CHINA! Authorities Arrest Hundreds Over RAT MEAT Scam

Chinese authorities have broken a major crime racket that passed off more than $AU1 million in rat as mutton. Police have arrested 900 suspects since January for selling and producing fake or tainted meat products, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

During the crackdown, police discovered one suspect, surnamed Wei, had used additives to spice up and sell rat, fox and mink meat at markets in Shanghai and Jiangsu province. Despite persistent efforts by police, “food safety crimes are still prominent, and new situations are emerging with new characteristics”.

Food safety and environmental pollution are chronic problems in China and public anxiety over cases of fake or toxic food often spreads quickly. In April, many consumers lost their appetite for poultry as an outbreak of the H7N9 bird flu virus spread in China :: Read the full article »»»»

CHINA Cracks Down On PORN!

More than fifty websites, blogs and microblog accounts have been shut down over the past week in China, not a huge number right?  it is if your a pornster in China, in it’s latest round of crackdowns on online porn the government’s State Internet Information Office - SIIO – said the websites were closed for posting pornographic images, articles, films, amateur videos, online ads for prostitutes.

The SIIO was setup in May 2011, and is the  online branch of the überpowerful State Council Information Office, the communist states censorship office. China’s Internet, with the world’s largest number of users – more than 450 million – is a booming industry, attracting investors and government agencies hoping for a stake in online revenues through licensing and regulation.

The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications said Tuesday that nearly 1.8 million websites had been checked since the launch of the campaign, and 2,195 cases of dissemination of online pornography have been dealt with.

The office received more than 160,000 porn-related tip-offs from the general public and paid out about more than $AU75,000/¥500,000 to around 5oo informants. Companies and government departments also joined in the campaign. As part of the sting, China Mobile organized 20 employees – mothers of teenagers – to assist with monitoring and reporting mobile sites :: Read the full article »»»»

Great Firewall of China

Chinese internet users who are skilled at evading the country’s online blocks have suddenly found they are again being denied access to some websites. In China, if you want access to forbidden websites including Facebook or Twitter, one of the easiest ways is to use a virtual private network (VPN).

However, in recent days VPNs across China have been either inaccessible or swiftly shut down. Service providers have blamed the outage on an update to the so-called Great Firewall, which the Chinese government uses to control internet access.

They say the upgraded firewall appears to have the ability to discover and block attempts to circumvent online censorship. The block has also hurt some international businesses that use the networks for secure communications. The firewall has been built up since the internet began to develop in China. It uses a range of technologies to block access to particular sites from Chinese computers  :: Read the full article »»»»

Chinese Authorities Crackdown on Doomsdayers

Chinese authorities have detained hundreds of people, some of whom it terms doomsday cult members, as part of a nationwide crackdown on rumours about a supposed forthcoming apocalypse.

Authorities in five different areas have detained 52 people for spreading predictions of a December 21 “doomsday” linked to the ancient Mayan calendar, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.

The apocalypse predictions have received widespread coverage in China, thanks in part to the success of the Hollywood disaster film “2012,” which was partly-inspired by the supposed Mayan prophecy.

Those detained include 34 people in the eastern province of Fujian, and two in the central city of Wuhan who handed out leaflets about the apocalypse at transport facilities, the report said :: Read the full article »»»»

Chinese Noahs Ark Ready For 21-12-2012

On 12/12/12 I kind of expected bad stuff to happen, it didn’t, no more than usual. Apparently some spooksters out there are holding their breath for 21/12/12, according to the Mayan calendar, a couple of crackpot Christians,  my UFO abductee brother and a handful of stoners next door, the world is ending at noon – or midnight – on the day!?

Whatever your need for saviour, a Chinese farmer has invented a survival pod that he hopes will be adopted by like minded groups, local government and rescue authorities to provide protection during natural and not-so-natural disasters.

Liu Qiyuan from the village of Qiantun, Hebei province, says he was inspired by the apocalyptic Hollywood movie ’2012′ and the 2004 Asian tsunami to develop the pods, nicknamed ‘Noah’s Ark’. Mr Liu has built seven pods which are able to float on water, and some even have their own propulsion system :: Read the full article »»»»

China Plans on Expanding Market Gardens, Mars and the Moon!?

Our most favourite behemoth – China – and the worlds second largest economy, are planning on expanding rural production much farther than their earthly borders. The worlds most populous nation is preparing to grow fresh vegetables on Mars and the Moon after researchers completed a preliminary test in Beijing.

Chinese state media has reported that researchers are currently testing their wild theory here on earth, four kinds of vegetables were grown in an Ecological Life Support System, a 300 cubic metre cabin which will allow astronauts to develop their own stocks of air, water and food while on space missions.

The system, which relies on plants and algae, is “expected to be used in extra-terrestrial bases on the Moon or Mars”, Xinhua news agency. Participants in the experiment could “harvest fresh vegetables for meals”, Xinhua quoted Deng Yibing, a researcher at Beijing’s Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Centre, as saying :: Read the full article »»»»