The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will host a concert on July 19 at the Opera House to mark 45 years of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Belgium.

 “Melody of Bamboo” by Vietnamese painter Hoang Dinh, awarded with the “Giulio Cesare: Art Emperor” prize by the magazine Art International Contemporary, has been on display at Velli Palace in Rome, Italy. 

Customs officers at Tan Son Nhat Airport on July 15 arrested a Vietnamese man who had been on a flight from Angola and illegally transporting 12 rhino horns weighing over seven kilogrammes in total. 

 Vietnamese shares rose on both the northern and southern local exchanges on July 16 as more cash was poured into the banking sector.

When the VN Index exceeded the 1,200 point threshold, it was a surprise that the stock market later fell so sharply. 

 The 50km electric fence stretching across Vinh Cuu and Dinh Quan district in the southern province of Dong Nai has been unable to prevent wild elephants from looking for food in local farms.

 Torrential rains and thunderstorms are forecast to blanket the capital city of Hanoi and northern mountainous provinces for the next few days.

As part of a project to preserve its most famous ancient buildings, the city of Hue is partnering up with two American technology firms who will apply advanced computer imaging techniques and data storage 

 The Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (C47) under the Ministry of Public Security has busted a large-scaled drug production ring in Ho Chi Minh City led by Didonna Quoc Anh Phillip, a French citizen.

 National Assembly Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien received a delegation of Australian parliamentarians led by Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the Parliamentary Library Rowan Ramsay in Hanoi on July 16.

 Vietnam spent 790 million USD to import 2.43 million tonnes of fertiliser in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of nearly 22 percent in value and 1.2 percent in volume.

 The Vietnamese cashew sector is calling for an 800 million USD credit package from commercial banks to better serve its exports.

 Vietnam’s leather and footwear sector posted an export value of 9.45 billion USD in the first half of the year, an 8.4 percent increase year-on-year. 

 Early flash floods and heavy rains have caused serious damage in northeast mountainous areas. 

 The Ministry of Public Security on July 16 issued an international arrest warrant for Vu Hoang Oanh, born in 1957 in the northern city of Hai Phong, on the charge of illegal drug trafficking.

Tourists to Phan Thiet City in the central province of Binh Thuan must not miss a special destination: sand park Forgotten Land. This is the first sand park in Vietnam, which has been carved by sculptors from 15 countries

VietNamNet Bridge - Scrap piles up right at the entrance gate to the village, and covers all canals, alleys and heaps up at houses. Schools are ‘attacked’ by waste and thick black smoke. 

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education was introduced for the first time in Vietnam six years ago, targeting the high-end markets in large cities and focused on robotics and coding.

VietNamNet Bridge - Nearly VND1 trillion is spent to organize national high-school final exams every year, a relatively high amount of money for Vietnam. 

According to IMS Health, Vietnamese spending on drugs increased rapidly from $27.1 in 2011 to $45.8 now. However, this figure is only about half of other regional countries. It is expected to rise to $85 by 2020.