中国Power !!!

[DSTrooper]

Woman finds live worms in chicken wings bought at KFC

Health authorities are investigating the incident.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzkzNDk2NzI0.html?f=22889267

咦！看着真恶心啊！这不知是又过期了多久的变质肉。

国人该清醒点了，别什么都是洋玩意好，一家子都去吃还带上小孩子，说实话，它就是那个味道好点，其营养呢，哪比得上我们的家常饭菜啊， 吃这些洋垃圾洋快餐就是图个快，好吃，你看那些老外都长得水桶似的腰。

像这样没有诚信的外企应该重罚，坚决抵制，这种洋垃圾既毒害了成年人，又毒害了祖国的花朵。小孩子就应该好好吃饭，吃中国饭，吃中国传统文化的饭。

Published on Oct 3, 2014

Authorities in India shut down a KFC after they verified a complaint that worms were found in their chicken in October, 2012. Now a woman in China, identified only by her surname Liu, found the same creepy crawlers wiggling in her leftover chicken wings that she bought from a Guangzhou KFC.

Ms. Liu told Hong Kong’s Apple Daily that she and her children ordered takeout from KFC Saturday afternoon. After a few hours, she went to finish the rest of the food and found tiny white worms squirming around on her New Orleans style chicken wings!

Liu immediately contacted the media. One reporter came by, cut open one of the chicken wings and found 6 or 7 live worms in the meat. They waited till the manager turned up at the grease chicken shop to file a complaint. But, Ms. Liu was only compensated with a refund and another free combo meal… seriously.

Liu found the response unacceptable! She didn’t even receive an apology from the manager. The KFC restaurant told to the reporter that the chicken wings were grilled in high heat and there were no problems with the food-processing or the management.

<iframe src="http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=fd64c96d0e53" allowfullscreen="" height="360" width="640" frameborder="0"></iframe>

 

[DSTrooper]

Guangdong reports 1,189 new dengue fever cases

Xinhua, October 2, 2014

South China's Guangdong Province reported 1,189 new dengue fever cases on Wednesday, the local health authorities said Thursday.

Many residents wait outside the consulting room of Zhongshan No.1 Hospital on October 2, 2014, to see whether they are infected with the fatal disease. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

The total number of dengue fever cases in Guangdong has therefore climbed to 16,375, including four deaths: three in the provincial capital Guangzhou and one in the neighboring Foshan City, the provincial health and family planning commission said in a press release.

The disease has so far been detected in 19 out of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong, it said.

Guangzhou has reported 13,898 cases, whereas Foshan has reported 1,567. Shenzhen, a boom city neighboring Hong Kong, has 51 cases, it said.

Health authorities have attributed the outbreak to high temperatures and wet weather in Guangdong, where the mosquito population is five times the normal level.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, potentially fatal disease that affects between 50 and 100 million people in tropical and subtropical regions every year, causing fever combined with muscle and joint aches.

 

[Hypocrisy]

Man Commits Suicide over Iphone 6 Price Drop

Sep 30, 2014

A young man in Zhengzhou committed suicide on September 28 allegedly over the sudden and dramatic drop in Iphone 6 prices.

The man was a mobile phone salesman and had been hoarding a large number of Iphone 6’s, no doubt waiting for the price to increase.

However, contrary to his predictions, the price has been falling continuously for the past three days, meaning the man lost an estimated 100 million RMB.

He committed suicide by jumping from the 19th floor of Zhengzhou Communications Xintiandi at approximately 16:30.

 

[Hypocrisy]

女出纳挪用600万公款给外籍男友做生意获刑8年

2014年09月29日

原标题：单位出纳挪用公款获刑8年

京华时报讯（记者张淑玲）利用在卫生部干部培训中心做出纳、手中掌管着转账支票和现金支票的便利，今年44岁的潘阳阳为给一名英籍男友注资做生意，以买发票和支票为由，从一名同事处骗出公章使用，先后8次挪用公款近600万元。记者昨日获悉，潘阳阳以挪用公款罪被朝阳法院判处有期徒刑8年，并被责令继续退赔单位540余万元。

谎称买发票骗公章

据朝阳检察院指控，潘阳阳利用担任卫生部干部培训中心财资处出纳的职务便利，在2012年9月至11月间，多次将该单位资金500余万元用于他人投资经营。其行为已构成挪用公款罪，且数额巨大不退还，因其有自首情节，故建议法院对其减轻处罚，判处其8至10年有期徒刑。

潘阳阳供述，2012年5月，其通过一交友网站认识了一名叫Gerald的英国人，对方自称是一名石油工程师。

初交往的一个月，两人只谈感情。后来，Gerald说其在沙特承包了一海上石油工程，因缺钱便找潘阳阳借。潘阳阳称在挪用单位公款前，自己就筹了400万元给了他，后来Gerald还是要钱，如果不给他又怕借出去的收不回来，自己便从单位的支票簿上拿了8张空白转账支票，并以要从地税局买发票，或者从银行买支票为由，从同事曹某处加盖了单位公章。

先后8次挪用公款

潘阳阳称，从2012年10月底，其用之前盖好章的转账支票先后8次借钱给Gerald。其先将支票电汇给一个担保公司,扣除手续费后，再将钱打到自己名下的储蓄卡上，自己再接着把钱打到户名为LIM的建行账户上。支票金额都是按Gerald说的美金数额，换算成人民币金额，再加上担保公司要扣除的手续费后填写的。

这几次用单位支票挪用的钱，除去手续费后，汇给Gerald是540余万元。此外还有20万元，被自己用于付了先前用房子抵押借款产生的利息。

另外，潘阳阳称，其还以现金支票去银行提现，分5次从单位挪用了约25万元公款，借给了Gerald。

被判退赔540余万

朝阳法院审理查明，2012年9月至11月间，潘阳阳以转账支票转账和现金支票提现的方式，多次将培训中心资金近600万元挪用给他人做生意。当年11月28日，培训中心财资处负责人接到银行电话，得知培训中心账户内余额不多，便向潘阳阳核实情况，她当即承认挪用公款。

案发后，潘阳阳将先前从培训中心购买的位于百草园小区一套房子退回培训中心，原购房款及利息共50余万元。另外，潘阳阳家属向法院缴了50万元。

最终，朝阳法院以挪用公款罪判处潘阳阳有期徒刑8年，并责令其退赔单位540余万元。

 

[DSTrooper]

Dengue fever spreads alarmingly in south China

Xinhua, October 4, 2014

The number of dengue fever case is rising alarmingly in south China with over 200 cases reported from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Guangxi reported 203 cases as of Thursday. The number might keep rising during the week-long National Day holiday, which started on Wednesday, as huge numbers of people travel around, said the regional health and family planning commission in a press release on Saturday.

In addition, the warm and wet weather, ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, is expected continue and the situation remains "severe."

Dengue fever, a viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes, mostly hits tropical and sub-tropical regions. Symptoms include fever, nausea, rashes, backache and headaches. The hemorrhagic variant, which causes severe internal bleeding as blood vessel collapse, is often fatal.

China launched a campaign against the disease at the end of September as the country suffers its worst outbreak in 20 years with four deaths reported.

In the worst-hit province of Guangdong, which neighbors Guangxi, the epidemic is at its peak as more than 1,000 new cases reported every day since Monday, bringing the total to almost 18,000.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission has attributed the outbreak to high temperatures and wet weather in Guangdong, where the mosquito population is five times the normal level.

The commission called for efforts to cut numbers of mosquitoes, including eliminating stagnant water where the insects breed. It is also suggested that people wear long pants and long sleeves to cover their skin.

Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, has begun distribution of free mosquito repellent and handouts on mosquito control.

The city's disease control center has set up over 450 monitoring stations.

 

[DSTrooper]

Pay 20 yuan for a girlfriend for a day

A mainland craze has young men and women paying for 'partners' to act as sympathetic listeners, via texts or voice messages

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 30 September, 2014, 10:35am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 30 September, 2014, 5:25pm

Kathy Gao [email protected]

You're 22 years old, newly graduated from university, and ready to start a new chapter in your life. But you've just had surgery, and you are stuck at home alone feeling bored. Why not call up a "virtual" girlfriend to help you feel better?

That is just what Shenzhen native Sun Liang did.

The graduate, who had his thyroid removed this summer, discovered a hot new service on the mainland shopping site Taobao - businesses offering conversation with "virtual" girlfriends or boyfriends. And it wasn't long before the curious Sun signed up for a session. It cost him 20 yuan (about HK$25) to hire a virtual girlfriend, who responded to live text chats for a 24-hour period.

"I wanted to relieve the boredom," Sun says.

So far he has paid for four sessions; he had no idea what to expect, but feels a little disappointed with the service.

"I always felt there was something missing and it didn't feel like chatting with a real girlfriend. The exchanges were very restrained," he says.

"It's hard to treat a girl I know nothing about as girlfriend ... to find a girlfriend for only 20 yuan - that's a fantasy."

It is only since last month that these virtual girlfriend/boyfriend services started surfacing on Taobao, a retail site for small businesses.

For 20 yuan, you can hire a sympathetic listener for a day - someone who will listen to your gripes and offer consolation via text or voice messages using the instant messaging app, Wechat, or chat platforms such as QQ.

So far the business seems to be booming: a search on Taobao shows more than 2,200 operators are offering such services - among them Qiqijia.

The owner of Qiqijia - who identifies herself only using her surname, Cui, says she receives between 30 and 40 orders for virtual friends every day, but demand is rising.

Cui has hired 30 people, mostly young women studying at university or working in offices, who moonlight as virtual friends.

She will not reveal how much they earn, but says her workers offer customers friendly conversation - usually in the roles of girlfriend or boyfriend - and spend most of their time listening to complaints.

Cui started out as an accessories retailer, but fashionable knick-knacks were a tough sell compared with the new niche of offering virtual friends. "People have busy working lives and don't have time to communicate with others," Cui says. "Or they may have something they can't tell people they know, so they feel they can confide in us."

She says one man contacted Qiqijia because he wanted someone to talk to about his messy love life. "He and his mistress were having some problems, but obviously he couldn't tell his friends or family about these troubles. So he came to us," Cui says.

Taobao advert offers companionship of a "virtual" girlfriend for a day. Photo: SCMP Pictures

All conversations with Qiqijia's virtual partners are confidential, she says. Neither customers nor their virtual partners know the identities of the other person, nor what they look like; Qiqijia does not provide photos of staff or video calls.

"We won't give them our true identities and won't ask customers about theirs unless they tell us," Cui says.

More than half Cui's customers sign up out of curiosity, but many are people seeking companionship. Most are male, university educated, aged between 20 and 27, and have yet to find a girlfriend.

However, there are one or two female clients, too, such as Zhang Tiantian, 20, who sees the chats as a way to spice up her life after breaking up with her boyfriend. "I've chatted with someone I really liked and felt I'd like to know more," she says. "I think it's also a platform for me to know more people. Yet I wouldn't date people I can't see or touch."

While men, such as Sun, find relief complaining to a virtual girlfriend when they are in a bad mood, Zhang talks to her virtual partner mostly about love and relationships.

"The topic is about love most of the time," she says. "I'd tell him what kind of boys I like and he would tell me his type of girl."

People using virtual partners have different expectations, says a Guangdong student - identified as "Lu Cha" - who has worked as a virtual girlfriend for the past two months.

"Some customers are very shy in real life and want advice about how to deal with girls," says Lu, who is in her fourth year at university.

"Some have just broken up and want some comfort; some customers have girlfriends, but have quarrelled and find me to talk about their troubles."

She first contacted Taobao to book a chat with a virtual partner for herself, but after talking to the owner, decided she could work as a virtual girlfriend.

"I can get a little income and, at the same time, really get to know this job," she says.

One young man, who already had a girlfriend, called her because he wanted a woman's perspective so he might better understand her needs and become a better boyfriend.

Most people using the service are university educated males aged between 20 and 27, who have yet to find a girlfriend. Photo: AFP

"I was deeply touched and shared my experiences with him," Lu says. "I got really good comments from him afterwards; he was very grateful. It makes me feel my job is very meaningful."

Lu says she tries to make her clients feel they are loved.

Apparently, she is so good at her job that a number of customers have asked for her again. "One guy wanted a whole month's service, which we don't encourage," Lu says. "It's virtual after all and can only be a temporary experience, so they can't be too dependent."

At Qiqijia, customers can specify the type of personality, or voice for a virtual friend.

Some men want a woman who is sweet and chatty, others seek someone with a charming voice. "That's easy to explain," Cui says. "It's not a face-to-face encounter; they only chat using voice [calls] and messages."

Yet elsewhere things are not always above board. Some customers ask operators if they offer sexual services on the side, she says. "Occasionally, some customers ask whether we provide 'special services' and I tell them 'no'. Some operators, which do have special services, have asked whether I'm interested in collaborating, but I have declined."

Most of her clients are people who feel dejected, who want someone with whom they can air their frustrations, or will offer some useful advice about life.

Cui says: "I think we also play a psychological counselling role ... I once talked to customer that I could tell had very low self-esteem; he said he'd been fired from work many times, so I tried to cheer him up. He was really grateful by the end of the call."

Comments from clients at several other operators show a similar need for stress relief.

Wang Weimin, a psychological consultant at Beijing Normal University, says this trend reflects pressures facing young people in China.

"Real dates can cost a lot for people fresh out of university. Moreover, some girls are very materialistic and only seek boyfriends who have houses and cars."

But virtual girlfriends are inexpensive and help fill that emotional gap, Wang says.

Still, he believes it is not a healthy solution and says the government must take action to address the issue.

"Jobs are harder to find, which is directly related to the slowing down of the country's economy. I suggest that young people seek real psychological counselling," Wang says.

That direction - offering counselling from professional psychologists - is something Cui is considering too, as her business continues to grow. "Many customers need comforting and want someone to listen to their problems."

For many students such as Zhang, however, the chats are simply something to do until the novelty wears off. "I will call again. It's fun and 20 yuan is nothing," she says.

 

[Ultravox]

sounds like a good deal.

 

[GarvenDreis]

75,000 party cadres probed for graft, but more 'big tigers' unlikely, says analyst

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 05 October, 2014, 5:38am
UPDATED : Sunday, 05 October, 2014, 5:38am

Minnie Chan [email protected]

Political analysts do not expect Xi Jinping to target any princeling officials.

Communist Party anti-graft inspectors have found nearly 75,000 cadres in breach of austerity measures since Xi Jinping launched a nationwide crackdown on corruption in January 2013, party mouthpiece People's Daily reported yesterday.

Citing data from party watchdog the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, People's Daily said that by the end of August, 74,333 of the party's 86 million members had been investigated, with 27 per cent punished. Others were disciplined or sent warning letters.

The campaign, launched by Xi after he became party general secretary, has brought down at least 51 provincial and ministerial-level officials, including former security tsar and Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang , and Xu Caihou , a former vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission.

But given that no "princeling" officials - children of leading party veterans - have come under the spotlight, political analysts do not expect any more "big tigers" to be targeted.

"I don't think Xi will target any princeling officials because [they] are more reliable than senior officials who came from grass-roots families," Chen Daoyin, an associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said.

Xi, who is also state president, is the son of late reformist leader Xi Zhongxun and as such is also a princeling. He has said the anti-graft campaign aims to catch both "tigers" - top officials - and lower-ranking "flies".

"Compared with his predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, Xi seems more capable of sweeping up corruption because he has achieved the two key goals of his anti-graft campaign: enforcing his personal authority and winning public support," Chen said.

"The appearance of Jiang, Hu and other ex-leaders, some once rumoured to be under investigation, with Xi at National Day celebrations tell us the anti-graft drive will have a happy ending."

Chen said Xi's campaign climaxed with the announcement of investigations into Zhou and Xu so he did not expect any more top-ranking "tigers" to be netted.

The corruption crackdown began after Xi unveiled an eight-point austerity list, banning lavish banquets and other over-the-top official outlays.

A report on the CCDI website said the commission had urged all provincial governments to keep a close eye on officials during the National Day holiday

 

[Pfizer]

Dengue fever cases top 21,000 in Guangdong

Death toll at six, and more than 1,400 new cases of the disease were reported as of Sunday night by the provincial centre for disease control and prevention

PUBLISHED : Monday, 06 October, 2014, 4:23pm
UPDATED : Monday, 06 October, 2014, 4:42pm

Mimi Lau [email protected]

Dengue fever is a disease carried by mosquitoes, and these genetically modified aedes aegypti mosquitoes were released in the US to control the number of mosquitoes that spread dengue fever. Photo: AP

Guangdong has reported more than 21,000 cases of dengue fever, which has caused two more deaths, according to the provincial health department.

The department's website said today that, as of midnight on Sunday, 1,431 new cases had been reported, and the death toll was now at six. The 20 cities in Guangdong had reported 21,527 cases of dengue fever.

Of the cases reported, 18,192 were in Guangzhou, 1,997 in Foshan and 315 in Zhongshan. As for Hong Kong’s neighbours, Zhuhai reported 172 cases and Shenzhen 93.

Five of the six who have died are from Guangzhou.

Citing an unidentified expert with Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou Daily said the growth in Guangzhou’s Baiyun district is persistent. It is now the hardest hit area, with more than 4,500 reported cases, surpassing Yuexiu district, with more than 2,800. Also, the third and fourth fatalities came from Baiyun district.

 

[flickr]

Why personal secretaries to Chinese leaders are so prone to graft

The job of personal secretary to a senior leader offers ample opportunity to advance in the system and use great influence for corrupt gain

PUBLISHED : Monday, 06 October, 2014, 5:10am
UPDATED : Monday, 06 October, 2014, 5:10am

Cary Huang [email protected]

In April a 1990 speech about how to be a good personal secretary to a senior leader was republished in People's Daily and caused a stir across the mainland.

The speaker was a formerly obscure local leader in Fujian province named Xi Jinping.

The text was especially memorable because it appeared amid a string of arrests of a dozen former personal secretaries to senior leaders.

The Communist Party's top decision-making Central Committee and its disciplinary watchdog - the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection - announced action against up to a dozen senior officials, most of whom were at the ministerial and governor level, on charges of corruption, bribery or abuse of power.

Ji Wenlin

Guo Yongxiang

Li Chongxi

Li Hualin

Shen Dingcheng

The officials punished included Ji Wenlin, former deputy governor of Hainan province; Yu Gang, a former deputy official on the Central Politics and Law Commission; Tan Hong, a Public Security Ministry senior officer; and Guo Yongxiang, former deputy governor of Sichuan province.

Also punished were Li Chongxi, the former chairman of the Sichuan People's Political Consultative Conference; Li Hualin, former deputy general manager of China National Petroleum; and Shen Dingcheng, a former party secretary at PetroChina International.

All had served as secretaries to Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the party's innermost Politburo Standing Committee and the country's security tsar before his retirement in November 2012. Zhou has also come under investigation.

Mainland reports said that investigations were also under way into the activities of four former personal secretaries of Xu Caihou, the disgraced retired vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.

They were General Zhang Gongxian, chief of the Jinan military area command's political department; Li Bin, deputy director of the People's Liberation Army Navy's political department; General Kang Xiaohui, commissar of the logistics unit of the Shenyang military area command; and Qi Changming, deputy chief of staff of the Beijing military area command.

The advice in Xi's reprinted speech was not about how to entertain bosses, but counsel to junior officers on how to act more discreetly and not to abuse the role of personal secretary, or mishu, for personal benefit.

Not only was the reprint timely, but Xi was also in a position to advise - he served as personal secretary to former defence minister Geng Biao in the 1980s.

The arrests raised a bigger issue within the political system: why personal secretaries are often hugely powerful and sometimes just as hugely corrupt.

Professor Kerry Brown, director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said mishu positions, if abused, could lead to extreme corruption because of the job's exclusive access to leaders.

"There is also great opportunity for acquiring independent power," Brown said.

Professor Steve Tsang, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham in Britain, agreed there was ample opportunity in the posts for abuse of power.

"Secretaries of top-level leaders with enormous power over promotion or allocation of resources are well placed to commit corruption because they have opportunities to take bribes to influence the agenda or decisions on such matters determined by the leaders they serve," Tsang said.

In Chinese, this influence is known as tong tian, or "access to the emperor".

Even in Mao Zedong's era, his wife Jiang Qing had to butter up Zhang Yufeng, Mao's personal secretary.

It was widely known that Wang Ruilin, Deng Xiaoping's mishu, was one of the most powerful men in Zhongnanhai during Deng's tenure.

The mishu, often chosen by the leader himself, retained his high rank even after the boss moved on to a different post or retired.

Today, research by Cheng Li of the Brookings Institution in Washington suggests that, like Xi, more than three-quarters of officials at the ministerial or governor level were once secretaries to leaders themselves.

Fifteen of the 25 members in top decision-making Politburo were. So were four of the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee.

Analysts said the statistics reflected the political role the secretaries had played in mainland politics.

So much so that they are referred to as the "mishu gang", joining the ranks of the "princeling gang", "Shanghai gang" and "Youth League gang".

"With their proximity to the source of power and privilege, secretaries clearly have an inside track for promotion, or even a stepping stone to leadership positions," said Warren Sun, professor of Chinese studies at the University of Monash in Australia.

Through nepotism and favouritism, superiors use personal staff to help amplify their power and build up a network of connections and vested interests.

At the same time, the secretarial clusters shared the fortune or misfortune of their masters, analysts said.

The crux of the matter lies in the one-party system, under which political leaders have enjoyed almost unlimited and unchecked power.

That's how the culture of traditional Chinese political patronage comes into full play. And it won't end anytime soon.

 

[DSGunner]

Chinese traders sell cocaine, meth and fake identities in ‘deep web’ markets

Drug traffickers, forgers and hackers use the deep web and bitcoins to avoid detection of their lucrative trade

PUBLISHED : Friday, 10 October, 2014, 4:45pm
UPDATED : Friday, 10 October, 2014, 7:30pm

Patrick Boehler [email protected]

A bag containing seized cocaine is seen at a military base in Tumaco, Colombia. Photo: Reuters

Chinese underworld traders are now making inroads into "crypto-markets", the notorious trading places of contraband goods and untraceable digital currencies, in the "deep web" where sites are not reachable by search engines.

The South China Morning Post has found several traders on crypto-markets operating from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

They offer "hard to get" Colombian cocaine, Chinese-made methamphetamine for export to the rest of the world, Chinese passports and Hong Kong university diplomas, among other contrband goods, all deliveralbe to your doorstep.

Customers can buy bitcoins with real-world currency in online exchanges and then use the digital currency to buy products on crypto-markets such as Silk Road, Pandora or Alpaca. Sellers can then convert their earnings into real currency without leaving a paper trail like traditional bank transfers.

Workers prepare a drug similar to MDPV at a laboratory in Shanghai. Photo: Alex Hofford / Sinopix

At least nine traders on the dark web’s markets said they sell narcotics to the rest of the world out of the Chinese mainland. Their offers include "well-cured" marijuana from Yunnan province, "pure" synthetic stimulants and Ecstasy pills.

One trader identified as Dr Zheng, who charges US$20 (HK$155) for a gram of "bath salt" narcotics and offers free global shipping, started trading on the Silk Road platform in November last year.

Dr Zheng offers 207 types or quantities of narcotics delivered from China, and claims to provide domestic delivery in the US, New Zealand and within the European Union, skirting import customs checks there. "If you want to resell in your region please get in touch," the trader wrote in a message to costumers.

A screenshot of cocaine sold to customers in China in the deep web.

Another trader identified as Aracay charges HK$2,650 for a Hong Kong or Chinese university diploma on the C9 crypto-market. "You won’t get better quality elsewhere," the trader wrote. "Don’t risk getting scammed."

A fake Hong Kong ID card or driver's licence scan sells for HK$187.40 on Evolution, another crypto-market. Scans sometimes suffice as proof of identity for bank accounts or rental contracts. If not, sellers offer entirely new identities including passports, credit cards and forged utilities bills.

Customer reviews and product popularity statistics based on sales records seem indicate that thousands of such transactions have occurred in the past months.

These deep web traders have sprouted up only months after US federal police claimed to have dealt a fatal blow to crypto-market operators.

On October 1 last year, officers from the US Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Ross William Ulbricht. The 29-year old was accused of being the man behind Silk Road, the deep web’s main crypto-market at the time, which according to US prosecutors had grown into a US$1 billion business selling narcotics, forgeries and hacking services.

Police seized US$150 million in bitcoins following the arrest. In February, he pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.

Yet, online illicit drug trading has expanded rapidly since Silk Road was closed down, said Dr James Martin, director of research at the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counterterrorism at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Cocaine seized by US forces in 18 separate interdictions shown by the US Coast Guard on Tuesday in San Diego. Photo: Reuters

“The online drugs market is estimated to be bigger than ever, with dozens of crypto-markets now in operation,” he said. “In some ways, the closure of Silk Road actually facilitated the strength and diversity of the contemporary online drugs market by removing a dominant player and stimulating greater competition and innovation.”

Only 34 days after Ulbricht’s arrest, the site was running again. In a statement, the new Silk Road 2.0 said it was “transforming a notoriously-violent industry into a safe online marketplace”.

“Silk Road is not a marketplace,” the statement concludes, “it’s a global revolt.”

A recent study suggested that Silk Road has now been overtaken by Agora, another crypto-market, which in August had 16,137 listings, three-quarters of them narcotics, according to the Digital Citizens Alliance, an internet security advocacy group.

Drug listings the group found on the dark web increased 28.7 per cent to to 41,207 in the first eight months of 2014.

Among the thousands of listings the Post uncovered, hundreds come from China. On Friday, police in Beijing said they have detained some 30,000 people involved in cybercrimes in a concerted campaign that began in 2011.

Entering the dark web is only the latest step that Chinese traders of illicit goods have taken to prevent prosecution. Smuggled cigarettes and fake ID cards have been traded for years on traditional online retail sites under code names.

So called “bath salts”, synthetic stimulants, can be found for sale on many Chinese retail websites.

Federal agents in the US busted the largest known case of "bath salts" imports from China in 2011. Over the span of two years, a business owner in Syracuse, New York, received 89 shipments of the synthetic narcotic, each between one and two kilograms, from China Enriching Chemistry, a company headquartered in Shanghai with a factory in Jiangsu province.

Eric Chang, owner of CEC Limited, is checking bags of an unidentified 'new product' in his laboratory in Shanghai, China. Photo: Alex Hofford / Sinopix

Zhang Lei, alias Eric Chang, who ran the company and was named in US court documents, was arrested by Chinese police last year, according to an NPR report.

China Enriching Chemistry remains in operation, according to a staffer reached by phone. He declined to comment on reports that Chang exported bath salts.

A recent study by two criminologists, Dr Judith Aldridge at the University of Manchester and Dr David Décary-Hétu at the University of Lausanne, noted that crypto-markets like Silk Road are still relatively small in the overall international drug trade.

“Just as computers changed the way we manage and consume information, crypto-markets have the potential to change how drug markets operate in a way that may set back regulation efforts by decades,” they wrote. “Crypto-markets may very well become the innovation that fundamentally changes the drug trade in the decades to come.”

 

[DSGunner]

Suspect in killing of children found hanged

Shanghai Daily, October 10, 2014

Police yesterday found the body of a man believed to have stabbed to death four schoolboys in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Officers discovered the body of 56-year-old Shi Jianting on Luoyang Mountain in Lingshan County, 7 kilometers from the crime scene.

Shi's clothes were found around the decayed corpse and DNA tests confirmed the identity of the body. Shi is believed to have hanged himself.

More than 2,000 police officers and civilians had searched for Shi, a native of Gupu Village in the county, following the murder of the four children as they walked to school on September 26.

He was thought to have fled to the nearby mountains after the attack.

Around 6.40am he attacked one child at the gate of Gupu primary school, two on the corner of the street and his final victim 200 meters away, according to a witness.

Three of the boys died at the scene, while the fourth, an 8-year-old with neck wounds, died later at a health center.

The ages of the three other victims were not given.

Shi's motorized tricycle was later found in the neighboring town of Fozi, CCTV said.

Gupu residents said Shi was a quiet man who had served in the army and ran a grocery store, The Beijing News said.

According to his wife, he had become paranoid and thought certain people were bringing misfortune to his family.

But he had never mentioned the four children in this way, she added.

 

[DSGunner]

China struggles to heal mental patients

Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-10-10 18:37:02

As China grapples with a growing number of untreated mental patients, health officials seek solutions to high-cost treatments and a dearth of doctors.

Latest figures from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning (BMCHFP) show the capital had more than 50,000 registered patients with severe psychiatric disorders by the end of 2013, and the number is rising, Guo Jiyong, a BMCHFP official, told Xinhua on Friday.

According to statistics from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China's mental population has exceeded 100 million, with more than 16 million in worrisome conditions.

However, lack of medical infrastructure and a limited number of doctors has deprived many patients hope of a sound recovery.

The city of Beijing has only 5,915 specialists in city hospitals and 995 in community health centers. They are charged with providing ongoing care to all mental patients occupying the city's 9,888 sickbeds dedicated for such cases as well as those not in the hospital. According to the BMCHFP, in extreme cases a specialist can be charged with caring for up to 300 patients during a given period, posing immense pressure on medical professionals.

Meanwhile, many of the sick come from cash-strapped families that simply cannot afford to pay high medical fees, forcing them to opt out of treatment. Poor management at local levels has exacerbated the situation, according to the Health and Family Planning Commission of central China's Hunan Province. Hunan has about one million mental patients.

As Friday marks the 22nd World Mental Health Day, experts are calling on the government and the whole of society to pay more attention to the plight of those suffering from mental disorder.

Xie Hui, director of the BMCHFP's disease control department, said the government should build a better system for the treatment of mental patients.

He is echoed by Wang Lianggang, an official with the Beijing Lawyers Association. Wang said the government should incorporate the treatment for mental patients into the management system of the whole society, and that the government should shoulder part of responsibilities for them, rather than putting the pressure on their guardians.

 

[DSGunner]

China bans 'improper relationships' between college teachers, students

Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-10-9 23:03:42

China's Ministry of Education on Thursday issued a guideline on ethics for university teaching staff, including a ban on "improper" relationships between teachers and students.

The guideline puts forward seven prohibitions for college teachers, and promises sanctions for those who break the rules. The provisions include conduct undermining national or student interests, research fraud and plagiarism.

In addition, college staff are banned from sexually harassing students or improper relationships between teachers and students.

Favoritism; irregularities in enrollment, examinations and student recommendations; and asking for or receiving gratuities from students or parents will also be punished.

The guideline called for good professional ethics from college teachers, warning that those in charge of colleges will be held responsible for staff violations.

 

[MirrorMan]

China's top court puts tighter grip on internet and social media

PUBLISHED : Friday, 10 October, 2014, 4:54am
UPDATED : Friday, 10 October, 2014, 8:15am

Angela Meng [email protected]

The Supreme People's Court has announced tighter controls to help the authorities identify people commenting on the internet and social media. Photo: Reuters

The Supreme People's Court has announced tighter controls to help the authorities identify people commenting on the internet and social media.

The court announced yesterday that from tomorrow the authorities could order internet service providers and social media platforms to provide the personal information of users to help trace them.

The court said it had been working on legal guidelines for two years and the aim was to identify "rumour-mongers" .

Yao Hui, a senior official at the Supreme People's Court, said people who broke the law on the internet were often hiding in the shadows and were therefore difficult for prosecution to track down.

Internet and social media providers can also be ordered to hand over users' personal information to civil courts handling cases seeking damages.

Yao said organisations that forwarded information on social media were also responsible for its content.

People with large followings on social media also had more influence and with it greater legal responsibility for their comments, Yao added.

The number of posts on microblogs dropped significantly last year after a nationwide campaign against so-called rumour-mongers.

Hundreds were detained on charges of "inciting trouble" for posting unverified or critical information on their microblogs.

Civil rights activists and international human rights organisations say the government tries to keep a tight grip on all forms of media on the mainland, but is increasingly focusing on social media.

Supreme People's Court spokesman Sun Jungong said yesterday that the rapid growth and development of social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat meant they could influence the public far more than traditional media.

The new guidelines also promise action against people or companies who delete or tamper with content on social media that they want to censor.

People distorting information will be punished and any deleted or altered posts will be reposted in their original form.

Sun said this form of censorship by people with superior computing skills had become a "grey industry".

 

[Midway]

China urges corruption fugitives living abroad to return in exchange for lenient treatment

Official notice offers corrupt officials who have absconded overseas with ill-gotten gains leniency if they return to China before December 1, if not they will face harsh justice

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 11 October, 2014, 3:57pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 11 October, 2014, 3:57pm

Associated Press in Beijing

Former security chief Zhou Yongkang, under investigation for for possible “serious violations of party discipline” on the cover of China Daily. Photo: Reuters

The authorities in Beijing are urging officials who have fled abroad to avoid corruption charges to turn themselves in before December 1 in exchange for leniency or face stiffer punishment.

Corruption is rampant in China, and a large number of government officials and executives of state-owned companies have absconded to safe havens overseas with their ill-gained wealth because China lacks extradition treaties.

Friday’s notice was jointly issued by the ministries of public security and foreign affairs, the supreme court and the supreme prosecuting office. It says those who should return willingly could get leniency and even get exonerated if they can help recover the financial losses.

Those who fail to turn themselves in by the deadline will face stiffer punishment, the notice says, although it does not offer details.

The government of President Xi Jinping is in the midst of the latest in a series of anti-graft crackdowns dating back two decades. Leaders of the ruling Communist Party have warned repeatedly that the pervasive corruption has eroded public trust in the party rule and threatened its legitimacy, and Xi has vowed to punish both “tigers and flies,” regardless of the ranks of the officials suspected of graft.

In July, the Communist Party announced an investigation of a former member of its powerful Politburo Standing Committee, Zhou Yongkang, for possible “serious violations of party discipline” – a term usually used by officials to describe corruption.

While the party is tightening its controls over corruption at home, it also is stepping up efforts to bring back suspects who fled abroad.

“No matter where they have fled and how long ... we must track them down and bring them to justice,” Huang Shuxian, a senior party disciplinary inspection official, told the official Xinhua News Agency.

Beijing launched the special operation “Fox Hunt this year” in July to track down such fugitives. Police say the operation so far has brought back 128 officials suspected of graft, bribery, or other economic crimes from more than 40 countries and regions.

China is actively seeking international cooperation in law enforcement to help extradite those suspected of economic crimes.

 

[Midway]

Chinese cult members sentenced to death for brutal murder of woman at McDonald's

Father and daughter get death penalty, while another sentenced to life for killing a woman they tried to recruit

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 11 October, 2014, 1:50pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 12 October, 2014, 12:26am

Reuters and Associated Press in Beijing

One of the defendants, Zhang Hang, cries as she received a 10-year prison sentence. Photo: Reuters

Two members of a banned religious cult in China were sentenced to death on Saturday for the murder of a woman at a McDonald’s restaurant after she refused an apparent attempt by the group to recruit her.

The 37-year-old woman was attacked in May in the eastern province of Shandong by members of Quannengshen, the Church of Almighty God, which had preached that a global apocalypse would take place in 2012.

The Yantai Intermediate People’s Court sentenced to death Zhang Fan, 29, and her father Zhang Lidong, 55, for intentional homicide and gave another member of the group, Lu Yingchun, 39, life in prison, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The three told the court that they acted in self-defence after they were attacked by the “demon’s supernatural powers”, referring to the victim.

Another two cult members, Zhang Hang and Zhang Qiaolian were sentenced to 10 and seven years of jail terms respectively, Xinhua said. One is the younger sister of Zhang Fan, while the other is a female friend of Lidong.

The five defendants were tried in August. A 12-year-old who was with the group when the McDonald’s killing happen was tried separately.

The killing sparked a national outcry after it was revealed the woman was beaten to death for allegedly refusing to give her telephone number to members of the group.

Zhang Fan and Lu called the victim “an evil spirit” and a “demon” before the group beat her with a chair, mops and kicked and trampled on her with leather shoes, the court said.

The five defendants, members of the Almighty God cult, appear in court. A 12-year-old who was also arrested, was tried separately. Photo: Reuters

The group also forbade anyone in the fast food restaurant from intervening, the court said, calling the murder “extremely cruel”.

China’s supreme court must review and approve all death sentences handed out by trial courts.

The Quannengshen group, which originated in central Henan province, believes that Jesus was resurrected as Yang Xiangbin, wife of the sect’s founder, Zhao Weishan, according to previous Xinhua reports.

Zhao is also known as Xu Wenshan, Xinhua has said, adding that the couple fled to the United States in September 2000.

In 2012, China launched a crackdown on the group after it called for a “decisive battle” to slay the “Red Dragon” Communist Party, and preached that the world would end that year.

The party brooks no challenge to its rule and is determined to maintain social stability. It has cracked down on cults, which have multiplied in recent years. Demonstrations have been put down with force and some sect leaders executed.

In 1999, then-president Jiang Zemin launched a campaign to crush the Falun Gong religious group. It was banned as “evil cult” after thousands of practitioners staged a surprise but peaceful sit-in outside the leadership compound in Beijing to demand official recognition of their movement.

WATCH: A witness video of the attack at McDonald's (WARNING: Graphic content)
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[Pfizer]

Mainland Chinese researchers arrested on suspicion of embezzlement

Top cloning scientist among those suspected of pilfering state research money

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 12 October, 2014, 6:15am
UPDATED : Sunday, 12 October, 2014, 6:15am

Adrian Wan [email protected]

Li Ning of the Chinese Agricultural University was arrested for manoeuvring state funds in his research project.

Mainland authorities have arrested three university professors, including a leading scientist in transgenic research, and a PhD student on suspicion of embezzling state research funds, the Communist Party's discipline watchdog said.

Four other professors were also among seven from five universities who were accused of swindling research funds to the tune of more than 25 million yuan (HK$31 million), the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said on its website on Friday.

Two of them had already received sentences, according to state media.

Li Ning, of the Chinese Agricultural University and a member of the elite Chinese Academy of Engineering, was suspected of manoeuvring state funds in his research project on the cultivation of new transgene biological species, and was arrested. He is one of the mainland's leading animal-cloning researchers.

Also arrested were two Beijing University of Chinese Medicine professors, Li Pengtao and his wife Wang Xinyue, whose dealings in their research of new drugs were found to be dubious.

The arrests came after the National Audit Office suspected the seven professors of embezzlement, the statement said.

It said two of them had already been sentenced, while one of them had received administrative punishment. One was not charged.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, which manages the funds, organised an internal inspection and punished eight people involved in the cases, including the four arrested, Xinhua reported.

The statement included the case of Chen Yingxu, a professor at Zhejiang University, who was sentenced in January to 10 years in prison for embezzling 9.45 million yuan from a large national water-pollution project that he chaired.

Chen, an environmental chemist famous for his research on heavy-metal pollution and remediation, was convicted of illegally transferring the money to two companies he controlled.

In May, Song Maoqiang, former dean of Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications' school of computer science and technology, was given a 10½-year prison term for embezzling 680,000 yuan in funds for research of computer operating systems. The CCDI statement said he and his colleague, Zou Hua, embezzled funds for research into electronic parts and chips. Zou was not charged.

Pan Suiming, a sociologist and sexologist from Renmin University, was also found to have swindled funds meant for research on Aids prevention. The statement said he had received administrative punishment.

The central government spent one trillion yuan, or about 1.97 per cent of its gross domestic product, on research and development in 2012, three times what it was in 1995.

The figure surpassed 2 per cent of GDP for the first time to reach 2.05 per cent in 2013.

 

[Pfizer]

China clone scientist facing loss of top honor title for corruption

Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-10-11 15:48:18

A renowned Chinese scientist on genetic breeding and cloning faces the possibility of being deprived of a top honor title in academics after it is suspected he was swindling research funds, the Chinese Academy of Engineering said Saturday.

Li Ning, professor at the Chinese University of Agriculture, was announced to have been arrested for obtaining state scientific research funds for a trans-gene biology project by misrepresenting the project, according to a statement published by China's anti-corruption watchdog revealed on Friday.

Harsh punishment will be given to Li in accordance with the constitution of the Chinese Academy of Engineering based on confirmed facts and verdict by judges, the spokesperson of the academy Dong Qingjiu told Xinhua.

According to the academy's constitution, as long as academics breach laws, harm national interests or are found scientifically immoral, they will be stripped of the honor title.

Eight professors from five universities including Li were found to be involved in unethically obtaining over 25 million yuan (4 mln US dollars) of state scientific research funds. Four were arrested and two sentenced to jail.

The Chinese government spent 1 trillion yuan, or about 1.97 percent of its gross domestic product, on research and development in 2012 under its scientific innovation drive. The figure surpassed 2 percent for the first time to reach 2.05 percent in 2013.

 

[flickr]

Arrest of professors exposes academic corruption

Xinhua, October 12, 2014

The arrest of four professors has raised public concern over corruption in China's scientific research system.

The four were arrested for misappropriation of state research funds through false research projects, the anti-corruption watchdog said Friday.

Li Ning, a professor at the Chinese University of Agriculture and member of the elite Chinese Academy of Engineering, is among them. Li is noted for trans-gene research and was the first in China to clone a rare cattle species in 2002.

The four were found to have behaved suspiciously by the National Audit Office in 2012, among seven professors from five universities, according to a release from the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The seven are said to have swindled over 25 million yuan (4 mln U.S. dollars) of state funds.

"At the bottom trans-gene research is the study of how to transport the bucks," wrote Internet user "putuolanjing" on the twitter-like service weibo.com, one of thousands of negative comments.

"Twenty-five million swindled by seven academics... what a tragedy for China," commented "meiwendudemao."

China ranked second in terms of the number of theses published in recognized scientific magazines and journals in 2012, but no Chinese scientist has won a Nobel prize in science in more than a century as behavior like plagiarism and ghostwriting haunt Chinese scientists and students.

The government spent 1 trillion yuan, or about 1.97 percent of GDP on research and development in 2012 and the figure surpassed 2 percent for the first time in 2013. Much of the money has been misused, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

A researcher, who refused to be named, told Xinhua that a scientist could gain "a sum of money" from MOST, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, if he is "diligent enough" in establishing contacts in these departments.

"Sometimes they have nowhere to spend the money, then they will think up an excuse," said the source.

Scholars strive for approval for their research in order to apply for government funds, and the authorities who have power of approval take bribes for a green light, according to Wang Yuan, head of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development under MOST.

The system has many disadvantages and must be reformed, Wang said.

MOST, which manages scientific funds, punished eight people after an 2012 audit, including the four arrested.

Chen Yingxu, formerly of Zhejiang University, was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year for stealing nearly 10 million yuan from the funds. He fabricated the project budget, spending and invoices.

China has no specific law on state scientific funds, though the State Council has general rules targeting the credibility of fund applicants.This lack of supervision and sanctions has contributed to the corruption in the field, said lawyer Pan Changxin of Shandong's Shunda Lawyer Agency. He said the science, finance and auditing authorities should cooperate on science funds.

MOST announced on Sept. 30 yearly internal inspections targeting embezzlement and a credit database based on the inspection results.

Those found to be corrupt will have their projects halted and funds clawed back, the ministry said. In the most serious cases, they will be banned from reapplying for such funds indefinitely and may face judicial process.