PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - January 3

HANOI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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VIETNAM NEWS

-- Construction of the 19.7 km (12.24 mile) first line of Ho Chi Minh City's underground rail system would begin this month, with the first station to be built while building the actual line would begin in 2009 and be completed in mid-2013, a project developer said. The project will cost $1.1 billion, 83 percent of it supplied by Japanese aid.

-- Vietnam's first telecommunications satellite is expected to be launched in March and become fully operational in the second quarter of the year.

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TUOI TRE

-- Wild birds are suspected of giving bird flu to the four-year-old boy who died last month, Vietnam's latest victim of the H5N1 virus, animal health officials said after tests showed poultry at his house did not carry the virus.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Vietnam is forecast to receive foreign investment of $17 billion to $20 billion a year between 2008 and 2010, the Planning and Investment Ministry said.

-- Vietnam is expected to produce 36 million to 38 million tonnes of paddy this year and export 4.5 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes of unhusked rice, the Agriculture Ministry said.

-- Vietnam had 46 million telephones at the end of 2007, a density of 54 units per 100 people, and 75 percent of the phones were mobile phones, government statistics show.

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