Hanoi - Vietnamese workers found an unexploded bomb believed to have been dropped by the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, a military official said Monday.

The bomb, estimated to weigh 250 kilograms, was 1.2 metres long and has a diameter of 30 centimeters. It was found Friday in front of a house on central Hai Ba Trung street.

Workers were digging up the street to lay fibre optic cables when they discovered the bomb.

Hanoi - Some 4,000 workers at a Taiwanese-owned shoe factory in Vietnam's Thanh Hoa province went on strike over the weekend, protesting alleged misconduct by the management in the first wildcat strike of 2009, police and trade union officials said Monday.

"This is the first wildcat strike in our province this year," said Tran Thi Gioi, president of Thanh Hoa province's Trade Union.

"This is a spontaneous wildcat strike because workers are angry about the way management has treated them," said Le Duc Ngoan, a policeman in Quang Hung Commune.

Hanoi  - Floods triggered by unseasonably heavy rains have killed at least three people, left another four missing and injured four others in central Vietnam, disaster management officials said Friday.

The central provinces saw heavy rain between December 30 and January 2, with total rainfall of 200 to 400 millimeters.

"According to the latest figures from Friday morning, one person has been killed and one is missing in Quang Nam Province," said Huynh Tan Phat of the Central Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control.

Fisherwoman Tran Thi Toi was killed when her boat sank on Wednesday. Nguyen Ngoc Tam was reported missing after his fishing boat was swept away.

Hanoi  - Scaffolding surrounding a building under construction in Ho Chi Minh City collapsed at midnight Monday, killing two and injuring 14, a police official said Wednesday.

"We have just received the news from our colleagues that a rescue team has found the body of one person buried in the rubble, raising the death toll to two," said Captain Nguyen Van Chuyen of Tan Phu ward police station.

Chuyen said the accident killed 34-year-old female worker Nguyen Thi Lan instantly and buried Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen, 24.

Hanoi - The number of wildcat strikes in Vietnam has increased sharply compared with last year, a government official said Tuesday.

"This year, we have seen about a 30-per-cent increase in wildcat strikes compared with last year," said Pham Minh Huan, Director of the Salary Policy Department of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

Huan said that more than 80 per cent of the 650 wildcat strikes in 2008 occurred at foreign companies, often as employees demanded higher salaries.

Hanoi - Police in the port town of Ha Long City have identified and are pursuing several suspects who they allege killed six people and wounded one this week in a dispute over coal smuggling, a police official said Thursday.

The victims were shot early Monday in Ha Long City harbour. Police spokesman Nguyen Trinh Dong said police had not yet captured any of the suspects.

Dong said police had determined the killings stemmed from a conflict between two groups competing to smuggle coal from illegal unlicensed mines to nearby China.

Police believe ringleader Pham Huy Nam, 33, alias Nam Bang, ordered his men to kill anyone exploiting coal without his permission in areas he claims to control.