Estimates suggest 400,000 people are employed to build up credits in online games such as World of Warcraft and EverQuest by virtual gold mining or r such ways of building up in-game credits that can be translated into real value.This article titled “How gold farmers reap huge harvest from online gaming” was written by Josh Halliday, for The Guardian on Wednesday 25th May 2011 19.15 UTCTens of millions of people spend hours and pay big money for virtual gains on the most popular multiplayer online games, including World of Warcraft, Eve Online and EverQuest.Behind these games are “gold farmers”, who spend hours within the games each day, gathering virtual credits and selling them to gamers for real world cash.The most recent estimates, from 2009, suggest that 400,000 people are employed as gold farmers across the world, with 85% of those in China and Vietnam, according to Professor Richard Heeks of the University of Manchester.These gold farmers are almost entirely males between 18 and 25, and most are either cash-strapped college students or unemployed rural migrants. They sell in-game advantages – an increased skill level, or a virtual ore – to players eager to boost their online reputation.The multiplayer online games industry has boomed in recent years thanks to increased internet access and the rise of social networks. World of Warcraft, easily the most popular of its kind, had 12 million subscribers last year.According to a report published by the World Bank last month, gold farming was worth about $3bn (£1.85bn) in 2009 – most of which was kept by developing countries. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogHow gold farmers reap huge harvest from online gamingRelated posts:Farmers collaborate online to face rural uncertaintyOnline advertising in the UKRolling Your Own Online Office
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How gold farmers reap huge harvest from online gaming
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/29/how-gold-farmers-reap-huge-harvest-from-online-gaming
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May 29 2011, 9:16am | Comments »
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Bob Dylan posts web message about China shows
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/14/bob-dylan-posts-web-message-about-china-shows
Bob Dylan on his own websites claims the authorities did not censor his setlist for the recent China concerts.
This article titled “Bob Dylan posts web message about China shows” was written by Caspar Llewellyn Smith, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 13th May 2011 18.12 UTC Confounding seasoned Bob Dylan fans, the 69-year old song and dance man has posted a message on his official website addressing the controversy surrounding his concerts in China in April. Dylan has never previously communicated with his followers in this way, but he has now refuted the suggestion that he allowed the Chinese government to censor his setlist. Several critics – if not all – questioned his motivation, including New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who wrote that Dylan “sang his censored set, took his pile of Communist cash and left.” In response to such accusations, Dylan wrote on bobdylan.com that the Chinese authorities had not refused him permission to play there, and while “according to Mojo magazine the concerts were attended mostly by ex-pats”, there were not many empty seats and this was not true. “If anybody wants to check with any of the concert-goers they will see that it was mostly Chinese young people that came,” he continued. Dylan added: “The Chinese press did tout me as a 60s icon, however, and posted my picture all over the place with Joan Baez, Che Guevara, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. The concert attendees probably wouldn’t have known about any of those people. Regardless, they responded enthusiastically to the songs on my last four or five records. Ask anyone who was there. They were young and my feeling was that they wouldn’t have known my early songs anyway.” In respect to the idea that the Chinese government vetted the setlist, Dylan wrote: “We played all the songs that we intended to play”. The singer turns 70 on 24 May, and with an oblique reference to the happy occasion, the sometime author and radio show host concluded this novel missive: “Everybody knows by now that there’s a gazillion books on me either out or coming out in the near future. So I’m encouraging anybody who’s ever met me, heard me or even seen me, to get in on the action and scribble their own book. You never know, somebody might have a great book in them.”
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May 14 2011, 3:20pm | Comments »
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Herbal remedies banned as new EU rules take effect
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/02/herbal-remedies-banned-as-new-eu-rules-take-effect
Manufacturers and herbal practitioners say strict guidelines aimed at improving safety could force them out of business.
This article titled “Herbal remedies banned as new EU rules take effect” was written by Robin McKie, for The Observer on Saturday 30th April 2011 23.06 UTC New EU rules came into force at the weekend banning hundreds of herbal remedies. The laws are aimed at protecting consumers from potentially damaging “traditional” medicines. Under the directive, herbal medicines will now have to be registered. Products must meet safety, quality and manufacturing standards, and come with information outlining possible side-effects. Herbal practitioners and manufacturers say they fear the new rules could force them out of business. Research conducted for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in 2009 showed that 26% of adults in the UK had taken a herbal medicine in the last two years, mostly bought over the counter in health food shops and pharmacies. Commonly used ingredients already registered include echinacea, which is used against colds, St John’s wort, used for depression and anxiety, and valerian, which is claimed to ease insomnia. The agency said it hoped to promote a more cautious approach to the use of herbal medicines after a study found that 58% of respondents believed these products were safe because they are “natural”. In fact, herbal remedies can have harmful side-effects. St John’s Wort can stop the contraceptive pill working, while ginkgo and ginseng are known to interfere with the blood-thinning drug warfarin. And in February the MHRA issued a warning about the herbal weight loss product Herbal Flos Lonicerae (Herbal Xenicol) Natural Weight Loss Formula, after tests showed it contained more than twice the prescribed dose of a banned substance. To date, the industry has been covered by the 1968 Medicines Act, drawn up when only a handful of herbal remedies were available and the number of herbal practitioners was very small. From now, manufacturers will have to prove their products have been made to strict standards and contain a consistent and clearly marked dose. Remedies already on sale will be allowed to stay on the shelves until their expiry date. The agency said there had been 211 applications for approval of herbal remedies so far, with 105 granted and the rest still under consideration. Approved remedies will come with a logo marked THR.
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May 2 2011, 9:46am | Comments »
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China’s insatiable thirst for fine wine threatens to burst Bordeaux bubble
Bordeaux prices are soaring as buyers in Hong Kong develop a taste for the famed French wine, and this is why you can’t find a reasonably priced real claret in England any more, amongst all the new world wines that fill up the majority of shelf space
This article titled “China’s insatiable thirst for fine wine threatens to burst Bordeaux bubble” was written by Jamie Doward, for The Observer on Saturday 30th April 2011 23.05 UTC It is one of the most hotly debated topics in the world of wine: is the Bordeaux bubble about to burst? The price of one of France’s most celebrated wines has soared over the last 12 months as British buyers compete with an increasing number of Chinese oenophiles to snap up the all too precious cases of claret. With the likes of Chris de Burgh and Sir David Frost recently selling their Bordeaux collections for six-figure sums, attention has focused on the top-tier wines such as Château Lafite, cases of which are going for as much as £15,000. At the start of the year, Lord Lloyd-Webber sold off a large part of his cellar, including a 12-bottle lot of Château Pétrus 1982 for $77,564 (around £48,500). Berry Brothers recently sold three cases of the same vintage for £58,000 a case. A dozen bottles of a typical second-tier Bordeaux was selling for around £600 a year ago, according to Berry Brothers, the wine merchants, but is now going for anything up to £2,000. But experts say the demand for Bordeaux is now so great that even wines from less well known producers have seen prices rocket. A decision by the Hong Kong government to abolish wine and beer duties has fuelled the demand. Berry Brothers estimates that last year, of the £110m of Bordeaux it sold “en primeur” – while still in the barrel – some £30m worth went through Hong Kong, compared with just £10m the year before. With en primeur sales of the 2010 vintage, which was apparently a fantastic year, soon to take place, the company is anticipating substantial demand from Chinese buyers. “We’ve got fewer than 100 customers in China, so you can imagine what happens if more Chinese people get a thirst for Bordeaux,” said Simon Staples, sales and marketing director at Berry Brothers. Intriguingly, the demand among Chinese buyers is only for red wine and only for Bordeaux. “Burgundy is much more complicated, the knowledge among Chinese buyers isn’t there yet, whereas Bordeaux is much easier to understand,” Staples said. “They want red wine; it’s a male thing, it’s good for the heart, good for the libido.” Staples has remortgaged his home three times in the last 10 years (in 2000, 2005 and 2009) to buy Bordeaux. Last year he recommended that his mother-in-law buy five cases of a particular Bordeaux at £2,400. These are now selling for £7,800. Chateaux producing the wine have responded to the surge in interest, investing in sophisticated machinery and a more rigorous selection policy for their grapes. A taste among a new generation of drinkers to consume Bordeaux much earlier than their predecessors has been driven by an earlier ripening of the grapes, in part down to longer, hotter summers in France. Vineyards have also started to strip leaves to give grapes more sun while leaving them longer on the vine so they are softer and sweeter. “It’s coincided with a new style of Bordeaux,” said Adam Lechmere, the news editor at Decanter magazine. “The vintages are drinkable much younger. You used to have to lay them down for 15 years or so, but now they’re softer and don’t have such harsh tannins.” Staples is confident heightened global demand means Bordeaux prices will not fall even if the UK economy enters a double dip. But others are wary. “People who work in the City tell me this has all the hallmarks of a Bordeaux bubble,” Lechmere said.
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May 1 2011, 1:17pm | Comments »
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Red songs ring out in Chinese city’s new cultural revolution
Chinese city Chongqing’s ambitious party boss Bo Xilai has got the population singing red songs such as Road to Revitalisation and Love of the Red Flag
This article titled “Red songs ring out in Chinese city’s new cultural revolution” was written by Tania Branigan in Beijing, for The Guardian on Friday 22nd April 2011 15.46 UTC Road to Revitalisation may not sound like the most catchy name for a tune, but authorities in Chongqing are urging residents to sing along to it – and 35 more carefully selected “red songs”. The south-western Chinese city has launched the musical campaign to mark this year’s 90th anniversary of the Communist party’s birth. Television and radio stations are broadcasting the tunes, newspapers are carrying the scores and officials are arranging public performances of Love of the Red Flag and Good Men Should Become Soldiers. Officials are also urging artists to help train people “to raise a fever of singing red [revolutionary] songs,” according to the People’s Daily website. The initiative is the latest phase in the “red culture movement” launched by the city’s ambitious party boss Bo Xilai. “Red songs won public support because they depicted China’s path in a simple, sincere and vivid way,” Bo said last year. “There’s no need to be artsy-fartsy … only dilettantes prefer enigmatic works.” Chongqing television was recently ordered to drop popular soap operas and sitcoms. Instead, it airs improving material such as classic dramas and red song shows, reportedly leading to a sharp drop in ratings and advertising revenue. Other initiatives include ordering students to work in the countryside and getting cadres to don Red Army uniforms and follow the path of their forebears “to deepen their understanding and experience of hardships”.
While most expect Bo to be included in the top political body, the politburo standing committee, it is not clear what position he might take. His other striking initiatives have included a mass drive to urbanise the population and a campaign against organised crime, which won him plaudits but raised concerns about the manner of the crackdown. “He is a maverick. He has the confidence of his family background,” Bo’s father was a Communist “immortal”, rehabilitated after the Cultural Revolution, in which Bo’s mother died. “Bo’s approach appears to be gaining some traction among some very high-level leaders,” said Beijing-based political analyst Russell Leigh Moses. Several senior figures have visited Chongqing recently, notably Xi Jinping, the vice president expected to take the top job next year, who praised Bo’s cultural drive. Moses said: “Bo’s campaign is multidimensional, but its primary objective seems to be trying to redefine local affairs as mass politics. [It] is not about policy as much as it is about a new communist theology that is nostalgic and not like anyone else’s.” Brady said propaganda had changed so much in content as well as method that comparisons to Maoism were lazy. When Bo invokes Mao Zedong in text messages to residents, instead of references to class struggle he chooses feelgood quotations such as: “The world is ours, we should unite for achievements.” “Some appear to have misunderstood the message in our campaign,” Xu Chao, the official leading the red song drive, told the Global Times. “‘Red’ doesn’t only represent revolution, communism or socialism. It also includes elements that represent happiness, harmony, being positive and healthy. The term is actually quite inclusive.” There are no Mao-era songs on the 36-strong list and many are recent popular hits about loving one’s family or one’s nation. Go China! praises Olympicdiver Guo Jingjing, baseball star Yao Ming and film director Zhang Yimou rather than Communist cadres. “It’s definitely not on-message in terms of what was traditionally regarded as ‘red’,” said Brady. “I think a Cultural Revolution-era propagandist would be appalled.”
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April 24 2011, 4:21am | Comments »
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MoDo on Bob Dylan and protest
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/11/modo-on-bob-dylan-and-protest
Has Bob Dylan actually stood for anything for the last 40 years or so?
This article titled “MoDo on Bob Dylan and protest” was written by Michael Tomasky, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 11th April 2011 16.43 UTC Maureen Dowd took a widely noted whack at Bob Dylan yesterday, for allegedly agreeing to submit his set list to censors in the People’s Republic of China before he played his first-ever gig there. She seemed upset that he didn’t play “Blowin’ in the Wind.” In return, she’s getting whacked herself left and right today. Jim Fallows had a go yesterday, noting that Dylan did in fact perform a few of his more subversive songs and that his contacts in China didn’t see the matter through Dowd’s lens at all. Here’s something from the Examiner: There is no evidence that Dylan was censored at all in China. Where is the investigative journalism ? Someone speculated in the press, and it is now reported as “fact”. Where is the original document or announcement? There is not even a clear consensus as to why last year’s concert didn’t take place. It certainly wasn’t canceled, since it was never confirmed. Dylan’s “censored” set list was actually pretty standard. Dozen’s of articles – published before Dowd’s – used “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times, They Are-Changin’” as examples of “censored” songs that Dylan did not perform, while Dowd suggested another “protest” song that Dylan “should” have sung. Here are the facts: *”Blowin’ In The Wind” was performed only ten times last year. *”Times” was performed only once in 2010 – at a special White House performance. *”Hurricane” has not been performed since 1976 (35 years ago!)! That’s amazing about “Hurricane.” I guess that would have been the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, is that right? In any case, a) Dylan hasn’t been a “protest figure” for about 40 years, even 45, really, and b) even if he did sing “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and even putting the language barrier aside, no one could understand a single word the guy says these days, so what difference would it make? I think I’ve seen Dylan four times, maybe five. The first was 1978, the Street Legal tour, his “Vegas” era. But it was still a good show, and I remember “Tangled Up in Blue” as a highlight. But he has long had this penchant of course for rearranging his songs to such an extent that you had to listen for a minute or even two before you even knew what it was. When he toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, I went to see him at Madison Square Garden, with a good friend of mine (who might be reading this very post), and another buddy of his, a guy I didn’t know. As we were on the subway heading home, I said: “I really liked hearing ‘Masters of War.’” A confused and sad look crossed the face of the third guy, my friend’s friend: “He played ‘Masters of War’?” That was the thing. You couldn’t tell. I caught a snippet of lyric in about the third verse that I knew. So even if he’d played “Masters of War” in China, he’d likely have done it in such a way that people wouldn’t have heard its message anyhow. Which brings us to a central point about Dylan that I think Dowd missed. He’s intentionally enigmatic, and it’s precisely when someone wants him to do X that he will go out of his way to do Not X. Not that it even really matters that much anymore in his case, but just for the record. And, just for the record, my most beloved Dylan music is The Basement Tapes. Not a political word on it. Could listen to it forever.
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April 11 2011, 12:31pm | Comments »
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Russia, China and Arab League condemn Libya attacks
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/20/russia-china-and-arab-league-condemn-libya-attacks
US Coalition forces accused of mission creep and disproportionate action in Operation Odyssey Dawn against Libya
This article titled “Russia, China and Arab League condemn Libya attacks” was written by Patrick Wintour and Ewen MacAskill, for The Guardian on Sunday 20th March 2011 21.37 UTC America, France and Britain – the leaders of the coalition’s air attacks on Libya – were struggling to maintain international support for their actions, as they faced stinging criticism about mission creep from the leader of the Arab League, as well as from China and Russia. Critics claimed that the coalition of the willing may have been acting disproportionately and had come perilously close to making Gaddafi’s departure an explicit goal of UN policy. Russia, which abstained on the UN vote last week, called for “an end to indiscriminate force”. Despite denials from coalition forces, Alexander Lukashevich, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman, said that the coalition had hit non-military targets. He suggested that 48 civilians had been killed. “We believe a mandate given by the UN security council resolution – a controversial move in itself – should not be used to achieve goals outside its provisions, which only see measures necessary to protect civilian population,” he said. The Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa, also startled western governments when he denounced the air attacks only a week after the league had called for creation of a no-fly zone. Moussa, who is a candidate for the Egyptian presidency, said: “What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians.” The Foreign Office later said Moussa claimed he had been misquoted, or had put his criticism more strongly in Arabic than in English. “We will continue to work with our Arab partners to enforce the resolution for the good of the Libyan people,” the FO said. The Arab League had, though, been called to an emergency session to discuss the scale of the attacks. The British defence secretary, Liam Fox, said the scale was in line with UN resolutions that had been “essential in terms of the Gaddafi regime’s ability to prosecute attacks on their own people”. He also said it was possible that Gaddafi himself could become a target of air attacks if the safety of civilians could be guaranteed. Ahead of a Commons debate and vote tomorrow, leading figures in David Cameron’s cabinet were under pressure to clarify whether the explicit purpose of the attacks was to render Gaddafi’s regime so powerless that it collapses. Speaking on the Politics Show, Fox said: “Mission accomplished would mean the Libyan people free to control their own destiny. This is very clear – the international community wants his regime to end and wants the Libyan people to control for themselves their own country.” He then added: “Regime change is not an objective, but it may come about as a result of what is happening amongst the people of Libya.” He said: “When the dynamic shifts and the equilibrium shifts, we will get a better idea just how much support the Gaddafi regime has and how much the people of Libya genuinely long to be able to control their own country. “If Colonel Gaddafi went, not every eye would be wet.” Fox said it was possible that allied forces might treat Gaddafi himself as a legitimate target for air strikes. “There is a difference between someone being a legitimate target and whether we go ahead and target him,” he said. “You would have to take into account what would happen to civilians in the area, what might happen in terms of collateral damage. We don’t simply with a gung-ho attitude start firing off missiles.” One UK defence source said: “If we are seeking to destroy a military resource and he [Gaddafi] is caught in the process, that will not be our doing.” Fox also made it clear that the allied attacks would extend in the coming days from Gaddafi’s air defence systems to his artillery. Britain has ruled out the use of ground forces, but some of the more hawkish cabinet members such as the chancellor, George Osborne, only said ground forces were “ruled out for the moment”. In the Commons debate Labour will call for an explicit guarantee that British ground troops will not be involved. But in a boost to the coalition, there were signs that some of the much-trailed practical Arab involvement in the air strikes had finally materialised – after Qatar last night sent four planes to work alongside the French in the second round of attacks designed to set up a no fly zone across Libya. Britain is hopeful of further input from the United Arab Emirates, following calls by Fox. Arab political support, and military participation is vital to reduce the credibility of Gaddafi’s claims that this is a western act of aggression against a Muslim country. In an effort to reassure Arab opinion, Fox stressed plans to hand some of the co-ordination of the operation to Nato would allow a wider group of participants. But the attacks were under UN auspices. In the US, the Obama administration was more restrained in its language. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, insisted the campaign was only a limited, humanitarian operation, not a war, and was not aimed at regime change, as both Cameron and Sarkozy have suggested. “The goals of this campaign are limited. It is not about seeing him [Gaddafi] go. It is about supporting the UN resolution.” Asked if the mission could be accomplished with Gaddafi still in power, Mullen replied: “This is one outcome.” The Pentagon has been reluctant to become engaged in a third war against a Muslim country in the space of a decade and pressed Barack Obama on the dangers of mission creep. Carl Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate armed services committee, said that Obama had given them assurances on that and the Pentagon was satisfied. Mullen and other US commanders said that although the US had taken the lead in the first phase, there would be hand-over to the French and British, and the US would take a back seat role, restricted to tasks to which it was uniquely qualified, such as jamming Gaddafi’s communications and providing refuelling of planes in the air. John Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, echoed Mullen over the mission goals, saying it was not a war. “This operation is not specifically geared to get rid of Gaddafi,” he said. The Republican senator Lindsey Graham, speaking on Fox News Sunday, said he was troubled by Obama’s lack of enthusiasm, after the president went ahead with a trip to Latin America. “I’m very worried that we’re taking a back seat rather than a leadership role,” Graham said.
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March 20 2011, 4:54pm | Comments »
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China considers relaxing one-child policy
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/08/china-considers-relaxing-one-child-policy
Pilot projects for a two-child rule have also suggested it would not result in a population boom. How do you run a pilot project for such a grand scale population tinkering exercise as this?
This article titled “China considers relaxing one-child policy” was written by Tania Branigan in Beijing, for The Guardian on Tuesday 8th March 2011 10.49 UTC Beijing is considering whether to adopt a two-child policy within the next five years, ending the three-decade-old one-child rule, Chinese media have reported. Experts have mounted a renewed push for a relaxation of the strict family planning laws at an annual political meeting in the capital, warning that the country’s population of 1.3 billion is becoming dangerously unbalanced, with too few adults of working age supporting too many of their elders. Officials, concerned that hinting at an end to the curbs could lead to a huge rise in the number of births, have quashed previous public discussion of a change. The one-child policy was adopted in 1979 after China’s population surged – in part because Mao Zedong had suggested procreation was a patriotic duty. Some families – such as ethnic minority households or farmers whose first child is female – are already exempt. The government has been gradually relaxing regulations, for example by allowing two only children to each have two offspring. Experts in the field believe a uniform two-child rule would be fair, easy to enforce and would help to rebalance the population. Speaking at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – an advisory body meeting now in Beijing – Wang Yuqing said officials were studying proposals for a two-child policy and that he believed it should be introduced gradually. Wang, deputy director of the CPPCC’s National Committee of Population, Resources and Environment, told the New Express Daily he believed urban couples whose first child was female might be allowed to have a second child from as early as 2015. Wang added that cities such as Beijing and Shanghai were already experiencing declining birth rates, in line with the international trend for people to have fewer children as living standards rise. Pilot projects for a two-child rule have also suggested it would not result in a population boom. The South China Morning Post said another official had confirmed the government was considering a new exemption for five provinces, which would allow couples to have a second child if one of the parents was an only child. Li Jichun, the deputy chairman of the Heilongjiang provincial CPPCC, said it had not been decided whether his province would be included. Official statistics from the government’s population agency suggest the fertility rate – the average number of births per woman – is still around 1.8 in China, slightly lower than in the UK but far higher than in Japan or Italy. Others put the figure far lower, although it is not clear whether they account for births that should be registered but are not. Ji Baocheng, a member of the rubber-stamp legislature the National People’s Congress, said there was a pressing need for a two-child rule because if the policy was not changed in time, the population structure would be severely imbalanced. According to state news agency Xinhua, over-60s make up more than an eighth of the population and will account for a third within three decades, with their numbers growing to 400 million as the number of younger people falls. Speaking to New Express Daily, Ji pointed to the burden faced by couples caring for two sets of parents. “The responsibility will be overwhelming,” said Ji, who is also president of Renmin University. Ye Yanfang, another CPPCC member, said nine out of 10 experts had been pressing for a relaxation of the policy for several years. But he added: “[The authorities] are still worried that more people will drive up the unemployment rate in the future.” Experts also argue that the one-child policy was never supposed to be a permanent measure, but was meant to bring down population growth to a manageable level. Tian Xueyuan, a leading member of the team that oversaw the policy’s introduction, told the Jinghua Times: “The purpose of the policy was to control birth rate for one generation.” Additional research by Lin Yi
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March 8 2011, 5:04am | Comments »
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Anger on the streets: unrest in Iran, Algeria, Yemen, Morocco and China
The list of countries in which there is unrest is getting almost too long for any headline.
Iran Algeria Yemen Morocco China
Not to mention Bahrain and Libya
This article titled “Anger on the streets: unrest in Iran, Algeria, Yemen, Morocco and China” was written by Nora Fakim in Rabat, Giles Tremlett, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Tania Branigan in Beijing and agencies, for The Guardian on Sunday 20th February 2011 21.47 UTC Morocco: Peaceful protests against prime minister Thousands took to the streets of Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakech in peaceful protests demanding a new constitution, a change in government and an end to corruption. Sunday’s protests were a test for King Mohamed VI’s regime, which boasts that it is more liberal and tolerant than other countries in the region that have seen violence and revolution. Despite a heavy secret police presence, uniformed police stayed in the background as demonstrators carefully avoided overt criticism of the king or Islamist chanting. “Where has the money gone?”, “The people of Morocco want change” and “We need a new constitution” were among the cries of 5,000 marchers in the capital, Rabat. “The atmosphere today is peaceful, as it is in our Moroccan nature to be peaceful,” a 50-year-old doctor, Mohamed Bebakri, said. Said Benjibli, the creator of Facebook protest group and one of the few prepared to complain about the monarch, said: “The king has too much power and he needs to distribute more money to the people.” Much of the rage was directed against prime minister Abbas El Fassi and his many family members in government posts. Iran: Thousands dispersed with teargas and batons Riot police and plainclothed basiji militia fired teargas and wielded batons to disperse thousands of defiant protesters commemorating the death of two pro-democracy demonstrators killed during anti-government protests last week. Supporters of the Green Movement gathered in scattered groups for the second time within a week to denounce the death of Saane Zhaleh, 26, and Mohammadi Mokhtari, 22, who were killed in Tehran on Monday. An opposition website affiliated to Mehdi Karroubi, a former presidential candidate, said that one person had been killed in Haft-e-Tir square in central Tehran when security forces opened fire at protesters. Dozens were arrested. Iran’s IRNA state news agency reported that Faezeh Rafsanjani, the daughter of influential cleric and former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, had been arrested in Tehran but semi-official FARS news agency reported later that she had been released. Iran had banned foreign media based in Tehran from reporting the protest. Instead, the opposition turned to social networking websites to spread their voice. Opposition websites claimed the protests reached other big cities, including Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad and Sanandaj with scenes similar to those in the capital, Tehran. The Green Wave opposition grouo announced that Ahmad Maleki, the vice-consulate at the consulate general of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Milan, had defected. He is the forth diplomat to defect since Iran’s post-election unrest in 2009. Algeria: Police separate crowds with clubs and shields Police thwarted a rally by thousands of pro-democracy supporters, breaking up the crowd into isolated groups to keep them from marching. Police brandishing clubs, but no firearms, weaved their way through the crowd in central Algiers, banging their shields, tackling some protesters and keeping traffic flowing through the planned march route. A demonstrating politician was hospitalised after suffering a head wound when he fell after police kicked and hit him, colleagues said. The gathering, organised by the Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria, comes a week after a similar protest, which organisers said brought an estimated 10,000 people and up to 26,000 riot police on to the streets of Algiers. Algeria has also been hit by numerous strikes over the past month. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised to lift the state of emergency, which has been in place since early 1992 to combat a budding insurgency by Islamist extremists. The insurgency, which continues sporadically, has killed about 200,000 people. Bouteflika has warned, however, that a longstanding ban on protests in Algiers would remain in place, even once the state of emergency was lifted. Algeria has many of the ingredients for a popular revolt. It is riddled with corruption and has never successfully grappled with its soaring jobless rate among its youth, estimated by some to be up to 42% despite its oil and gas wealth. “The people are for change, but peacefully,” said sociologist Nasser Djebbi. “We have paid a high price.” Yemen: Unrest continues for ninth consecutive day The leader of Yemen’s secessionist Southern Movement, Hasan Baoum, was arrested by an “armed military group” in an Aden hospital, according to his son, and shots were fired at a demonstration in the capital Sana’a, as unrest continued for a ninth consecutive day. Thousands of people also staged sit-ins in the cities of Ibb and Taiz, demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who renewed his call for opposition parties to pursue a dialogue with the government. Security in the southern port of Aden was stepped up with tanks and armoured vehicles out on the main streets. China: Crackdown after call for ‘jasmine revolution’ Chinese security officials questioned or detained scores of activists at the weekend and warned others against staging protests after an online call was made for demonstrations in 13 cities, campaigners said. The message, posted on an overseas website on Saturday, was titled: “The jasmine revolution in China”. The swift crackdown underlined the anxiety of authorities in the wake of the Egypt uprising and protests across the Middle East. The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy estimated that more than 100 activists across the country were taken away by police, prevented from leaving home or were missing. Wang Songlian, of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network, said more than 40 campaigners or dissidents had been summoned or questioned by police or placed under “soft detention” at home or elsewhere. In many more cases, police had visited people to ask them what they were doing or warn them not to take part, she said. “[The message] linked it to the jasmine revolution and I guess that made the government nervous,” she said. “It really shows us how much the government has identified with regimes in the Middle East where people are so aggrieved about social injustice.” Despite a huge police presence at the proposed demonstration locations, there were signs that at least a handful of people in Beijing and Shanghai had hoped to protest. It is not clear who posted the call for demonstrations on the Boxun website, and the message may well have come from abroad. Many mainland activists appeared to have been unaware of it until police contacted them. The message said: “You and I are Chinese people who will still have a dream for the future … we must act responsibly for the future of our descendants.” It urged people to shout demands for food, work, housing and fairness.
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February 20 2011, 5:09pm | Comments »
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Spacewatch: The next mission to Mars
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/02/16/spacewatch-the-next-mission-to-mars
In a new space race, Two missions to Mars are planned to take off later this year. The Americans’ Mars Science Lab and the Russians’ Phobos-Grunt. Phobos This article titled “Spacewatch: The next mission to Mars” was written by Alan Pickup, for The Guardian on Wednesday 16th February 2011 00.10 UTC After rounding the Sun’s far side 12 days ago, Mars stays hidden in our pre-dawn twilight until June. This time next year, though, it will be the brightest object in our midnight sky as it approaches opposition in the constellation Leo. By then, two more space missions should be en route to the planet. Nasa’s Mars Science Laboratory is due to be launched in November, and to make the first precision landing on Mars in August 2012. It is hoped that its 900kg rover, now named Curiosity, will spend at least a Martian year (22 Earth months or so) exploring the surface in its quest to discover whether the planet has ever been able to support life, even at the microbial level. Some five times more massive than its predecessor rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity carries 10 times more scientific equipment. It remains to be seen whether the second Mars mission, Russia’s Phobos-Grunt probe, will blast off as early as November. (China’s first planetary craft, a small Mars-orbiter called Yinghuo-1, is intended to piggy-back with it.) Phobos-Grunt is hugely ambitious with its plan to land on the Martian moon Phobos, collect samples and return them to Earth after a 34-month round trip. Phobos, a cratered potato-shaped world, measures only 27km by 22km by 18km, and orbits Mars in less than eight hours almost 6,000km above the equator. It is spiralling downwards and could impact Mars in 11m years, though tidal forces should rip it apart before then.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress. Image credit: Don Cochrane
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February 16 2011, 4:11am | Comments »
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Chinese New Year February 14th 2010
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/02/10/chinese-new-year-february-14th-2010
Chinese New Year February 14th 2010 Originally uploaded by AndyRob
The Chinese New Year festival falls on February 14th this year, 2010 but celebrations in London’s Chinatown take place for a week or more around that time. It’s a moveable feast, also referred to as Chinese spring festival, and just as much belonging to south east Asia as China.
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February 10 2010, 12:12pm | Comments »
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