Weiwei fined RM6mil and other political tales
CHINESE GOVT ASKS WEIWEI TO PAY UP!
A Chinese court upheld a US$2mil (RM6mil) fine for tax evasion against the country’s most famous dissident, Ai Weiwei, after barring him from attending the hearing, in a case that critics accuse Beijing of using to muzzle the outspoken artist. Ai had asked a Beijing court to overturn the city tax office’s rejection of his appeal against the tax evasion penalty imposed on the company he works for, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., which produces his art and designs.
HAPPY 94TH B DAY MANDELA!
South Africans celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday on July 17 with giant cakes, mass renditions of Happy Birthday and 67 minutes of good deeds - one for each year of the anti-apartheid leader’s struggle against white-minority rule. But beyond the mawkish tributes to South Africa’s first black president, the day revealed the unseemly scramble among companies, politicians and charities for a slice of the reflected glory of “Madiba,” the clan name by which he is affectionately known.
MORGAN WANTS OBAMA TO REMAIN PRESIDENT
Actor Morgan Freeman is the latest Hollywood figure to join the ranks of $US1mil (RM3mil) donors to Democratic President Barack Obama’s re-election effort with his donation in June to the “Super PAC” helping Obama. The Oscar-winning actor’s big donation to Priorities USA Action, the “super” political action committee backing the president, was announced on Thursday and will be reported in the group’s federal disclosures.
NO TO CORRUPTION IN BANGALADESH
The picture above shows a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) shows a banner where students signed a petition to demand the removal of the university's Vice Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor in Dhaka. Bangladesh aims to get the full picture on corruption in the education ministry by installing closed-circuit television cameras in its key offices in the capital to catch bureaucrats taking bribes for services. “The officers have to change their mindset and work as servants of the taxpayers,” Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said at a CCTV installation ceremony last week in the capital of Dhaka.“A bad image has developed as people face harassment by some officials and employees (seeking bribes) to get work done.”
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BLAMES IRAN FOR BULGARIA BOMB
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran for a bomb blast which killed at least three people in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas and said Israel would respond.
“All the signs lead to Iran. Only in the past few months we have seen Iranian attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and other places,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“Eighteen years exactly after the blast at the Jewish community centre in Argentina, murderous Iranian terror continues to hit innocent people. This is an Iranian terror attack that is spreading throughout the entire world. Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror,” he said.
Source: Reuters
Published 24th July 2012
