PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - May 12

HANOI, May 12 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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FINANCIAL NEWS:

TUOI TRE

-- Military Bank had invested 2.5 trillion dong ($154.7 million) in in government treasuries and corporate bonds and 291 billion dong ($18 million) in in listed companies' shares.

-- Philips Carbon Black from India signed an agreement with a consortium of local companies to invest $65 million in a black coal plant in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Local enterprises had registered to invest in 217 hydro-electric projects with an estimated total capacity of 4,100 megawatts, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

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ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW

-- Pacific Land of Ireland has received a licence to invest $250 million in the country's first bio-tech park in Hanoi.

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NHAN DAN

-- The hand, foot and mouth disease has been spreading and could become a major epidemic in Vietnam this year, with nearly 3,000 children contracting the disease. said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Health Ministry's Preventive Medicine Department.

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HANOI MOI

-- State oil group Petrovietnam would establish a joint venture with a Russian company, Rus-Viet Petro, in May or June to explore oil in the northern region of Russia near the Arctic ocean, Petrovietnam general director Tran Ngoc Canh said. Petrovietnam would hold 49 percent of stake in the venture.

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SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Vietnam's population grew 7.2 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, the Health Ministry said.

-- Mekong Delta provincial authorities planned to relocate 30,000 families living in the areas often inundated by seasonal floods to the higher ground this year ahead of the flood arrival.

-- Vietnam's production and sales of footwear made from artificial leather dropped 37.4 percent in the first four months of this year to 13.9 pairs due to less orders from importers and also lower demand at home, the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association said.

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THANH NIEN

-- Doan Nguyen Duc, Chairman of wood processor and real estate developer Hoang Anh Gia Lai, became the first Vietnamese to own a $7-million plane. Duc purchased a Beechcraft King Air 350 in the United States and is applying for the aircraft registration to fly in Vietnam.

- - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)