China’s ‘Bandit King’ given life term in ‘massive’ bribery case
Saturday, May 19, 2012 Lai Changxing, dubbed the Bandit King, has been given a life sentence for years of smuggling and corruption that added up to billions of US dollars or Pounds sterling. The Chinese court described the values as “massive”. Lai smuggled goods worth more than £2 billion into Xiamen, bypassing more than £1 billion in import duty. He paid 64 local officials a total of almost £4 million in bribes, giving him effective control of the city from 1995 to 1999. He fled China after becoming a wanted man in 1999 and went to Canada via Hong Kong; the following year, Premier Zhu Rongji said “If Lai was executed three times over, it would not be too much”. As head of the Yuanhua Group, Lai smuggled in cars, chemicals, oil, cigarettes, and other goods. He distributed bundles of cash to the poor, owned and played for his local…
Search
Search Content pages Multimedia Discussions Everything Advanced
2012 Report on Gender Equality and Development credits Icelandic parental policy with ‘hopeful’ changes
Thursday, September 26, 2013 Tuesday, World Bank released the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development. In discussing Iceland, it suggests mandatory paid parental leave for mother and father have played an important role in changing norms in the country. Parents have a government mandated nine months leave, three for the mother, three for the father and three to to distribute between the two. Leave is paid at 80% of their wages. The report describes the changes in gender relations in Iceland as “promising” in terms of impact at work and at home. Iceland’s boys and girls mean scores for the Programme for International Student Assessment mathematics test were nearly identical with boys just edging out girls with both scores around 510. Girls outperformed boys on the literacy test with a mean score of approximately 525 to 480. Iceland’s girls mathematics performance was similar to that of girls…
Massachusetts lawmakers enact plan for universal health coverage
Friday, April 7, 2006Legislators in the Massachusetts General Court, their name for the state legislature, approved legislation on Tuesday, April 4, that would make it the first state in the United States to require all residents to have health insurance and impose penalties for non-compliance. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican who is expected to run for U.S. President in 2008, is expected to sign the bill. The bill passed the lower house, the Massachusetts House of Representatives by a vote of 155-2, and unanimously by the state senate. The Democratic Party holds supermajorities in both houses of the legislature. Among the bill’s provisions are these: Businesses that employ more than 10 people are required to provide health insurance for all staff or face fines of $295 per year per uninsured worker. Individuals will be required to enroll in a health plan by July 1, 2007, or face tax penalties.…
Tensions continue to rise in Middle East over “Mohammad Cartoons”
Friday, February 3, 2006 The publishing of a series of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Copenhagen newspaper sparked a string of harsh and in some places violent reactions in the Middle East, forcing European leaders to try to calm the situation. This backlash started in late September 2005, when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a dozen cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad. The images ranged from serious to comical in nature; a particularly controversial cartoon portrays Mohammad with a bomb wrapped in his turban. The Jutland-based newspaper states that the images were meant to inspire some level of public debate over the image of Islam in Europe, and had no direct aim of offending anyone. However, many Muslims follow the doctrine of aniconism concerning the portrayal of Mohammad. This tenet of Islam states that the Prophet Mohammad should not be depicted in any type of art, regardless of the…
News briefs:February 01, 2008
Contents 1 Wikinews News Brief [Date] 1.1 Introduction 2 Events of worldwide notability, military action, disasters etc. 2.1 Violence takes place in Chad capital N’djamena as military and rebels clash 2.2 High level al-Qaeda leader reported dead 2.3 International manhunt for alleged kidney harvester 3 Non-disastrous local events with notable impact and dead celebrities 3.1 Envelopes containing white powder sent to Church of Scientology locations in southern California, USA 3.2 Vermont town to vote on charging US President, Vice President of war crimes 4 Business, commerce and academia 4.1 Microsoft bids $44 billion for Yahoo! 5 Arts and culture 6 Frivolities and trivia 6.1 Brechin thrown out of Scottish Cup after dispute 6.2 Footer [edit]
Canada’s Don Valley West (Ward 25) city council candidates speak
Friday, November 3, 2006 On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Don Valley West (Ward 25). Three candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include John Blair, Robertson Boyle, Tony Dickins, Cliff Jenkins (incumbent), and Peter Kapsalis. For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.
National Hockey League news: March 28, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008 There were 8 games played in the National Hockey League on March 27, 2008.
White House urges patience on Iran
Monday, June 5, 2006 Bush administration officials say Iran should be given time to consider a package of incentives aimed at halting the country’s nuclear enrichment and reprocessing activities. Tehran will need some time to mull over the offer, and the first response may not be the last word, says White House spokesman Tony Snow. “I would caution against leaping to conclusions, until the leadership in Iran has actually had an opportunity to look over the packages of incentives and disincentives offered by the EU-3 with the support of the United States,” he said. The plan was drafted by the three European nations that have been negotiating the nuclear issue with Iran – Britain, France and Germany – with the backing of the United States, Russia and China. Details of the package have not been formally released. During a session with reporters, Snow downplayed comments made over the weekend by…
Libya blocks access to Internet
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 File:Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Dimashq.jpg The Libyan government has cut off Internet access in the country. The General Posts and Telecommunications Company, Libya’s main provider of Internet access, has ceased to function. It was shut down following citizen protests against the country’s leader, Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, who has been in power since 1969. The government of Egypt took a similar measure last month, when it cut off Internet trying to quell public protests against the regime. Despite the government’s efforts, Egyptians who took to the streets for two weeks were able to oust the nation’s president, Hosni Mubarak, after 30 years in office. Limited access to the Internet makes it difficult to get information from the country. Libya is a country with a smaller population than Egypt, and has fewer service providers, which has apparently made the task of disconnecting everything a little easier.…