BEIJING (AP) — An explosion at a factory in eastern China killed 16 people and injured dozens early Sunday, authorities said.
The blast happened at 3 a.m. Sunday (1900 GMT Saturday) in an office building at a factory producing quartz sand in Fengyang, a county in Anhui province, a statement on the State Administration of Work Safety's Web site said.
The statement said that 43 were injured, one seriously at the factory owned by Jingxin Mining Ltd. Co., a private company. Calls to the company rang unanswered Sunday.
The city's deputy mayor, Wang Tuqiang, said the factory had illegally stockpiled about five tons of explosives on the factory's premises, according to a report by state broadcaster CCTV.
The explosion ripped through two office buildings and a workers' dormitory, causing them to collapse, the report said. Rescuers lowered listening devices into the rubble to search for survivors, but the report said there were no signs of life under the debris.
The report says police have arrested the owners of the factory.
The Fengyang county government declined to provide details on the cause of the blast, saying it was still collecting information.
Xinhua News Agency said most of those killed were factory workers, while CCTV said three of the 43 injured in the blast were residents and the others were employees.
by the assoicated press
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Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
One-dog law
GUANGZHOU, China — Mrs. Chen can’t imagine abandoning one of her two best friends: her scruffy terrier mutt and a white fluffy Pekingese mix.
But that’s what the government in this southern Chinese city wants the middle-aged housewife to do when a one-dog policy takes effect in Guangzhou.
Beginning July 1, each household can raise only one pooch. The rule won’t be grandfathered in, so families with two or more dogs will apparently have to decide which gets to stay.
"It’s a cruel regulation. These dogs are like family. How can you keep one and get rid of the others?” said Chen, who declined to give her full name.
The law appears to be part of an effort to control stray dogs in Guangzhou. It is one of the richest cities in China and has a rapidly growing middle class that can afford dogs.
Many of the first-time pet owners don’t bother to spay or neuter animals and are new to the burdens of keeping an animal. The canines often end up on the street.
Guangzhou is also preparing to host the Asian Games next year, and crews have been sprucing up the city of 12 million people. Reducing the dog population will likely mean cleaner sidewalks.
Chen said she plans to register one of her dogs with her parents.
"In China, we have a saying,” she said. "When the people at the top make a policy, the people at the bottom find a way to get around it.”
by the associated press
But that’s what the government in this southern Chinese city wants the middle-aged housewife to do when a one-dog policy takes effect in Guangzhou.
Beginning July 1, each household can raise only one pooch. The rule won’t be grandfathered in, so families with two or more dogs will apparently have to decide which gets to stay.
"It’s a cruel regulation. These dogs are like family. How can you keep one and get rid of the others?” said Chen, who declined to give her full name.
The law appears to be part of an effort to control stray dogs in Guangzhou. It is one of the richest cities in China and has a rapidly growing middle class that can afford dogs.
Many of the first-time pet owners don’t bother to spay or neuter animals and are new to the burdens of keeping an animal. The canines often end up on the street.
Guangzhou is also preparing to host the Asian Games next year, and crews have been sprucing up the city of 12 million people. Reducing the dog population will likely mean cleaner sidewalks.
Chen said she plans to register one of her dogs with her parents.
"In China, we have a saying,” she said. "When the people at the top make a policy, the people at the bottom find a way to get around it.”
by the associated press
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hong Kong pushes for democracy
BEIJING — In Tiananmen Square, police were ready to pounce at the first sign of protest. In Hong Kong, a sea of candles flickered in the hands of tens of thousands who vented their grief and anger.
Two contrasting faces of China were on display Thursday, the 20th anniversary of the military’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators — from Beijing’s rigid control in suppressing any dissent, to freewheeling Hong Kong, which enjoys freedoms all but absent on the mainland.
Tiananmen Square was blanketed by security officers who were ready to silence any potential demonstration, and there were few hints that the vast plaza was the epicenter of a student-led movement that was crushed on June 3-4, 1989.
But in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, a crowd chanted slogans calling for Beijing to own up to the crackdown and release political dissidents. Organizers estimated its size at 150,000, while police put the number at 62,800.
Hong Kong is one of the few places in China where the events of June 1989 are not off-limits, because the territory operates under a separate political system.
by the associated press
Two contrasting faces of China were on display Thursday, the 20th anniversary of the military’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators — from Beijing’s rigid control in suppressing any dissent, to freewheeling Hong Kong, which enjoys freedoms all but absent on the mainland.
Tiananmen Square was blanketed by security officers who were ready to silence any potential demonstration, and there were few hints that the vast plaza was the epicenter of a student-led movement that was crushed on June 3-4, 1989.
But in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, a crowd chanted slogans calling for Beijing to own up to the crackdown and release political dissidents. Organizers estimated its size at 150,000, while police put the number at 62,800.
Hong Kong is one of the few places in China where the events of June 1989 are not off-limits, because the territory operates under a separate political system.
by the associated press
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
China rounds up dissidents,and blocks Twitter
BEIJING — Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square this week, Chinese authorities have rounded up dissidents and shipped them out of town. Now, they’ve even shut down Twitter.
Along with their usual methods of muzzling dissent, the authorities extended their efforts Tuesday to silence social networking sites that might foster discussion of any commemoration of the events of June 3-4, 1989.
The action is a new sign of the government’s concern of the potential of such technology in an authoritarian society where information is controlled.
"There has been a really intensified clampdown on quasi-public discussion of awareness of this event,” said Xiao Qiang, adjunct professor of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California-Berkeley, and director of The Berkeley China Internet Project.
"It’s a discussion about where China is now and where China can go from here. So the authorities are making a major crackdown to block user-generated sites such as Twitter and show there is no right to public discussion,” he said.
China has the world’s largest online population, and Internet communities have been increasingly influential. People are going outside the normal, controlled channels to set up communities online, spreading information about campus unrest and other activities the government considers potentially subversive.
Authorities have been tightening surveillance over dissidents ahead of the anniversary, with some writers already under house arrest for months. Government critics, including Ding Zilin and Bao Tong, could not be reached amid reports that they had been ordered to leave the capital before the anniversary of the crackdown.
by the associated press
Along with their usual methods of muzzling dissent, the authorities extended their efforts Tuesday to silence social networking sites that might foster discussion of any commemoration of the events of June 3-4, 1989.
The action is a new sign of the government’s concern of the potential of such technology in an authoritarian society where information is controlled.
"There has been a really intensified clampdown on quasi-public discussion of awareness of this event,” said Xiao Qiang, adjunct professor of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California-Berkeley, and director of The Berkeley China Internet Project.
"It’s a discussion about where China is now and where China can go from here. So the authorities are making a major crackdown to block user-generated sites such as Twitter and show there is no right to public discussion,” he said.
China has the world’s largest online population, and Internet communities have been increasingly influential. People are going outside the normal, controlled channels to set up communities online, spreading information about campus unrest and other activities the government considers potentially subversive.
Authorities have been tightening surveillance over dissidents ahead of the anniversary, with some writers already under house arrest for months. Government critics, including Ding Zilin and Bao Tong, could not be reached amid reports that they had been ordered to leave the capital before the anniversary of the crackdown.
by the associated press
Monday, June 1, 2009
U.S. wants closer ties with China
BEIJING — After years of acrimonious economic relations with China, the U.S. insists it wants to turn the page and develop closer ties with the world’s third largest economy.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday that he wanted to foster the same kind of working relationship with China that the U.S. has enjoyed for decades with European economic powers.
"We would like to build with China the kind of relationship we built with the G-7 over the last several decades,” Geithner told reporters traveling with him to Beijing. The Group of Seven includes the traditional economic powers — the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.
China is America’s biggest creditor.
by the associated press
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday that he wanted to foster the same kind of working relationship with China that the U.S. has enjoyed for decades with European economic powers.
"We would like to build with China the kind of relationship we built with the G-7 over the last several decades,” Geithner told reporters traveling with him to Beijing. The Group of Seven includes the traditional economic powers — the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.
China is America’s biggest creditor.
by the associated press
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Trade in China
WASHINGTON — Timothy Geithner’s first trip to China as treasury secretary comes during a vulnerable time for the Obama administration.
Mired in a brutal recession, the U.S. needs Beijing to buy more American goods, allow its currency to rise and make other moves to narrow an enormous trade gap. The U.S. also needs China’s help to confront any military threat from North Korea.
Yet Washington’s leverage has waned just as China’s power over the U.S. has grown.
China is now America’s biggest creditor. As of March, it held $768 billion of Treasury securities — about 10 percent of publicly traded debt.
The U.S. needs China’s money to finance U.S. budget deficits, which are soaring as Washington tries to end the recession and bolster the banking system. The administration estimates the budget deficit will hit $1.84 trillion this year.
Geithner, who left Saturday for meetings Monday and Tuesday with Chinese leaders, carried a goal of persuading the Chinese government to adopt policies that would transform its nation of savers into spenders.
The U.S. wants Beijing to rely more on domestic spending and less on exports to power the global economy. Experts say the shift would help rebalance world trade.
It also could hasten an end to the global recession and narrow America’s trade gap because the Chinese would buy more American products.
by the associated press
Mired in a brutal recession, the U.S. needs Beijing to buy more American goods, allow its currency to rise and make other moves to narrow an enormous trade gap. The U.S. also needs China’s help to confront any military threat from North Korea.
Yet Washington’s leverage has waned just as China’s power over the U.S. has grown.
China is now America’s biggest creditor. As of March, it held $768 billion of Treasury securities — about 10 percent of publicly traded debt.
The U.S. needs China’s money to finance U.S. budget deficits, which are soaring as Washington tries to end the recession and bolster the banking system. The administration estimates the budget deficit will hit $1.84 trillion this year.
Geithner, who left Saturday for meetings Monday and Tuesday with Chinese leaders, carried a goal of persuading the Chinese government to adopt policies that would transform its nation of savers into spenders.
The U.S. wants Beijing to rely more on domestic spending and less on exports to power the global economy. Experts say the shift would help rebalance world trade.
It also could hasten an end to the global recession and narrow America’s trade gap because the Chinese would buy more American products.
by the associated press
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