Here are the leading news stories about Vietnam you should not miss today, April 12:

Politics

-- Vietnam’s lawmaking National Assembly on Monday voted to remove several vice chairs and members of the National Election Council and the Council on National Defense and Security.

Society

-- The hospital ship coded 561 of the Vietnam People's Navy arrived in the Indonesian city of Padang on Monday, ready to join other ASEAN countries and France, India, Australia, Japan and China in the 2016 Komodo international naval drill.

-- A mother in the northern province of Hai Phong was reprimanded by police for forcing her 12-year-old son to walk naked in the street in daylight as a punishment for his stealing her money to play online games on Monday.

-- An elephant escaped from a natural sanctuary in the southern province of Dong Nai on Monday, attacking a passer-by and destroying his motorbike.

-- A whale, measuring one meter long and weighing around 40kg, was found stranded on a coast in the north-central province of Nghe An on Monday, the third case in less than a month.

Business

-- Nguyen Van Binh, former governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, was named chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs on Monday, replacing Vuong Dinh Hue, who is now a deputy prime minister.

-- The Vietnamese government is expected to issue new visas valid for a longer duration, possibly one-year and multiple-entry ones, to American citizens starting in late May or early June, U.S. Ambassador in Hanoi Ted Osius announced on his verified Facebook on Monday.

-- Newly-appointed Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan has said one of his main duties after taking office is to ensure that “foreign social networks operate as per the Vietnamese law.”

Lifestyle

-- Three Vietnamese short movies will be screened during a special program for Vietnam’s independent filmmakers at the Paris-based La Clef cinema on April 16.

Sports

-- A Vietnamese cable TV operator, VTVCab, has stopped airing games at the 2015-16 season of the UEFA Champions League abruptly due to some conflict with the telecast right holder.

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