Think of this not as a story about Apple, but about a commentary on Western culture and globalism.

kopoint:

Mike Daisey was a self-described “worshipper in the cult of Mac.” Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out.

Listen to the Episode -»

In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history. However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems. Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.

Full Story on the New York Times -»

Gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘grinding.’

abcnewsradio:

(DONGGUAN, China) — A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper. According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games.  A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son.  Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online games at an Internet cafe 30 km away.

(Source: abcnewsradioarchive)

abcnewsradio:

(BEIJING) — It’s an icon of Chinese heritage, the subject of many traditional poems and songs, the central ingredient of the country’s favorite tea. But with fear of revolution blossoming in China, authorities are cracking hard down on jasmine…as in, the actual flower. 

At the Sunhe Beidong Flower Market in Beijing, florist Liu Wei told ABC News that the police had visited vendors in March, asking them not to sell jasmine to people in bulk. She said that the police ordered them to tell anyone who wanted to buy a large quantity of the flower that it was out of stock and to ask for their name and contact information so as to contact the buyer when it was in stock. 

Since that meeting jasmine prices have tumbled 40 percent on last year, at least in part because of the ban. Other vendors at the market confirmed what Liu said about the meeting. 

It has been three months since anonymous calls for a jasmine revolution in China first appeared online. Though few protesters turned up at the called-for demonstrations, Chinese authorities cracked down hard, nervous in the wake of pro-democracy revolutions across the Middle East. 

Since February, more than 40 activists and dissidents have disappeared or have been put under house arrest. So-called “house churches,” churches that are not state-sanctioned, have been raided and their members detained. And foreign journalists have been harassed, with stringent rules limiting the scope of their reporting. 

Even video of President Hu Jintao singing the classic Chinese folk song “mo li hua,” an ode to the jasmine flower, during a visit to Kenya has been taken off the internet. 

More World News From ABC News Radio -»

(Source: abcnewsradioarchive)

Ben a busy week but here are a few stories the folks @abc and @abcnewsradio are working on:

Headlines from the @ABC News Wire

Companies Add 67K Workers, but Jobless Rate Rises

Police Question Scientist in Miami Airport Scare

Stocks Extend September Rally After Jobs Report

Thousands of Trucks Stuck in China Traffic Jam

Latest Gulf Oil Rig Problem Differs From BP Spill

Flooding on Outer Banks, Earl Heads for Northeast

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More Headlines from ABC News Radio

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