The cultural values of Vietnam, especially of the Cham ethnic people, will be spotlighted at the first ethnic cultural festival for the central and southeast regions, scheduled for June 16-19 in the central coastal province of Phu Yen.

Some ancient bronze weapons have been unearthed in Van Ban district, northern Lao Cai province. They are believed to belong to the Dong Son Culture some 2,000 years ago.

Professor Kaneko Kazushige, President of the Institute of Asian Ethno-Forms and Culture, on June 7 presented the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology with 560 Asian ethnographic objects collected by him over the past 40 years.

Construction workers unexpectedly discovered vestiges of a tunnel under the foundations of Chu Van An Senior Secondary School in Hanoi during work at the site on June 6.

A special cong chieng (gong) performance on June 4 delighted tourists in the former capital city of Hue, which is hosting the 2006 Hue Festival, a venue for lovers of cultural festivities.

The Vietnamese delegation brought a nice surprise for spectators at the 15th German Cultural Carnival, which opened in Berlin, Germany, on June 4.

The Ministry of Culture and Information and Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) opened a training course on live broadcasting at the Khanh Hoa provincial Radio and Television station on June 5.

An exhibition by two Vietnamese painters is taking place in the city hall of Vic Fezensac, 1,000km southwest of Paris, where Vietnam is the main theme of the local three-day annual Pentecost Festival.

A new theatrical production for children “Little Tale of Kangaroo at the Perfume River” written and directed by Vietnamese Australian director Le Quy Duong, will be performed in Thương Bac park, next to the Perfume River as part of the 2006 Hue festival.

A third international sports cinema and TV film festival concluded in HCM City on June 4 with domestic films taking the lead in five of the festival's six themes, and Singapore winning the title for sport advertisement.

Flowers and flags covered the sky of Ngo Mon Square, where the 2006 Hue Festival opened on June 3 to kick off the tourist season for the former imperial city of Hue, a world cultural heritage site.

The 2006 Hue Festival entitled “700 years of Thuan Hoa-Phu Xuan-Thua Thien Hue - cultural heritage, integration and development” opens in the former imperial city of Hue on June 3. Many internationally renowned troupes will entertain visitors with special artistic performances.

Exhibition "Childhood" by Ba Han from Ho Chi Minh City and a number of other displays by members of the Hai Au Women Photographers' Club opened in Tokyo, Japan on June 1 as part of the Vietnamese Photography Month.

The National Ca Tru (Ceremonial singing) Festival will take place in Hanoi from June 19-22 with the attendance of artists from 16 provinces and cities, according to the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Archeologists from the Archeology Institute have found many objects of Central Highlands prehistoric culture during excavations of nine relic sites in Kon Tum province.

The Hue Festival 2006, scheduled for June 3-11 in the former imperial city of Hue, is considered a landmark to embrace unique values of Hue as well as Vietnamese culture through hundreds of festivity programmes.

A book written by a Chinese professor about President Ho Chi Minh's period in China's Guangxi province was released on May 31 in honour of his 116th birth anniversary (May 19).

Reporter Nguyen Viet Thanh from Vietnam News has won first prize at the Asian Press Photography Contest.

Dang Thuy Tram’s diary has helped bring the war alive for a new generation of Vietnamese readers, said Seth Mydans in his article published in the International Herald Tribute (IHT) on May 30.

The city of Hue is welcoming a large-scale sculpture titled Two Dragons Playing with the Lotus in the Huong (Perfume) River to celebrate the city's festival in June.

Veteran painter Luong Xuan Nhi, one of the first pioneers of the country's modern fine art, died last week at the age of 93. He was known nationwide as a talented painter and a prestigious and wholehearted professor.

More than one million 12th grade students across the country attended the high school graduation exam on May 31. The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) sent an inspection delegation to some provinces and cities to check preparation work. Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) interviewed Tran Ba Giao, MoET’s deputy chief inspector on the issue.

Huynh Da Giang, an American schoolgirl of Vietnamese descent, has won first prize in an essay writing contest on Asia-Pacific American heritage.

The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of War Remnants on May 27 received eight documentary films on the Austrian people's support for Vietnam during the war of resistance against the US from the Austrian Federal Council.

A Vietnamese Cultural Day was recently organised at Germany's Hamburg University, with the participation of Vietnamese people living and working in Hamburg and surrounding areas.

Vietnamese photographer Giang Ba Han has been invited to Japan to introduce his photos in an exhibition at the prestigious Olympus Kanda Gallery in the heart of Tokyo.

Fourteen Italian ballet dancers from the famous dance company Balletto Del Sud will perform at the Hanoi Opera House on June 2.

Vietnamese-French choreographer Ea Sola Thuy's new dance work is expected to dazzle audiences at the 2006 Hue Festival and in the capital city of Hanoi after premiering in Paris late last year.

More than 40 photos selected from over 3,000 taken by a Korean photographer, featuring the beauty of the land and people of Vietnam, are on display at an exhibition opened in Hanoi on May 26.

Graduation exams for senior high schools and complementary education schools will take place on May 31 and June 2. This is the first time the exams for foreign languages will use the new multiple-choice model. Deputy director of the Department for Testing and Quality Accreditation under the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) Tran Van Nghia granted VOV in an exclusive interview on the issue.