Good morning from Vietnam!

The 2026 Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) will culminate in its grand finale on July 11. Throughout the festival, bridges, rooftop venues, and riverside locations have become favorite viewing spots, offering visitors sweeping views of the spectacular fireworks displays over the Han River.

Tropical storm Maysak, the first storm to affect the East Vietnam Sea this year, entered the Gulf of Tonkin early on Saturday morning after crossing China's Hainan Island, potentially making landfall near Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province and China's Guangxi Province later in the day.

Vietnamese police have charged 22 people over an alleged transnational diamond smuggling ring and seized 1,100 diamonds, authorities in Thanh Hoa Province said on Thursday, adding that the network generated an estimated VND280 billion (US$10.65 million) in sales.

The Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has established the Ho Chi Minh City Press and Radio-Television Agency, a new public media organization formed as part of the restructuring of the city’s press system.

Construction of the Yen Binh Digital Technology Complex, a VND3.5-trillion (US$133 million) project, began on Thursday in Thai Nguyen Province, northern Vietnam.

Videos posted by foreign tourists and expatriates applauding public hospitals in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang have attracted hundreds of thousands of views on social media, with many highlighting affordable treatment costs, medical expertise, efficient procedures, and attentive care.

Reforms and special policies have driven Ho Chi Minh City's transformation over the past 50 years, and the city should now focus on high-tech and green development to sustain long-term growth, according to Professor Carl Thayer of the Australian Defence Force Academy at the University of New South Wales.

Ho Chi Minh City has introduced bilingual Vietnamese-English information boards at its central bus terminal as part of broader upgrades accompanying the launch of free public bus services on 134 routes from July 1.

Local authorities in Di An Ward, the most populous ward in Ho Chi Minh City, have launched a campaign to capture animals roaming freely in public spaces and residential areas.

Good morning from Vietnam!

The fourth edition of the Da Nang Asian Film Festival (DANAFF IV) is taking place in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang from June 28 to July 4, bringing together more than 100 films from Vietnam, Asia, and around the world, alongside leading names from the global film industry.

Ho Chi Minh City will launch a three-month pilot of level-4 autonomous vehicles, a high level of driving automation that is gradually being commercialized around the world, to evaluate their safety and performance in the city's real-world traffic environment while laying the groundwork for a regulatory sandbox for self-driving technology.

Nearly two decades after the larger rock of Hon Phu Tu, once a famous coastal attraction in southern Vietnam, collapsed into the ocean, the site continues to attract visitors, although many expressed disappointment that the famous landmark has yet to be restored.

Heavy rainfall has inundated several villages in Cao Bang Province, northern Vietnam, prompting police and military forces to help evacuate residents and move their belongings to safety.

Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Rodriguez has expressed gratitude to Vietnam for dispatching a rescue mission to assist with relief efforts following the devastating twin earthquakes that struck the South American country on June 24.

TOKYO -- Inbound tourism continued making contributions to rises in roadside land prices in Japan this year, according to National Tax Agency data released Wednesday.

Final preparations were underway on Thursday morning for large-scale fireworks displays across Ho Chi Minh City, where 16 launch sites are set to light up the sky simultaneously at 9:00 pm the same day to mark the 50th anniversary of the city named after President Ho Chi Minh City (July 2).

Singapore's United Overseas Bank (Vietnam) Limited (UOB Vietnam) has broken ground on its US$450 million headquarters within the Vietnam International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City (VIFC-HCMC), becoming the first foreign bank to own a purpose-built office tower in the emerging financial hub.

A consortium including Microsoft and telecom startup Lightstorm plans to build a new undersea cable linking India with Malaysia and Singapore as technology firms compete to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in India, one of the world's fastest-growing data markets.

Unstaffed coffee shops, ramen eateries and flower outlets are spreading across South Korea as owners turn to robots and self-service to overcome rising labour costs in a business model that relies on the widespread honesty of users.

Vietnam's Ministry of Finance has dismissed reports circulating in some news outlets and on social media claiming that all gold bar transactions would be subject to a 0.1-percent personal income tax starting July 1, saying the interpretation is inaccurate because the government has yet to issue detailed regulations on the policy.

Vietnam’s rescue team recovered 11 earthquake victims from collapsed buildings in Venezuela’s La Guaira State after one day of search operations, Vietnamese authorities said on Wednesday.

Commuters across Ho Chi Minh City have welcomed a free bus program launched on Wednesday covering 134 of the city’s 135 routes, saying it lowers travel costs and makes public transportation more accessible, while authorities have stepped up operations to ensure service quality.

TOKYO -- Japan cut passport issuance fees on Wednesday, lowering the cost of a 10-year passport for adults to 8,900 yen from 15,900 yen if an application is filed online.

The issuance of Resolution No. 10 by Vietnam's Politburo on the development of the foreign-invested economic sector comes at a pivotal moment, as the Southeast Asian country shifts its focus from simply attracting foreign capital to transforming external investment into lasting domestic capability.

SAO PAULO -- Members of the Mercosur trade bloc in South America formally announced the start of negotiations for an economic partnership agreement with Japan at a summit in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion on Tuesday.

Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defense industry cooperation during talks between high-ranking delegations from their defense ministries on Tuesday.

Hanoi has officially launched a citywide program offering free periodic health check-ups and disease screening to an estimated 9.2 million residents, while also expanding health insurance coverage and increasing support for voluntary social insurance participants.

Vietnamese searches containing the keyword ‘World Cup’ rose 1,550 percent from a month before the tournament after kick-off, while searches for ‘football’ increased 480 percent, according to Coc Coc Research data released on Tuesday.

Honda Vietnam, a subsidiary of Japanese vehicle maker Honda, is recalling nearly 90,000 SH 125i and SH 160i scooters for inspection and an instrument cluster software update after identifying some cases of inaccurate or missing display information and a risk that the vehicles may fail to start.

Prisoners in Vietnam will be allowed to make one video or phone call to relatives in the country each month for up to 10 minutes under the 2025 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments, effective from July 1 this year.

The lotus season is at its peak in Hue City, central Vietnam with thousands of white lotus flowers in full bloom at Tinh Tam Lake, transforming the historic site inside the Imperial Citadel into one of the city’s most captivating seasonal attractions.

TOKYO -- Japan's industry ministry said Tuesday that it will provide 387.3 billion yen in aid for a project to develop a domestic model that serves as the foundation of a physical artificial intelligence system that controls robots.

Vietnam’s stock market is expected to draw momentum from infrastructure construction, building material, and banking stocks in the second half of 2026, according to Huynh Anh Huy, director of Industry Analysis at Kafi Securities.