A vibrant exhibition entitled “Vietnam - A Story About Water” has opened in Hanoi with 80 photos of different areas throughout the country. The photos were taken by members of the French associations of Coup de Pouce, Cercles des Francophones de Hanoi, and Amicales des Francais de Hanoi.

Vietnam has won a gold medal at a black and white photo contest organised by the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) in Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province.

Renowned Spanish musician Luis Paniagua will offer music lovers solo performances in Hanoi on May 24 and in Ho Chi Minh City on May 27.

The second national festival of Cheo (Vietnamese traditional opera) villages wrapped up in northern Nam Dinh province - the cradle of the art - on May 14 after three days of spirited performances.

The Royal music of Vietnam, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan will be performed during the Hue Festival in 2006.

During the half century since its establishment and development, the Vietnam Circus Federation (VCF) has spared no effort to move forwards and incessantly renew itself for the successful building of a modern circus trademark.

Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) signed a co-operation deal on cultural heritage preservation.

The internationally-acclaimed film Mua Len Trau (Buffalo Boy), a film about a Vietnamese boy keeping buffaloes out of floods, began screening in Brussels on May 10, as part of activities to boost cultural cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium.

A folk music show was given by the world-famous Jesse Dayton Band of the US at the Youth Cultural House in Ho Chi Minh City on May 11, a curtain-raiser for its first trans-Viet tour.

Hanoi is placed third among the top 10 global cuisine cities according to the US tourism website MSN. Only two cities in Asia – Hanoi and Tokyo – are on the MSN list.

The European Film Festival 2006, which is the centerpiece of "Days of European culture" in Vietnam, will offer Vietnamese film lovers 12 selected motion pictures of the European movie industry, to be screened from May 10-22 in Hanoi and from May 16-28 in HCM City.

Moet-Hennessy Asia Pacific, with support from the Ministry of Culture and Information, will organise the tenth edition of the Hennessy Concert Series at the Hanoi Opera House on May 26.

In order to effectively implement the Government resolution issued in 2005 on tertiary education reform in the 2006-2020 period, universities and colleges are required to rationalise occupational restructuring, increase teaching quality and improve the training process. In addition, it is imperative to develop qualified teaching staff.

The Centre for Preserving Relics of the former imperial city of Hue will establish a section to store Vietnamese royal refined music documents, according to centre’s director Phung Phu.

Nine leading Australian photographers will display their contemporary works of art at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi from May 10 -21.

The Goethe Institute Hanoi has opened an exhibition entitled "Vietnam portrait – a look from outside", which features Vietnamese social strata in the period 1885-1915 through 40 rare and lively photographs.

The internationally acclaimed Jesse Dayton Band of the US will kick off a trans-Vietnam tour at HCM City's Youth Cultural House on May 9.

With a population of more than 80 million, Vietnam is considered a potential market for the cinema industry. To lure moviegoers, Vietnam still needs big investors and long-term development strategies, according to experts.

Chuyen Tinh Non Song (Soldiers' Romance), a Vietnamese ballet about two generations of a family that fought foreign aggression, will be performed at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on May 9-10.

As many as 140,000 Japanese people have joined activities at the Vietnam Festival, one of the country's largest programmes to promote trade and tourism in Japan.

An archival exhibition on Vietnam-Cuba co-operative relations was co-organised at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi from May 5-6 by the State Archives Department and the Cuban Embassy in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Guinness Book Centre (Vietbooks) announced ten records held by Vietnamese Buddhism, all in the northern region's pagodas, at a ceremony held in Ho Chi Minh City on May 4.

"Days of European culture" are scheduled to take place in Ho Chi Minh City in May, the EC mission and the Embassies and Cultural Institutes of EC countries announced at a press briefing in Ho Chi Minh City on May 3.

Nguyen Huy Hieu, a 12-grade student from Lam Son High School in northern Thanh Hoa province won a bronze medal at the Asia Physics Olympic contest, which was held in Kazakhstan from April 22-30.

Pham Quang Nghi, Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Minister of Culture and Information, received a delegation of international experts in Hanoi on May 3.

Twenty-six sculptors from nine countries gathered at the Thien An-Thuy Tien Hill Recreation Centre in central Thua Thien-Hue province on May 3 for the fourth international sculpture creation camp.

The German rock band "Krypteria" will attend a football festival entitled "All for Champion '06" to be held in Ho Chi Minh City's Military Zone 7 Gymnasium on May 5.

Vietnamese-American Jennifer Pham has become Miss Asia USA at a beauty pageant held in California.

From 2006, the State will stop allocating budgets for State film studios like previous years and instead bidding will be applied to select quality screenplays to shoot. Under Government Decree 31, all film studios, regardless of being State or non-State owned, are entitled to make films ordered by the State through a bidding process.

Thirty-one years have elapsed since Vietnam was reunified following the end of a glorious resistance war against US imperialists. The great victory was partly attributed to sacrifices by many Vietnamese heroes who fell for their fatherland. Doctor Dang Thuy Tram was one of them. Her famous diary was cherished by two Americans, Fred and Robert Whitehurst.