Hanoi - Coastal border guards in central Vietnam on Monday fined a Chinese-crewed freighter from Hong Kong that they had seized last week for violating Vietnamese territorial waters.

Colonel Tran Minh Bay, head of Binh Thuan province's Border Guard Headquarters, said his office had fined the freighter 75 million dong (4,300 dollars) and the captain had admitted violating Vietnamese law and paid the fine.

Hanoi - Vietnamese officials said Monday that government representatives will sign an agreement tomorrow resuming aid from Japan to Vietnam.

Japan had suspended all aid to Vietnam in December due to a corruption scandal on a Japanese-funded transportation project.

Hanoi - A Hanoi court Friday upheld the convictions of eight Catholic parishioners for damaging property during protests last year over a land dispute between the church and the Hanoi government.

Hundreds of supporters of the parishioners who had gathered outside the courthouse shouted their opposition when the verdicts were announced. Protestors carried signs reading "justice, truth, and peace," and applauded defendant Nguyen Thi Nhi when she passed by.

Hanoi - Vietnam's economic growth rate dropped to an annualized 3.1 per cent in the first three months of 2009, but local experts said Thursday that they were happy with the figure.

The new gross domestic product (GDP) figures released by Vietnam's government Wednesday were much lower than the 7.4-per-cent growth recorded in the same quarter in 2008.

Hanoi - Local analysts were divided on the reasons for Vietnam's decision to widen the trading band of the dong against the US dollar from 3 per cent to 5 per cent effective Tuesday.

The move effectively devalues the dong against foreign currencies. The government reference rate remained unchanged from Monday to Tuesday at 16,980 dong to the dollar, but the wider trading band allowed banks to raise their rates from 17,489 to 17,700 dong to the dollar.

Hanoi - A 3-year-old Vietnamese boy has died of avian influenza after four days in hospital, a health official said Friday, bringing Vietnam's bird-flu death toll to three this year.

Nguyen Van Chau, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Health Department, said the boy from the south-western province of Dong Thap died Thursday. He had been admitted Monday at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases with high fever and respiratory difficulties.