TOSY Robotics JSC will send the latest robot built by Vietnam, TOPIO2.0, to the 60th Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair to be held in Nuremburg, Germany on February 5-10.

The Vietnamese Youth and Student Association (VYSA) in Japan held a get-together at Tokyo University on January 20 to celebrate the lunar New Year Festival (Tet).

A calligraphy festival opened on January 19 in the capital city of Hanoi on Van Mieu Street where the country’s first university – the Temple of Literature – is located.

The Conservation Centre for Co Loa and Hanoi citadels on January 19 submitted documentation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) to apply for the recognisation of the Thang Long Royal Citadel Site as a World Heritage Site.

Two film directors in Ho Chi Minh City are hoping their new movies will set new box office records during the lunar New Year, despite stiff competition from lucrative Hollywood products.

Vietnamese designer Minh Hanh will represent the country at the annual Alta Roma Fashion Week 2009 from January 31 to February 3 at Santo Spirito Royal Palace in Italy.

Over the past four days, the Coconut Festival in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre has attracted thousands of visitors each day.

Eminent photographers Christopher Makos and Paul Solberg, who collaborate as ‘The Hilton Brothers’, made a short stop at the Sheraton Saigon and Towers on January 16.

Twenty Vietnamese art teachers and students left for Japan on January 14 to take part in the 21st Century East- Asia Youth Exchange Programme.

Famous Vietnamese translator Duong Tuong will receive the prestigious French Officier des Arts et des Letters (Officer of Art and literature) prize for his contribution to French culture and literature.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Japan has cooperated with Fuji television (Fuji TV) to broadcast a TV programme featuring Vietnam’s food and drink, as well as the nation’s gastronomic culture, manners and customs.

This year’s newly-crowned Miss World, Ksenia Sukhinova, and her predecessor, 2007’s Miss World Zhang Zi Lin, paid a visit to Canh Hoa commune, Quang Trach district, in the central province of Quang Binh on January 14.

New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, will visit Vietnam for the first time during its Asian tour on October 8-28, 2010, announced by the orchestra’s board of director on January 12, 2009.

How to preserve and uphold the cultural values of Confucianist heritage sites, including Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature), was the main topic of a scientific seminar held in Hanoi on January 13.

A 3-hour-concert was held on January 13 at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi, with the participation of Miss Worlds 2007 and 2008 and other overseas Vietnamese singers, drawing nearly VND15 billion for charity.

A collection of epic Vietnamese poems entitled Su Thi Con Chau Mon Man (Epics of Mon Man’s Offspring) has just hit the shelves.

French Ambassador to Vietnam, Herve Bolot, awarded France’s Order of Arts and Literature to Music Professor Nguyen Vinh Bao at the Consulate General of the Republic of France at 6 Le Duan Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, on January 12.

The Hue Traditional Craft Village Festival will be held from June 12-14 on the theme of “Hue’s traditional trades: characters and development”.

Miss World 2007, Zi Lin Zhang, returned to Hanoi on January 12 to join a charitable programme with Miss World 2008 Ksenia Sukhinova.

Miss World 2008 Ksenia Sukhinova arrived in Hanoi on January 11 to take part in charitable activities in the city.

The collection of designer Truong Anh Vu will be shown at the Japan Fashion Week International Fashion Fair in Tokyo on January 14, making Vu the first Vietnamese designer ever to participate in one of the region’s leading fashion weeks.

Vietnamese expatriates in France have gathered at the Vietnam Cultural Centre in Paris on January 9 to discuss how to preserve and promote Vietnamese culture.

Miss World 2008 Ksenia Sukhinova on January 10 voted for Ha Long Bay in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh as one of the new Seven Natural Wonders of the world.

A festival of flowers and parallel sentences to welcome the lunar New Year festival (Tet) will be held in Hanoi from January 15-20, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The best Asian cookbook for 2008 was overseas Vietnamese Pauline Nguyen’s Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart.

Miss Dominican Republic has become the first Latin doll to be crowned Miss Unibarse 2008 in a glamorous fantasy doll-pageant held in Melekeok, Palau, hometown of the 2007 winner. Runners-up were from Montenegro (1st), Afghanistan (2nd), Kenya (3rd) and the Philippines (4th).

A boat-shaped coffin believed to date back to the 16th -17th century was unearthed in central Ha Tinh province’s Cam Xuyen district.

Miss World 2008, Ksenia Sukhinova, arrived in Nha Trang city on January 8 to attend the 28th National Television Festival, which is taking place in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

The Ho Chi Minh City music troupe, led by Huynh Minh Thien, deputy head of the HCM City Union of Friendship Organisations, left for the US on January 8 to give performances during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

The organising board of the campaign to vote for new seven world wonders (New7Wonders) on January 7 announced a list of 261 candidates entering the second round of voting, including Ha Long Bay and the Mekong River.