PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - June 27

HANOI, June 27 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS

- The U.S. Export Import Bank will lend $125.9 million to the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group for it to buy a U.S.-made communications satellite.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

- The State Bank of Vietnam said it has allowed Fullerton Financial Holdings to raise its stake in partly private Mekong Development Bank to 20 percent from 15 percent, the bank said.

THANH NIEN

- Banks in Vietnam must stop raising gold deposits from Nov. 25, the central bank said.

DAU TU

- Several banks are waiting for the central bank to raise their credit growth targets for the second half of 2012 while a National Assembly official said the central bank should keep lending growth at 1.5-1.7 percent per month by the year end, instead of the targeted 2 percent.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS (vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn)

- Vietnam strongly protests and requests that China cease invitation of international bids for oil and gas lots within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said on Tuesday.

NHAN DAN

- Vietnam has harvested 20.26 million tonnes of winter-spring paddy this year, up 2.3 percent from 2011, the Agriculture Ministry said. The crop is the country's highest yielding among its three crops a year.

TUOI TRE

- Chinese police said they have freed 11 Vietnamese women from a brothel in the southwestern province of Guangxi earlier this month. The women were now waiting to complete procedures for repatriation.

THANH NIEN

- A 23-year-old Thai female student was sentenced to death on Tuesday after being found guilty by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court for trafficking 3 kg of methamphetamine into Vietnam in October 2011, based on the court verdict.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

- More than 31,000 foreigners have been working illegally in Vietnam, most of them are from South Korea, Japan and China, the Labour Ministry's Employment Department said.

LAO DONG

- Vietnam's exports to Algeria in the first four months of this year jumped 66.54 percent from a year ago to $64.22 million, the Industry and Trade Ministry said. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)