HANOI, Jan 7 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories. - - - - FINANCIAL NEWS: TUOI TRE -- Partly private Saigon Commercial Bank said its pre-tax profit last year jumped 83 percent from 2007 to 658 billion dong ($39 million). -- Some banks said they would join forces with securities companies to provide more funds for stock investors. - - - - DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN -- Construction services provider Kinh Bac City Corporation <KBC.HN> is seeking shareholder votes to develop into a real estate group. -- The government has approved the Hanoi Securities Trading Center <.HASTCI> to transform into the Hanoi Stock Exchange with a registered capital of 1 trillion dong ($59 million). -- Bach Tuyet Cotton Corporation <BBT.HM> failed to hold a shareholder meeting on Tuesday as only 158 shareholders, or 56.41 percent of those with voting rights, were present. The firm was seeking approval to delist its shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange <.VNI>. ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS: QUAN DOI NHAN DAN -- Cambodian Ambassador to Hanoi Van Phan praised Vietnam's contribution to the liberation of Cambodia from the Pol Pot regime 30 years ago. - - - - LAO DONG -- The condition of the bird flu patient in Thanh Hoa has stabilised, said doctors at Thanh Hoa General Hospital where she was being treated. -- Vietnam failed to reduce the number of poor households to 12 percent of the population by the end of 2008 because of unexpected natural disasters last year, the Labour Ministry said. About 14 percent of households are still categorised as living under poverty line now. - - - - THANH NIEN -- Trade between Vietnam and Malaysia in 2008 rose 22 percent from the previous year to more than $4 billion, and Malaysia was the second largest foreign investor in Vietnam with total pledges of $18 billion. - - - - TUOI TRE -- Only 1 percent of 429 businesses in Ho Chi Minh City's export processing and industrial zones had advanced technology, according to a survey by the city's Science and Technology Department. -- Ho Chi Minh City authorities put 2,200 drug addicts in treatment facilities last year while another 5,500 people returned home after treatment, said Nguyen Ngoc Thach, head of the city's Anti-Social Vice Department. - - - - VIETNAM NEWS -- Vietnam plans to export 117,000 tonnes of tea this year, generating revenues of $167 million, marking an annual increase of 13.6 percent. -- Nearly 100 dairy farmers in the northern province of Vinh Phuc have filed a civil lawsuit asking the health ministry to compensate them for contradictory information during the melamine scare, which led to a fall in sales. - - - - THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM -- The agriculture ministry forecast an annual drop of 11 percent in seafood export revenues this year to $4 billion. - - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)
A flooded paddy field is seen in Vietnam's central province of Quang Ngai January 2, 0009. Unseasonal floods brought by rains this week have killed at least five people in central ...
