VIETNAM TODAY

The SBV increased this year's credit-growth targets for a number of commercial banks, hoping to spur lending to struggling enterprises dealing with high inventories and sluggish markets.

US regulators are investigating claims Deutsche Bank and other global banks funneled billions of dollars for Iran, Sudan and other sanctioned nations.

A contest called “Children painting for traffic safety” was launched in Hanoi to mark the National Traffic Safety Year 2012.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong had a working session with the Ministry of Education and Training on comprehensive education reform on August 17.

Lakhdar Brahimi will take over from Kofi Annan as the international envoy on the Syria conflict, the UN said.

All kinds of imported fruit will be carefully checked as from September 2012.

Hanoi's local government agencies are being snubbed by university graduates.

Hanoi has been badly affected by the storm with strong winds and heavy rains under the influence of typhoon Kai Tak.

An Indiana union pension fund that owns shares in Wal-Mart Stores Inc has sued the company to gain access to thousands of internal documents related to allegations that its subsidiary bribed Mexican government officials.

A Politburo resolution signed by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong enjoins HCM City to achieve a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of USD8,500 by the end of 2020.

The People’s Committee of Quang Nam Province has approved the starting price for auction of more than 3,061 tonnes of titanium confiscated by Maritime Police Zone 2 on August 14.

To hold sway over the domestic market, Vietnamese companies must develop a long-term strategy to improve the quality of their products while maintaining reasonable prices and their prestige.

The tuitions for different education levels have been kept unchanged, however, this does not mean that the financial burden on parents has been eased.

Lion bones have become a hot commodity for their use in Asian traditional medicine, driving up exports from South Africa to the East and creating new fears of the survival of the species.

Despite the slump in real estate prices, old villas in Hanoi are still going for sky high prices.

The Ba Den forest in Quang Binh province is reportedly “bleeding” because it has been poached by a lot of groups of people, hunting for teak wood.

A new book on the East Sea , written by Dr. Tran Cong Truc, a former head of the Government’s committee on boundaries, has drawn a lot of attention from domestic and overseas readers.

The People’s Council of HCMC has recently approved a policy lending educational support to children of families facing dire economic strains, who are on or below the poverty line.

Nine-time world MotoGP champ Valentino Rossi says he and Jorge Lorenzo can put their past differences aside and will have no problems coexisting as teammates with Yamaha.