"More tainted milk found in China; Powder was not all destroyed" by Cara Anna, Associated Press | February 9, 2010
BEIJING - The government did not carry out the eradication itself, and this month an emergency crackdown has made it clear that tons of compromised products are still on the market....
At least five companies are suspected of reselling tainted products that should have been destroyed....
The latest discovery underscores the difficulties of policing China’s smaller food producers, despite a sweeping new food safety law that took effect last summer and promised stricter quality controls after the 2008 scandal, which was China’s worst food safety crisis in years.
In the wake of that crisis, China punished dozens of officials, dairy executives, and farmers, even executing a dairy farmer and a milk salesman.
Going to have to put down more of them then. The message obviously didn't take.
But the government didn’t destroy seized products itself. Instead, it issued guidelines on how to destroy them, suggesting they be burned in large-capacity incinerators or that small amounts be buried in landfills.
Yesterday, with the announcement that more products contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine had been found, it appeared the new regulations had failed again.
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"Beijing begins emergency sweep for tainted milk products; Recalled dairy repackaged, back on the market" by Cara Anna, Associated Press | February 3, 2010
I thought the FDA fixed that problem; that was YEARS AGO!!!
BEIJING - The sweep that started Monday is being conducted after milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine were pulled from shelves in Shanghai and the provinces of Shaanxi, Shandong, Liaoning, and Hebei, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Some were recalled in the previous scandal and repackaged....
Great! And EVERYTHING is "Made in China" these days!
Maybe government should be worried more about this than China's internal affairs, huh, 'murkn?
At least six children died and more than 300,000 fell sick in the 2008 scandal, where melamine, normally used to make plastics and fertilizer, was added to watered-down milk to fool inspectors testing for protein and increase profits.
So the FORMAL GOVERNMENT NAMES don't really matter, huh?
They are ALL the SAME!
At the time, China promised sweeping changes for the country’s food safety. In November, it executed a dairy farmer and a milk salesman to show how serious it took the scandal.
And if that doesn't get them to stop.....
But health concerns peaked again this year after authorities in Shanghai said they secretly investigated a dairy for nearly a year before announcing it had been producing tainted milk products.
The case was especially troubling because Shanghai Panda Dairy Co. was one of the 22 dairies China’s product safety authority named in the 2008 scandal, with its products having among the highest levels of melamine.
Translation: Business as usual
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Or repackaged.
Message: Do not drink milk or eat food from China.
But about that money:
"China reveals US holdings of more than $9.6b; Investments are are spread across blue-chip firms" by Steven Mufson, Washington Post | February 10, 2010
WASHINGTON - China’s sovereign wealth fund has lifted the veil on its US securities holdings, revealing more than $9.6 billion of holdings in about 60 US companies.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week, China Investment Corp. said it had spread its investments among a wide variety of index funds and blue-chip companies such as Citigroup Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Visa, Pfizer Inc., and Apple Inc.
It also disclosed a $713.8 million position in Wall Street investment firm Blackrock Inc. and a $498 million position in two types of shares in the Brazilian metals giant Vale.
When the Chinese sovereign wealth fund was created more than two years ago, many analysts feared that the government might use it to devour stakes in strategic sectors such as natural resources and steel needed to feed China’s fast-growing economy.
But the fund, which has $300 billion in assets worldwide, appears to be mostly taking modest positions without seeking management control.
Which is a lot different than other foreign investors, isn't it?
China has a HANDS-OFF POLICY when it comes to MICROMANAGING AmeriKan firms, huh?
And our market f***ed 'em for it.
The biggest investments listed were the corporation’s well-known $1.7 billion stake in Morgan Stanley Inc., which has lost value since it invested in 2007, and its $3.5 billion stake in Vancouver-based mining company Teck Resources, reflecting a sharp increase in value over the past several months.
The Chinese sovereign wealth fund also disclosed more than $1.5 billion of investments in 14 different US-based index funds covering emerging markets, the Russell 2000, global materials, gold, health care, financial services, and energy.Imagine where your economy would be without Chinese investment, America.
So why is this government and its newspapers trying to make them your enemy?
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"China moves to curtail lending; Raises banks’ reserve levels in effort to cool down economy, inflation" by Joe McDonald, Associated Press | February 13, 2010
BEIJING - China moved to curb bank lending yesterday for the second time in a month in the latest effort to cool down its supercharged economy.
So WTF happened to you, AmeriKa?
Their stimulus worked, yours didn't; their banks lent money, yours didn't; their economy is roaring ahead, yours isn't.
Chinese leaders worry that a stimulus-driven torrent of lending is fueling a dangerous bubble in stock and real estate prices.
Oh, yeah, AmeriKa is repeating that disastrous policy all over again.
They also are concerned that the flood of money surging through the economy is adding to inflation.
That's why your buck isn't going as far, America.
Beijing declared China had emerged from the global crisis after economic growth rebounded to 10.7 percent in the final quarter of 2009.
WOW!
Here we are allegedly piddling along at about 2% -- that is, if you believe the government lies.
But authorities say the global outlook is still uncertain, and analysts expect them to try to avoid rate hikes even as they start winding down their stimulus....
The move was in line with expectations that Chinese authorities were trying to control credit and keep the recovery on track, analysts said. But it still sent European bourses and Wall Street stock futures into the red....
And that's worth going to war over -- even if it also hits China in the pocketbook.
They have holdings, readers.
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Related: Markets slide on China economic concerns
"China sentences earthquake activist to 5 years in prison; He found deaths in schools tied to poor construction" by Gillian Wong, Associated Press | February 10, 2010
BEIJING - A Chinese activist who investigated the deaths of thousands of children crushed in their schools during the Sichuan earthquake was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison, underscoring the government’s determination to suppress questions about why the buildings fell.
Much like 9/11 in AmeriKa, no, readers? Those controlled-demolition collapses are the key to understanding the false flag nature and government cover-up.
Many have asked whether poor construction was responsible for the staggering number of children killed in the May 2008 temblor, which took 90,000 lives. Parents have protested frequently, and authorities have reacted severely to such demonstrations - jailing, harassing, and threatening participants.
In China?
You are kidding, right?
Everyone knows there are no protests allowed in China!
The United States quickly condemned yesterday’s conviction of Tan Zuoren, and a human rights activist said the case was the latest example of how China uses its vague subversion laws to silence dissent.
Here in AmeriKa they just don't listen to you.
Tan, 56, was convicted of inciting subversion of state power and handed the maximum sentence of five years in prison by the Chengdu Intermediate Court in southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, his lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, said.
Tan and others have raised the possibility that shoddy construction, possibly fostered by corrupt officials who failed to enforce building codes, caused some schools to collapse in the quake while buildings nearby remained intact.
The government was widely praised for its response to the quake, which occurred just months before it was set to host the Olympic Games in Beijing, a time of intense scrutiny from the outside world. Authorities were eager to keep the focus on their massive rescue and relocation efforts and moved quickly to quash the politically sensitive theory.
Since then, they have kept up their campaign to silence those who pressed the issue - many of whom are parents who lost their only children....
That last part is a true heart-breaker; however, this is China's business and we torture, so....
Also see: Courting China
And while we are at the courthouse:
"Chinese dissident’s 11-year prison sentence is upheld" by Cara Anna, Associated Press | February 12, 2010
BEIJING - A Chinese court yesterday upheld the unprecedented 11-year sentence of a prominent academic who called for political change - the latest in a rash of harsh punishments for activists that underscore Beijing’s refusal to brook any dissent.
The ruling - the third legal defeat this week for veteran Chinese activists - drew a rare public rebuke from the US ambassador....
While social and economic changes have generally led to greater personal freedom for many Chinese citizens, the government’s intolerance of political dissent has hardened. Dissidents are routinely arrested or detained, and the lawyers who defend them are harassed.
Related: Cutting Through the MSM Crap on China
Yeah, can you tell I'm sick of MSM crap, readers?
Tell it to the jailed Lynne Stewart, MSM.
“It’s interesting to observe the government’s attempt to bury all the embarrassing news just before Chinese New Year,’’ said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, an organization based in New York....
Yeah, we call it Slow Saturday over here.
Related: Bringing HRW to Heel
Yeah, can I have that Chinese salt shaker? Need to take a grain.
The United States and European Union swiftly condemned China’s treatment of the academic, who was found guilty of inciting to subvert state power. China routinely uses the vaguely worded charge to imprison people it considers troublemakers.
I'm tired of the hypocrisy, how about you?
Go tell it to Leonard Peltier, MSM.
“Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally recognized norms of human rights,’’ US Ambassador Jon Huntsman said in an e-mail. It was the first statement issued under his name since he took his post in August. “We believe that he should not have been sentenced in the first place and should be released immediately,’’ Hunstman said.
PFFFFFT!
Ah, the SWEET STENCH of AmeriKan hypocrisy!
We STILL TORTURE, right, sir?
Simon Sharpe, a spokesman for the EU delegation in China, also called for Liu’s release.
Ma Zhaoxu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Liu’s case was handled according to law and brushed off Huntsman’s call.
Can you imagine how we would react if China was weighing in on our sham show trials?
“There are no dissidents in China,’’ Ma added in response to a reporter who asked whether China’s treatment of dissidents might hurt its image.
Just proves that ALL GOVERNMENTS -- no matter what their name -- LIE!!!
On Tuesday, a court in Sichuan sentenced writer and activist Tan Zuoren to five years on the same charge as Liu’s after he investigated the deaths of thousands of children in an earthquake in 2008. The court said he was being punished for commemorating the Tiananmen Square movement and criticizing the government’s crackdown.
The same court on Monday upheld a three-year prison sentence for another activist, Huang Qi. Huang was convicted of illegally possessing state secrets.
A former university professor, Liu is among China’s most prominent activists. He spent 20 months in prison for joining the 1989 student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, which ended when the government called in the military - killing hundreds, perhaps thousands of demonstrators. In 2008, he coauthored a document calling for stronger civil rights and an end to Communist Party dominance.Which is fine; however, that is CHINA'S BUSINESS, not ours!
We have enough flaws and faults, AmeriKan, without pointing fingers at others.
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"Chinese protester leaves Tokyo airport" by Associated Press | February 13, 2010
SHANGHAI - A Chinese activist who spent more than three months camped inside Tokyo’s international airport as part of a protest flew home to China yesterday and was allowed into the country.
Feng Zhenghu arrived on a flight from Narita International Airport, where he stayed from early November until last week to protest China’s refusal to let him return home. Police met him at Shanghai’s airport and escorted him out, first to lunch and then to his home.
“I’m so glad to be back in my own home,’’ Feng told reporters gathered outside his apartment in northern Shanghai.
“Returning home is a basic right of any citizen,’’ he said.
Feng’s return to China comes after eight previous attempts since June when Chinese authorities refused to allow him in. Feng, a dissident writer and human rights activist, had angered the local government by supporting student protests and accusing local authorities of wrongdoing.
Feng, 55, returned just in time to celebrate the Lunar New Year with his family. He said he planned to return to a “normal life’’ and had not agreed to any special conditions for being allowed to come back.What, they haven't arrested him yet?
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And if we can't turn you against China that way, maybe this will work:
"Google still censoring as it tries to free itself from China’s controls" by Michael Liedtke, Associated Press | February 12, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO - Shedding China’s shackles on free speech is proving to be easier said than done for Google Inc.
Related: Web a Weapon in Chinese Cold War
The Internet search leader is still censoring its results in China a month after Google’s leaders took a public stand against Chinese laws that require the removal of links to websites the government deems subversive or offensive.
Google won’t say how the negotiations have been going since the company issued its Jan. 12 threat to shut down its China-based search engine and possibly leave the country altogether. Google is demanding that the government tear down the so-called Great Firewall, which seeks to keep China’s citizens from finding politically sensitive information.
Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond, initially said Google would take a few weeks to meet with government officials before deciding what to do. But Google officials now say the company might parse its Chinese search results for several more months while it steers through a political and cultural minefield in search of a compromise.
Translation: MONEY MATTERS more than FART MIST!
Google’s willingness to keep its censored search engine running for now is a signal that Chinese leaders have not been as unyielding in private talks as they have in public statements demanding obedience of the law, said Internet analyst Colin Gillis, of BGC Financial.
“Google wants to find a way to stay there, and the Chinese government doesn’t want Google to leave because that would be a black mark on them.’’
Even so, neither side wants to be seen as backing down. Each side would have to find a way to concede without appearing to capitulate, in keeping with the Chinese custom of “face saving.’’
**********************
The tension within Google arises from the idealism of its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and its business-minded chief executive, Eric Schmidt. Brin and Page, who combined still own a controlling interest in Google, have never felt comfortable about censoring search results.
Bull-oney! There searches are just as arbitrary as anyone else.
Although he didn’t like the restrictions, either, Schmidt has always seemed more willing to do whatever it takes to stay in a lucrative market....
Tran$lation: It i$ all about the $$$$.
As a fallback position, Google would still like to keep its engineering and sales teams in China, so it could take advantage of the country’s brainpower and have staff to place ads on other websites in China and persuade Chinese businesses to advertise on Google in the United States.
So this has all been a TEMPEST in a TEAPOT to RAISE TENSIONS with China, huh?
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Is there ever anything good that happens in China, MSM?
"Millions head home for Lunar New Year
BEIJING - Train and bus stations overflowed and airports were packed yesterday as tens of millions of Chinese rushed home to be with their families for the start of the Lunar New Year holiday and the Year of the Tiger. The holiday is the most important of the year in China, with families expected to welcome in the New Year.
And take a MONTH OFF, can you believe it, AmeriKa?
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Yeah, a BRIEF moment of happiness hidden on a Sunday, readers.
