A special exhibition of paintings of nature and scenes of daily life by street kids and children with physical disabilities is currently open in Ho Chi Minh City.

Two models managed by the Professional Look Company will attend two international beauty contests in October.

The qualifying round of the Miss Vietnam Jewellery 2007 will take place in Ho Chi Minh City on October 13 for southern contestants and in Hai Phong on October 20 for contestants in north-eastern areas and in Hanoi on October 27 for contestants from central Quang Binh to northern provinces.

The first ever set of complete works of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) was made public in Hanoi on September 25 by the National Politics Publishing House.

A Japanese film festival will be screened in the northern port city of Hai Phong from October 5-7.

Dang Minh Thu, the second runner up of the Miss Vietnam Global 2007 contest, will attend the Miss World 2007 contest.

Twenty art troupes and 400 artisans will gather at the second national festival on traditional then singing and tinh instruments in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang from October 3-5.

More than 30 sets of special ancient gongs have been identified in Central Highland Kon Tum province, according to the provincial Department of Culture and Information.

The final of the Miss Ethnic Vietnamese contest will be held on December 21 during the Da Lat Flower Festival this year.

After conducting a fact-finding tour to scout for destinations for the 2008 Miss Universe Contest, President of the Miss Universe Organization Paula Mary Shugart, revealed that Nha Trang City in the south central coastal province of Khanh Hoa could be the ideal place.

Many young people and citizens in Ho Chi Minh City joined the Vietnam-Japan Festival held by the Youth Culture House and the Japanese Consulate General on September 23.

“Pho”, a popular kind of noodle soup in Vietnam, has become one of 2,500 new entries in the latest Shorter Oxford English Dictionary published in Britain and the United States on September 20.

Vietnamese ambassador Nguyen Duc Hung held a meeting in Toronto, Canada on September 20 to introduce a book on the friendly relationship between Vietnam and Canada.

The Hoa Sua Training School, which trains students who are disadvantaged, and who may also suffer a disability, will hold a fashion parade at 5 pm in Hanoi’s Melia Hotel in Ly Thuong Kiet Street on September 23.

An art troupe from the Republic of Korea (RoK) will have an exchange of culture, cinematography and sports in Ho Chi Minh City from September 27 to October 1.

On September 20, Vietnam’s traditional water puppetry show was held for the first time on a lake in Grona Lund (Stockholm).

The colours red and yellow blaze in the streets as shops gear up for the sale of moon cakes, the traditional fare for Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations in Vietnam. Children choose from many cakes in different shapes and sizes, from fish to turtles to pigs with sucking piglets.

Water puppetry artists from the Thang Long Theatre will perform at an international festival for children in Chihuahua and an international art festival in Monterrey, Mexico from now until October 21.

The search for Cultural Ambassadors, an essay contest co-launched by the National Library of Vietnam and the Asia Foundation, started receiving nationwide entries last week. Three young winners will be chosen to visit cities in the US.

The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology will coordinate with the National Folk Museum of Korea to organize the 2007 Vietnam-Korea Mid-Autumn Cultural Festival in Hanoi from September 21-23 with assistance from the Korean Cultural Centre in Hanoi, the Vietnamese-Korean Culture Exchange Centre and Viettel Company.

In the international integration process, the education and preservation of traditional cultural values play an important role in national existence and development, said experts at a seminar on globalization and national culture in Hanoi on September 18.

French photographer Regis Arrighi is displaying his photos of daily life in Vietnam at an exhibition which opened in Ho Chi Minh City on September 17.

Almost 30 photos of Vietnam taken by two German women during their visit to Vietnam in 1999 are on display at an exhibition that opened on September 17 at the Democratic Women's Union headquarters in Lichtenberg district, Berlin.

A VND36 billion project to upgrade the Den Thuong (Upper Temple) on Nghia Linh Mountain in northern Phu Tho province kicked off on September 16.

The Vietnamese war film “Duong thu” (The Couriers' Path), directed by Bui Tuan Dung, has been released on DVD in Japan.

Lua Viet company and kind-hearted people will organize the 2007 Mid-Autumn Festival for nearly 7,000 poor children in far-flung areas and disabled children in HCM City and the provinces of Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Binh Thuan, Ben Tre, Dong Thap and Soc Trang.

Two young designers have been chosen to represent Vietnam at two international fashion shows in Germany and Singapore, proving the country’s growing position in the global industry.

Many universities in Russia have developed a Vietnam Studies subject in recent years, attracting many Russian students who want to get to know the distinctive Vietnamese culture, customs, land and people.

A 30-ha natural historical museum will be built in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, according to an international seminar held by HCM City People's Committee and the on September 13.

The Dac Lak provincial People’s Committee told a press briefing in Hanoi on September 14 that the 2007 Central Highland Gong Cultural Festival will be held in Buon Ma Thuot city from November 21-24.