FINANCIAL NEWS:

TUOI TRE

- Lenders said they started to cut lending rates to below 15 percent from July 15 to comply with the central bank's requirement.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

- Partly-private Vietcombank recorded a gross profit of 2.6 trillion dong ($124.7 million) for the first six months of the year, down 15 percent from the same period last year, while Sacombank's gross profit for the period rose 14 percent to 1.7 trillion dong ($81.6 million), the banks said.

- Lenders' profits are expected to fall this year compared with last year due to provisions they have to make for bad debts and lending rate cuts in line with the central bank's request, analysts said.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS

- Three people were sentenced to prison terms totalling 13-1/2 years on Monday after a court in the northern province of Bac Giang found them guilty of anti-state propaganda, including contacts with foreign newspapers and radio stations to provide incorrect information against Vietnam, the court verdict said.

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

- Bird flu has resurfaced in the central province of Quang Binh, killing 300 ducks in An Ninh commune. Eighty people who attended a meeting in the commune on Monday have been quarantined after eating duck for lunch, a provincial official said.

LAO DONG

- The government said it has directed state utility Vietnam Electricity to ensure an average annual increase of 13 percent in electricity output from now until 2020.

TUOI TRE

- An Agriculture Ministry ruling that requires feed importers to test samples will result in delays in customs clearance and higher costs, feed producers and traders said.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

- The central bank governor is scheduled to be questioned at a session of the National Assembly's Standing Committee in mid-August over measures to reduce bad debt in the banking system, the parliament said.

($1=20,840 dong)