Son's scandal engulfs Chinese general

Son's scandal engulfs Chinese general

Chinese army general, Li Shuangjiang has incurred the wrath of the country’s web users. It all began on the 6th of September when his 15 year old son, who was driving without a license, hit another car in a residential neighbourhood of Beijing. The teenager and his friend then went on to beat up the couple in the car, and then scoffed at the crowd that had since gathered, saying they would not dare call the police.

The teenager thought he would escape justice because of his father’s position. But the story was rapidly circulated around the blogosphere, and met with extensive criticism. This web user condemns the preferential treatment given to highly placed officials and their families.

Li Tianyi was arrested and released shortly afterwards. It is not likely he will be charged, because of his age. His father, who is legally responsible for him, went to visit the two victims in hospital. He apologized for his son’s behavior and promised them financial compensation.

But this has not silenced the critics, even more so as Li Shuangjiang is a famous singer and regularly performs patriotic songs on state television. Web users have wasted no time in altering the words of these songs, condemning the privileges accorded to government officials.

The case is reminiscent of a high profile scandal last year, when the son of a highly ranked police officer from Hubei province, ran over two students, killing one of them. Li Qiming also thought that he would get away with the crime because of his father’s position, but in January he was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Dutch viral campaign sparks online outrage

In this online trailer for a new strategy game, called “Slavery, the game”, web users are delivered the following message "Go back to the 17th century, make a tremendous fortune, buy slaves, become the most powerful slave trader".

But this game will never actually be released; the trailer is in fact a fake ad and part of a viral campaign run by Dutch TV channel NTR, it’s to promote a documentary series on slavery about to be broadcast in the Netherlands. The campaign has definitely got people talking and has prompted a clamour of indignation on the web.

Many web users have come forward to express their outrage, like the author of « The Oncoming Hope » blog who feels this is the worst ad campaign ever, and quite simply disgusting. Dozens of video bloggers have shared similar sentiments on YouTube, saying they are truly shocked by the fake trailer.

In view of this string of negative reactions, NTR released a second video online, in which two of the researchers behind the project try to justify their campaign, explaining that it was supposed to draw people’s attention to the subject of slavery and how the Netherlands was involved in the slave trade during the colonialist period. The channel also released an online statement saying the aim was not to offend, but to encourage public debate…

Antique Roman map online

René Voorburg, a historian at the National Library of the Netherlands, has recreated a 1 700 year old map. And with the help of satellite images from Google Maps, you can now surf around the ancient Roman Empire, and click on buildings and road networks mentioned on the Tabula Peutingeriana, a 3rd century map which shows the main roads, cities and colonies across the world, which belonged to the Roman Empire.

Volcanoes seen from space

These amazing shots of volcanoes from all over the world were taken from space by NASA using the GeoEye-1 satellite, which was launched in 2008 and has an unsurpassed resolution and precision, and as you can see the results are quite simply breathtaking.

Video of the day

Here’s a pretty amazing juggling performance… Selyna Steriska is extremely agile and can juggle 5 balls at the same time using her arms and legs, as well as carry out some rather impressive moves. And you can check out the entire performance on the artist’s YouTube channel…