HANOI, March 11 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

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FINANCIAL NEWS:

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TUOI TRE

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has allowed financial firms to lend under the government's interest rate subsidy plan.

THANH NIEN

-- Hanoi will spend 100 trillion dong ($5.9 billion) offering businesses cheaper loans and use 10 trillion dong to support small- and medium-sized companies with bank credits, Hanoi People's Committee vice chairman Hoang Manh Hien said.

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LAO DONG

-- Several banks continued to increase dong deposit rates, offering the highest rate at 8.4 percent per year.

-- Penny stocks on Vietnam's stock exchange <.VNI> gained nearly 9 percent in 10 consecutive sessions ending on Tuesday while blue-chips, including 26 largest companies by market value, only grew 6.43 percent, market data showed.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

NHAN DAN

-- Families facing hunger in six districts of the central province of Quang Binh would receive a combined 1,000 tonnes of rice, or 15 kg per head, from the provincial People's Committee to overcome the period between harvests, the authorities said.

-- Police have detained the deputy chief administrator of the Communist Party chapter in the central highland province of Daklak for abusing power at her former position in a forestry business that was accused in an illegal logging case.

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QUAN DOI NHAN DAN

-- State-oned mobile network Vinaphone, which plans to add 10 million new users this year, said it projected the total number of subscribers to rise to 30 million by the second quarter.

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HANOI MOI

-- German television station DW-TV Asia started broadcasting a channel in Vietnam on Tuesday via cable television and Ho Chi Minh City's TV station.

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THANH NIEN

-- A bridge under construction in the Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong highway project collapsed on Tuesday, injuring two workers.

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DAU TU

-- The real estate market in Hanoi has shown signs of recovery as prices have been more reasonable and banks resumed lending to home buyers, dealers said.

- - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)

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