HANOI, March 6 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

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FINANCIAL NEWS:

LAO DONG

-- Banks reported their loans in February and March under the rate subsidisation scheme would reach a combined 400 trillion dong ($23.7 billion), accounting for 15-30 percent of the total loans at each bank, the central bank said.

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THANH NIEN

-- State oil group Petrovietnam's financial arm PVFC <PVF.HM> said it would sell part of its stake or divest in construction firm PVC. PVC, 83.37 percent owned by Petrovietnam, projected this year's net profit to jump 93 percent to 144 billion dong ($8.48 million).

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- The State Securities Commission would tighten the capital requirement and licensing procedures for brokerages this year, chairman Vu Bang said.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- The two people who ate sick poultry and contracted bird flu this year died from the disease, a death rate of 100 percent, which is a worrying sign, Deputy Director of the Health Ministry's Preventive Medicine Department Nguyen Van Binh said.

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HANOI MOI

-- A woman found guilty of involvement in a ring that trafficked 28 packs of heroin to Hanoi escaped the death sentence but received a life term in jail because she was feeding a child of less than 36 months, a Hanoi court ruled on Thursday. Her mother, head of the ring, had committed suicide earlier.

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LAO DONG

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a master plan for developing Vietnam's north-south railway system which envisaged speed to rise to 350 km (220 miles) per hour by 2020.

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TUOI TRE

-- Vietnam plans to establish a joint investment fund with an initial capital of $1 billion with the government of Qatar during a visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung this week.

-- Bay Viet Company has established the country's first school to train commercial pilots in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in cooperation with France's ESMA. The tuition is estimated at about $100,000 per student.

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DAU TU

-- Property sales in Ho Chi Minh City rose in the past month as developers reduced prices and banks resumed mortgage services.

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VIETNAM NEWS

-- Vietnam expressed concern over the International Criminal Court's issuing an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, saying the case would create a dangerous precedent that might negatively affect any sustainable, comprehensive and peaceful solution for reconciliation in Darfur.

- - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)

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