HANOI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

- - - -

FINANCIAL NEWS:

- - - -

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Vietnam will cut rubber exports by 31 percent to 450,000 tonnes this year after the average rubber price dropped 47 percent in 2008, said the Vietnam Rubber Association.

-- Hanoi expected to double its registered foreign direct investment to $150 million this year, said Hanoi-based industrial park managers.

- - - -

THANH NIEN

-- Bao Minh <BMI.HM>, a Vietnamese insurer, reported an 11 percent rise in its 2008 net profit to 145 billion dong ($8.5 million). The firm projected this year's revenues would edge up 8 percent to 2.15 trillion dong and pre-tax profit would rise 20 percent to 200 billion dong ($12 million).

-- State-run BIDV said it would offer loans and pump funds from a 35 trillion dong ($2 billion) package into social housing development projects.

- - - -

QUAN DOI NHAN DAN

-- The Military Insurance Company said it has projected revenues this year to rise around 80 percent from 2008 to 380 billion dong ($22.4 million) and it would pay a dividend of up to 13 percent to shareholders.

- - - -

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

- - - -

NHAN DAN

-- The police in prisons and detention camps nationwide are reviewing applications for amnesty of more than 10,000 inmates ahead of the Lunar New Year festival, Deputy Minister of Police Le The Tiem said.

- - - -

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Vietnam launched on Monday a national programme to cope with climate change, which has brought more severe natural disasters such as storms and floods to the country widely exposed to the sea.

-- A year after the Ho Chi Minh City authorities added Saturday to the work week, the cost has been found to be high while efficiency is low because a few residents come to state offices for transactions on that day, the city's Interior Department said in a report.

- - - -

HANOI MOI

-- The government has decided to delay collecting personal income tax until May to support people and businesses given current economic difficulties, even though a law on the tax came into force on Jan. 1, Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan said. The delay would cause a monthly loss of 1 trillion dong to the state budget, the finance ministry said.

- - - -

LAO DONG

-- Authorities will have to use fake flowers to decorate Hanoi during the upcoming Tet holidays because floods in the city and surrounding provinces last October destroyed a large area of flower cultivation, a city official said.

-- The Vietnam Steel Corporation said it has projected to produce 2.23 million tonnes of steel sheets this year, up 2.9 percent from 2008, while the steel billet output would rise 8.8 percent to 980,000 tonnes.

- - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)

AlertNet news is provided by