Phuket smoking ban comes with $4k fine
BANGKOK • Smokers who flout a smoking ban on 20 of Thailand's most famous tourist beaches will face a 100,000 baht (S$4,000) fine or up to a year in prison, the Thai authorities have said. The ban comes into force next month and follows a clean-up of nearly 140,000 cigarette butts from a 2.5km stretch of Patong beach in Phuket.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ex-lawmaker gets life in jail for fraud
HANOI • A former Vietnamese lawmaker has been sentenced to life in prison for fraud after she pocketed US$16 million (S$21.7 million) in down payments from would-be home owners when she was a real estate developer. Chau Thi Thu Nga is the latest to be punished as part of a government anti-corruption sweep in the communist state.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Abe sends offering to Yasukuni Shrine
TOKYO • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sent a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine for the war dead, seen in China and the two Koreas as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, to mark its annual autumn festival. Mr Abe was expected to refrain from visiting the shrine during the festival, which will last until Friday.
REUTERS
Malaysia officer probed over affair
SEPANG • The police are investigating allegations that a senior anti-graft officer had an affair with a married woman, after several videos supposedly exposing it surfaced online. The case is being investigated under provisions for enticing, with criminal intent, a married woman.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
