HCM City hosts Japan Festival 2014; Hanoi to host Persian carpet exhibition; Hanoi hosts photo exhibition “I Love My City”; Ancient labour tools discovered in Son La; Germany sponsors exhibition on Vietnamese culture

UNESCO has re-recognised the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geo-Park in the northernmost mountainous province of Ha Giang as a member of the Global Network of National Geoparks for the 2015-2018 period.

 The US news cable CNN has arrived in Vietnam to produce a reportage on traditional Vietnamese martial art (Vovinam).

Australian guitarist Le Hoang Minh, who was born in Vietnam, has announced that he has been invited to take the stage on November 27 in HCM City and on November 29 in Hanoi at the French Cultural Centre L’Espace.

Vietnamese designer Vo Viet Chung was celebrated as a top ‘10’ at the 7th annual Leonardo Simpson’s 10 Best Dressed on November 13 at the swanky Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines hotel in California the US.

 Vietnamese female wrestler Van Ngoc Tu won the first gold medal for Vietnam in the kurash event at the fourth Asian Beach Games which is being held in Phuket, Thailand from November 14-23.

 Men’s doubles Nguyen Ngoc Son and Dang Trung Hien have won silver at Nage and Juno event at 4th Asian Judo Kata Championships held recently in Thailand.

 Vietnamese director Nguyen Hoang Diep has been awarded the Best Director for her film Dap Canh Giua Khong Trung (Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere) at the 16th international film festival Bratislava.

 In keeping with Vietnam Post and Telecom Group (VNPT)' June-approved grandscale restructuring plan, a recent proposal to establish three new firms was submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Prime Minister.

 Japan's economy unexpectedly shrank for the second consecutive quarter, marking a technical recession in the world's third largest economy.

 The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines sold more than 49 million shares worth 1,093 billion VND (52.05 million USD) at its initial public offering (IPO) at the HCM City Stock Exchange on November 14.

 Trung Nguyen café pubs and coffee products will soon appear in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, as a result of an agreement between the Trung Nguyen Coffee Group and Global Hotels Management LLC.

 In 10 months leading up to November, Vietnam had sent almost 16,300 workers to Japan and this is the first year Vietnam broke its record of sending 15,000 guest workers to the country annually.

 BabyMe, a Vietnamese mobile application for pregnant women and mothers with children under two, will be presented at the Startup Nations Summit 2014.

 A Vietnam Sea and Islands Culture and Tourism Week will be held in the capital on November 20-24.

 The Ministry of Construction and a UN agency have taken the first steps to establishing a City Prosperity Index for Vietnam.

 The quality of the press in Viet Nam was not high, despite the number of publications and outlets, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said at a meeting yesterday to assess implementation of the revised Press Law issued in 1999.

 Ha Noi authorities have admitted that managing the city's markets, especially unofficial street markets (cho coc, leaping frog), has become challenging.

 US President Barack Obama has condemned the killing of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig as "an act of pure evil".

 A decision to establish a representative office of the Nha Trang Maritime Port Authority in Truong Sa island district, central Khanh Hoa province, was announced on November 15.