A summary of some of the leading news stories published Tuesday (April 7) in Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper:

Politics

-- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has agreed to take the value of trade with Vietnam to US$10 billion by 2020 during his ongoing visit to the Southeast Asian country. Both sides have discussed issues relating to the East Vietnam Sea, technical cooperation, and military training.

-- The office of Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung has sent documents to relevant agencies to urge further administrative reforms.

-- Two military ships USS Fitzgerald and USS Fort Worth of the 7^th Fleet of the U.S. Navy yesterday arrived at Tien Sa Port in the central city of Da Nang for a five-day official visit.

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance yesterday proposed that the law-making National Assembly give feedback on its draft law on collecting school and hospital fees. The proposal of the ministry suggested that school and hospital fees be charged on market-oriented mechanisms.

Society

-- Hundreds of people in Ky Trinh Commune, Ky Anh District, Ha Tinh Province in the central region fought with local authorities and police officers because of their disagreement over compensation to clear land for building a 500KV electricity grid.

-- The Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City opened yesterday the appeal trial of a corruption case at Agribank Leasing Company No.2. Earlier, the court sentenced three to death and four to life jail terms for misusing hundreds of billions of dong (VND100 billion = US$4.65 million).

-- Police in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau are searching for a radioactive material container that has been missing for months. The equipment belongs to a steel factory of Pomina Company located in Phu My 1 Industrial Park.

-- The World Bank will help build irrigational networks in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan.

-- Nguyen Hong Luong, 62, died on April 2 after she visited the People’s Committee of Dien Bien Ward in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh District. Her family said she was murdered while local authorities claimed she hurt herself with fire.

Business

-- Vietnam stand a good chance of thriving in Myanmar in terms of cuisine, IT services, construction, and tourism, said Nguyen Van My, director of Lua Viet Travel Company.

-- The Tan Thanh border gate in the northern province of Lang Son has been overloaded with trucks carrying farming products such as watermelon and blue dragon fruits for export to China. The customs force there can handle 300 trucks a day while 800-1,000 such vehicles pass the gate daily.