HANOI: Vietnam will hand out fines of 100m dong ($4,740) to anyone criticising the government on social media, under a new law announced this week, the latest measure in a widening crackdown on dissent by the country’s communist rulers.
Comments that did not constitute criminal offences would trigger fines if held to be “propaganda against the state”, or spreading “reactionary ideology,” according to the law signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
Vietnam has repeatedly drawn fire for the harsh treatment and lengthy jail terms it has given to bloggers who criticised its one-party regime. The number of arrests and convictions has soared in the last four years.
Hubei official in graft probe
BEIJING: China is investigating a senior provincial official for graft, the ruling Communist Party’s corruption watchdog said yesterday, making him the latest target amid a crackdown on corruption.
Guo Youming, the vice governor of the central province of Hubei, is “suspected of serious discipline violations” and is being investigated, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a one-line statement on its website.
It gave no further details but in China the term discipline violations is generally used to denote corruption.
Guo is a long-time official in Hubei where he served in the water management bureau and as party secretary in Yichang city, near the $59bn Three Gorges Dam project.
IMF chief to visit Myanmar
WASHINGTON: IMF chief Christine Lagarde will next month pay her first visit to Myanmar as the once authoritarian government pursues reforms that have fuelled growth, the global lender said Tuesday.
Lagarde will visit Myanmar’s showcase capital Naypyidaw and its largest city Yangon during the December 6-7 visit, which will come after stops in South Korea and Cambodia.
In Myanmar, Lagarde will meet with government and economic leaders as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Agencies
