HANOI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories. - - - - FINANCIAL NEWS: TUOI TRE -- If banks cut lending interest rate to 17 percent per year, companies would take more loans, said Dong A Bank's CEO Tran Phuong Binh. -- Partly private Vietcombank cut dong lending rates to 18.5 percent per year as of Tuesday and offered a preferential lending rate of 17.205 percent, CEO Nguyen Phuoc Thanh said. - - - - THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM -- Partly private Western Bank has received the State Bank of Vietnam's permission to provide foreign exchange services. - - - - THANH NIEN -- Rate cuts by lenders following the central bank's move to lower the base rate would only help some companies while others may still find it difficult to access funds as banks do not extend many loans at present for fear of risks, said Habubank CEO Bui Thi Mai. - - - - LAO DONG -- The State Bank of Vietnam has asked state-run banks and Vietcombank to promptly consider loan provision to Vietnam Electricity group's power projects this year and in 2009. -- Indochina Airlines said it would open the first commercial flight by the end of this year. The airliner, Vietnam's first private carrier, is projected to transport 1 million passengers per year. ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS: VIETNAM NEWS -- Heavy rains and flooding in central Vietnam killed 11 people, damaged 12,000 houses and schools as well as 11,500 hectares (acres) of rice fields and cash crops, the National Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control said. - - - - QUAN DOI NHAN DAN -- Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet is scheduled to visit Russia between Oct. 26-29, followed by a trip to Mongolia on Oct. 30-31. - - - - THANH NIEN -- Businesses disagreed with a plan by top utility group EVN to raise power prices, saying a 15 percent increase next year is too steep. - - - - THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM -- More flash floods are expected in the central provinces of Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai this week following heavy rains in the past week, weather forecasters said. -- California Wow Experience, a gym operator from the United States, said it planned to open more gyms in Ho Chi Minh City to cater to growing local demand. - - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)
Workers remove debris after two trains crashed at Zaozyornaya station, 180 km (112 miles) east of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, early on October 16, 2008. The Trans-Siberial railway was blocked ...
