Here are the leading news stories for today, February 8, the fourth day of the new lunar year.

Society

-- Ninety-six people were killed while 110 others were injured in 144 traffic accidents over the first five days of the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, which began on February 2, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday, citing the Ministry of Public Security.

-- A Vietnamese family has live-streamed themselves throwing a picnic party on the shoulder of an expressway in northern Vietnam, in what the National Traffic Safety Committee said Thursday is a serious violation of traffic rules.

-- The two armed suspects who stormed into the toll booth of an expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the neighboring province of Dong Nai on Thursday had fled with about VND2 billion (US$86,300) in cash, the Dong Nai police said later the same day.

Business

-- More than 24,000 tourists spent their Tet travel in Mong Cai, a city in the northern province of Quang Ninh, on the first five days, from February 2 to 6, of the Lunar New Year holiday, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday.

-- Hanoi aims to have its economy grow by 7.4-7.6 percent in 2019, according to a set of 22 targets on socio-economic development signed by the capital chairman Nguyen Duc Chung.

Lifestyle

-- The Spring Book Street kicked off in Hanoi on Thursday, the third day of the new lunar year, in Hanoi, offering a wide range of activities for visitors.

-- A festival was held in the central province of Quang Ngai on Thursday, the third day of the first lunar month, as a pray for a new year of favorable weather and bumper harvests when local fishermen started their first sailing of the new lunar year.

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