Ho Chi Minh City as usual is always packed with exhilarating activities for weekend celebrations. Those still pondering where to relax this weekend should check out the following sites in the city.

Vietnamese representative Lien Phuong finished in the Top 6 of the World Miss Tourism Ambassador’s talent competition in the Philippines.

 Experts have urged simplifying the procedures to receive refunds on value-added tax (VAT) for foreign tourists.

 Vietnamese beauty queens have earned a total of 242 points to put the country in 15th position of the global beauty rankings on the Missosology website.

 Hanoi firefighters have modified motorbikes to carry their equipment into small alleyways to allow them to carry out their tasks.

The trend towards non-cash payments and digitalization in retail banking and the maturation of FinTech companies in Vietnam present major opportunities as well as challenges for retail banks during the fourth industrial revolution.

 The Vietnam Aviation Academy has proposed to the Ministry of Transport to use a Cambodian passenger jet abandoned at Noi Bai International Airport for a decade for its training activities.

 As many as 597 cyber attacks were launched on Vietnam’s websites in November 2017, according to the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT).

 Shares tumbled for a third straight day on the HCM Stock Exchange on Thursday but rose on Ha Noi’s bourse as money inflow channelled into small- and mid-cap stocks.

Although FDI has played an important role in boosting Vietnam’s economic growth, recent changes in policies and regulations have exposed many foreign investors to considerable risks and obstacles in executing their investments.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to handle suspected financial violations by the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) prior to the company’s intended initial public offering.

 Concerted efforts are needed to enhance cooperation between the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam and the US in a number of areas, including education, energy security, food security, agriculture and health.

 Forest rangers in Quang Binh on Wednesday detained a man who was carrying two stripe-headed black langurs (Trachypithecus hatinhensis), listed by International Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered species.

 Vietnamese cueists, Ma Xuan Cuong and Ngo Dinh Nai, have entered the main round of the Three-Cushion World Cup in Hurghada, Egypt.

 Six South Korean archers of the Doosan team that won the silver medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics are training members of the Vietnamese national archery team in Hanoi.

 Saigon Heat will start their ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) this weekend, targeting a better place than their previous play-offs.

The movie Sài Gòn, anh yêu em (Sài Gòn, I love you), directed by Ly Minh Thang, won the jury prize at the ASEAN – China Film Festival on December 4.

 A cold front approached the northern region late last night, dropping the temperature and causing scattered rain across the region.

 Hanoi’s narcotics police have caught two men for illegally transporting a large amount of heroin from the mountainous Northwest for retail dealers in the capital city.

 Bai Choi singing, a folk music genre practised in Vietnam’s central region, has been added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.