VIETNAM TODAY

So far this year, food poisoning has killed 17 people and hospitalised 2,500 others as the level of substandard food imports, particularly chickens, continues to rise.

British Prime Minister David Cameron reshuffled his ailing coalition government on Tuesday, but unpopular finance minister George Osborne was expected to keep his job.

The Ministry of Finance has submitted a scheme to the Prime Minister for improving Vietnam's sovereign credit rating, with a target for the country to achieve investment grade by 2020.

Hanoi will spend VND2 trillion (USD96 million) to reduce traffic jams during the 2012-2015 period.

Many commercial banks have raced to launch preferential mortgages for people seeking homes rather than providing loans for property speculators.

The United States is weighing a deal with Egypt's new rulers to relieve $1 billion worth of debt, The New York Times reported.

Nine Vietnamese players brought home 1 gold and 5 bronze medals at the 5th World Cup Woodball Championships in Malaysia.

President Barack Obama told Americans to punt away Mitt Romney's economic game plan, in a new swipe at his Republican rival on the road to this week's Democratic National Convention.

The number of victims of traffic accidents taken to Viet Duc Hospital during the National Day holiday nearly doubled that of normal days.

Moody's lowered the European Union's long-term issuer rating outlook from stable to negative.

More than 500 delegates from 150 countries are gathering in Hanoi for the 2nd Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change to food security.

Vietnam aims to reduce its birth rate from 2.0 percent in 2010 to 1.9 percent by 2015, according to the national target program on population and family planning.

Vietnam and China hold the third Deputy Minister-level strategic defence talks in Hanoi on September 3.

The Vietnam National Petroleum should be divided into different independent companies to avoid the possibility of a monopoly developing, said experts.

Kurdish rebels wielding rocket launchers and machine-guns attacked a security base in southeast Turkey, triggering a firefight that left 30 people dead, local officials said.

Inhabitants of An Binh Islet, 30km off the coast of central Quang Ngai province, will now have access to fresh water for the first time in 300 years.

Vietnam ranked 8th among the 50 countries which were most attractive for their software outsourcing in 2011, said the US-based AT Kearney consulting group.

Vietnam’s female chess team has trounced US players in the fifth round of the ongoing World Chess Olympiad in Turkey.

The WWO in coordination with local relevant agencies is carrying out the Rainbow Project to offer help to vulnerable children in HCMC for three years starting from this month.