Today's Links: Fake French diplomas, pirates lose in court, and a refusal to remember Hu

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  • France probes degree fraud [Straits Times] "FRANCE is investigating claims that hundreds of Chinese students bribed officials to secure diplomas in a corruption scandal at a French university... Prosecutors in Toulon launched an investigation last month after receiving a tip-off alleging that Chinese students were being sold degrees at the Institute of Business Administation (IAE) in the south-eastern town of Toulon."
  • U.S. again declines to brand China FX manipulator [Reuters] "The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday declined to label China a currency manipulator, retreating from tough talk last year when a campaigning Barack Obama said Beijing had kept its currency's exchange rate unfairly low. In a semiannual report to Congress on currency practices of key trading partners, the Treasury said all were suffering from the current global economic downturn, but said none manipulate their currencies for trade advantage."
  • Pirate Bay Loses A Lawsuit; Entertainment Industry Loses An Opportunity [Techdirt] "Well, the verdict has come down in the trial against The Pirate Bay in Sweden, and it appears The Pirate Bay has been found guilty and each of the defendants has been sentenced to a year in jail and told to pay $3.6 million in damages (less than a third of what the entertainment industry asked for)... The ultimate problem, of course, is that the entertainment industry still (amazingly) thinks this is a legal issue, not a business model one. It can win as many legal battles as it wants, but in thinking it's a legal issue, it will never recognize how its business models need to change."
  • Who ordered the 777 bottles of fake Moutai liquor? [Danwei] "In Beijing, there are about 6,000 "Beijing Offices" (驻京办) originally set up by regional governments and state-owned enterprises as liaisons to the central government. Now that transportation and communication technology has diminished the effect of geographical distance, these offices have lost a lot of their usefulness, and people have started to question their very existence."
  • NOT Remembering Hu Yaobang [Chinageeks] "April 15th was the twentieth anniversary of Hu Yaobang’s death. Hu was a beloved leader, the General Secretary of the CCP for nearly a decade, and many people were thinking about his legacy on Wednesday. One group of people who wasn’t thinking about Hu Yaobang? The staff at the People’s Daily."
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By Elaine Chow in on April 17, 2009 8:00 PM 3 Likes Likes

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