PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - Dec 31

HANOI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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VIETNAM NEWS

-- The over-the-counter Hanoi stock market .HASTCI with 111 listed companies is on track for restructuring into a stock exchange in 2008, with remote trading slated to be in place in the first quarter, market director Tran Van Dung said.

-- About 400 workers building an oil rig at a port in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau were evacuated last Friday, 173 of them taken to hospital for suspected radiation sickness after a welding testing device containing iridium was dropped.

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VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW

-- Petrovietnam Power Engineering and Consulting Company has hired Moscow Irrigation and Construction Design Institute to build a $1.8 billion power plant in Laos.

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