Chinese Economy: Riots at the Nerf Toy Factory

China Economic Unrest:
Riot at the Chinese Nerf Factory



Workers Demand Pay

---

Twenty years ago, "Riot at the Chinese Nerf Factory" would have been more likely to be the name of a punk rock CD than a headline about economic news.

China hasn't been insulated from world economic woes.


From Nerf factory riot in China and Workers riot at Chinese toy factory:

Riots are breaking out in factories in Dongguan as bankruptcies and layoffs throw thousands out of work with wages owing. South China, "the world's factory," is in chaos, faltering. After the mid-autumn festival, enormous numbers of workers simply stayed home in the provinces, rather than returning to work in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan.

Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing: "This AP story talks about a riot in the factory where Nerf toys were manufactured for Hasbro -- and no, they didn't fight with Nerf bats."

According to AP: "Shipping containers on trucks in the factory's courtyard were loaded with Hasbro boxes containing Nerf toys."

One report said the violence was touched off when the owner of the plant, Hong Kong's Kader Holdings Co. Ltd., began laying off 216 migrant workers--the factory employs 6500. Some 80 senior workers complained that they were shorted on severance pay. These 80 mobilized a mob of 500 friend and unemployed workers.

"The factory's management and the local officials really look down on the workers," said one laid-off worker who would only give his surname, Qiao, because he feared criticizing the company might jeopardize his chance of getting any compensation.

Qiao accused the police of igniting the riot. "The workers just got angry because the police hit them first," said the 30-year-old migrant from the southwestern province of Sichuan, devastated by last May's monster earthquake.

Basic pay for an assembly-line worker at the factory is 770 yuan ($112) a month, with overtime rare now that most of the Christmas orders have been filled.

Note to all those who believe China is ready to swallow up the USA: China's got economic problems of its own.

[Unrest by workers] is "a major concern in major industrial zones in Guangdong, which has been hit hard by a series of factors: rising costs of wages and raw materials along with currency fluctuations and the global financial crisis. More than 7,000 companies in Guangdong have gone bust or moved elsewhere in the first nine months of the year, the official China Daily newspaper recently reported."

One prediction: this will not be the last story readers will see about civil unrest over economic problems in China.


by Mondo
image: dbkp file

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 27, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, POLITICS, UNREST, WOMEN, LIMITS, MIRACLES, NAZIS, INDIANS, UPSETS, ROYALS, FINANCE, SWEET, PATENTS, TIRED, STARS, GOLF, HAUNTED, DEATH PENALTY, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, KILLERS, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH


NAZIS

On Feb. 27, 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, used the fire as justification for suspending civil liberties.

WAR!

1864 6th & last day of Battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties).

1991 President George H.W. Bush declared that "Kuwait is liberated, Iraq's army is defeated," and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.

2003 Iraq agreed in principle to destroy its Al Samoud II missiles, two days before a U.N. deadline.

TERRORISM

1962 South-Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem's palace bombed, 1st US killed.

1969 General Hafez al-Assad becomes head of Syria via military coup.

1980 Terrorists occupies Dominican embassy in Bogota.

1994 Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed.

1995 Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed).

2003 The Bush administration lowered the national terror alert from orange to yellow.

2007 A suicide bomber struck Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, who was rushed to a bomb shelter. (Twenty-three people were killed; Cheney was unhurt.)

DISASTER

1803 Great fire in Bombay, India.

1932 Explosion in coal mine Boissevain, Virginia, USA (38 dead).

GOLF

1927 For 2nd Sunday in a row golfers in South Carolina arrested for violating Sabbath.

STARS

1908 Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1957 Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X" "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files).

1974 "People" magazine begins sales.

HAUNTED

1939 English Spook house Borley Rectory destroyed in a fire.

SWEET

1879 Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener).

TIRED

1890 D Needham & P Kerrigan box 100 rounds (6 hours 39 minutes), San Francisco; match is draw.

PATENTS

1883 Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine.

DEATH PENALTY

1987 NCAA cancels SMU's entire 1987 football schedule for gross violations of NCAA rules regarding athletic corruption.

KILLERS

1982 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta GA.

1998 FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati.

POLITICS

1801 the District of Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.

JEWS

1670 Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I.

1949 Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st Israeli President.

SPORTS

1901 NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes except after two strikes.

UNREST

1861 in Warsaw, Russian troops fired on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland; five marchers were killed.

WOMEN

1922 The Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upheld the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed the right of women to vote.

LIMITS

1951 The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

MIRACLES

1960 The U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

INDIANS

1973 Members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasted until May.)

UPSETS

1979 Jane M. Byrne confounded Chicago's Democratic political machine as she upset Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's mayoral primary. (Byrne went on to win the election.)

ROYALS

1998 With the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's House of Lords agreed to end 1,000 years of male preference by giving a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son.

FINANCE

2007 The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 416.02 points, the worst drop since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

BORN

1807 poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine.

1920 Reg Simpson cricketer (prolific England opener 1948-55).

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Joanne Woodward is 78. Actress Elizabeth Taylor is 76. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is 74. Actress Barbara Babcock is 71. Actor Howard Hesseman is 68. Actress Debra Monk is 59. Rock singer-musician Neal Schon (Journey) is 54. Rock musician Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) is 51. Actor Timothy Spall is 51. Rock musician Paul Humphreys (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) is 48. Country singer Johnny Van Zant (Van Zant) is 48. Rock musician Leon Mobley (Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals) is 47. Basketball Hall-of-Famer James Worthy is 47. Actor Adam Baldwin is 46. Actor Grant Show is 46. Rock musician Mike Cross (Sponge) is 43. Actor Donal Logue is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chilli (TLC) is 37. Rock musician Jeremy Dean (Nine Days) is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Roderick Clark is 35. Country-rock musician Shonna Tucker (Drive-By Truckers) is 30. Chelsea Clinton is 28. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bobby Valentino is 28. Singer Josh Groban is 27. Actress Kate Mara is 25.

DEATH

1939 Nadezjda K Krupskaya Russian revolutionary/wife of Lenin, dies at 70.

1985 J Pat O'Malley actor (My Favorite Martian, Maude), dies at 83.

2003 Children's television host Fred Rogers died in Pittsburgh at age 74.


February 27, the 58th day of 2008. There are 308 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: 911 review
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Today in History: January 10, 2008

ADVERTISING, WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, DIPLOMACY, REBELLION, POLITICS, SEIZURES, UNREST, ACCIDENTS, LAWSUITS, ORDERS, POPES, ANNULLED, POETS, SPORTS, PROGRESS, BUSINESS, MARRIAGE, WOMEN, EXILE, MOVIES, CARTOONS, JEWS, SCIENCE, MUSIC, RESIGNATION, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, CIVIL RIGHTS, DRUGS, MARTIAL LAW, TRIALS, BORN, DEATH



ADVERTISING

1984 Clara Peller 1st asks, "Where's the Beef?"

WAR!

1861 US forts & property seized by Mississippi.

1861 Florida becomes 3rd state to secede from US.

1861 Fort Jackson & Fort Philip are taken over by Los Angeles state troops.

1862 Battle of Big Sandy River KY (Middle Creek).

1862 Battle of Romney WV.

1863 General McClernand's Union troops surround Fort Hindman AR.

1900 Lord Roberts & Lord Kitchener reach Capetown.

1916 Russian offensive in Kaukasus.

1942 Japan invades North-Celebes, Dutch East Indies.

1943 1st US President to visit a foreign country in wartime-FDR leaves for Casablanca, Morocco.

1943 Russian offensive against German 6th/4th Armies near Stalingrad.

1944 British troops conquer Maungdaw, Burma.

1966 India & Pakistan sign peace accord.

TERRORISM

1969 Pirate Radio Station Free Derby begins operation by Northern Ireland.

DISASTERS

1883 Fire at uninsured Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee WI kills 71; General Tom Thumb of P T Barnum fame, escapes unhurt.

1947 Greek steamer "Himara" strikes a wartime mine in Saronic Gulf south of Athens with loss of 392 of 637 aboard.

1962 4,000 die in avalanche, Ranrahirca, Perú.

1962 Eruptions on Mount Huascaran in Peru destroy 7 villages & kill 3,500.

1973 Gas tank on Staten Island explodes, 40 die.

1984 Bulgarian Tupolev 134 crashes at Sofia airport in Bulgaria, 50 die.

DIPLOMACY

1920 League of Nations' 1st meeting, Treaty of Versailles in effect.

1951 UN headquarters opens in Manhattan NY.

1964 Panamá severs diplomatic relations with US.

1969 Sweden (1st Western country) recognizes North Vietnam.

1984 US establishes full diplomatic relations with Vatican after 117 years.

REBELLION

49-BC- Julius Cesar crosses the Rubicon, invades Italy.

1811 Louisiana slaves rebel in 2 parishes.

1863 January-uprising begins in Poland.

1981 El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "general offensive".

POLITICS

1776 "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, published.

1967 Lester Maddox inaugurated as Governor of Georgia.

SEIZURES

1923 Lithuania seizes & annexes country of Memel.

UNREST

1964 Battles between moslems & hindus in Calcutta.

ACCIDENTS

1993 - About 400 residents of Oakville, Man., were allowed to return home for the first time in three weeks. They had been forced from their homes after a train derailment spilled a load of toxic chemicals.

1997 Alvinio Misciano Italian tenor, killed in a fall from a window.

POPES

0236 St Fabian begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

0681 St Agatho ends his reign as Catholic Pope.

1890 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Sapientiae Christianae.

ORDERS

1429 Order of the Golden Fleece established in Austria-Hungary & Spain.

1430 Order of the Guilder forms.

LAWSUITS

1997 Dow Corning provides $2.95 billion to settle breast implant suits.

ANNULLED

1810 French church annuls marriage of Napoleon I & Joséphine.

PROGRESS

1839 Tea from India 1st arrives in UK.

1840 Penny Post mail system started.

1863 The London Underground, the oldest subway system in the world, opened 145 years ago today, in 1863. The first trains using steam locomotives that burned coke and later coal began running from Paddington to Farringdon in the City of London.

1911 1st photo in US taken from an airplane, San Diego.

1912 World's 1st flying boat's maiden flight, (Glenn Curtiss in NY).

1944 1st mobile electric power plant delivered, Philadelphia.

1945 Los Angeles Railway (with 5 streetcar lines) forced to close.

1946 UN General Assembly convenes for 1st time (London).

1951 1st jet passenger trip made.

POETS

1845 Poets Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning begin corresponding.

SPORTS

1957 Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick rules Bing Crosby can keep token stock in the Detroit Tigers, even though he owns part of Pittsburgh Pirates.

1996 Jimmy Johnson announced as new coach of Miami Dolphins.

MARRIAGE

1948 - Future country superstar Loretta Lynn married Oliver (Mooney) Lynn. She was not quite 14 years old.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

1870 John D Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

1901 Oil discovered at Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas.

1920 Silver reaches record $1.37 an ounce.

WOMEN

1878 US Senate proposes female suffrage.

1925 Miriam (Ma) Ferguson sworn in as Texas Governor, nation's 2nd woman governor.

EXILE

1928 Soviet Union orders exile of Leon Trotsky.

CARTOONS

1932 "Mickey Mouse" & "Silly Symphony" comics syndicated.

1932 "Pete the Tramp" cartoon strip by C D Russell debuts.

MOVIES

1935 Actress Mary Pickford marries actor Douglas Fairbanks.

JEWS

1941 Seyss-Inquart begins registration of Jews.

1947 British stop ships Independence & In-Gathering from landing in Israel.

1949 1st Jewish family show "The Goldbergs" premieres on CBS.

1979 1st brother Billy Carter makes allegedly anti-Semitic remarks.

1996 Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

SCIENCE

1946 US Army establishes 1st radar contact with Moon, Belmar NJ.

1969 USSR's Venera 6 launched for parachute landing on Venus.

1978 Soyuz 27 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station.

MUSIC

1949 RCA introduces 45 RPM record.

1956 Elvis records "Heartbreak Hotel".

1958 Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reaches #1 on the country and r&b charts, #2 on the pop chart.

RESIGNATION

1957 Anthony Eden resigns & Harold Macmillan becomes PM Britain.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1964 US version of "That Was The Week That Was" premieres.

1967 PBS (the National Educational TV) begins as a 70 station network.

1980 Last broadcast of "Rockford Files" on NBC.

1995 "Late Late Show" with Tom Snyder premieres on CBS at 12 30 AM.

1997 4,000th episode of "Entertainment Tonight".

CIVIL RIGHTS

1967 Edward Brooke, takes (Senator-R-MA) seat as 1st popular elected black.

1991 Japan ends routine fingerprinting of all adult ethnic Koreans.

1998 18th United Negro College Fund raises (re-broadcasted Jan 17th).

DRUGS

1990 NCAA approves random drug testing for college football players.

MARTIAL LAW

1990 China lifts martial law (imposed after Tiananmen Square massacre).

1991 US Congress begins debate on Persian Gulf crisis.

TRIALS

1994 Trial of Lorena Bobbitt who cut off her husband's penis, begins.

FREE TRADE

1994 Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan agrees to abolish trade tariffs.

BORN

1738 Ethan Allen Revolutionary War fighter (led the Green Mountain Boys)
1769 Michel Ney French marshal (Waterloo)
1834 John Acton English historian/MP
1864 George Washington Carver agricultural scientist (estimate date - actual birthdate unknown)
1883 Francis X Bushman Norfolk VA, silent film actor (Ben Hur, Spy's Defeat)
1904 Ray Bolger Dorchester MA, actor/dancer (Wizard of Oz)
1908 Bernard Lee London England, actor (M in James Bond movies)
1926 June Haver Mrs Fred MacMurray/actress (Dolly Sisters)
1927 Lee Philips Brooklyn NY, actor (Ellery Queen)
1928 Wallace Berry composer
1930 Byron "Wild Child" Gipson blues singer
1930 Roy E Disney CEO (Disney)
1938 Francis W "Frank" Mahovlich NHL Hall of Famer (Montréal Canadiens)
1938 Willie "Stretch" McCovey 1st baseman (San Francisco Giant #44)
1939 Bill Toomey Philadelphia PA, decathlon champ (Olympics-gold-1968)
1939 Sal Mineo New York City NY, actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause)
1940 Harry Gant NASCAR driver
1943 Jim Croce Philadelphia PA, singer/songwriter (Time in a Bottle, Bad Bad Leroy Brown)
1945 Frank Sinatra Jr Jersey City NJ, singer/bandleader (Golddiggers)
1945 Rod Stewart London England, singer (Maggie Mae, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy)
1946 Bob Lang rock bassist (Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders)
1948 Cyril Neville US singer/percussionist (Neville Bros-Yellow Moon)
1948 Donald Fagen Passaic NJ, rock vocalist/keyboardist (Steely Dan-Peg)
1948 William Sanderson Memphis TN, actor (Larry-Newhart, Deuce-Babylon 5, Blade Runner)
1949 Teresa Graves Houston TX, actress (Laugh-in, Get Christie Love)
1949 Walter S Browne US chess champion (1974-78, 1980-84)
1949 George Foreman Marshall TX, world heavyweight boxing champ (1973-74, 95)
1951 Kathleen Bradley Youngstown Oh, model (Price is Right)
1953 Bobby Rahal Indy-car racer (over 15 wins)
1953 Pat Benatar [Andrezejewski], Brooklyn NY, singer (Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Hell Is for Children)
1958 Shawn Colvin singer/guitarist
1959 Chandra Cheesborough Jacksonville FL, 4X100 runner (Olympics-gold-84)
1959 Don Letts rocker (Big Audio Dynamite)
1959 Kirk & Curtwood musician (Meat Puppets)
1968 Lyle Menendez NY, accused of killing his parents (Menendez Brothers)
1969 Doug E Doug rapper/comedian (Operation Dumbo Drop, Jungle Fever)
1979 Chris H E Smith [Daddy Mack], Atlanta, rapper (Kris Kross-Warm it Up)

DEATH

1824 Victor Emanuel I king of Sardinia (1802-21), dies at 64
1862 Samuel Colt inventor (6 shot revolver), dies at 47
1917 Buffalo Bill Cody army scout & Indian fighter, dies
1951 Harry Sinclair Lewis US writer (Nobel 1930), dies at 65
1957 Gabriela Mistral Chilean poet (Nobel Prize 1945), dies at 67
1961 Dashiell Hammett author (Maltese Falcon, Thin Man), dies from throat cancer at 66
1971 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel French fashion designer, dies at 87
1976 Howlin' Wolf singer/guitarist, dies following brain surgery at 65
1978 John D Rockefeller III US billionaire/philanthropist, dies at 71
1980 George Meany labor leader, dies at 85
1981 Richard Boone actor (Paladin-Have Gun Will Travel), dies at 63
1982 Paul Lynde comedian/actor (Uncle Arthur-Bewitched, Bye Bye Birdie, Bewitched), dies at 55
1994 Charles "Chub" Feeney baseball president (National League), dies at 72
1996 Arthur Sydney Martin spycatcher, dies at 81

January 10, the 10th day of 2008. There are 356 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[image: relentlessevilsnowflake]
Source: Today in History





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

India Eyes Nuclear Pakistan's Unrest: Nukes May Fall into Terrorists' Hands

Pakistan's nukes in the hands of terrorists has India--and other countries--uneasy.

Pakistanis aren't the only ones worried about the turmoil created by the state of emergency in the country. Amid rumors that the state of emergency may have been a move against President Musharaf, others are keeping a nervous eye on Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

India is closely watching events unfold--as well as al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

What could turn into an opportunity for terrorists could prove to be a nightmare for India or the United States. In short, any country worried about nuclear weapons in the hands of a small group with scores to settle.

More on this from the India Express:

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is teetering on the verge of chaos after the imposition of emergency and US officials fear that the result could be every American's nightmare -- nuclear material or know-how, or even a nuclear bomb, falling into the hands of terrorists.

"If you were to look around the world for where al-Qaeda is going to find its bomb, it's right in their backyard," Bruce Riedel, the former senior director for South Asia on the National Security Council, was quoted as saying by Newsweek.

Pakistan is caught between trying to keep order while at the same time presenting a face of democracy to the rest of the world. The United States has been putting pressure on Musharraf to increase rights, step down and restore democracy in the wake of Saturday's declaration of a state of emergency.

India and Pakistan have fought a string of wars since both received their independence from Britain in the late 1940s. Both India and Pakistan acquired nuclear weapons in the last 20 years--at least once it appeared they both might use them, before tensions cooled.

So India will continue to keep a close eye on her neighbor to the west.

At least, until things quiet down.

by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn
[image:awakenedwarrior]



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