my Nipa Hut: China

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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Number of Filipino drug mules increasing

KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV

06/26/2009 | 07:39 PM

DONKEY WORK. Despite the name, a drug mule is actually a person who smuggles something with him or her across a national border in exchange for money.
AP photo

MANILA, Philippines - Just as the world celebrated the United Nation's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Vice President Noli De Castro on Friday revealed that the number of Filipino drug "mules" is increasing.

Citing a report from Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Sonia Brady, De Castro said that a total of 158 Filipinos – most of whom were women – have been arrested for drug trafficking in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau as of June 7.

Drug trafficking of 50 grams or more of highly dangerous drugs like heroin is punishable by death in China and its territories.

But the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier reported that in 2008 alone, 111 Filipinos were arrested for drug-related offenses in the same Chinese territories.

This, the DFA said, was a 594-percent increase from the 16 arrested in 2007.

Of those arrested in 2007 and 2008, 22 are facing death sentence, 12 have gotten life, while 11 have been made to serve 15-16 years prison terms.

De Castro said that all the arrests had stemmed from narcotic drugs being found in the suspects' luggage supposedly given to them by people they met in a transit country – usually Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Laos, and Vietnam.

He said that members of foreign drug rings give Filipino mules tickets and pocket money to travel to Hong Kong or to mainland China and promise to pay the carriers upon delivery of the drugs to their destination.

The vice president therefore appealed to the public to warn their relatives and friends not to accept any parcel or bag from people they do not know in exchange for money.

"Think twice before you allow yourself to be used as drug couriers as you become an instrument to destroying lives of others. At the same time, you expose yourself to certain criminal prosecution," said De Castro.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has said that it is working on a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to help prevent Filipinos from being used as drug couriers. - GMANews.TV

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

‘Best girl on the planet’ freed

Image via Wikipedia

There is still a ray of hope on justice prevailing, even in China…

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Waitress who stabbed Chinese official released

05:55 AM Jun 17, 2009

BEIJING - A Chinese karaoke bar waitress who became a folk hero after fatally stabbing a communist official who demanded sex was freed yesterday by a court that ruled she had acted in self-defence, state media said.

The Badong County People's Court exempted Miss Deng Yujiao, 21, from punishment for the crime of intentional injury because she was acting in self-defence, the official People's Daily newspaper said in a brief report on its website.

The report said the court ruled that Miss Deng had limited criminal responsibility and also took into account the fact that she had turned herself in to the police after using a fruit knife to stab 43-year-old Deng Guida, who later died. No further details were given.

Coverage of her case in the entirely state-controlled media has been unusually sympathetic. Popular posts in online forums called Miss Deng "the best girl on the planet", composed lines of verse in classical Chinese that described her as "beautiful and fierce" and dedicated the lyrics of a popular love song Like a Mouse Loves Rice to her.

Her popularity reflects widespread anger in China over abuse of power by Communist cadres, officials and the security forces.

Reflecting the huge interest in the case, at least 500 supporters of Miss Deng gathered at the courthouse, according to Luo Jiajiu, one of the organisers of the rally. But the group was banned from attending the trial.

A similar public outpouring of sympathy followed the case of a man who confessed to killing six Shanghai police officers last year in revenge for torture he allegedly suffered while being interrogated about an allegedly stolen bicycle.

Chinese media reported that the official, Deng Guida, found the waitress in the laundry room of a hotel spa a few floors below the bar where she worked and demanded sex.

When she refused, he allegedly forced her onto a couch and blocked her from leaving. She attacked him with a fruit knife she had in her bag, the report said.

Police said she also attacked his colleague, Huang Dezhi, at the hotel in Badong in the central province of Hubei.

Deng Guida, who ran a local government office for business promotion, is not related to the waitress.

Xinhua news agency reported last month that Huang and another government official who was also at he spa on the night of the stabbing were fired amid investigations, while police shut the spa and were questioning its owners. Huang has also been detained. AGENCIES

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 17-Jun-2009; see the source article here.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Don’t talk to strangers

05:55 AM Jun 18, 2009

YOUR phone rings and a stranger informs you that your relative has murdered someone and needs to flee the country. Or you could be told that your family and company are being watched.

In both scenarios, the caller would eventually demand money and will threaten to use violence to disrupt your business activities or cause harm to family members if payments are not made.

The police have detected this new variation of phone scams in which culprits make extortion calls to business offices demanding money. Like the earlier versions of phone scams, these are designed to trick victims into parting with their money.

The calls are believed to be made from overseas, and the culprit is also known to converse in Mandarin with a China or Taiwan accent, the police said in a statement yesterday.

The culprit may also threaten to kidnap female victims and take nude photos of them if his demands are not met. He may also claim that he has links with secret societies and needs money to help his men flee Singapore after committing serious crimes.

He may also say he has firearms and explosives.

None of the culprits have so far been successful, and none of the threats made have been carried out, according to the police. But they advise members of the public to be aware of, and to be vigilant against such scams.

You should never reveal any personal details, including those of your business or family to any caller, or transfer money to unknown persons.

Such calls should be reported as soon as possible by calling the police hotline at 1800 255 0000 or 999 if urgent police assistance is required.

The police also advise vigilance against the other variations of phone scams such as the kidnap, lottery and impersonation scams.

More details of what these entail can be found at the Singapore Police Force website at www.spf.gov.sg or the Commercial Affairs Department website at www.cad.gov.sg.

From TODAY, News – Thursday, 18-Jun-2009; see the source article here.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

A new contender China launches green power revolution to catch up on West

05:55 AM Jun 11, 2009

A man rides a motorcycle past a wind turbine at a wind farm in Rudong, Jiangsu province, China. BLOOMBERG

BEIJING - China’s ambitious plans to utilise wind and solar energy represent a direct challenge to Europe’s claims of world leadership on cutting carbon emissions. China believes it can match Europe by 2020, producing a fifth of its energy needs from renewable sources, said Mr Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of China’s national development and reform commission on Tuesday.

“Personally, I think we could reach the target of having renewables provide 20 per cent of total energy consumption,” he said. That matches the European goal and would represent a direct challenge to Europe’s claims to world leadership in the field, despite China’s relative poverty. Some experts have cast doubt on whether Britain will be able to reach 20 per cent.

Beijing seeks to achieve these goals by directing a significant share of China’s US$590-billion ($853-billion) economic stimulus package to low-carbon investment. Of that total, more than $30 billion will be spent directly on environmental projects and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Tourists walk near solar panels in Dongsha Island, also known as Pratas Island, Taiwan. BLOOMBERG

But the indirect green share in the stimulus, in the form of investment in carbon-efficient transport and electricity transmission systems, would be far larger. HSBC Global Research estimated the total green share could be over a third of the total package.

Mr Zhang said the government would also plough money into the expansion of solar heating systems. He said the country was already a world leader, with 130m square metres of solar heating arrays already installed, and was planning to invest more. The US goal for solar heating by 2020 is 200m square metres.

Mr Zhang said developing countries would have to pursue “a sustainable development path”, and said Beijing was open to the idea of limits on the carbon intensity of its economy (the emissions per unit of output). THE GUARDIAN

From TODAY, World – Thursday, 11-Jun-2009

Monday, June 8, 2009

Not your typical ‘greenie’

Image by B_brother via Flickr

52? A granny? You're never too old to hug a tree

Sarah Sum-Campbell

05:55 AM Jun 05, 2009

SIMON Tay would be proud of our new housekeeper. Just as his wife and child were instrumental in influencing the Singapore Institute of International Affairs chairman to be a better environmentalist, Madam Lee is also going on a green drive to convince those in her social circle to save the earth, by first saving her household.

Mdm Lee does not fit into the typical profile of a greenie. She is 52, a Singaporean, a proud mother and grandmother, and quite illiterate.

Yet she was converted into a "greenie" in just about three hours. As our housekeeper, she is entrusted with food and household shopping. When asked explicitly to avoid buying any products made or produced in China, especially vegetables, she was keen to know the reasons.

We told her about experiments done by my group of friends which proved that vegetables from China could sit in the fridge for a month and still remain green, thereby proving the exorbitant amount of chemicals sprayed on to enable such abnormal sustainability. We also explained the consequences on the environment and on our health. She said that she was very convinced, and wondered why no one had ever told her all that.

She went on to enquire about the lack of bleach and certain brands of cleaning products, toys and clothes in our home. We told her about toxic paints used in China-made toys, lethal infant formula, and so on. The fact that she has little children at home helped strengthen her resolve to keep the diet and air at home healthy.

Saving the Earth is everyone's business. If we collectively boycott products which are harmful to our health and damage our environment, companies which make their livelihoods out of these cheap nasty goods will be forced to change their ways. With higher demand for pesticide-free/organic/green/environmentally-friendly products, their prices will drop, attracting more consumers.

So often it is the older generation of Singaporeans, especially those with little or no formal education, who control the purse strings of not just their households, but those of their children, too. Many look after their grandchildren, supervise foreign domestic workers, go marketing and prepare food at home, determine what household products to use, and which mode of transport/brand of car to utilise. Yet so often we dismiss them as being unable or unwilling to help save the Earth.

Perhaps we should be focusing our environmental education efforts on them, and not just the young and impressionable future generations.

From TODAY, Voices – Friday, 05-Jun-2009; see the source article here.

Friday, May 15, 2009

China sex theme park causing controversy: media

AFP - Friday, May 15

Figurines in an erotic pose are seen at a sex exhibition in Shanghai, a few years ago. A new sex theme park in southwest China that exhibits naked human sculptures, giant genitals and boasts a sex technique workshop is stirring up howls of protest, according to state press.

BEIJING (AFP) - - A sex theme park in southwest China that exhibits naked human sculptures, giant genitals and boasts a sex technique workshop is stirring up howls of protest, according to state press.

"Love Land", billed as China's first-ever sex theme park, is slated to open in Chongqing municipality in October, but detractors hope the project will never see the light of day, the China Daily reported.

"We are building the park for the good of the public... to help adults enjoy a harmonious sex life," the paper quoted park manager Lu Xiaoqing as saying.

"Sex is a taboo subject in China but people really need to have more access to information about it."

Besides displays on sex history and techniques, the park boasts a giant rotating statue of the lower portion of a nearly naked woman bent over at the waist.

The announcement of the opening of the park elicited numerous comments from Internet users, with the majority of postings voicing opposition to the park.

Officials also registered their disquiet with the explicit images on offer.

"These things are too exposed," the China Daily quoted Chongqing policewoman Liu Daiwei as saying.

"I will feel uncomfortable to look at them when other people are around."

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

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