Hanoi - A court in Hanoi sentenced three men to death for trafficking heroin, a criminal court official said Thursday.

Hanoi - A Vietnamese man who survived after jumping from the ninth floor of a Ho Chi Minh City building has been discharged from the hospital, a doctor said Thursday.

Bui Anh Hao, 26, was visiting a relative at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on August 8 when he attempted to commit suicide by jumping from a ninth-floor balcony, according to doctor Tran Quang Vinh.

Hao fell 40 metres and landed on the roof of a seven-seat van, breaking his shoulder blade and arm and receiving minor head injuries, the doctor said.

"The roof of the van saved him, but it's still a miracle," Vinh said. "If he had jumped to the ground, there wouldn't have been any chance of survival."

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.