Hanoi (dpa) - Officials and executives at a Vietnam-Myanmar trade fair have signed several deals to boost trade between the two countries, Vietnamese media reported Thursday.

Vietnam government representatives signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to import more than 5 million dollars of wood from Myanmar by 2010 at the Vietnam-Myanmar Joint Conference on Trade Exchanges in Ho Chi Minh City.

At the conference, which attracted more than 50 entrepreneurs from the two countries, the Vietnamese importing company DIC said it had signed an agreement to buy

Hanoi  - Vietnam has attracted foreign direct investment pledges of 5.3 billion dollars so far this year, down 30 per cent from the same period last year, a government official said Thursday.

Le Hai Van, deputy head of the Statistics and Policy Division of Vietnam's Foreign Investment Agency, said that amid the current global economic downturn, the figure was an encouraging sign despite its drop.

"This reflects that foreign investors are still optimistic about the development potential of our economy," Van said.

Ho Chi Minh City  - The early arrival of spring weather this year in Vietnam is due to global climate change, the head of Vietnam's southern meteorology laboratory said Wednesday.

"Normally, hot weather starts appearing in the southern provinces in March, but this year, it has arrived about one month early," said Nguyen Minh Giam, head of the Southern Regional Hydrometeorological Centre's Forecasting Department in Ho Chi Minh City.

Giam's deputy, Le Thi Xuan Lan, was quoted in local media Tuesday as saying daily highs in several southern provinces recently had averaged 35 to 37 degrees, well above normal for this time of year. The temperature in Ho Chi Minh City hit 36.6 degrees Tuesday, a 30-year high for that date.

Ho Chi Minh City - Prices in Vietnam have risen 1.17 per cent in February, a government official said Tuesday, hinting at a return of inflation even as economic growth continues to slow.

An official in Vietnam's Government Statistical Office confirmed the figure, first reported by local news website VietnamNet. The official asked not to be named because the figures have not been publicly released.

VietnamNet reported food prices rose 1.72 per cent, while housing and construction materials were up 1.59 per cent.

Hanoi  - Japan is to resume its aid to Vietnam, after cutting it in December due to a corruption scandal, a Vietnamese minister said Monday.

Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc, who is on a week-long visit to Japan, told Vietnam Television Monday that Japan had decided to restore official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam for the rest of 2009.

"Japan's resumption of ODA to Vietnam will contribute to boosting foreign investment and trade relations between the two countries," Phuc said.

Vietnam Television reported that Japan had committed 83.2 billion Yen (900 million dollars) in ODA to Vietnam this year, making it the country's top aid donor.

Hanoi  - Vietnamese police have arrested a college student who confessed to slitting her wealthy ex-boyfriend's throat with a fruit knife on Valentine's Day, a police official said Friday.

Police said Vu Thi Kim Anh, 22, a fourth-year student at Hanoi Pedagogical University, confessed to murdering Nguyen Tien Chinh, 42, as the two sat in his parked Lexus sports utility vehicle.

"[Anh's] action was partially caused by the victim's misconduct," said Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Duc Chung, head of the Hanoi Investigative Police.