A former philosophy professor in Minnesota on Monday was fined US$500,000 for smuggling elephant ivory and illegally exporting rhinoceros horns from the US to China, prosecutors said.
Zheng Yiwei (鄭義偉), 43, a former St Cloud State University professor, was also sentenced to three years’ probation and 150 hours of community service by US District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis, prosecutors said.
The fine is to be paid to the Lacey Act Reward Fund, which is used by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to reward those who provide information about wildlife crimes and to care for animals held as evidence in ongoing probes.
Zheng’s attorney, Timothy Webb, said the sentence, under which his client will also spend six weekends in jail, was fair.
His employment with St Cloud State University ended in March, said Adam Hammer, a spokesman for the school.
Zheng, a Chinese American also known as Steve Zheng, pleaded guilty in January to smuggling ivory from the US to China in April 2011 and exporting rhino horns in July 2010, in violation of the endangered species act.
“This defendant helped to sustain this illegal market for years, engaging in more than 300 sales and earning more than US$1 million,” Assistant US Attorney Laura Provinzino said in a statement. “His profit was earned at the expense of these threatened and endangered species.”
Zheng operated an online business called Crouching Dragon Antiques in which some of the objects sold were made with ivory and rhino horn, prosecutors said.
The illegal items Zheng smuggled into and out of the US were worth as much as US$1.5 million, prosecutors said.
Rhino horn sells at prices higher than gold in places such as Vietnam, where a belief with no basis in science has recently emerged that it can be used to cure cancer.
South Africa, which has more rhinos than any other country in Africa, saw nearly 1,200 of the animals killed by poachers last yaer, its Environment Ministry said.
There is an arc of illegal animal slaughter on the continent from South Sudan, where conservationists say elephants are being slain by both government forces and rebels, to South Africa.
Trade in rhino horn is banned globally under the terms of the CITES convention.
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
The Chinese public maintains relatively warm sentiments toward Taiwan and strongly prefers non-military paths to improving cross-strait relations, a recent survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University showed. The “China Pulse” research project, which polled 2,506 adults between Oct. 27 last year and Jan. 1 this year, found that 86 percent of respondents support strengthening cultural ties, while 81 percent favor deepening economic interaction. The report, co-authored by political scientists at Emory University and advisors at the Carter Center, indicates that the Chinese public views Taiwan’s importance through a lens of shared history and culture rather than geopolitical
Cannabis-based medicines have shown little evidence of effectiveness for treating most mental health and substance-use disorders, according to a large review of past studies published in a major medical journal on Monday. Medical use of cannabinoids has been expanding, including in the US, Canada and Australia, where many patients report using cannabis products to manage conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep problems. Researchers reviewed data from 54 randomized clinical trials conducted between 1980 and May last year involving 2,477 participants for their analysis published in The Lancet. The studies assessed cannabinoids as a primary treatment for mental disorders or substance-use
RSS