Results tagged “solarpower”

• Ai Weiwei, censorship and sacred facts [My Heart's in Accra] "My friend Michael Anti posted a tweet earlier today about Chinese artist and political activist, Ai Weiwei: "Ai Weiwei to undergo cranial surgery in Germany within hours, a month after beaten by Chengdu police. Let’s pray for him."The post caught my eye because Xiao Qiang, founder of China Digital Times, spoke about Ai’s increasingly vocal protests in talking about the Internet’s transformation of activism in China at the Cloud Intelligence symposium in Linz, Austria."
• Going Solar [Beijing Review] "Tight credit, weak demand, excess capacity, bloated inventories and escalating price competition all have hurt China's export-reliant solar power companies and have left many struggling for their lives during the global recession. But the largest of them, Wuxi-headquartered Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., is about to breathe a little easier after securing several deals with the Chinese Government and opening factories in the United States to mitigate pressures from shrinking demand in European markets"
• Coca-Cola Says Another Former Worker Is Detained in China [New York Times] "Coca-Cola Inc. said Tuesday that a second manager who worked in the company’s Shanghai bottling plant has been detained by police on suspicion of accepting bribes or kickbacks. The announcement came just days after Coca-Cola confirmed that a middle manager at the same facility, the Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co., was detained earlier this year in a bribery investigation."

Raining on the parade of solar panel lighting systems endorsed by ex-British PM Tony Blair and superstar Jet Li, the SCMP recently presented some sobering statistics about the real cost of these "environmentally friendly" lights.

• Another Wal-Mart Shoplifter Is Killed [Huffington Post] "You steal, you die. That's the international policy apparently at Wal-Mart stores, where reports indicate another alleged shoplifter has died at the hands of a gang of overzealous Wal-Mart workers -- this time in China. According to the Associated Press report this week, Yu Xiachun, a 37-year-old woman, died 500 yards from the Wal-Mart store in Jiangxi province. Based on the local police report, Yu had exited the store and was on her way home on August 30th when she was surrounded by five Wal-Mart workers, who accused her of shoplifting... The police say that the Wal-Mart workers fought with Yu, and she was knocked to the ground. She was taken to the hospital, where she died three days later."
• Ethnic groups united in hostility towards leaders [Financial Times] "The government in Xinjiang has been caught off guard by the anger it faces from its own people. For decades its rulers brought in millions of people from China's Han ethnic majority to colonise the ethnically diverse far western region. They kept a wary eye on the Uighurs, the biggest local ethnic group, as the main security risk. But since Wednesday it has been Han marching in the streets of Urumqi, the regional capital, calling for Wang Lequan, Xinjiang's Communist party secretary, to step down."
• U.S. Company and China Plan Solar Project [NY Times] "Chinese government officials signed an agreement on Tuesday with First Solar, an American solar developer, for a 2,000-megawatt photovoltaic farm to be built in the Mongolian desert. Set for completion in 2019, the First Solar project represents the world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant project to date, and is part of an 11,950-megawatt renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia."

• Former Beijing airport boss executed in China [AP] "The former head of Beijing airport's management company was executed Friday following his conviction on corruption charges, state media reported. An intermediate court found 60-year-old Li Peiying guilty in February of accepting almost $4 million in bribes and embezzling about $12 million in public funds over the past 14 years, the Xinhua News Agency said."
• Australia Plans to Make Arrangements for Second Hu China Visit [Bloomberg] "Australia will soon be making arrangements for a second consular visit with Rio Tinto Group executive Stern Hu, detained in China for allegedly stealing state secrets, a government spokeswoman said. 'According to the consular agreement, visits must take place at least once per month,' a spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who asked not to be named, said today in an e-mailed statement."
• Uighur unrest shows China's failures - Dalai Lama [Reuters] "Ethnic riots in northwest China have exposed the failings of Beijing's minority policies, and a more "realistic" stance toward Tibetans and others could emerge within a decade, the Dalai Lama said on Thursday. The Tibetan spiritual leader said the Uighur unrest in Xinjiang province in July, in which 197 people died according to the official death toll, showed the need for the Chinese Communist Party to rethink its approach."