal Department of Culture and Sports.

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