Uncle Ho's palm leaf testimony recognised

The testament of President Ho Chi Minh written on palm leaf will be among 30 new Guinness Records for Viet Nam.

The Centre for Viet Nam Guinness Records says the unique display at the Thoai Son District's Cultural and Tourism Complex, southern An Giang Province, will be included in the new listings to be announced on Saturday

Almost 20 of the new listings are for art and culture.

They include musicologist Tran Quang Hai, who is able to create melodies with spoons. The "King of Spoon" plays jazz, pop, techno and flamenco.

Nguyen Vinh Bao, 92, will be recognised as "The Oldest Musician Who Offers the On-line Course on Vietnamese Traditional Music".

The 118-year-old Tran Thi Viet of southern Long An Province will be recognised as "The Oldest Vietnamese Heroic Mother".

German textbooks gifted to National Library

The German Embassy granted 50 textbooks to the National Library yesterday, Dec 14.

Textbooks on law, economics, and engineering purchased by the German Foreign Affairs Ministry, have been selected by the Goethe Institute in Ha Noi and the library.

Earlier, the library and the Goethe Institute signed a memorandum of co-operation focused on improving the standards of human resources working in the library and archiving sector.

Embroidery depicts famous poem of Zen master

Veteran artisan Le Van Kinh has completed a set of embroideries depicting a poem by Zen Master Man Giac.

Kinh has spent 10 years to complete the paintings in a variety of languages including Danish, English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Lao, Cambodian and Thai.

The artisan, who works in the former imperial capital of Hue, plans another six such embroideries.

Zen Master Man Giac (1052-96), or Ly Truong, was famous for his Buddhism theory and writing skills during the reign of King Ly Nhan Tong.

TV personalities set for Miss Charming Television

Thirteen women television personalities from around Viet Nam and one from Laos will take part in a traditional-culture and lifestyle contest that begins in HCM City tonight.

At the four-day annual Miss Charming Television organised by HCM City Television (HTV) contestants will be judged on appearance, performance, emceeing skills, and presentation style.

The Vietnamese competitors work for television stations in Ha Noi and HCM City and some provinces, and the Lao contestant, Nhom Mala is from Attapeu Television.

All work as reporters, producers and hosts.

Five will go through to the final to be held on Saturday at the HTV Theatre where they will perform folk songs and dances in their traditional costumes.

The contest will be shown on HTV's channel 9.

Winners of British Council ‘green' contest announced

The winners of the British Council's Green Tips essay contest were announced yesterday, as part of the council's I Am Green campaign to raise environmental awareness.

The contest, launched last month, sought to encourage young people to think about and develop responses to the challenges of climate change, said the organising board. It drew 400 entries from around the country, all written on recycled paper

Two other competitions under the campaign have also wrapped up, including the How Green Is Your City photo contest – which chose ten winners, each of whom will win English courses at British Council and trips from the Exotissimo tour company – and the Green Tip Box competition, which selected eight winners.

Another 28 young people have won a trip to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Centre in another contest on wildlife conservation.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News