PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - April 25

HANOI, April 25 | Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:21pm EDT

HANOI, April 25 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
FINANCIAL NEWS:
LAO DONG
- FPT Corp, a software producer, said it would pay a 20 percent dividend in cash and another 25 percent through shares for 2011 by issuing 54 million new shares.
THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
- Baoviet Holdings expects its net profit this year to rise 10 percent from 2011 to 1.33 trillion dong ($63.82 million), it said in a report to the annual shareholders' meeting.
ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
VIETNAM NEWS
- China must immediately cancel its nationwide plan for island protection, strictly follow the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the East Sea and take no more actions that may complicate the situation in the area, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said.
- Fourteen out of 26 blood samples from patients suffering a mysterious skin disease in the central province of Quang Ngai have tested positive for the Rickettsia infection, which is transferred from animals to people by lice and fleas, Director Pham Hong Duong of the provincial health department said. So far 19 have died out of the 172 infected.
HANOI MOI
- Vietnam has signed contracts to export 4.22 million tonnes of rice so far this year, up nearly 24 percent from the same period in 2011, the Agriculture Ministry said.
TUOI TRE
- Police have detained 20 people accused of opposing officials after the authorities used force to take 5.6 hectares of land from 166 families as part of a construction project in the northern province of Hung Yen after the residents did not agree with compensation offered by the project's investors.
THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
- Nearly 80 percent of Vietnam's coffee processors and exporters faced losses last year due to high bank interest rates and other expenses, said adviser Doan Trieu Nhan of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association.
DAU TU
- Ho Chi Minh City seeks to attract $2.5 billion in foreign direct investment pledges this year, focusing on nine sectors including finance, credit, insurance, logistics, telecoms, real estate, tourism and health care, said Lu Thanh Phong, deputy director of the city's Planning and Investment Service. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Paul Tait)