'Made in China' - Chinese made Plastic Rice Arrives in Haiti.

'Made in China' - Chinese made Plastic Rice Arrives in Haiti. (HS).

Authorities in Haiti are just beginning to come to grips with the growing prevalence of plastic rice, said to have been imported from China, first discovered in Haiti in early November 2016. Deputy Abel Descolliens (Mirebalais(1)/PHTK) and the Mayorship of Mirebalais have seized upon the issue only after a family in the town had one of their children, who had consumed the product, fall ill. 

The Mirebalais Mayor’s Office, headed by Lochard Laguerre, told a journalist from Radio Tele Zenith FM that an investigation was underway to determine how much and from what source from which the plastic rice was brought into Haiti. The journalist said Deputy Descollines’ office said it would be bringing the matter before members of the Chamber of Deputies to exact a response. Neither elected to speak directly on the matter during a segment on the Train Matinal, weekday mornings news and politics broadcast.  

The family which was affected by their daughter consuming the rice said it was purchased from a neighbor. The mother intended to make a blended rice juice with it. A female child had consumed some of the first batch of jis diriz, rice juice, before the family discovered something wrong. They discovered that the rice, by the manner of its consistency when other batches of the juice were cooled in the refrigerator, was not a natural produce.  

The provisional administration of President Jocelerme Privert has not addressed the plastic rice detected in the Haitian market. A video was posted nearly 7 weeks before the Mirebalais incident on November 7, 2016. In both instances, consumers were attempting to make jis diriz. It appears by this method of preparation, the plastic properties of the rice become more profound. It leads one to believe consumers commonly cooking the rice could possibly consume it unknowingly.  

The alert over plastic rice in Haiti is the first consumer-initiated quality control scare since the 2012 scandal of salami. The imported meat product from the Dominican Republic was found to contain high levels of feces. In 2010, it was from a United Nations peacekeeper base in Mirebalais that the water sources in Haiti would be contaminated with cholera. Deaths from cholera, which had never been detected in Haiti before, topped 10,000 in the first five years. 

The BBC reported on December 21, 2016 that Nigerian officials had confiscated 2.5 tons of plastic rice that was smuggled into the country by an unscrupulous businessman. The Nigerian customs service said the fake rice was intended to be sold in markets during the festive season.

China uses four billion tons of coal every year, 'tough battle ahead against smog'.

SOURCE.

China uses four billion tons of coal every year, 'tough battle ahead against smog'. (icrosschina).

Burning coal and industrial emissions,exacerbated by burning crops, have covered northern Chinese cities in heavy smog, prompting experts to warn of the tough battle ahead as heating season starts.

Smog shrouded Beijing starting on Monday and did not disappear until dispersed by rain on Thursday. Environment authorities have issued repeated health warnings, advising people to stay indoors.

Neighboring Tianjin municipality and several cities in Hebei province have also been cloaked by smog this week.

Beijing environment statistics show the October-to-December quarter suffers the worst pollution, with smog once every four days on average. Experts say the main culprit is still pollutants discharged by heavy industry, though burning crop residue and lack of wind also contribute.

Hebei issued a broad ban on coal burning and industrial discharge from late August to early September to ensure air quality for the parade in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Zhang Liang, an environment engineer in Hebei Provincial Environment Emergency and Heavy Pollution Warning Center, said pollution was cut by 60 percent during the period.

Air quality has improved in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area compared to last year thanks to consistent effort by the government. In October last year, northern China was hit by four heavy pollution outbreaks, while the number was reduced to two this year.

However, experts said reducing smog is getting harder as Hebei still relies heavily on industry, including steel, chemical, construction material and glass industries.

In 2015, Hebei required 9.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas for its industrial plants, but was still 3.3 billion cubic meters short. The gap in demand will expand to 10.7 billion in 2017, statistics show.

Several city environment chiefs told Xinhua that money is needed to fund coal-to-electricity and coal-to-gas switches at local plants. In addition, technological support is also in heavy demand.

"We have invested heavily to contain sulphuric emissions from steel plants, but even after upgrading, the emissions can not be sufficiently controlled," said Chen Enhui, environment chief of Chengde city.

China uses four billion tons of coal every year, half of which are used by power plants and others by metallurgy, cement and industrial furnaces, said Lu Guangjie, an expert of China Association of Environmental Protection Industry (CAEPI).

"Most of the emissions by power plants have reached national emission standards, but it is difficult for other coal-burning facilities to reach such standards, and thus they should switch to gas," he said. Enditem.

US overtakes Europe to become biggest importer of Chinese goods.

US overtakes Europe to become biggest importer of Chinese goods.(HD).China said yesterday that the United States has overtaken the European Union as its biggest export market, as the continent’s debt crisis has sent demand slumping.
“The biggest is the US and the EU is second,” Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told reporters at a regular briefing, without saying when the reversal occurred. “The EU used to be the biggest,” he added.
Chinese customs figures for the first 10 months of this year showed that China’s exports to the United States totalled $289.3 billion, while shipments to the EU came to $276.8 billion.
Weak demand from both Europe and the US has been a big factor as China’s economic growth has slowed over the past seven quarters to the end of September.
Economic growth in the United States remains weak but is expanding, while the eurozone’s debilitating debt crisis has dragged it back into recession.
Shen noted that China will probably miss its full year target of 10 percent foreign trade growth this year due to sluggish overseas demand, particularly in Europe and Japan.
“The international economic situation this year has been severe and complicated. There have been many uncertainties, with slack foreign demand being the most severe one,” he said.
“It will be indeed very difficult to achieve this year’s 10-percent target for trade growth,” he said, yet added it was premature to conclude what the full year increase would turn out to be.”
Shen also said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had moved past Japan as China’s third-biggest export market.Hmmmm.......OBAMA: America remains the one indispensable nation. And the world needs a strong America, and it is stronger now than when I came into office.Read the full story here.