“An Egyptian criminal court on Sunday sentenced Egypt’s antiquities minister, Zahi Hawass, to a year in jail and ordered him removed from his job.”
Category: people
Sidney Harman, 92, Hi-Fi Mogul And Rescuer Of Newsweek
“In an ideal life one wouldn’t have to choose between the pursuit of wealth and the pursuit of knowledge. By that standard and many others, Sidney Harman – the scientist, stereo mogul, Under Secretary of Commerce, professor, philanthropist, and magazine publisher who died on Apr. 14 – lived ideally.”
Worldwide Sit-In Planned In Support Of Ai Weiwei
“On Sunday, some of Ai’s supporters are planning a show of solidarity through a peaceful sit-down in front of Chinese embassies, consulates and other government buildings around the world. The sit-in is planned for 1 p.m. local time Sunday.”
State-Owned Newspaper Says Ai Weiwei Is “Confessing” To Crimes
Chinese police say they have “firm evidence” that the detained artist and activist Ai Weiwei avoided tax, and he has begun confessing, a Hong Kong newspaper under Beijing control has said, drawing a denunciation from his sister.
Ai Weiwei Was Offered High-Level Committee Post Before Arrest
“The South China Morning Post said Ai had told his aides that he had twice been invited to join the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body made up of non-Communist party members, including high-profile figures such as artists and athletes.”
Documents In Walt Whitman’s Hand Found In US National Archives
“The writings are essentially letters authored by various government officials that Whitman copied into record books when he was a clerk in the U.S. attorney general’s office in the 1860s. … [The] discovery illuminates Whitman’s day-to-day life as a Washingtonian and dedicated federal worker.”
Uncle Oscar Hammerstein
“Oscar once said he started writing musicals in order to make money and that, once he had made enough, he planned to devote himself to straight plays in order to say what he thought important. As he began to experiment with the form, however, he found that…”
Jazz Violinist Billy Bang, 63
He “was an important figure on the experimental jazz scene that blossomed in New York in the 1970s. But he gained wider recognition in the last decade for a series of recordings which drew on his military service during the Vietnam War.”
The Strange Accusations Against Ai Weiwei
Faced with a major international outcry over the artist’s arrest, the Chinese government has undertaken a public relations counterattack that sometimes verges on the bizarre – with charges of plagiarism, accusations of obscenity, and an investigation into unspecified “economic crimes.”
Ai Weiwei’s Last Interview Before Arrest
Two days before his detention, the Chinese dissident artist told a German radio network, “There are two surveillance cameras at my gate entrance, my phone is tapped and every message I send on my microblog is censored. Yesterday and the day before over a dozen police came to my place, but in my opinion, it is purely nuisance. They are coming again today.”