The debate continues
Certain student groups have said they would boycott classes in protest at the limitations on the nomination of candidates to the post of Chief Executive for the election of 2017. Some teachers support this while others have claimed striking students would only be harming themselves to no good end. The Catholic church, which runs many schools here, has been supportive, while the Anglican church, also a major provider of schools, has not. Opponents of Occupy Central and the Pan-Democrats want to set up a call line for worried parents and would report the strikers to the principals for disciplinary action. It has been claimed that this would be illegal, contravening privacy laws. Arguments centre around those under age. Do they need parental consent to take part? Even though minors, they have the right to voice their opinions.
Pan-Democrats have said they would boycott stage two consultations on the 2017 election as meaningless.
A university professor in the HK basic law from neighboring Shenzhen said Beijing might react to civil disobedience and a rejection of its proposals by crimping Hong Kong and Macau´s status as a Special Autonomous Region.
* Shenzhen is a large,rapidly growing city just across the border in Mainland China.
Gutter Oil
As calls for tighter standards and more inspection follow the scandal, the plot thickens. Taiwan has just banned all imports from HK of lard oil and vowed to inspect all cooking oil after it was claimed that a HK company, Globalway, had relabeled oil exported there as fit for human consumption when it was only fit for animal consumption or industrial use. Companies using cooking all waste to convert for use in biodiesel say all such waste oil should be used in biodiesel to help solve HK’s pollution problem. It is believed the buyer of the Globalway oil had mixed it with so-called gutter oil. The company, Chang Guann, asserted it did not know the oil was unsafe for humans. Here the media were full of scenes of Yeh Wen-hsiang, the Taiwanese director, kowtowing in apology and drinking a cup of the oil in question to demonstrate its safety. Taiwan has since gone on to ban a number of HK products containing the oil and has arrested Yeh Wen-hsiang.
Financial Scandal
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) recently filed a court order against government-backed CITIC and five of its former directors for compensation for investors: the company, it is claimed, had failed to inform the public about massive trading losses in 2008.
Little old Norway
While there has been considerable coverage of the Scottish referendum, there is little to be found in the media about Norway. However, this last week an article appeared in the South China Morning Post about China banning the import of whole salmon over worries of contagion by bugs carrying (sic: surely causing rather than carrying?) anemia. Filleted salmon, though, can be imported. Norway claims there is no health hazard to humans and little likelihood of contagion and, even if there were, no less risk with filleted than whole salmon.
Yet another incident in the ongoing story of difficult Sino-Norwegian relations after the award of the Peace prize to Chinese dissident, Liu Xao Bo.
Certain student groups have said they would boycott classes in protest at the limitations on the nomination of candidates to the post of Chief Executive for the election of 2017. Some teachers support this while others have claimed striking students would only be harming themselves to no good end. The Catholic church, which runs many schools here, has been supportive, while the Anglican church, also a major provider of schools, has not. Opponents of Occupy Central and the Pan-Democrats want to set up a call line for worried parents and would report the strikers to the principals for disciplinary action. It has been claimed that this would be illegal, contravening privacy laws. Arguments centre around those under age. Do they need parental consent to take part? Even though minors, they have the right to voice their opinions.
Pan-Democrats have said they would boycott stage two consultations on the 2017 election as meaningless.
A university professor in the HK basic law from neighboring Shenzhen said Beijing might react to civil disobedience and a rejection of its proposals by crimping Hong Kong and Macau´s status as a Special Autonomous Region.
* Shenzhen is a large,rapidly growing city just across the border in Mainland China.
Gutter Oil
As calls for tighter standards and more inspection follow the scandal, the plot thickens. Taiwan has just banned all imports from HK of lard oil and vowed to inspect all cooking oil after it was claimed that a HK company, Globalway, had relabeled oil exported there as fit for human consumption when it was only fit for animal consumption or industrial use. Companies using cooking all waste to convert for use in biodiesel say all such waste oil should be used in biodiesel to help solve HK’s pollution problem. It is believed the buyer of the Globalway oil had mixed it with so-called gutter oil. The company, Chang Guann, asserted it did not know the oil was unsafe for humans. Here the media were full of scenes of Yeh Wen-hsiang, the Taiwanese director, kowtowing in apology and drinking a cup of the oil in question to demonstrate its safety. Taiwan has since gone on to ban a number of HK products containing the oil and has arrested Yeh Wen-hsiang.
Financial Scandal
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) recently filed a court order against government-backed CITIC and five of its former directors for compensation for investors: the company, it is claimed, had failed to inform the public about massive trading losses in 2008.
Little old Norway
While there has been considerable coverage of the Scottish referendum, there is little to be found in the media about Norway. However, this last week an article appeared in the South China Morning Post about China banning the import of whole salmon over worries of contagion by bugs carrying (sic: surely causing rather than carrying?) anemia. Filleted salmon, though, can be imported. Norway claims there is no health hazard to humans and little likelihood of contagion and, even if there were, no less risk with filleted than whole salmon.
Yet another incident in the ongoing story of difficult Sino-Norwegian relations after the award of the Peace prize to Chinese dissident, Liu Xao Bo.