Hanoi  - A joint Vietnamese-German university, the first such collaboration between the two countries, has opened in Ho Chi Minh City, its director said Thursday.

Wolf Rieck, president of the Vietnam-Germany University, said the school would initially offer degrees in civil and electrical engineering. The university is owned by the Vietnamese government.

"This is only the start," Rieck said. "The master plan of the university follows the line that we build up master courses in business administration, health care and so on."

Hanoi  - A political internet blogger who reported on protests during the Olympic torch relay through Vietnam in April was sentenced Wednesday to two and a half years in prison on charges of tax evasion.

Nguyen Van Hai, 55, widely known by his pen name Dieu Cay, was convicted of having failed to pay 10 years' worth of value-added tax on part of his house that he rented to an optical shop.

Hai belongs to a bloggers' group called the League of Independent Journalists, who reported and participated in several small anti-Chinese protests during the torch relay through Ho Chi Minh City.

Hanoi - Vietnam's stock market dropped Tuesday for a third straight day as local investors dumped shares on concerns that a large number of new companies will list before the end of the year and dilute prices, a securities analyst said.

The VN-Index fell 7.22 points, or 1.36 per cent, to close at 525.49, the lowest level in two weeks.

Market volume totaled 30 million shares valued at 69.9 million dollars, down from 36.5 million shares at 75.8 million dollars Monday.

"Local investors are starting to worry that many companies are seeking to list on the market," said Dao Viet Anh of FPT Securities in Hanoi. "This causes concerns of price dilution."

Hanoi - Vietnam needs to spend nearly 2 billion dollars by 2020 to shore up its coffee industry and compete on the international market, a government official said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development last month approved a plan to enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese coffee by improving coffee strains, farming techniques and processing technologies, Deputy Minister Diep Kinh Tan said.

"It's important to raise the quality of Vietnamese coffee," Tan said. He said the country would not necessarily increase the quantity of coffee it grows.

Hanoi - The newly crowned Miss Vietnam is likely to have her trophy revoked after local media reported Thursday she had not graduated from high school, which violates the contest's rules.

Tran Thi Thuy Dung, 18, from the central city of Danang, was crowned Miss Vietnam 2008 at the biennial national beauty contest on August 31, held in the tourist town of Hoi An.

The profile of Dung distributed at the contest stated she had graduated from high school. But the newspaper Tuoi Tre reported Thursday this was not true.

Pham Sy Liem, principal of the Quang Trung High School where Dung used to study was quoted as saying she left the school in the middle of the 2007-2008 academic year, before graduating.

Hanoi - Nine members of one family were found dead in a locked room in their house in southern Vietnam, local media said Saturday.

Ho Chi Minh City firefighters broke into a house in the city's District 12 Friday night after witnesses reported they saw smoke coming from the house and discovered the burnt bodies, the news website VNExpress said.

Eight of the bodies were found lying on a burned mattress, while the other body was found near the door of the room, the report said.

Police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. The victims were identified as Nguyen Van Cao, 83, his wife Nguyen Thi Kich, 78, their five children and two grandchildren.