Armstrong still living strong

Lance Armstrong may have been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and barred from Olympic sports for life after a report from the United States Anti-Doping Agency detailed how he used performance-enhancing drugs to win cycling races and coerced teammates to do the same. But he is still a rich man, with an estimated net worth of US$125 million. Independent advisers and lawyers say he is likely to hold on to most of that wealth - though he may have to give up an estimated US$3.9 million in prize money he won in the Tour and pay some hefty legal bills. But other than that, I'm sure he'll get through this embarrassment and be a stronger and better person for it, even though he will have to live with the consequences for the rest of his life. In other news, two people have been sentenced to a year in jail: a former Italian prime minister for tax fraud, and a man in central China for ringing a bell to end a national college entrance exam too early. In the former case, Silvio Berlusconi dodged huge amounts of tax by exaggerating the cost of film rights that he purchased for his Mediaset television empire. Some of the assets were diverted to overseas slush funds in Switzerland and Hong Kong in the €200 million scam. In the latter case, students were forced to hand in their papers nearly five minutes before the exam should have ended.