China

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China Trusts Prostitutes More Than Politicians

Oldest profession comes in third in poll; farmers are tops

(Newser) - The Chinese people trust prostitutes more than they trust politicians, scientists, or soldiers, according to a new survey from Insight China Magazine. Sex workers finished third, the BBC reports, with 7.9% of the vote, just behind farmers and religious workers. “A list like this is at the same...

China Recruits Astronauts: Bad-Breathed Need Not Apply

'Super human beings' must meet 100 criteria

(Newser) - China’s looking for astronauts for its new space program, but getting the job won’t be easy: Applicants must conform to some 100 specs, including a ban on bad breath, the BBC reports. “Bad body odor will affect fellow colleagues in the narrow confines of a space shuttle,...

China Isolates Town After 2 Die of Plague

10,000 quarantined in Tibetan region after outbreak at funeral

(Newser) - China has quarantined a remote town of 10,000 after two people died of pneumonic plague, one of the world's deadliest diseases. The Times of London reports that the first victim died after burying his dog, and 11 people at the funeral then fell ill, one fatally. Pneumonic plague is...

China Ditching Dollar for Own 'Redback'

(Newser) - China is speeding up efforts to encourage the use of its currency in international trading, with analysts predicting that the Chinese renminbi will become one of the three top currencies by 2012, reports the Times of London. In recent months Beijing has inked currency-swap deals with central banks from Korea...

China Reports 13M Abortions Annually

Health officials blame lack of birth control for unmarried women

(Newser) - China performs about 13 million abortions every year, mostly for single young women who experts say know little about contraception, according to a rare disclosure by government health officials. China imposed strict birth controls in the 1970s, limiting most couples to just one child, but the policy tends to overlook...

Whale Saves Drowning Diver
 Whale Saves Drowning Diver 
Jul 30, 2009 5:35 AM CDT

Whale Saves Drowning Diver

(Newser) - A beluga whale came to the rescue of a woman who got into trouble during a free-diving contest at a Chinese aquarium, the Telegraph reports. The woman, who wasn't wearing breathing equipment, suffered cramps near the bottom of the aquarium's Arctic pool and found herself unable to rise. The whale,...

China Says It Will Slash Executions
China Says It Will Slash Executions
Jul 29, 2009 10:58 AM CDT

China Says It Will Slash Executions

With 72% of the world's capital punishment, they've got a ways to go

(Newser) - China holds more executions yearly than any other country—but this week, state media announced China will be more forgiving, the New York Times reports. Only “an extremely small number” should be executed, said the vice president of the Supreme People’s Court. In 2008, Amnesty International claims, China...

Greenpeace: 3 China Firms Emit More Carbon Than All of UK

(Newser) - China's inefficient power plants and heavy reliance on coal are dragging down global efforts to curb climate change, a Greenpeace report warned yesterday. The report found that major Chinese power companies are responsible for a huge amount of the country's coal use and emissions, with the top three producers alone...

Obama Calls for Era of Cooperation With China

(Newser) - President Obama opened bilateral talks with China today with a friendly speech, saying the US-China relationship would “shape the 21st century” and highlighting areas in which the nations have common interests, like nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and the global economy. He also touched on climate change, noting that the US...

Stolen School Records Rob Chinese of Their Future

(Newser) - Missing or stolen school records are turning Chinese students' once bright futures into nightmarish misfortune, reports the New York Times. Without the documents, graduates have no proof of their degrees and honors, and the would-be chemists can quickly become day laborers. The likely culprit of the missing files? Mistrusted Communist...

Chinese Sow Stakes in French Wine Country

Foreign buyers retool prominent Chateaus for exports to China

(Newser) - Mao wouldn't likely approve on a couple of fronts, but Chinese investors looking to introduce their countrymen to the best in wine are buying up storied chateaus in the heart of French wine country, the Washington Post reports. Two companies paid several million dollars each to own Chateau Richelieu and...

Scientists Breed Mice From Stem Cell Alternative

Researchers turn adult, not embryonic, skin cells into stem cells

(Newser) - Scientists in China have created mice using stem cells made from modified skin cells—hinting at an alternative to embryonic stem cells, the Washington Post reports. Separate teams used viruses to manipulate genes that caused mice skin cells to regress back into induced pluripotent stem cells—which, within a placenta...

Climate 'Urgency' Takes a Backseat to Progress: Will

(Newser) - At their recent summit, the G8 nations vowed to cut emissions 80% ... within 41 years. That seems like a pretty lethargic response to a so-called “emergency,” but as Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi said, the effort is virtually futile while “5 billion people continue to behave as they...

Worker Kills Himself Over AWOL iPhone 4G Prototype

(Newser) - A Chinese worker accused of stealing an iPhone 4G prototype jumped to his death from the 12th floor of his apartment building in the southern city of Shenzhen, the BBC reports. The man, 25, responsible for shipping 16 iPhone prototypes to Apple, had reported one missing. His friends say he...

Colossal Chinese Dustball Circles Earth in 13 Days

(Newser) - A dust cloud weighing nearly a million tons kicked into the atmosphere by a massive storm in China's Taklamakan desert circled the world almost intact in 13 days, the Telegraph reports. Scientists, who used NASA satellites to track the path of the dustball until it fell apart over the Pacific...

In China, Binge Drinking Is All in a Day's Work

(Newser) - Getting wasted is all part of the job for many Chinese bureaucrats, and it's becoming such a serious problem that it has led to illness and death, reports Reuters. Government officials are required to offer large amounts of alcohol at public functions and drink frequent toasts to honor guests. "...

Look Out, Detroit: Geely on Track to Be the New Toyota

(Newser) - The crash of the US auto market has sped up the global auto industry's shift toward emerging markets, and no one is better poised to take advantage than the Chinese, the Wall Street Journal reports. Geely, one of the few Chinese auto firms that operate without a foreign partner, has...

China Censors Artist Leading Quake Inquiry

Police stake out whistleblower's studio, shut down blog

(Newser) - The Chinese artist who has made investigating the deaths of children in the Sichuan earthquake a personal crusade is facing a government crackdown, reports the CBC. Ai Weiwei's widely read blog has been deleted, and plainclothes police officers are staking out his studio in Beijing. Ai has relaunched his blog...

Unrest Shines Light on Chinese Ethnic Fractures

'Monolithic myth' fades after riots

(Newser) - The government clings to the notion of a “harmonious” country, but China is home to 56 “official” ethnic groups and many unofficial divisions—which are widening as some push for “increased cultural nationalism and resistance to Beijing central control,” writes Dru Gladney in the Wall Street ...

That Cheap Bookshelf Has a Global Cost
That Cheap Bookshelf Has
a Global Cost
Book Review
Jul 12, 2009 3:38 PM CDT

That Cheap Bookshelf Has a Global Cost

But new book finds it's not all China's fault and IKEA is a hypocrite

(Newser) - Though you might have hand-crafted antiques handed down from your grandparents, chances are your grandkids aren't getting their mitts on that wood-veneer bookshelf you just schlepped home from IKEA, writes Stephanie Zacharek for Salon. The modern desire for cheap, replaceable goods is a cause and a symptom of a global...

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