The sky above Ecopark, a new green urban residential area in the northern province of Hung Yen, was peppered with giant kites representing buoyancy with hope and joy of life during the opening ceremony of an international kite festival on April 30.

  The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan will be holding a series of Japanese cooking seminars in HCMC on May 4-5.

 Several photographers have voiced their opposition to a new Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism circular that bans artists and models from nude photography, saying that they would ignore the circular.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A 70-year-old man from the UK has a private collection of 2,500 guns, swords and other weapons of many countries in the southern city of Vung Tau.

The European Literature Days will come to Hanoi for the sixth time and HCMC for the first time next month, featuring new books from eight European countries and activities for book lovers, Goethe-Institut Vietnam said in a statement.

With skillful hands and the sensitive soul of a Buddhist monk, Venerable Thich GiacThien writes calligraphic Buddhist prayers in Vietnamese on pebbles, which turn out to become valuable art works with a noble humane outlook.

 The Hue Festival 2016 officially kicked off at the Ngo Mon (Noon Gate) with a range of artistic programmes in the ancient imperial citadel complex in Hue City , the central province of Thua Thien – Hue, on April 29.

 Many artists in Vietnam have to raised their concern about numerous fake profiles on Facebook that are using their names to commit fraud.

 VietNamNet Bridge - An exhibition on war memories is underway at the Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi.

 Vietnamese male representative Nguyen Phuc Vinh Cuong arrived in Bangkok, Thailand on April 28 to join other foreign contestants in first activities of Mister Global 2016 pageant.

 Some 10ha of forest in U Minh Ha National Park in the southernmost province of Ca Mau was destroyed by a fire that broke out on Wednesday afternoon and lasted until 2am.

 Co Gai Den Tu Hom Qua (Girl from Yesterday), a novel by best-sellering author Nguyen Nhat Anh, will be adapted for film in a project by CJ Entertainment Company.

 A photo exhibition has opened at the HCM City Book Pedestrian Street on Nguyễn Văn Bình Street in District 1 to celebrate the 41st anniversary of Reunification Day.    

 Everything has been ready for the opening of the 2016 Hue Festival slated for April 29, which promises to offer sumptuous entertainments through the course of one week with 53 events of all kinds and nearly 50 sidelines activities.

  The Embassy of the Republic of Poland announced that Polish Jazz band Michał Milczarek Trio is going to have three shows in Vietnam at the turn of April and May.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Champion of Vietnam's Next Top Model 2011 Hoang Thuy wore hand-painted, gold-inlaid dresses designed by Hoang Quyen on the catwalk at the ongoing Vietnam International Fashion Week 2016 in HCM City.

 Vietnamese audiences will be enchanted with several resplendent and lissome dances from the Republic of Korea ’s traditional dance group Yun Myung Hwa Ensemble.

 A Vietnamese film on childhood titled Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh (I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass) has won Best Film at the TFF Kids International Film Festival 2016.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Danish music band ‘Cancer’ will have two performances at the Hue Festival 2016, at the Tay Thai Hoa Stage on May 2 and An Dinh Palace on May 3.

  Saigon Classical Music Group will come back with a free-entrance Springtime Melodies concert at 7 p.m. on April 30 at Edenstar Hotel in HCMC’s District 1.