Hanoi - A Ho Chi Minh City man created a fake circular from Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to win a property dispute, a police official said Wednesday.

But Vietnam's Supreme Procuracy stopped police from prosecuting the man, said Tran Dinh Phe, head of the Advisory Section of Ho Chi Minh City's Social Order Crime Investigation Department.

Phe said he did not know why the office prevented police from arresting businessman Vu Dinh Hong, who allegedly drew up the fake document.

Hanoi - The United States "would like to increase military- to-military relations" with its former adversary Vietnam, said US Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain at a press conference in Hanoi Tuesday.

McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot who spent five years as a prisoner of war (POW) in Hanoi during the Vietnam War, said such ties might include the training of Vietnamese officers at US defence institutions.

Hanoi  - Vietnamese private businesses Tuesday expressed mixed feelings at a government decision to raise the minimum wage at some companies by 20 per cent.

The government announced Monday that the minimum wage for workers at state-owned companies and at private companies in the service sector would rise from 540,000 dong to 650,000 dong (31 to 37 dollars) per month. The raise takes effect May 1.

"This decision conflicts with the government's efforts to support business," said Pham Thi Lieu, deputy director of the MSA garment company in Hanoi.

Washington - A large number of Vietnamese who were preparing to become US citizens were in the building Friday in upstate New York where a gunman killed 13 people, media reports said.

The shootings took place at the American Civic Association Building in the city of Binghamton, New York, a place that provides immigration and refugee services, including language classes.

Washington - A large number of Vietnamese who were preparing to become US citizens were in the building Friday in upstate New York where a gunman killed up to
13 people, media reports said.

The shootings took place at the American Civic Association Building in the small city of Binghamton, New York, a site that provides immigration and refugee services, including language classes.

Manila  - The Asian Development Bank said Friday that it was extending a 151-million-dollar loan to help Vietnam expand and improve electricity services in poor and remote communities.

The Manila-based bank said the loan would fund a project to develop up to 10 mini-hydropower plants to serve communities in mountainous areas in north and central Vietnam.

It would also provide financial support to the government's ongoing rural electrification programme.