HANOI, Dec 25 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- - - -

NHAN DAN

-- Vietnam should strive to achieve 9 percent economic growth in 2008 and cut the number of poor families to 12 percent from 15 percent this year, when the economy should expand 8.44 percent, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told a cabinet meeting.

-- Two Vietnamese ships collided off the central coastal province of Quang Ngai, causing the spill of 173 cubic metres (6,109 cu ft) of diesel off Dung Quat port. The two ships for were detained for investigation.

- - - -

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Vietnam's energy waste is estimated at $1 million a day, a survey by the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry and Dutch organisation EDP found. The country would be short of 8.6 billion kwh of power next year, up from 6.6 billion kwh this year.

-- Vietnam would establish a fund next year to protect oil product importers from risks of fuel price changes that would be adjusted every three to six months, an Industry and Trade Ministry source said.

-- The Transport Ministry has sought government approval to add 1,800 traffic police to help deal with jams in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City where the proportion of land used for public transportation is as small as 2 percent to 4.5 percent, compared with a normal rate of 20-25 percent.

- - - -

LAO DONG

-- The radio network covers 97.5 percent of Vietnam and 85 percent of the population now have access to television, figures released by the Information and Communication Ministry show.

- - - -

TUOI TRE

-- Doctors have removed safely a bullet which lay in the lungs of a 49-year-old war veteran in the northern province of Thanh Hoa for nearly 30 years.

-- More than half the pledged $17 billion foreign investment this year went to the industrial sector, with more going to high technology projects, the Planning and Investment Ministry said.

- - - -

THANH NIEN

-- Around 25 domestic investment funds have been licensed to operate in Vietnam so far, along with foreign funds such as Dragon Capital, VinaCapital, Mekong Capital, IndoCapital, according to State Securities Commission figures.

- - - -

AlertNet news is provided by