Sony Music Entertainment's Twitter account was hacked on Monday, publishing fake statements that pop music icon Britney Spears had died.

On December 25, the ancient ritual Hau dong, a spirit possession ritual of the Mother Goddess religion, recognized as an intangible cultural heritage, debuted at West Lake in Hanoi.

 Vietnamese artist brothers Giang Quoc Co and Giang Quoc Nghiep have smashed a Guinness World Record by climbing stairs with one sibling balanced atop the other using only head-to-head contact.

 Vietnam along with Thailand, China, India and Indonesia, participated in the fifth sea festival 2016 in Cambodia from December 23-25.

 Students from the University of Industrial Fine Arts in Hanoi and the University of Architecture in HCM City have received gold awards at the 2016 Asia Young Designer Award Competition.

 The sixth Buon Me Thuot coffee festival and the Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival 2017 will take place in Dak Lak province from March 8 – 13 next year. 

A master plan to develop the physical strength and height of Vietnamese people in the 2011-30 period is expected to help improve the quality of human resources of Vietnam.

 The newly-appointed Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Kunio Umeda has pledged to spare no effort to contribute to the development of football of the two countries.

 World football governing body FIFA has ranked Vietnam at No 32 in the women’s category.

 The Government has issued a resolution, approving the extension of its rice trade agreement with the Philippine Government. 

 Natural disasters and environmental pollution can reduce GDP by 0.6 percent per year from 2016-2020, according to the National Centre for  Socio-economic information and Forecast (NCIF) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. 

 Vietnam welcomed the 10 millionth foreign visitor in 2016 at the Phu Quoc airport in the island district of Phu Quoc, the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang on December 25.

 The Prime Minister has approved the recognition of 13 more places as national special relic sites in terms of history, architecture and landscape.

 The Police Department for Investigation of Drug-related Crime under the Ho Chi Minh City Police is detaining a Colombian woman who illegally transported 1.6kg of cocaine to Vietnam.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc pledged to work hard to remove and adjust unsuitable land use policies to accelerate agriculture development during a year-end conference of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

European investors are running 1,809 valid projects worth 23.16 billion USD in Vietnam, accounting for 8.7 percent and 8 percent of total EU projects and investment in the country.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue the close cooperation with its Lao counterpart to keep solidifying the two countries’ special relationship for the sake of their peoples.

 Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said on December 26 that he hopes Hanoi – the capital city of Vietnam – and its Cambodian counterpart will push ahead with cooperation in all aspects.

 The Prime Minister has decided a list of the National Steering Committee on International Integration.

 The Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission has looked into violations allegedly committed by some Party officials during the recent ninth session.