What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- Vietnam's State President Vo Van Thuong received Deputy President of South Africa, who is on an official visit to the Southeast Asian country from Tuesday to Friday, in Hanoi on Thursday.

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his entourage left Vietnam on Friday for Japan to attend the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation and take part in bilateral activities from December 15 to 18.

Society

-- Ho Chi Minh City's water supplier Sawaco has announced a water outage this weekend in District 1, District 3, District 4, District 5, District 10, and Phu Nhuan District for an upgrade at the Thu Duc City water plant.

-- The administration in Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam said on Thursday that the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism had approved its proposal to hold fireworks displays on New Year's Eve.

-- Ho Chi Minh City police have suspended a traffic police officer after a video surfaced online on Thursday of him kicking a commuter on a scooter when he was chasing the driver, a police official said on Friday.

Business

-- The People's Committee of Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam handed over investment registration certificates to three projects executed by companies from Taiwan and Singapore. The total investment amounts to US$109 million.

Sports  

-- Vietnam will play Kyrgyzstan in a friendly in Qatar on January 9 in preparation for their campaign in the finals of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup there.

-- Vietnam's Hai Phong FC beat Singapore's Hougang United FC 4-0 in their last game in Group H at the 2023-24 AFC Cup on home soil on Thursday. Hai Phong had been eliminated from the cup.

World News

-- "Alphabet's Google said on Thursday it will begin testing a new feature on its Chrome browser as part of a plan to ban third-party cookies that advertisers use to track consumers," Reuters reported.

-- " The final flight of Italy's Vega rocket has been delayed after crucial parts went missing, while the latest test of Europe's new Ariane 6 has been aborted, the European Space Agency said, the latest glitches to affect Europe's troubled launch sector," according to Reuters.

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