The beauty contest aims to promote Vietnam’s traditional culture and tourism to international friends and attract more foreign tourists to the country.

The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) will implement an academic exchange programme under which US professors come and teach at Vietnamese universities in the academic 2008-2009 year.

M’Nong cultural items will be showcased at the Ethnology Museum in Hanoi from December 11 to 16 by the French Quai Branly Museum, the French Embassy in Vietnam and French Cultural Centre in Hanoi.

Vietnamese amateur photographer Nguyen Quoc Hung has won the “Decent Work for People with Disabilities” prize in the Asia-Pacific photographic competition held in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 3.

The GE Vietnam on December 5 held a free film show for children and staff of the Ha Cau Childcare Center from Ha Dong City, Ha Tay province, at Megastar, the No1 cinema complex in Hanoi.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will give priority to developing non-profit education in Vietnam, said UNESCO Special Envoy for Education Jan De Groof.

Vietnamese Water Puppet shows performed by the National Puppet Theatre attracted the largest audience at the International Puppet Festival held in Tolosa, Spain from November 24 to December 2.

New Zealand is becoming an attractive destination for many Vietnamese students and the two countries have great potential for cooperation in education, said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem at the Vietnam-New Zealand Education Forum in Hanoi on December 4.

The Hue Festival 2008, entitled “Cultural heritage with integration and development”, has so far attracted twenty-two delegations from sixteen countries such as France, Britain, the US, Russia, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, India and Canada.

Da Lat Flower Camp, which opened in the central highland city of Da Lat on December 3, is a cultural programme towards the Da Lat Flower Festival 2007 will be held between December 15-21.

A project workshop on the preservation of traditional performing arts was held in the central highland township of Kon Tum on December 3.

Chefs from 29 international restaurants and hotels based in HCM City are introducing traditional dishes of 18 nations at a festival that opened in the city on November 30.

Ethnic minority writers throughout Vietnam will meet in Hanoi in December for their national congress with the main task of making ethnic literary works part of the country’s literary mainstream.

This is the major theme of a painting exhibition to be co-organized by the Israeli Embassy in Hanoi and the Vietnamese Fine Art Museum from December 7-15.

With around 10,000 rooms currently available, Nha Trang is confident to meet the demand for the Miss Universe contest to be held in July 2008.

The coffee culture week will be held in Hanoi from November 29 to December 2 and in Ho Chi Minh City from December 13-16, featuring a wide range of activities imbued with cultural characteristics of the coffee region.

US Jazz band Dana Leong will make a performance tour of Vietnam from December 1-6.

The central Khanh Hoa provincial People’s Committee met on November 26 to discuss preparations for Miss Universe 2008 which will take place in Nha Trang city on June, 2008.

A farmer has unearthed two sets of stone musical instruments while gardening at home in Di Linh district in the Central Highland Lam Dong province.

A Romanian band with the world’s leading cembalo player Marius Mihalache will perform at the Hanoi Opera House on December 2 to mark Romania’s 89th National Day.

Recent excavation of the Ho Dynasty’s Nam Giao altar relic in Thanh Hoa province’s Don Son mountain has uncovered the oldest altar with an undamaged platform.

President of the Miss Universe Organisation Paula M.Shugart will arrive in Vietnam on November 27 to sign an agreement to hold the contest here.

The Hanoi-based National Library, which keeps Vietnam’s most treasured valuable documents, was awarded the Independence Order, second class, during its 90th anniversary celebrations.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has approved a plan to organize the 39th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO 2008).

The Embassy of Vietnam in Mexico joined its counterparts from four other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in organising the Bazar International Fair 2007 on November 24.

The 2007 Cong Chieng (Gong) Festival finished in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak on November 24, leaving a good impression on local ethnic minority people and visitors.

Vietnamese and Russian students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University) organized a gala evening on November 24 to conclude a Vietnamese cultural week in Russia.

The Golden Lotus award of the 15th Vietnam Film Festival went to the film “Hanoi, Hanoi” which was co-produced by the Vietnam Writers Association’s Film Studio and China’s Yunnan Film Studio.

A seminar was held in the central highlands province of Dak Lak on November 23 as an integral part of the ongoing 2007 Gong Cultural Festival in the Central Highlands.

Vietnam’s colonial days are not dead in artist Kristine Maccarroll’s new exhibition, entitled “The Good Old Times in the Colonies”, being held in Hanoi.