Below are some main stories published in the Vietnamese press today, April 18:

Politics

-- Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong met Thursday with the visiting U.S. Senate President pro tempore Patrick Leahy in Hanoi, where he expressed his hope to witness new progress in the friendship and bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S., especially when the two countries are celebrating the 20th anniversary of normalized relations.

Society

-- Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien submitted Thursday an urgent report to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, saying measles is spreading at an alarming pace in Hanoi

-- The Russian tourist that was hospitalized on Sunday and underwent a life-saving surgery three days later was attacked by a needlefish, experts at the Institute of Oceanography in the central city of Nha Trang asserted Thursday, after examining samples of bones and teeth taken from the victim's neck.

-- Ho Van Son, 54, of central Quang Tri Province, was resting at home with his wife Ho Thi Miec, 49, after their work on the farm on Thursday when he was suddenly struck by lightning to death.

-- Tran Van Binh, hailing from northern Thai Binh Province, was fined VND10 million ($480) by the Northern Airports Authority on Thursday for opening the emergency exit on his Vietnam Airlines flight VND1615 from Hanoi to Gia Lai on April 14. Binh told aviation officials that he just wanted to have more cool air as the air-conditioning system on the plane was not cool enough. The plane was taxiing to prepare for a take-off then.

-- Nguyen Van Khoe, former chairman of the People’s Committee of Hoc Mon, an outlying district in Ho Chi Minh City, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years behind bars under three charges of “taking bribes,” “taking advantage of power and status,” and "taking advantage of one’s influence over persons with positions and authority to seek personal benefits."

Business

-- Vietnamese citizens should be allowed to gamble at domestic casinos as long as they meet strict requirements, lawmakers said at a National Assembly Standing Committee meeting on Thursday.

-- Vietnam is among the world’s top ten software exporting countries, with revenues in the first quarter of this year estimated to rise 25 percent year on year, according to the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA).

Education

-- Swiss astrophysicist Michel G. E. Mayor will have an online chat with Tuoi Tre readers about extraterrestrial life, or life outside the Earth, in Vietnam, on April 25, on the sidelines of an international scientific conference he is scheduled to chair in the coastal city of Quy Nhon this weekend.

Lifestyle

-- A series of cultural activities will kick off in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City this weekend to celebrate the first-ever Vietnam's Book Day (April 21).

Sports

-- Reports saying that some players of V-League side Vissai Ninh Binh placed wagers on four of their V-League matches and a match against a Myanmar club at the 2014 AFC Cup is inaccurate, a source close to the matter told Tuoi Tre on Thursday.