(Clearwisdom.net) (correspondent from Hunan Province) By order of Jiahe County court in Hunan Province, a group of policemen arrested Falun Dafa practitioners Mr. Guo Huisheng and his wife Li Jumei, a school teacher in Zhuquanwan, on the night of August 6, 2009. Mr. Guo was brutally beaten and died two months later, on October 12, 2009. His wife, Li Jumei, remains detained in prison.

Guo Huisheng Guo Huisheng in hospital emergency care, shortly before his death

During the past ten years of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Dafa, it has consistently implemented its policies of "Ruin them financially, ruin their reputation, and destroy them physically," with the aim of eradicating Falun Dafa. Mr. Guo and Ms. Li were trying to let more people know about the truth and magnificence of Dafa, but were met with arrest, detainment, hard labor and "re-education" (brainwashing). Ms. Li was sentenced many times. In early 2004, Mr. Guo and Ms. Li each had their wages stopped and were fined over 30,000 yuan (approximately 5 years' salary of an average urban worker) for practicing Falun Dafa. Mr. Guo was detained and sentenced to a men's forced labor camp once; Ms. Li was detained six times and sentenced to a women's forced labor camp twice, suffering a total economic loss of over 100,000 yuan. Ms. Li also had to endure a dozen or so different kinds of torture methods whilst in prison. These included being restricted from going to the toilet, being forced to stand up for long periods of time, sleep deprivation, being hung by the thumbs, being handcuffed with one arm behind the back and one behind the head, being forced to remain in awkward positions for long periods of time, beatings, and being pulled by the ears.

On July 6, 2009, policemen unlawfully detained practitioner Ms. Xiao Silan from Lanshan County, Hunan Province. She was imprisoned in Lanshan County detention center and has a fractured right arm after it had been twisted so much. To this day, she has not received the proper medical treatment for her arm. Mr. Guo and Ms. Li proceeded to call Xi Xiaogang, chief of the Public Security Bureau, Lanshan County, to appeal to his kindness. Instead, Xi Xiaogang reported them to the local 610 Office. Such an act of compassion was met with persecution from the Chenzhou District 610 Office, Jiahe County, Hunan Province.

On the night of August 6, 2009, a group of policemen arrested and detained Mr. Guo and Ms. Li. As their home was now empty, the police went there twice to confiscate their belongings. Those who witnessed the incident reported that at least six to seven sacks were full when they were taken from their home by the police. According to Mr. Guo Huisheng's older brother, several hundred thousand yuan in cash was at their home, which was intended for home improvements, and also taken by the police. Furthermore, four policemen, including Hu Yonghui, an instructor at the National Security military unit, severely beat Mr. Guo while he was handcuffed and kneeling down. Upon arrival at the local police station, Mr. Guo's face was covered in blood. According to eyewitnesses, at least four people dragged him out of the interrogation room, and he had blood stains all over his clothes.

On October 6, 2009, Mr. Guo fell into a coma in the Jiahe County Detention Center, and was sent to the local county hospital. After doctors operated on his head, Mr. Guo was still in a coma and had a faint heartbeat. He was in a critical condition. At 5 p.m. on October 12, 2009, Mr. Guo Huisheng's heart stopped beating.

Under the CCP's strict control of information, we do not know of every event that transpired during Mr. Guo's detainment. However, for a healthy, strong individual like Mr. Guo to be severely persecuted to the point of death is enough evidence to prove that the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong is cruel beyond human nature.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

 

By Mail Foreign Service

Chinese weather scientists were embarrassingly caught out by a sudden cold snap yesterday.

They had decided to 'seed' clouds with chemicals to produce rain and ease a drought in Beijing.

The operation went exactly as they had hoped - except that temperatures dropped sharply and the precipitation fell as snow.

It kept going for half the day, blanketing the capital's streets and hitting air and road travel. It was the earliest snow in Beijing for ten years.

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Winter wonderland: Holding an ambrella, a biker protects himself as he rides by after a snow storm hit Beijing

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Timber! A scooter rider maneuvres to avoid snow-capped trees fallen on the road

It was helped by temperatures as low as -2C (29 Fahrenheit) and strong winds from the north, Xinhua news agency reported.

'We won't miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought,' the report quoted Zhang Qiang, head of the Beijing Weather Modification Office, as saying at the end of last week.

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Christmas scene... in China: A snow-capped pavilion

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Playtime: Children make the most of the snow

Chinese meteorologists have for years been honing the technique of making  rain by injecting special chemicals into clouds.

Although the technique often gets results, a drought in the north of the country has continued for over a decade.

Besides the snow, which the Beijing Evening News said was the earliest to hit the capital in 10 years, the cold weather and strong winds also delayed air travel from Beijing's Capital Airport.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1224475/China-overdoes-cloud-seeding-end-drought--blankets-Beijing-snow.html#ixzz0VvXBDWOI

 

Name: Li Xiuzhen (李秀珍)
Gender: Female
Age: In her 50s
Address: Caojiadougou Village, Linghe Town, Anqiu City, Shandong Province
Occupation: Linghe Town Nursery School Teacher
Date of Death: October 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 13, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jinan City Prison (济南监狱)
City: Anqiu
Province: Shandong
Persecution Suffered: Electric Shock, Sleep Deprivation, Forced Labor, Brainwashing, Illegal Sentencing, Beatings, Imprisonment, Torture, Forced-Feedings, Home Ransacked, Interrogation, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net)   Ms. Li Xiuzhen used to be in poor health, suffering from chronic migraines, stomach disease, gastroptosis and gynecological diseases. Her husband died in an accident, leaving her to rear their two children alone. After practicing Falun Dafa in 1998, Ms. Li's life changed to a positive cycle. She regained good health, and her mental outlook and morality were upgraded.

After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Li Xiuzhen went to Beijing three times to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. On the third trip, she was penniless and had to beg for food on her way to Beijing.

Ms. Li Xiuzhen was arrested 19 times, sent to forced labor, imprisoned for 7 years, and brutally force-fed 616 times. She endured more than a dozen tortures, but she still refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong. The guards used electric batons to shock her. However, she still talked to them about the wonderful benefits of Falun Gong. Ms. Li went on hunger strikes to protest the cruel beatings which occurred 5 or 6 times every day. The guards inserted a thick rubber tube into her nose to force-feed her. They deprived her of sleep for 28 days.

An object was used to keep Ms. Li 's eyes open, to prevent her from sleeping.

Ms. Li Xiuzhen was immobilized on a bed during brutal forced feedings.

Torture reenactments

By the end of 2002, Ms. Li could not walk. She was emaciated and weighed only 50 lbs. She was released when she was close to dying. Her daughter, 13 years, old passed out in shock upon seeing the sight of her mother.

Li Xiuzhen recovered, and later lived away from home for over 6 years to avoid being arrested again. On the afternoon of June 13, 2009, plainclothes police arrested her again. They tied her up with ropes and ransacked her rental unit. They took away 2 computers, 2 printers, cash and other belongings. No one knew of Ms. Li's whereabouts after the arrest.

Her family found out one month later that Ms. Li was detained in the Anqiu City Detention Center. She went on a hunger strike, and was brutally force-fed. She was later taken to a brainwashing center located in the Anqiu City Party Education School. Ms. Li was held in a brainwashing session especially set up for her, where she endured cruel torture. Her whereabouts were unknown again some time after that.

Many days after Li Xiuzhen died, her family saw her body in Jinan City Prison some time during the beginning of October 2009. The authorities ordered that her body be cremated soon after. The details of her brutal mistreatment in Jinan Prison are yet to be investigated. Over the past 10 years of persecution, 24 Falun Dafa practitioners in Anqiu City have died as result of the persecution.

The secrets of a lost city that may have inspired one of the world's most enduring myths – the fable of Atlantis – have been brought to light from beneath the waters off southern Greece.

Explored by an Anglo-Greek team of archaeologists and marine geologists and known as Pavlopetri, the sunken settlement dates back some 5,000 years to the time of Homer's heroes and in terms of size and wealth of detail is unprecedented, experts say.

"There is now no doubt that this is the oldest submerged town in the world," said Dr Jon Henderson, associate professor of underwater archaeology at the University of Nottingham. "It has remains dating from 2800 to 1200 BC, long before the glory days of classical Greece. There are older sunken sites in the world but none can be considered to be planned towns such as this, which is why it is unique."

The site, which straddles 30,000 square meters of ocean floor off the southern Peloponnese, is believed to have been consumed by the sea around 1000 BC. Although discovered by a British oceanographer some 40 years ago, it was only this year that marine archaeologists, aided by digital technology, were able to properly survey the ruins.

What they found surpassed all expectations. Thanks to shifting sands and the settlement's enclosure in a protected bay, the exploration revealed a world of buildings, courtyards, main streets, rock-cut tombs and religious structures. In addition, the seabed was replete with thousands of shards of pottery.

"We found ceramics dating back to the end of the stone age, which suggested that the settlement was occupied some 5,000 years ago, at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thought," said Henderson, who co-directed the underwater survey.

"Our investigations also revealed over 9,000 square meters of new buildings. But what really took us by surprise was the discovery of a possible megaron, a monumental structure with a large rectangular hall, which also suggests that the town had been used by an elite, and automatically raised the status of the settlement."

More than any other underwater site so far, the find offers potential insights into the workings of Mycenaean society.

"It is significant because as a submerged site it was never reoccupied," said Elias Spondylis, who co-directed the survey as the head of Greece's underwater antiquities department. "As such it represents a frozen moment of the past."

Marine geologists have yet to work out why the settlement sank. Theories include sea level changes, ground subsidence as the result of earthquakes, or a tsunami.

"It is very likely a combination of the first two," said Dimitris Sakellariou, at the Greek Institute of Oceanography. "As the world's oldest submerged city it is truly amazing. It not only shows how people lived at the time is also of great interest to natural scientists because the waters around it are so shallow."

Locals in the nearby town of Neapolis are delighted. "Older generations always knew something was there but we had no idea about the extent of it," said Neapolis's mayor, Yiannis Kousoulis.

It is the first time a sunken city has been found in Greece that predates the time that Plato wrote his allegorical tale of the sunken continent of Atlantis.

"Atlantis was a myth but it is a myth that keeps underwater exploration going," said Sakellariou. "Less than 1% of the world's ocean floors have ever been surveyed. This is an extraordinary find but there is still a lot more down there that has to be found."

 

Name: Liu Laibin (刘来彬)
Gender: Male
Age: 67
Address: Yingkou City, Liaoning Province
Occupation: Retired from Yingkou City Boiler Factory
Date of Death: October 10, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 24, 2003
Most Recent Place of Detention: Yingkou City Prison (营口监狱)
City: Yingkou
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Sleep Deprivation, Brainwashing, Illegal Sentencing, Beatings, Imprisonment, Torture, Interrogation, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Liaoning Province) Mr. Liu Laibin used to have a stomach disorder, phlebitis, and lung disease. He began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997, and all his illnesses disappeared. He disciplined himself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and treated others kindly.

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, the local police and community workers constantly harassed him when he went home, and they arrested him and once sent him to a brainwashing center.

On June 24, 2003, Mr. Liu was doing business in front of the Jianfeng Market in Zhanqian District, Yingkou City. Several officers from the Desheng Police Station arrested and detained him in the Yingkou City Detention Center, where he was brutally beaten by other prisoners. Guard Yi Zhaoyun would not allow Mr. Liu to do the exercises or speak. He forced Mr. Liu to do more than 10 hours of labor, and he often had to work overtime and into the night. He had very little sleep, and prisoners were forced to be on night watch duty where they would take turns watching his cell.

During his detention, the Zhanqian District Procuratorate charged Mr. Liu with "crimes undermining the execution of the law". They put Mr. Liu on trial on December 5, 2003, and sentenced him to five years in prison on December 23, 2003. He was taken to Yingkou City Prison in February 2004.

Upon entering Yingkou City Prison, guards instructed prisoners to force Mr. Liu to write statements to accept the brainwashing. He was once locked in a small cell (1) for four days, forced to sit on a small stool that was only one inch wide, and deprived of sleep for 24 hours. Mr. Liu's life was in danger twice, but the prison refused to release him. He was finally released after his five year term ended in June 2008. He died at around 9:00 a.m. on October 10, 2009.

(1) The detainee is locked up in a very small cell individually. The guards handcuff practitioners behind the back in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to urinate and defecate in the cell. Only half of a regular meal is served to detainees locked up in a small cell during the daytime. During the night the rats run around. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

By Fiona Macrae

Many children's breakfast cereals contain more sugar than a doughnut while others are saltier than crisps, research shows.

At least seven of the most popular breakfast brands were found to be laden with more sugar than a doughnut bought in Tesco.

One of the worst offenders was Kellogg's Frosties with 11.1g of sugar in a 30g serving - almost three teaspoons per small bowl.

In contrast the doughnut, which many would perceive as being less healthy, had just 8.6g of sugar, an investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches found.

High levels are also found in Nestle Cookie Crisp, 'the chocolatey cookie crisp cereal that children love'. It has 10.59g of sugar per 30g serving.

Nestle's Nesquik, billed as 'irresistible for kids', and the firm's Honey Cheerios also have more than two 4g teaspoons of sugar per bowl. So do Sugar Puffs and Kellogg's Coco Pops and Honey Loops.

The figures are for the cereal only, before any more sugar or milk is added at home.

Other cereals do badly in the salt stakes with a 30g bowl of Kellogg's Corn Flakes containing more than a bag of Walker's ready-salted crisps.

Earlier this year, an investigation by consumer watchdog Which? concluded that the vast majority of children's breakfast cereals offer 'poor nutrition'.

The data will horrify millions of parents who give their children cereal for breakfast, believing it is the healthiest way to start the day.

It also suggests that even seemingly healthy foods are fuelling the obesity crisis.

Despite many parents failing to recognise their children have a weight problem, a third of youngsters are too heavy for their height.

If the trend continues, two-thirds will be overweight or obese by 2050, putting them at risk of a host of conditions including diabetes, heart disease, infertility and some cancers.

Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, told Dispatches: 'The level of childhood obesity is quite astonishing in the UK. We have one of the worst rates in Europe.

'And it really is quite atrocious that we have now developed a society that expects to shovel sugar into children when in fact no nutritionists would advocate that was good for them.'

Too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

The Breakfast Cereals Information Service, which represents manufacturers, said cereals are high in vitamins, minerals and fibre, low in fat and have numerous health benefits.

Adviser Dr Clare Leonard said the salt and sugar in cereals accounts for just 5 per cent of a person's daily intake. Dispatches: What's in Your Breakfast Cereal? is at 8pm tonight on Channel 4.

 

Name: Wang Guanghui (王广辉)
Gender: Male
Age: 62
Address: Shaoyang City, Hunan Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: September 22, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Unknown
Most Recent Place of Detention: Unknown
City: Shaoyang
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, Home Ransacked, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net)  Mr. Wang Guanghui, 62, lived in Shaoyang City, Hunan Province. He began practicing Falun Gong in 1996, and has since benefited significantly, both physically and mentally. He later gradually introduced the practice to his family members and friends.

After July 20, 1999, when the persecution began, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media produced an endless stream of propaganda to slander Falun Gong. Facing pressure from every direction, Mr. Wang did not waver or diminish his belief. He persisted in practicing Falun Gong. As a result, he was detained four times and his home was searched many times. He was severely injured physically and mentally.

On September 20, 2002, Mr. Wang was arrested. Due to the mistreatment he suffered, he became very thin. His diabetes recurred with complications, and he developed renal failure. Even so, the police officers still ordered his family to give them a ransom of 10,000 yuan. At that time, his wife was detained in a forced labor camp. His parents and parents-in-law were all elderly, with two of them being seriously ill. During the Chinese New Year, other families reunited, but his family was broken apart.

The last time he was detained was for more than five months. Mr. Wang was detained a total of four times, and his wife was detained five times and sentenced to forced labor several times.

During the past ten years, Mr. Wang and his family have lived under the CCP's threats and persecution. As a result, Mr. Wang fell ill and was hospitalized, and he passed away on the night of September 22, 2009.

http://www.usatoday.com By Bruce Horovitz,

Haagen-Dazs launched an ice cream line this year dubbed and marketed as Five for its five ingredients milk, cream, sugar, eggs and one natural flavor, such as mint.                                     Simple is better. This could be 2010's most powerful marketing mantra. If 2009's hottest sales pitch was all about buying stuff on the cheap, 2010 marketing will increasingly stress less as more, as in fewer parts, additives or ingredients. While the trend is taking hold in many product categories, including health and beauty items, nowhere is it more apparent than with things we eat and drink. This may be more marketing magic than reality. How can a product made by Kraft, Campbell's or Dreyer's be made to sound as simply healthy as something made fresh in your kitchen? "One way to spin this is talk about how few ingredients your product contains," says Tom Vierhile, product analyst at researcher Datamonitor. Companies that offer products with the fewest number of ingredients compared with rivals stand to win big in 2010, says Lynn Dornblaser, trends guru at Mintel. Mintel has tracked decreases this year in the average number of ingredients in 19 product categories including dairy products, processed meats and even pet foods. Consumers these days not only want to know what's in the stuff they eat and drink — they want to know what's not. In a nation bedeviled by a whirlwind of food scares and mounting worries about the healthiness of a plethora of things commonly used in processed foods, folks increasingly are demanding cleaner food labels: no artificial food colorings (some of which have been linked to hyperactivity in children), no chemical additives (such as MSG) and no chemical preservatives (such as BHA). If they can't pronounce it, consumers don't want it. The new marketing code word being used to boast about fewer ingredients: simple. From 2005 to 2008, there's been a 64.7% increase in new products using the words "simple" or "simply" in the product or brand name, reports researcher Datamonitor. In 2010, products that tout simplified labels will be more sought after than those clinging to the formerly hot buzzwords "organic" or "natural," says Dornblaser. At its simplest, simple sells. "The food business has always been ingenious at turning any criticism into a new way to sell food to us," says Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. The best-selling book popularized the notion of buying only foods with five or fewer ingredients. "As soon as you stress fewer ingredients, you're implying that the food is healthy." New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle has long-advised folks to eat mostly minimally processed food: items with ingredients as close to raw — and in their natural state — as is safe. Typically, that also means fewer ingredients. "Any trend towards less processing is good," she says. But fewer ingredients in high-sugar, high-salt or high-fat items such as ice cream, cookies or chips isn't what she had in mind. When it comes to healthy eating, she is talking about five ingredients in a loaf of bread — not a box of cookies. Simplifying such snack foods "is savvy marketing that consumers are buying right into," Nestle says. Perhaps that's why Häagen-Dazs launched an ice cream line this year dubbed and marketed as simply Five for its five ingredients — milk, cream, sugar, eggs and one natural flavor, such as mint. Also this summer, Starbucks rejiggered its entire food menu primarily with an eye toward simplifying the items' ingredients. Beech-Nut touts "No Junk" on its new Let's Grow line of toddler foods. From the marketers' kitchen Few are talking louder about simplifying ingredients than Häagen-Dazs. But its red-hot Five ice cream line did not come from a breakthrough in its new product lab. Five was born in the marketing department of parent company Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream. Early in 2008, Ching-Yee Hu, a self-proclaimed foodie and brand manager at the company, observed a consumer focus group meeting that convinced her it was time for Häagen-Dazs to create a line with an absolute minimum of ingredients. At the gathering in San Francisco, one of Häagen-Dazs' strongest markets, a panelist mentioned that when he shopped recently, he found himself comparing a bag of potato chips that had 20 ingredients with a bag that had three. He said the bag with the short list was the obvious choice. "As he told this story, I could see all the other consumers in the room nodding their heads in agreement. And I wondered: Why can't we bring ice cream down to the bare minimum?" Hu recalls. Lots of names were considered for the line, including Simple and Simply Häagen-Dazs. "But if you use the word 'simple,' what does that really mean?" asks Hu. By naming the line Five, "We're forcing ourselves to be true to who we are." The line rolled out in March with seven flavors. The marketing campaign included an online chat asking folks about the five most essential things they want to do in their lives. The response was so strong that it crashed the servers at Dreyer's within two hours. Häagen-Dazs also opted to list the ingredients on the front of the package. Although executives won't detail sales, the line already accounts for 10% of the brand's business, says Gulbin Hoeberechts, brand director. The "repeat rates" of first-time buyers coming back to buy the Five line are exceeding the industry average by 30%. Executives are considering extending the Five line with other sizes and other forms of ice cream. That suits Joel Vancil, an alarm-monitoring technician from Seattle. Vancil is a big fan of Five. "If you're going to eat ice cream, it might as well not contain all the junk that's usually in ice cream," he says. Vancil and his girlfriend have plowed through about 10 pints of Five's mint flavor since spring. "We have to contain ourselves not to buy more," he says. Among other familiar food names adding to the trend: •Starbucks. Five years ago, consumers started asking Starbucks for healthier foods, says Sarah Osmer, director of health and wellness at the chain. Last year, the company began to study in the food lab how to improve quality. Its banana bread, for example, had been made with 15 ingredients. But food scientists have slimmed that to 10. One way: Stop using banana flavoring. "We can just put more bananas in and do the same job," Osmer says. When the revamped food line was rolled out earlier this year, baristas handed out samples of the new banana bread along with index cards listing the ingredients. "It's so real, you'd want to make it at home," Osmer says. This same thinking was applied last year to a Starbucks beverage. Vivanno, the fruit smoothie line, now comes with four ingredients: milk, juice, banana and natural protein fiber powder. As Häagen-Dazs did for Five, ads for Vivanno listed the ingredients. "In the past it had always been about romancing. Now it's about us telling you exactly what's in it," Osmer says. •Kraft. At the nation's largest processed-food maker, many products have lots of ingredients. But its Triscuit cracker brand has embraced the less-is-more trend. What's in the box: wheat, salt and oil. This year, it began replacing palm oil with healthier soybean oil. And Triscuit marketing and labeling spell out the specific whole-grain wheat: soft white winter wheat. "Consumers want all the details you can provide on ingredients," says Jim Low, marketing director at Kraft Foods. "They want us to be more transparent." Even the package design has been simplified in earth-tone colors. Something's working. Triscuit had a double-digit sales increase in the second quarter of 2009. At the same time, the Back to Nature line that Kraft acquired in 2003 continues to limit the ingredients in products. Its Triple Ginger cookie due in January will be about as simple as it can be: whole-grain wheat, cane juice, crystallized ginger, ground ginger and ginger extract. That's it. "The more specific and less airy we are about ingredients in our food, the more people respond," says Dan Anglemyer, the line's senior brand manager. •Campbell. Campbell's most popular soup, Chicken Noodle, has a lengthy ingredient list with items such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) and sodium phosphates. But its Select Harvest line limits the number of ingredients — and spells out what each one is. Campbell spoke with hundreds of Select Harvest's key customers — women over age 35 — and found "they want more transparency and simplicity in the foods they eat," says Sean Connolly, president at Campbell USA. For example, maltodextrin is found in soups in both its Chunky and Select Harvest lines. For Select Harvest, Campbell provides a simple description of what it is: a carbohydrate from potato or corn starch. It provides no such explanation on Chunky soups. Also, caramel color is used in some Campbell's soups but not in Select Harvest, because the line does not use artificial colorings. •Beech-Nut. When Beech-Nut rolled out the Let's Grow toddler foods late last year, it put a "No Junk" promise on the container and in its marketing. That means no added sugars, modified starches or fillers, says Dennis Warner, vice president of marketing. "We don't put in any ingredients that moms might not know what they mean," he says. Simple for Fido, too Even pets aren't immune. Natura Pet Products makes four premium pet-food lines. Its California Natural dog and cat foods have the shortest ingredient list of any pet food on the market, claims President Don Scott. For example, its Lamb Meal & Rice dry dog food lists just nine ingredients. By comparison, many dry dog foods include food colorings, artificial preservatives and corn gluten meal as a filler. California Natural, whose tagline is "pure and simple," is priced at about $40 for a 30-pound bag. Since simplifying the packaging last year — and stressing the short ingredient list — California Natural has become the company's fastest-growing line. "It's surprised us," says Scott. "And not a lot surprises us here."

 

Name: Guo Huisheng (郭会生 )
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Employee of the Legal System Office in Jiahe County, Hunan Province
Date of Death: October 12, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 6, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Local detention center
City: Jiahe County
Province: Hunan Province
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, Home Ransacked, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net)  Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Guo Huisheng was an employee of the Legal System Office in Jiahe County, Hunan Province. His wife Ms. Li Jumei works at the Zhuquanwan Elementary School. They wrote a letter to Xi Xiaogang, Director of the Lanshan County Police Department, to request the release of fellow practitioner Ms. Xiao Silan. As a result, they suffered brutal persecution from the local 610 Office and National Security Bureau. On the night of August 6, 2009, they were arrested by a group of police officers. Their home was searched twice when no one was home. Mr. Guo's hands were handcuffed behind his back, and he was held to the ground and beaten by Hu Yonghui, political head of the local National Security Bureau, and three other police officers. When he was brought to the police station, there was blood all over his head and face.

On October 6, 2009, he fell into a coma in the detention center, and was taken to the People's Hospital in Jiahe County for emergency treatment. After brain surgery, he remained in a coma. He had a faint heartbeat, but remained unconscious.

It was confirmed that he passed away at 5:00 a.m. on October 12, 2009 in the hospital. His wife is still being detained.

 

LONG-term mobile phone users could face a higher risk of developing cancer in later life, according to a decade-long study.

The report, to be published later this year, has reportedly found that heavy mobile use is linked to brain tumours.

The survey of 12,800 people in 13 countries has been overseen by the World Health Organisation.

Preliminary results of the inquiry, which is looking at whether mobile phone exposure is linked to three types of brain tumour and a tumour of the salivary gland, have been sent to a scientific journal.

The findings are expected to put pressure on the British Government – which has insisted that mobile phones are safe – to issue stronger warnings to users.

 

Name: Jin Yingdan (金英丹)
Gender: Female
Age: 50
Address: Longjing City, Yanbina Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province
Occupation: Retail clothing sales
Date of Death: October 5, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Longjing City Detention Center (龙井看守所)
City: Longjing
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Sleep Deprivation, Torture, Home Ransacked, Interrogation, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Jilin Province) Ms. Jin Yingdan was of Korean ethnicity. She had many sicknesses before cultivating Falun Dafa. She became healthy and kind after becoming a practitioner. She was a cheerful employee, selling clothes in a privately owned fashion store

In April 2009, officers from Longmen Street Police Station and Longjing City Police Department stormed into her work place. They took her Dafa books and bills with truth clarifying words on them. They arrested Ms. Jin and tortured her when she was in custody at the police compound. They deprived her of food and sleep. Later, they took her to the Longjing City Detention Center.

On the fifth day, Ms. Jin's condition was critical. The doctors said she could die at any time and persuaded the police to release her. Ms. Jin could not rest much at home because the police often came to her door to harass her. She suffered from tremendous mental pressure and died on October 5, 2009.

 

Name: Zhang Liyun (张理郧)
Gender: Male
Age: 85
Address: Shuanghulu Community, Huixing Street, Yubei District, Chongqing City
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: September 26, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 18, 2009
Most recent place of detention: Huixing Police Station (回兴派出所)
City: Chongqing
Persecution Suffered: Home Ransacked, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhang Liyun, 85, had been a Falun Gong practitioner for more than ten years and always forged ahead diligently. After the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong, he overcame the inconvenience of old age and often distributed Falun Gong fliers and clarified the facts about Falun Gong.

Around 11 a.m. on June 18, 2009, while he was promoting Falun Gong around the Shuanghulu Community, he was arrested by eight officers from the Huixing Police Station. He kept explaining about the persecution of Falun Gong to the officers, and at 6 p.m. on the same day, he was released. Only after he returned home did he learn that the police had searched his home and seized portraits of the founder of Falun Dafa, Dafa books and materials, his ID card, a cellphone, and other items.

Several days later, he went to the police station to demand the return of his cell phone, but the officers railed at him. About a month later, without going through any legal proceedings, the police station officials issued a sentence of "one year of forced labor to be served outside the labor camp under surveillance."

Due to persecution by the CCP, this 85-year-old man's health became worse and worse. He developed bladder stones and went into renal failure. Medical treatment was ineffective. He passed away on September 26, 2009.

 

 

Name: Yan Guangbi (严光碧)
Gender: Female
Age: In her 50s
Address: Family housing inside Chongqing City 18^th Middle School
Occupation: Retired teacher employed by Mitingzi Elementary School in the Jiangbei District
Date of Death: October 3, 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 29, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Chongqing City Shabao Women Labor Camp (重庆市沙堡女子劳教所)
City: Chongqing
Persecution Suffered: Forced Labor, Beatings, Solitary Confinement, Torture, Home Ransacked, Interrogation, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Chongqing) Ms. Yan Guangbi was a Falun Gong practitioner in Chongqing. Her husband is a practitioner employed by the Chongqing City 18^th Middle School, which includes both junior and senior high. They both firmly kept their faith after the persecution began on July 20, 1999, and were consequently arrested and detained many times. Ms. Yan was detained several times and was forced to go through brainwashing three times. She had to leave home for more than a year to avoid being arrested. Due to being brutally mistreated in brainwashing sessions in the Chongqing City Women's Forced Labor Camp, she lost sight in both eyes. Her husband, Mr. Chen Changjun, was sentenced to forced labor two different times. As a result of torture, he had to use crutches after he was released.

On April 21, 2008, at 5:00 p.m., the police stormed into Ms. Yan's home, arrested her, and took her to a forced labor camp. She soon appeared to suffer uremia due to being brutally mistreated and was sent home. Blind in both eyes, she was closely watched at home.

On April 25, 2009, Ms. Yan went to Chengdu City with her husband to sit in on the trial of Mr. Chen's younger brother, Mr. Chen Changyuan, who was on trial for practicing Falun Gong. The next day, the 18^th Middle School CCP secretary, Xiong Kerong, deceived their daughter, Chen Yan, into going to her parents' home and opening the door. When they found the couple was gone, they ordered Ms. Chen to call all her relatives to inquire about the couple's whereabouts.

When the couple arrived at the Chengdu City High-tech Zone Court on April 29, 2009, the CCP was waiting,and surrounded them. They did not allow them to sit in on the trial and detained them in the Appeal's Office. They escorted the couple back to Chongqing City immediately after the trial ended.

Ms. Yan was sentenced to forced labor again and taken to Chongqing Shabao Women's Forced Labor Camp. She was released for medical treatment and was then rushed to the hospital for emergency care. The police were still closely monitoring her when she was in the hospital. She died on the morning of October 3, 2009, in Chongqing 324 Hospital. Her husband is still being closely watched 24 hours a day at home.

 

Name: Ge Lijun (葛利军)
Gender: Male
Age: 33
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: June 2009
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Between March and April of 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Changji City Force Labor Camp (昌吉劳教所)
City: Changji
Province: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Persecution Suffered: Electric Shock, Sleep Deprivation, Forced Labor, Brainwashing, Beatings, Torture, Extortion, Dismissed from College, Interrogation, Detention

(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Xinjiang) Mr. Ge Lijun was a college student, but he was dismissed from school due to his practice of Falun Gong. He had to move around to avoid being arrested. In the past ten years of persecution, Mr. Ge was sent to the Changji City Forced Labor Camp three times for a total of six years.

In 2000, Mr. Ge was arrested and sentenced to three years of forced labor. In January 2001, inside the Changji Labor Camp, Mr. Ge sat meditating, and he was tortured with electric baton shocks in his sensitive spots by wardens Zhang Yan and Gu Jianhai. The guards ordered prisoners to beat and insult practitioners and arranged two prisoners to closely watch each practitioner around the clock. The practitioners were forced to labor for up to 20 hours per day, while being cursed, slapped, and having their backs hit with bricks.

Soon after he was released, Mr. Ge was arrested again in Hutubi City in 2003 by State Security agents. He was sent to the Changji Labor Camp again with a two-year term in August 2003.

Between March and April 2007, Wang Mingyu, a person planted by the police, deceived Mr. Ge into going to the Urumqi City Train Station. Police officers from Manas City and Tianshan District State Security agents arrested Mr. Ge and took more than 10,000 yuan in cash and his MP3 player from him. They sent Mr. Ge to the Changji Labor Camp a third time with another two-year term.

In March 2009, Mr. Ge was finally released, but due to long time brutal mistreatment, his four limbs were so stiff that he could not stretch out his arms or open his hands. His family took him to many hospitals, but the hospital administrators refused to take him in because police and 610 Office agents ordered them to turn him away. Mr. Ge died in June 2009.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

By Kate Loveys

Many have long suspected their diligent recycling may not actually be worth the effort.

And these extraordinary pictures seem to back up their very fears.

Residents of this cul-de-sac had clearly taken the time to sort their glass, cans, plastic and paper recycling into separate boxes.

The scheme was brought in last summer when the council in Croydon, South London, introduced fortnightly collections.

Tipping point: The worker is shown to tip all three, sorted bins into one container before consigning it all to landfill

So residents were understandably furious when a binman tipped the recycling box contents into a wheelie bin which was then dumped into the back of a dustcart.

And to add insult to injury, the vehicle boasted a sign stating: 'My next stop is landfill! Think before you throw.'

The shocking sequence was caught on camera by Darren Bagshaw, 37, who claims the binmen have carried out the same routine for the past three months.

Mr Bagshaw said: 'Regardless of their excuses we are still forced to make sure that we separate our rubbish.

"It takes a lot of time and it makes me really mad to think that it's pointless.

'Why on earth should we bother to do it when they just lump it all together again?

'It stinks of hypocrisy just like our bins stink in the summer because the council insists on fortnightly collections.'

Mr Bagshaw, a photographer, and his photography student girlfriend Charlotte Shaw, used to have their rubbish collected by a lorry with separate compartments for different waste and recycling.

They initially assumed the new system was a one-off but complained after it went on for months.

Last night Doretta Cocks, from the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection, insisted: 'At the very least the council is setting a bad example.

'It has imposed fortnightly collections but it clearly can't properly deal with them, whilst expecting householders to abide by their rules for no apparent reason.'

Committed: A council worker empties bottles at a recycling centre. The Government has pledged to recycle 40 per cent of household waste by 2011

And shadow local government minister Bob Neill said: 'Across the country there is evidence that recycling collections are going in landfill.

'This must be tackled otherwise it will undermine public confidence.'

Croydon Council contracts Veolia Environnement to collect waste and recycling.

Malcolm Kendall, head of recycling and waste management at the council, admitted the signage on the lorry was misleading.

However he claimed its contents did not end up in a landfill, but were separated again at a recycling centre.

He said the binmen had swapped to a smaller lorry without separate compartments after problems with traffic and parked cars in Mr Bagshaw's cul-de-sac.

The smaller lorries were solely used for domestic waste until three months ago. Two of them are now used to collect recyclables from around 50 narrow roads in the area.

Mr Kendall said: 'Veolia has a outlet for a guaranteed small amount of this type of mixed recycling and we can assure residents that all their dry recyclables are sent to a recycling processing facility.'

Earlier this week, the council wrote to local residents seeking to assure them that their recycling did not end up on a landfill.

The letter states: 'I have now arranged for the landfill signage to be removed from both of the narrow access vehicles used by Veolia so as to avoid any further confusion to yourselves or other residents elsewhere.'

Councils across Britain are committed to recycling 40 per cent of household waste by 2011.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1216162/Why-bother-Residents-sort-rubbish-boxes--dumped-together.html#ixzz0UIls0FMs

(Clearwisdom.net) (By a correspondent from Hunan Province)  Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Yu Yong was previously employed by Hunan Province Eighth Water Power Bureau. He quit his job, and worked as a handyman repairing water power equipment.

In December 2005, he explained to people the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution, and passed out informational materials. He was reported for doing this, and arrested. The police ransacked his home, took his home appliances that were newly purchased before his wedding, as well as his older brother's computer and printer. Local officer Chen Yibin (also appointed as a 610 Office agent) and Chen Yiming, Changsha County 610 Office chair, harassed his family multiple times, threatened them, and tried to extort several thousand yuan from them.

In May 2006, Mr. Yu was sent to Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp for a one year term. During his incarceration, he firmly held onto his faith, did not give in , and was thus cruelly tortured and injected with unknown drugs. He developed high blood pressure, with a systolic reading of 200 mm.

In May 2007, he was released, but was very weak. His wife did not work, his aging mother was ill, and he had a six year-old daughter, so he worked in Ningxiang County to support the family.

On August 3, 2008, Changsha County 610 Office agents detained him in Changsha County Detention Center, using the excuse of "Olympic safety." After that, Mr. Yu felt sick and depressed. He died during his sleep on the night of February 15, 2009, at home. His face, ears, and feet were purple, causing his family to suspect that one of the unknown drugs he was injected with had killed him. But they dared not take any action to investigate.

 

(wikipedia)

 

 

Antonín Leopold Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer of Romantic music, who employed the idioms and melodies of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. His works include operas, symphonic, choral and chamber music. His best-known works include his New World Symphony, the Slavonic Dances, "American" String Quartet, and Cello Concerto in B minor.

Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: his nine symphonies generally stick to classical models that Beethoven would have recognised, but he also worked in the newly developed symphonic poem form and the influence of Richard Wagner is apparent in some works. Many of his works also show the influence of Czech folk music, both in terms of rhythms and melodic shapes; perhaps the best known examples are the two sets of Slavonic Dances.

 

Click the links below to watch Dvorak's Symphony Number 5, on YouTube:

 

Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsnTjgIlJ3A&feature=related

Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGS-mzfO1J0&feature=related

Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLQ79NLqqMM&feature=related

Part 4 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkpKJAJ2PgQ&feature=related

Part 5 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7WmVHR68I&feature=related

 

October 13, 2009

China's leaders meant for the celebrations on Oct. 1 to remind the world of their country's growing power and importance. But the 60th anniversary of the communist revolution, which Nina Hachigian wrote about in her Sept. 30 Times Op-Ed article, should also remind us of something else: The Chinese Communist Party is still very much an authoritarian regime whose nature remains quite the same as when Mao Tse-tung brutalized the nation.

I should know. About four months ago, my mother, Yao-Hua Li, and sister, Yi-Bo Zhang, were abducted by Chinese police officers simply because of their spiritual beliefs.

Just as millions of Chinese citizens did in the 1990s, my family embraced the Buddhist spiritual discipline of Falun Gong. The practice combines meditation and a moral philosophy based on the principles of truth, compassion and tolerance. It enabled my mother to find relief from severe back pains and gave us all a more positive outlook on life.

The Chinese Communist Party, however, viewed the growing spiritual movement as a threat and banned the Falun Gong faith in 1999. Since then, international observers have reported that more than 100,000 Falun Gong adherents have been sent to forced-labor camps, and thousands have been tortured (many to death) because they refused to recant their beliefs.

Though I had feared that my family members in China could be victimized under this persecution, I had assumed they were safe. After all, my mother has Hong Kong residency, and my sister was a successful financial manager with a well-known international corporation. I thought this would give them some level of protection.

I was wrong.

On June 4, exactly 20 years to the day after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, my mother and sister were taken from their home in Shanghai and sent to jail for no other reason than the fact that they practice the Falun Gong faith. They still haven't been charged with a crime or brought to trial (even if they do get a trial, it would be a farce). I searched high and low in Shanghai, a city of more than 20 million people, and I could not find one lawyer with the courage to take their case.

Their fate will be determined by the local 610 Office, a Gestapo-like organization charged with persecuting Falun Gong adherents.
My family is not alone in our suffering. According to the U.S. State Department's 2008 country report on human rights, Falun Gong adherents are estimated to make up as much as half of China's labor camp population. They also account for two-thirds of the torture cases in China, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

All around the world, people and governments look to the United States for leadership on human rights. This is precisely why lawmakers and business leaders need to keep the countless number of people such as my mother and sister in mind when engaging with China's leaders.

The values of human rights and freedom are not just American values; they are universal. A relationship can only be healthy and long-lasting when it is built on shared values, not just shared interests, which are temporary and ever-changing.

This is why I am very thankful that 77 members of Congress, including California Reps. Maxine Waters, Ed Royce, Darrell Issa, Duncan D. Hunter, Dana Rohrabacher and Adam Schiff, have co-sponsored HR 605, which recognizes the ongoing persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement and calls for an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison and torture its practitioners.
The resolution is being reviewed by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which is chaired by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village). There are millions of people suffering persecution in China, not just my family and not just Falun Gong adherents. Every single one of them would join me in my hope for Congress to pass this resolution.

After his trip to China in August, Berman described Chinese officials as being "very open" to expanding human rights in their country. For the sake of my family and so many others, I hope he supports HR 605 and takes advantage of the openness to which he attests. My mother and sister are waiting.