China's battle with organised crime

The Chinese government has launched a sweeping crackdown on criminal gangs in the southwestern city of Chongqing.

The area, which is home to some 30 million residents, has been in the clutches of the mafia-style gangs for years.

Recent trials have exposed the unseemly relationships between gangsters, police officers and several high-profile public officials.

But as Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan reports, for some of the gangs' victims, the increased focus by law enforcement is too little too late. 

Warning: This report contains some graphic images.

SHIJIAZHUANG, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people were executed in China Tuesday for their involvement in the country's contaminated milk scandal, in which at least six infants died and more than 300,000 became ill.     Zhang Yujun was executed for the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means, and Geng Jinping was put to death after being convicted of producing and selling toxic food, the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court said in a statement.     Zhang was found guilty of producing more than 770 tonnes and selling more than 600 tonnes of melamine-laced protein powder from July 2007 to August 2008.     Geng was convicted of selling more than 900 tonnes of milk tainted with 434 kg of protein powder to the now-defunct Sanlu Group, which was at the heart of the scandal, from October 2007 to August 2008.     The two lodged appeals after the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced them to death on Jan. 21, and the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court upheld the convictions on March 26.     The death sentences and the executions were approved by the Supreme People's Court, the Shijiazhuang court statement said.     Sanlu Group, which was based in Shijiazhuang, capital of northern Hebei Province, had been China's leading seller of milk powder for 15 years until the melamine scandal broke in September last year.     The company's tainted baby milk powder was found to have caused the deaths of at least six children and sickened more than 300,000others.     The industrial chemical melamine had been added to milk to make it appear higher in protein content. It can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.     Altogether 21 people were tried and sentenced in January for their roles in the scandal at different courts in Shijiazhuang.     Among them, two were sentenced to death, one received a suspended death sentence, three were jailed for life, and the other 15 imprisoned for terms ranging from two to 15 years.     Tian Wenhua, former board chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, was convicted of manufacturing and selling fake or substandard products and sentenced to life in prison, according to the sentence handed down in January at the Shijiazhuang Municipal Intermediate People's Court.     She lodged an appeal, but it was rejected by the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court on March 26.

"It’s her. It’s her. It’s still her. The same person, but different breasts each time!” For every woman who has ever regretted waking up in the morning with the same size breasts she had the night before, this Chinese TV commercial wants you to know your troubles are finally over!"

According to this announcer, at least, it’s every woman’s dream to have a bigger cup size. Now, with the amazing She’s Mine bra, you can turn that dream into a reality. Not only does it increase your cup size, but it lets you change it to suit your mood. Need some guidelines? The commercial suggests “a B-cup for work, a C-cup for shopping, and a D-cup for partying.”

The bra’s magic lies in its patented “God’s Hand” technology. Simply press the button, and the hidden, hand-shaped panels expand, lifting your breasts to provide cleavage like you’ve never had before. And the longer you press, the bigger they get!

But wait—there’s more! A pair of God’s hands is not all this incredible bra has to offer. It’s also made of a space-age fabric impregnated with minerals that generate ultraviolet light. This improves blood circulation, and in turn glandular health. And that, as we all know, is Mother Nature’s way of increasing breast size.

But in the end, seeing is believing. And this commercial provides abundant visual proof of the effects of the She’s Mine bra, not only on the wearers’ bustlines but on their mood. Incidentally, the announcer assures us that people are going wild for it in Europe. What more proof could you possibly need?

By DanBing on 23-11-2009

via weirdasianews.com

Vegetables are sick – Hunan Liuyang cadmium pollution

November 21st, 2009

(picture: A polluted eggplant)

[Southern Metropolis Daily] In July and August of this year, the Hunan Liuyang cadmium pollution incident caused nationwide concerns. It has been three to months since the incident, chemical plant was permanently closed, the relevant officials were suspended from their positions and affected farmers also received a certain amount of compensation. Recently the photographer went back to Liuyang, to some of the affected areas and shot a set of portraits for the crops. These terminally ill fruits and vegetables tell us the disaster has not yet ended.

 

Vegetables are sick – Hunan Liuyang cadmium pollution

By Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Fang Qianhua

 

 

July of this year my partner Yang Xiaohong and I went to Liuyang in Hunan province together to cover the incident of cadmium pollution. Centered at Xianghe chemical factory which was the source of the cadmium pollution, the fields within 1.5 kilo-meter radius were seriously polluted with cadmium.

At the time, the amount of the cadmium content in majority of the villagers’ body seriously exceeded the standard level. Some of them were very young babies. Apart from this, large tracts of contaminated farmland and crops were too horrible to look at. Those once familiar fruits and vegetables in the field became grotesque and disfigured beyond recognition, making people feel nausea and fearful when looking at them.

November of this year I once again returned back to the polluted areas to investigate and found many farmland were deserted, rarely seen crops. However after walked through many villages we could still see some remaining fruits and vegetables in the corners of the deserted fields. Because they were never cleared away, after a few months of pollution they have become more deformed, more shocking. In order to find crops suitable for the photo shoot, I went there 4 times to couple of the villages to look for those polluted vegetables. To me, these deformed and sick fruits and vegetables are like a group of special patients.

Photography: Fang Qianhua

Video: Qiao Yanjie