Here are the leading news stories about Vietnam you should not miss today, February 5, 2016. Today is the 27^th day of the 12^th month of the lunar calendar, which is only three days ahead of the Lunar New Year.

Politics

-- Vietnam’s National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung on Thursday offered incense to commemorate late President Ho Chi Minh at his relic site, House No. 67 in Hanoi, on the occasion of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tet).

Society

-- The body of Ha Linh, the director of a Vietnamese tea firm who was found dead in China in September 2015, was finally taken back to her home in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on Friday, even though the Chinese side still keeps the cause of her death undisclosed.

-- The director of a Hanoi-based railway firm has been removed from his post by Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang for proposing to buy outdated train cars from China for one of its projects.

-- The driver of a truck was killed after a head-on collision with a sleeper bus in the central province of Quang Nam on Thursday.

-- A Vietnamese woman arriving to Ho Chi Minh City from Brazil was on Thursday captured by customs officers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport for hiding 1.84kg of cocaine, worth more than VND5 billion (US$223,214), inside four eagle stone statues.

-- Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien on Thursday visited Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City to check and steer the quarantine control over fears that the mosquito-born Zika virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, may spread into Vietnam.

Business

-- Nearly 1.5 million units of media tablets were sold in Vietnam in January to December 2015, representing a 17 percent growth compared to the same period of 2014, market research firm GfK said in a report released Thursday.

Lifestyle

-- Ho Chi Minh City will host four fireworks display on the Lunar New Year’s Eve this Sunday at: the Saigon River tunnel in District 2; Dam Sen Cultural Park in District 11; the Sai Gon- Cho Lon- Gia dinh Revolutionary Tradition Monument in Cu Chi District; and the Can Gio football stadium in Can Gio District.

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