China

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Gas-Powered Roller Skates Skid in Britain

Safety officials seize illegal 20 MPH "gas shoes" from China

(Newser) - British officials seized 50 pairs of motorized roller skates that can hit 20 mph in just 20 seconds. The Brits say the Chinese "gasoline skating shoes," which are controlled by a hand-held throttle, reach dangerous clips and expose young speedsters to falls and sudden stops that pitch them...

Harry Potter and the Chinese Knockoffs

Culture of piracy leads to illegal copying, unrelated spin-offs

(Newser) - The titles are unintentionally hilarious—Harry Potter and the Big Funnel, Harry Potter and the Chinese Porcelain Doll—but China's thriving piracy industry is no laughing matter. The Times looks at the phenomenon of "Harry" knockoffs, a problem so widespread that one estimate puts the percentage of illegal books...

China Flood Toll Nears 700
China Flood Toll Nears 700

China Flood Toll Nears 700

Millions homeless in devastating deluge

(Newser) - Massive flooding, landslides, and mudflows caused by weeks of violent rainstorms have killed 652 people in China and forced 5M out of their homes. Across the country, 452,000 houses have been destroyed, and officials are forecasting continued severe rain for China's southwest, northeast, and northwest regions in the coming...

High Food Prices Hurt World's Poor
High Food Prices Hurt World's Poor

High Food Prices Hurt World's Poor

Relief groups find resources, ability to help stretched thin

(Newser) - For the world's poorest people, the quantity and quality of food are increasingly at risk. Wholesale prices of  basic foods are 21% higher now than in 2005, with grain surging more than 30%. What's more, the total volume of food delivered by US-funded groups has declined 52% in the last...

Companies Cash In on Food Scare
Companies Cash In on Food Scare

Companies Cash In on Food Scare

As fears about imports from China mount, premium products flourish

(Newser) - The contaminated-import crisis, set off when potentially dangerous products from China turned up on the shelves of pet stores, supermarkets, and drugstores, has meant bigger profits for clever companies. BusinessWeek looks at several strategies: using only fresh, local ingredients in premium products; finding ingredients from somewhere other than China; and...

Barclays Bid Gets Backing From the East

China, Singapore put up cash for ABN Amro takeover offer

(Newser) - The Chinese and Singaporean governments have invested almost $5 billion in Barclays, helping the firm float more cash for its bid for ABN. The state-run companies would invest even more if the bid succeeds, which would leave the Chinese state with a holding of 7.7% of the world's new...

Recipe for Disaster: Easy-Bake Oven + Kids

Manufacturer issues second recall this year

(Newser) - A repair kit intended to make Easy-Bake Ovens safer hasn't done its job, forcing the manufacturer to issue its second recall in less than a year. Hasbro said yesterday that hundreds of children have caught hands or fingers in the oven doors, and the AP reports that one girl was...

China Slams Yao for Neglecting National Team

Yao allegedly dallied planning wedding, rehabbing broken leg

(Newser) - Claiming that practices are exponentially less valuable without the 7'6" Rockets center, the Chinese national team has delivered a rare public shaming of Yao Ming for missing camp. Yao has been nursing a leg broken in December, as well as planning his wedding and promoting the 2008 Summer Olympics in...

Letter Reveals Rift in Chinese Establishment

Disaffected party bigwigs blast Beijing for leading country off Marxist path

(Newser) - China's leaders are "going down an evil road" and betraying Marxist ideals, says an open letter signed by former Communist Party officials and academics. The letter, which calls for restoring party control of China's increasingly capitalist economy, is unusual in that its hard-line authors come from within the party...

Team China, Milwaukee Tussle Over Yi

Chinese coach claims playing for Bucks would stunt forward's growth

(Newser) - The coach of the Chinese national hoops team has a new reason for Yi Jianlian not to go to the Bucks, who recently drafted him 6th overall: the team's abundance of young frontcourt players would retard his growth as a player. Yi's agent had formerly cited Milwaukee's tiny Chinese-American community...

Mice Plague Chinese Countryside
Mice Plague Chinese Countryside

Mice Plague Chinese Countryside

Floods bring massive rodent problem

(Newser) - Flooding in central and southern China—the worst in 50 years—is displacing more than thousands of residents: Billions of mice, washed out of their burrows, have swarmed across acres of Chinese farmland, destroying crops and posing serious health hazards to residents. Pest control efforts have been largely ineffective so...

China Worries About Obesity (and Young Love)

Officials announce new rules for school dance classes

(Newser) - When dance classes are introduced in China's primary and middle schools this fall, the children will be dancing by themselves or in groups, the BBC reports. The new edict addresses concerns from parents who fear that couples dancing could lead to puppy love... or worse. The dance classes were announced...

China Puts Lid on Macchiatos, Controversy

Beijing—respectfully—forbids Starbucks in Forbidden City

(Newser) - Starbucks has closed its outlet in Beijing's Forbidden City after seven years of controversy. The coffee shop had become a symbol for the intrusion of foreign culture in China's heritage, culminating in protests and government intervention. "It was a very congenial decision," a Starbucks official said. "We...

Forbidden City Gets Starbucks to Go
Forbidden City Gets Starbucks to Go

Forbidden City Gets Starbucks to Go

Chain 'respectfully' withdraws from historic site at heart of Beijing

(Newser) - Starbucks shuttered its store in Beijing’s Forbidden City yesterday, ending months of controversy over the American chain’s presence at the former imperial palace. The 600-year-old complex, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, is now a museum where the caffeine titan opened its doors in...

Pot Calls Kettle Contaminated
Pot Calls Kettle Contaminated

Pot Calls Kettle Contaminated

Citing safety worries, China puts the brakes on meat imports from some US processors

(Newser) - In an apparent retaliatory move, China has addressed concerns about food safety—by halting imports from several American meat processors. The country's inspection agency posted a notice on its website late yesterday saying that salmonella-contaminated chicken produced by Tyson and products from several other large US firms had flunked inspection,...

China Shoots Down Bad Weather
China Shoots Down Bad Weather

China Shoots Down Bad Weather

High-tech program controls climate, plays rainmaker.

(Newser) - China has a solution for its unpredictable weather: create its own. The county is toying with the world's largest weather modification program in terms of size, budget and equipment. The original idea was to ease droughts and improve harvests with man-made rain, but the program has evolved uses in fighting...

World's Tallest Man Weds, But Wife Doesn't Measure Up

Mongolian marries 5'6" hometown honey

(Newser) - A 7-foot, 9-inch livestock herder from Inner Mongolia has tied the knot with a saleswoman two-thirds his height and almost half his age. Bao Xishun, 56, and Xia Shujuan, 29, had a traditional Mongolian ceremony and extravagant reception, and some 15 businesses looking to get in on the publicity sponsored...

Tainted Imports Originate All Over the World

FDA stats on food alerts show China has plenty of company

(Newser) - Contaminated Chinese seafood is the latest high-profile export turning American consumers off their feed, but they might want to save some caution for Dominican produce and Danish candy, FDA stats suggest. Inspectors stopped more food shipments from India and Mexico than from China in the past year, the Times reports,...

China's Surplus Soars to $26.9B
China's Surplus Soars to $26.9B

China's Surplus Soars to $26.9B

Weak yuan is driving China's economy to a record expansion; trade surplus nearly doubled

(Newser) - China's trade surplus surged to a record $26.9B in June, an 87% increase since last year. Economists attribute the trade gap to China's significantly—as much as 40%—underpriced currency, the yuan, reports Bloomberg. Half of China's surplus is with the US, which recently began preparing legislation to sanction...

China Executes Ex-Food and Drug Czar
China Executes Ex-Food and Drug Czar

China Executes Ex-Food and Drug Czar

Regulator convicted of taking bribes to compromise food safety

(Newser) - China carried out a swift death sentence against the former head of its food and drug administration today, in an apparent reaction to concerns about the safety of its exports. Zheng Xiaoyu was killed just over 2 weeks after the supreme court rejected his appeal on a May conviction for...

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