Chinese state media confirmed Monday that a steel factory executive was beaten to death after thousands of workers gathered to protest the takeover of their company.
Posts Tagged ‘steel’
Sheldon Filger: Obama Versus JFK on Corporate Greed: A Telling Comparison
July 27th, 2009 |
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In the past six months, President Obama has revealed his towering intellect, basic decency and sophisticated world view. However, we have yet to observe the toughness and passion required to take on the forces that drove the U.S. and global economy into a ditch.
One killed in China steel riot
July 26th, 2009 |
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Thousands of Chinese steel workers rioted at news of a takeover deal, beating one manager to death, a Hong Kong human rights group has said.
About 100 people were hurt in violence in the north-eastern city of Tonghua after workers heard that Jianlong Steel would buy a majority share.
They were reportedly frustrated at financial problems during Jianlong Steel’s temporary control last year.
Jianlong general manager Chen Guojun was beaten to death, the group said.
The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said 30,000 steel workers clashed with riot police on Friday in the north-east province of Jilin.
The centre reported that Mr Chen was paid about three million yuan ($440,000) last year, while Tonghua’s retired workers received as little as 200 yuan a month.
The South China Morning Post quoted a police officer as saying the workers would not allow emergency medical staff to enter the building to help Mr Chen.
The Tonghua workers also reportedly blocked highways and smashed three police vehicles in Tonghua city, the centre said.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Tom Matlack: Wining the War at Home
July 22nd, 2009 |
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Even though he’s no longer in combat, he’s still a commander, now in a war to save the auto industry from itself.
Hermene Hartman: The Good News about Joseph Jackson
July 17th, 2009 |
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One thing’s for sure: I think Joe Jackson is getting a bad rap and not being accurately portrayed. The Jackson story is an all-American success story, with Joe Jackson at the center.
China and the Rio Tinto detentions: The steel fist of government
July 16th, 2009 |
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China’s detention of Rio executives seems to be part of a worrying trend
SYMBOLICALLY and practically, steel plays a large role in China’s rapidly industrialising economy, and the main steelmakers have direct ties to the government. So no one in the country was in any doubt that the spreading investigation into the steelmakers’ negotiations with foreign iron-ore miners, beginning with the detention on July 5th of four executives of Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian firm, represented a drastic government intervention in the workings of business. Just how drastic, however, continues to surprise.
On July 15th an executive at Laiwu Iron & Steel was reported to have been detained, the second non-Rio employee to be brought in after the earlier detention of a manager from the Shougang Group. These are large companies, important in their own right, but the news of the two executives’ fate was quickly topped by a report in the government-controlled China Daily, quoting an anonymous “industry insider” as saying that managers at all 16 of the country’s big steel companies involved in the iron-ore negotiations had been bribed by Rio. …
Australia warns China on spy case
July 15th, 2009 |
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Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned that China has big economic interests at stake in the case of a mining executive accused of spying.
He said the matter was being watched closely from abroad.
Mr Rudd has been under pressure at home to be more assertive with China, to better protect the detained Australian citizen, Stern Hu.
China says it has evidence of spying, bribery and theft of state secrets in a widening probe of the steel industry.
"Australia of course has significant economic interests in its relationship with China, but I also want to remind our Chinese friends that China too has significant economic interests at stake in its relationship with Australia and with its other commercial partners around the world," Mr Rudd told a press conference.
"A range of foreign governments and corporations will be watching this case with interest and be watching it very closely, and will be drawing their own conclusions as to how it is conducted," he said.
Domestic pressure
He told Australian media that his government had made a total of 20 representations to China since Mr Hu’s arrest in Shanghai on 5 July, adding the government was deploying "all levels of consular and diplomatic representations in support of Mr. Hu’s interests."
It was a "massively complex" case to work through, he said.
"We pursue a broad-based relationship with the Chinese, one where we will pursue all of our interests simultaneously," he said.
"When it comes to prosecuting the interests and supporting the well-being of individual Australians abroad that will be done with full vigour … without compromise to the interests of a single Australian," he said.
Daily press commentaries and Australia’s opposition have criticised Mr Rudd for failing to stand up for Australian interests.
They have used his known skills in Chinese language and diplomacy against him, saying it has made him subservient to Chinese power.
The Shanghai-based staff of the Anglo-American mining firm Rio Tinto, including Australian Stern Hu, Rio’s top iron ore salesman there, are accused of stealing state secrets from Chinese steel mills.
China has widened its investigation into the industry’s workings by investigating executives at Chinese state-owned steel firms in recent days.
China is Australia’s biggest trade partner.
Reports suggest the spying case is complicating difficult talks between China and iron ore suppliers around the world.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
July 14, 1868: Tape Measure Clicks In
July 14th, 2009 |
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1868: Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut, receives a patent for a spring-click tape measure. His improved design creates a useful and enduring tool.
The invention originated in Sheffield, England, historic center of England’s steel industry. An official city marker on an old factory there recounts that James Chesterman patented the spring tape measure [...]