PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - March 3

HANOI, March 3 (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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VIETNAM NEWS

-- Police in the northern port city of Haiphong detained about 300 people for alleged drug abuse in a raid on the city's popular UFO Club.

-- Office rents jumped 40 percent in Ho Chi Minh City's business districts in the past year to about $68 per square metre due to space shortage, real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield said in a report.

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VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW

-- Record credit growth has been a major cause of the banking system's serious liquidity crunch and high consumer price index, bankers said.

-- Kumho Tyres Co Ltd (073240.KS) of South Korea said it would invest $200 million in a plant in the southern province of Binh Duong using Vietnamese rubber. Vietnam, with 1.1 million automobiles and nearly 22 million motorcycles, was seen as a lucrative market for tyre makers, the company said.

-- Keppel Land (KLAN.SI) of Singapore said it wanted to build Ho Chi Minh City's tallest skyscraper near the historic Ben Thanh market.

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LAO DONG

-- Nine cities and provinces still report bird flu outbreaks, the Animal Health Department said.

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TUOI TRE

-- Catfish production in the Mekong Delta has been facing problems after banks declined to lend to farmers while companies have lowered their buying prices as the dong appreciated against the dollar, businesses and farmers said.