VietNamNet Bridge – The annual festival VietPride 2014 which supports the gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT) will kick off tonight, July 18, in HCM City.

Brigade P-TL 167 of the Vietnam People’s Navy on July 17 received two Tarantul-class corvettes (Molniya class) capable of destroying targets in the air and at sea.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Though the VN Index is on the rise, market liquidity remains weak, with large corporations reluctant to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) to help them raise funds.

 Female Vietnamese boxers are practicing hard hoping to win at least a medal at the upcoming 17th Asian Games (ASIAD) to be held in Incheon, the Republic of Korea, in September.

 Viet Nam defeated New Zealand in straight sets at the Taipei University Gymnasium on the first day of the 17th Asian Women's U19 Volleyball Championship yesterday.

 The national carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) on July 18 announced that it rescheduled four flights on July 17 following the crash of a Malaysian Airlines plane in Ukraine.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The first-ever poetry collection by late Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska-Wlodek, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996, has just been released in Ha Noi.

 Despite disapprovals from authorities, Vietnam’s first online bitcoin trading floor called VBTC has made its official debut at www.vbtc.vn, nearly three months behind original schedule.

 Construction firm VINACONEX has apologised for poor quality of the main pipeline bringing water from the Da River to Ha Noi and pledged that another one that it is laying now will steer clear of mistakes made in the first.

 The organising board of a beauty contest that took place in Hanoi recently has been fined VND50 million ($2,380) for holding the event without a license.

The South Korean electronics group Samsung has agreed to cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Foreign Investment Agency and the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Industry to develop domestic support industries.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Items that were once used by kings and royal family members during the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) are to be returned by France and displayed in Hue.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh has been appointed Vietnamese ambassador to the US to replace his predecessor Nguyen Quoc Cuong.

 Internationally renowned television presenter, chef, restaurateur and cookbook author  Bobby Chinn has been appointed Vietnam Tourism Ambassador to the EU for the term July 2014 to July 2017.

 European flight safety body Eurocontrol says Ukrainian authorities have closed the airspace in the east of the country to all airline flights.

 Weather experts warn heavy downpours triggered by approaching typhoon Rammasun will cause widespread flooding in parts of the northern coastal provinces.

 Vietnamese national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines poured nearly US$25 million into low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific, retaining its position as a leading shareholder with 69 per cent.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Limestone mining is responsible for sinkholes that are destroying rice fields in Phong Xuan Commune, a senior official in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue said on Tuesday.

 VietNamNet Bridge – More than 170 Overseas Vietnamese youths from 30 countries begun a five-day tour of Da Nang, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh on Wednesday.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Uncontrolled sand exploitation in many districts of Thua Thien-Hue province has caused landslides, harmed the environment, and damaged the landscape.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Mr. Popow, a German orchid grower, successfully bred two rare native orchid species of Vietnam - Delenatii and Vietnamese, in 1999.

 VietNamNet Bridge - The National History Museum last year opened a showroom to display more than 100 precious items of the Oc Eo-Phu Nam civilization that dates from the 5th century BC to 11th century AD.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Automobile joint ventures in Vietnam have been importing pick-up trucks from their factories in Southeast Asia in large quantities for domestic sale.

From the early 20th century, when China began eyeing the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagos (Paracel and Spratly Islands), the Vietnamese government as well as local and international media were interested in Hoang Sa - Truong Sa.

 Dozens of people have been injured in a train collision in southern France, according to media reports.