A gala performance from the HCM City Ballet and Symphony Orchestra, the annual Autumn Melody Concert, will be staged at the HCM City Opera House from August 17-19.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has presented the “For the Cause of Culture, Sports and Tourism” insignia to Keum Gi Hyung, Director of the Republic of Korea Culture Centre in Vietnam.

Monument inscriptions in Han (Chinese characters) and Nom (old Vietnamese script based on Chinese characters) at the royal citadel in Hue will be submitted to UNESCO for recognition under World Document Heritage criteria.

More than 320 badminton players from 28 countries and territories will take part in the Yonex-Sunrise Vietnam Open to be held in Ho Chi Minh City from August 20-26.

The first ASEAN Graphic Art Competition and Exhibition now on show until August 16 at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi is a remarkable achievement, both as an interesting exhibition and as a milestone in promoting the art and culture of ASEAN member countries.

The Buddhist Culture Week, the fourth and largest-ever so far in Vietnam, opened in the central province of Nghe An on August 12.

More than 2,000 artists from 32 troupes nationwide are attending in the National Song and Dance Festival the Central Highland province of Dak Lak from August 12-22.  

Cute and charming toys created by designer Takashi Tsunoda are on display in an exhibition titled “The World of Interior Toy” that opened in Hanoi on August 12.

The national junior pencak silat championships opened in Vinh Yen city in the northern province of Vinh Phuc on August 12, with the participation of 261 martial artists from 25 cities and provinces across the country.

An exhibition of photographs entitled “A Glimpse of Laos” opened at the Exhibition Centre for Fine Art and Photography in Hanoi on August 11.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc set a new record for Vietnam in the women’s 20km walk at the London 2012 Olympics on August 12, even though she did not end up with a medal.

Miss Vietnam 2006, 2008 and 2010 showed off their beauty in the “My Style 2” fashion show featuring the work of designer Minh Hanh at the Vietnam Design House in Ho Chi Minh City on August 10.

The Hanoi Gift Show 2012 for handicrafts, home décor products and furniture will be held at the Vietnam Exhibition and Fair Centre from October 26-30.

Nguyen Bich Tra, one of the leading pianists in Vietnam, will hold an exchange with music lovers in Ho Chi Minh City on August 18.  

Five Vietnamese Xiangqi (Chinese chess) players are competing with rivals from 143 countries around the world at the second World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) in France from August 11-23.  

John Trinh, Vietnamese-American director of a documentary film on Agent Orange (AO), has called on the US Government to recognize its mistake and act in accordance with justice.

Vietnamese taekwondo hopeful Chu Hoang Dieu Linh was convincingly beaten 13-1 by No 6 seed Helena Fromm of Germany in the women’s 67kg preliminary round at the London Olympics on August 10.

Five police football teams from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Australia will participate in the ASEAN Open Football Tournament 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City from August 22-30. 

An exhibition is being held at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi from August 10-16 to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic ties and five years of strategic partnership between India and Vietnam.

The Nung An ethnic people in Phuc Sen Commune, Quang Uyen District in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang are famous for their traditional blacksmith craft.

A Vietnam-Cambodia youth friendship camp was held in Moc Hoa district in the southern province of Long An on August 10.

Vietnam’s top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh has retained his 11th position in the world rankings, according to the Badminton World Federation.

A cultural, sports and tourism exchange programme between Vietnamese and Lao border provinces will take place from August 16 in Vietnam’s central provinces of Nghe An, Quang Binh and Ha Tinh, and Laos’ Xiengkhoang, Bolykhamsay and Khammouan provinces.

The twenty most promising candidates from the northern region were chosen in Hanoi on August 9 to compete in the final round of the Miss Vietnam 2012 pageant.

Screenings of the Future Shorts Festival, the world's biggest pop-up film festival, will take place in Ho Chi Minh City on August 12 and 15.

The first episode of the 2012 Vietnam’s Next Top Model competition will be broadcast on Vietnam Television (VTV) 3 at 8.pm on August 19, announced its organizing board at a press briefing in HCM City on August 8.

Nguyen Thi Lua of Vietnam has been defeated by Olympic defending champion Carol Huynh, a Vietnamese-Canadian, in the women’s 48kg category at the Summer Olympics being held in London.

Vietnam’s Le Huynh Chau failed to move to the next round of the men’s taekwondo 58kg category in the London 2012 Olympics.

The Vietnamese football team has lost 89 points and is now placed 146th in the world, according to the latest FIFA rankings for August.

The Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) announced that the annual Craft Village Fair 2012 will be held at Hoa Binh Square, Nam Dinh province, on September 25-30.