World

By RFA Vietnamese2024.11.04 A group of about 20 Vietnamese former political prisoners and relatives of current prisoners were detained on Friday after meeting at a restaurant, with police forcing them to make posts on social media disavowing their activism in order to be let free. Members of the group were seized while departing the restaurant and then forcibly separated and taken to different police stations in Ho Chi Minh City, according to a source who spoke to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from authorities. “A large security group including traffic police, security and police stopped us under the pretext of checking alcohol levels,” the source said. “But only forced a few people to blow into breathalyzers.” “After that, they forced us to get in t...

By RFA Vietnamese2024.11.06 Read more on this topic in Vietnamese. A former politician in Vietnam facing bribery charges says top government leaders were behind a decision to grant land to a company at the center of a scandal being investigated as part of the ruling party’s “blazing furnace” graft crackdown. The anti-corruption campaign has already forced a president from power, though some critics say it is being used by Communist Party leaders to get rid of rivals. State media recently reported that the Ministry of Public Security was prosecuting Mai Tien Dung, 64, former minister and head of the Cabinet Office, for “giving bribes, receiving bribes, taking advantage of position and power while performing official duties” in Lam Dong province. Ten people face prosecution, including f...

By RFA Vietnamese2024.11.10 Read more on this topic in Vietnamese. A sharp selloff in gold by Vietnamese investors in the days after the U.S. presidential election followed by a partial rebound in the price, may have been driven by confusion over what Donald Trump’s victory could mean for the precious metal, market analysts said. Vietnamese have been gold bulls in recent years, with nearly three quarters of investors holding gold in some form, and eight out of 10 seeing it as a safe haven in times of economic insecurity, according to the World Gold Council. In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam registered the strongest three-month demand for gold bullion and coins since 2015, the council said, fueled partly by the Vietnamese dong’s depreciation against the dollar. But on Nov. 7, ...