Hanoi - Authorities have detected the H5N1 avian flu virus in ducks in the central Vietnamese province of Nghe An, the third outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam since September 1, a government official said Tuesday.

Bui Quang Anh, director of Vietnam's Animal Health Department, said the outbreak had killed some 300 ducks.

"The ducks had only been vaccinated once," said Anh. "They need at least three injections to become resistant to H5N1."

Hanoi  - A plunge in local milk consumption due to fears of melamine-tainted Chinese milk threatens to drive Vietnamese farmers out of the dairy business even though their milk is safe and clean, local officials and farmers said Monday.

"I will have to sell my cows if things do not change in a few weeks," said Nguyen Thi Hanh, a dairy farmer in the Hanoi suburb of Gia Lam.

Local media report dairy factories have ceased buying milk from farmers because they are unable to sell it.

Hanoi - Tropical Storm Mekkhala swept through central Vietnam on
Tuesday, killing three people and leaving 14 missing and 13 injured,
the National Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control said
Wednesday.

The storm arrived as residents of northern Vietnam were still
cleaning up the aftermath of a typhoon that killed 42 people last week
and caused damage estimated at nearly 69 million dollars.

Mekkhala, packing winds of 88 kilometres per hour, blew tin roofs
off houses and caused power blackouts in the central province of Quang
Binh.

Disaster officials said Wednesday that the storm knocked down trees
and electricity poles and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of
people.

Hanoi - Vietnam is unlikely to meet its targeted gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 7 per cent in 2008 due to a slow down in industrial production, local economists said Wednesday.

"I don't believe the government can achieve GDP growth of 7 per cent this year," said economist Tran Duc Nguyen, a former adviser to Vietnam's Prime Minister. "To reach 7 per cent growth for the year, the GDP growth for the last quarter would have to be 8 per cent. How can the government do it in this difficult context?"

Hanoi - Vietnam's stock market fell sharply Tuesday as local traders scrambled to sell following Monday's plunge in the US stock market.

The VN-Index shrank 22.3 points, or 4.66 per cent, to close at 456.

Vo Quoc Khanh, an analyst at FPT Securities, said local traders were "shocked to learn that US lawmakers had rejected the 700 billion dollar financial rescue plan."

Khanh said traders sold across the board, afraid falling global indexes would have a negative impact on Vietnam's market.

Liquidity dropped sharply with just over 4 million shares traded, valued at 181 billion dong (10 million dollars), the lowest levels in the past two months.

Hanoi - The Vietnamese stock market fell slightly Monday as local traders worried that new companies listing next month will dilute share prices and that new foreign investment will not be forthcoming. 

Despite news that the US government and congress had agreed on a bail-out plan for holders of mortgage-backed securities, the VN-Index ended Friday down 0.9 per cent, closing at 479. 

Market volume totaled 18.9 million shares, valued at 742 billion dong (46 million dollars).