The Party and State highly value the important role of the press and journalists in society and create every favourable condition for the press to positively develop and contribute to the national revolutionary cause.

The Overseas Vietnamese Association in France said this year’s Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) will be held on February 17 as scheduled at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

AC&M, a Vietnamese music group famous with a cappella style, will join a performance in the UK on March 2.

Vietnam has been offered a US$34 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a project that will train secondary school teachers.

The 2nd National Folk Song Festival is due to be held in northern Nam Dinh province on January 13. It will include arts troupes from 54 Vietnamese ethnic minority groups that will give traditional artistic performances.

The ballet West Side Story, based on the musical which won 10 Oscars in 1961, will make its debut in Hanoi next weekend.

The first festival for Vietnamese students and alumni held at the Hanoi National University on January 6 became a bridge between Vietnamese students and those studying overseas.

The 26th National Television Broadcasting Festival will take place in Ho Chi Minh City from January 9 to 13, 2007.

Le Thuy Quyen from the Phuong Dong People-founded University in Hanoi was nominated for the 2007 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) award for her research on making fungus product for preventing plant-killing insects.

Vietnamese and Chinese archaeologists have recently unearthed an ancient tomb at an archaeological site in Vinh Tuong district, northern Vinh Phuc province.

In 2006, VOVNews online newspaper gave a wide coverage of important national events such as the 14th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), keeping readers well abreast of national development.

A gala night called "Central Highlands Youth: Solidarity and Development" will be held in Buon Ma Thuot city of central highlands Dak Lak province on January 10.

A HipHop show inspired by Hanoi's busy traffic will be staged in the capital city on January 9 as part of a cooperation project carried out by the French cultural centre, L'Espace, and the Hanoi Goethe Institute.

The Gong Festival has been held recently in the Central Highlands city of Buon Ma Thuot with the participation of more than 400 gong artists, half of them were teenagers, who belong to ethnic groups in the region.

Located about 10km east of Kuala Lumpur capital of Malaysia and in an area comprising a lot of Western restaurants, a Vietnamese restaurant named “Little Saigon” has attracted many customers from various countries, leaving a lasting impression on tourists from around the world.

A lantern festival opened at the Botanical Garden in Ho Chi Minh City on December 31, featuring thousands of lanterns, including those shaped like animals and world wonders.

The Pearson Education Publishing House has bought the copyright of bilingual comic books created by Vietnamese children.

As many as 172 outstanding students were awarded “Sao thang Gieng” Prize on December 28 in hohour of their good results in the 2006-2007 academic year.

The National Tourism Year - Quang Nam 2006 will close with the pomp of the ceremony culminating in various cultural activities at a spectacular New Year's party in the ancient town of Hoi An.

An antique exhibition will be held for the first time in northern Ha Tay province in early 2007 by the Vietnam UNESCO Club for Antique Research and Preservation and the provincial museum.

The Ethnic Minority Groups’ Gong Culture Festival 2006 opened in the Central Highlands town of Kon Tum on December 27.

Vietnamese and Japanese teachers exchanged pedagogical experiences at a seminar titled "From educational programme to real life" in Hanoi on December 27.

A cultural festival will open at Hung Kings’ temples in northern Phu Tho province on February 22, 2007 (the sixth day of the lunar new year).

The Republic of Korea’s pop singer Hallyu Bi will perform at HCM City’s Military Zone 7 Stadium on March 10-11, 2007 while making a tour around the world.

More than 40,000 people paraded in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on December 24 to welcome Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organisation. This was the grandest parade in Vietnam as it attracted a large number of people from all walks of life.

The border friendship tourism festival 2006 opened on December 23 in the northern province of Cao Bang with the participation of local tourism companies and those from China's Guangxi province.

Vietnam's first Tea Culture Festival opened on the evening of December 21 with a dazzling cultural performance in Da Lat resort town of Central Highlands Lam Dong province.

A quartet from Japan, the Midori Goto, will make a performance tour of localities across Vietnam from December 22-30.

A press briefing was held at Vinpearlland Resort in central Nha Trang city on December 21 to announce that the variety show 16th Charming Vietnam will be held at the resort on December 30-31.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a project to build the National History Museum at the Huu Nghi (Friendship) Park in a new residential area near West Lake in Hanoi.