Some hard facts on China today

( This is an email sent to me by a friend. I am reproducing it here in my blog site as I find it so interesting, so mind-boggling, so intriguing, and so unthinkable. Whether it is fiction or truth, I leave it to your deduction. Whether this mammoth nation is a harbinger of good tidings for the future generations or setting up the stage for a new apocalypse, one can only anxiously wait and see. The wheels of history seems to be turning towards the worst. Woe to those caught under the wheels of impropriety and wickedness. – Quierosaber)

China has 19% of the world’s population, but consumes
… 53% of the world’s cement
… 48% of the world’s iron ore
… 47% of the world’s coal
… and the majority of just about every major commodity.
In 2010, China produced 11 times more steel than the United States.

New World Record: China made and sold 18 million vehicles in 2010.

 

There are more pigs in China than in the next 43 pork producing nations combined.
 
 
 
China currently has the world’s fastest train and the world’s largest high-speed rail network.

 
 
China is currently the number one producer in the world of wind and solar power.
  China currently controls more than 90% of the total global supply of rare earth elements.

 
In the past 15 years, China has moved from 14th place to 2nd place in the world in published scientific research articles.


 
 
  
China now possesses the fastest supercomputer on the entire globe.

 
 
 
At the end of March 2011, China accumulated US$3.04 trillion in foreign currency reserves
– the largest stockpile on the entire globe.

 
Chinese consume 50,000 cigarettes every second …
Not an enviable record though …

Also a lot smarter than us.

While they manufacture 80% of the worlds solar panels,

They install less than 5%. And,

Build a new coal fired power station every week and in 1 year turn on more new coal powered electricity than Australia’s total output

Already the largest carbon dioxide emitter, output will rise 70% by 2020.

Bet your glad we’re saving the planet !!!

Google takes on China

Google has vowed to defy Chinese Internet censors and risk banishment from the lucrative market in outrage at “highly sophisticated” cyberattacks aimed at Chinese human rights activists.

“These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered — combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web — have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China,” Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond said in a statement posted on the company’s blog.

“We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”

The announcement was made amid growing tensions between China and the United States where US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Beijing to explain cyberattacks on the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists using its Gmail service, and that more than 20 other companies were similarly attacked.

Human rights activists hailed Google, voicing hope it would lead Western companies to reconsider their compromises in doing business in China.

“Through international pressure, finally a big business in the West has come to realize its own conscience,” said prominent Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, who spent 18 years in prison before seeking refuge in the United States.

Nations arming for cyber war

 

Web security firm McAfee released a report warning of a “cyber space race,” with countries like U.S., Israel, Russia, China, and France gearing up for cyber offensives.

The McAfee report was prepared by cybersecurity expert Paul Kurtz, a former White House adviser. It said cyberattacks were on the rise and “cyberwarfare is a reality.”

“Over the past year, the increase in politically motivated cyberattacks has raised alarm and caution, with targets including the White House, Department of Homeland Security, US Secret Service and Department of Defense in the US alone.

“Nation-states are actively developing cyberwarfare capabilities and involved in the cyber arms race, targeting government networks and critical infrastructures,” the report said.

The Web security company said critical infrastructure such as power grids, transportation, telecommunication, finance and water supplies was particularly vulnerable.

“In most developed countries, critical infrastructure is connected to the Internet and lacks proper security functions, leaving these installations vulnerable to attacks,” McAfee said.

 

 

Nations arming for cyberwar

 

Web security firm McAfee released a report warning of a “cyber space race,” with countries like U.S., Israel, Russia, China, and France gearing up for cyber offensives.

The McAfee report was prepared by cybersecurity expert Paul Kurtz, a former White House adviser. It said cyberattacks were on the rise and “cyberwarfare is a reality.”

“Over the past year, the increase in politically motivated cyberattacks has raised alarm and caution, with targets including the White House, Department of Homeland Security, US Secret Service and Department of Defense in the US alone.

“Nation-states are actively developing cyberwarfare capabilities and involved in the cyber arms race, targeting government networks and critical infrastructures,” the report said.

The Web security company said critical infrastructure such as power grids, transportation, telecommunication, finance and water supplies was particularly vulnerable.

“In most developed countries, critical infrastructure is connected to the Internet and lacks proper security functions, leaving these installations vulnerable to attacks,” McAfee said.

Unassuming King worked as U.S. nurse aid

After working for more than 20 years in the United States as a nurse’s aide, caring for the elderly and sick, Charles Wesley Mumbere went home to Uganda to be crowned Omusinga of the Rwenzururu or King of the Rwenzururu Kingdom.

Little did the people around him knew that the unassuming Mumbere is the rightful ruler of the Obusinga bwa Rwenzururu, a kingdom made up of more than 300,000 Ugandans.

“The Uganda government is officially recognizing of Rwenzururu as one of the cultural institutions in Uganda,” said Mumbere and shook hands with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni.

Thousands of his subjects hailed and cheered throughout the installation rite expressing joy for both their new king and an official acknowledgement of their centuries-old tribe.

Mumbere inherited the title after his father, the leader of a separatist movement in Uganda’s western mountain region, died in 1966. But he fled to the United States in 1984 after his tribal kingdom was banned from participating in political exercises by then Uganda’s President Milton Obote and the succeeding dictators for being too radical. He later applied for a political asylum in the U.S. and was granted.

It was while living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that Mumbere heard that the Ugandan government was reinstating tribal kingdoms. Mumbere immediately began to lobby for the Rwenzururu Kingdom to be recognized which culminated in his return to the country two years ago and his eventual coronation this month.

As king, Mumbere will have power over cultural decisions for the kingdom, but political and legal decisions will remain with Uganda’s central government.

WHO: Poorer countries will receive H1N1 vaccines

Head researcher Marie-Paule Kieny, of the World Health Organization (WHO), said Monday that about 100 low- and middle-income nations would start receiving the H1N1 flu vaccines and syringes donated by companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi.

The flu virus, more commonly known swine flu, has been declared by WHO in June to have reached a full pandemic proportion. It is reported that at least 4,500 people have been killed already.

“We are trying to have a first delivery starting in November,” Kieny told journalists in Geneva. “The idea is to start with northern hemisphere countries first.”

She said it is important that health workers in poorer countries should get protected first against the virus so there will be no chance the virus is going to be passed on to the patients and ensure that hospitals and health clinics shall remain open.

There is high expectation that supply won’t be a problem as the vaccines have been quickly developed in response to the H1N1 strain and work is underway to determine the exact production capacity of vaccine manufacturers worldwide.

Kieny believes one dose of the vaccine could be enough to ensure protection against the H1N1 strain, which does not appear to have morphed into a more virulent or milder form since it first erupted in Mexico and the United States.

Norway ranks 1st in UN’s development index

In the latest Human Development Index (HDI) compiled by the United Nations, Norway came out on top as the best place to stay today.

HDI is an index used to rank countries by level of “human development”, which usually also implies whether a country is developed, developing , or underdeveloped. Needless to say, it is an index also where one sees the grave disparities between rich and poor countries.

The development index is a compilation of 182 countries ranked by the UN Development Program (UNDP) on standards based life expectancy, literacy, education and gross domestic product (GDP) per person.

Australia and Iceland completed the first three spots. Niger, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic were all found at the bottom of the list.

It was China that was seen to have made a significant stride in improving the welfare of its citizens as it moved up as the 92^nd most developed country due to an improved income levels, life expectancy and educational standard.

France which was not included in the top 10 last year made a come back this year to rank 8^th.  The United States placed 13^th, slipping one spot down from last year.

This year’s index is said to have been based on data from 2007 and does not consider the impact of the global economic crisis.

The UN development index showed the top 10 countries as follows: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.