VICE News Capsule - Thursday, April 3
In today’s capsule: A Syrian woman in Lebanon lit herself on fire after the United Nations discontinued her aid, a prominent islamist was killed in Kenya, protests Over China’s Maritime Aggression in the Philippines and an explosion at Cairo University killed a high-ranking police officer.
The Smog of War: China Battles Pollution
China’s environmental problems have become such an embarrassment to its leadership that the country suddenly finds itself on a war footing. On Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang, the second-ranked political leader and head of economic policy, formally declared a “war on pollution” in a speech before the annual gathering of the National People’s Congress. The reform is welcome news, but overdue — and the outlook of the strategy Li outlined is about as clear as the morning sky on your run-of-the-mill, suffocating Beijing day.
Li called for the closure of 50,000 small coal-fired furnaces, the removal of 6 million old, emissions-belching vehicles from the streets, and new guidelines for air quality improvement in seriously affected northern Chinese cities. He described the state of Beijing’s air as “nature’s red-light warning against the model of inefficient and blind development.”
VICE on HBO: Episode 6 – Corruption
Segment 1: China’s Ghost Towns
Fifteen years ago, China changed its policy so people could buy their own homes. Real-estate investments boomed, and new cities began popping up each year, many inspired by western design and mimicking iconic locales like Paris and lower Manhattan. The problem is: people don’t live here. One ghost city in Inner Mongolia, built to house one million people, is now an empty shell of unoccupied skyscrapers and abandoned construction sites. VICE checks out this and other urban failures to figure out how China’s preoccupation with growing its GNP turned “supply and demand” into “build now, sell later.”
Segment 2: Egypt on the Brink
Over two years ago, Arab Spring climaxed in the overthrow of President Mubarek in Egypt. But for many Egyptians, the situation has actually gotten worse, as has the man who replaced Mubarek: Mohamed Morsi, elected under the radical Muslim Brotherhood banner. VICE visits the embattled streets of Cairo, where opposition to Morsi has resulted in renewed mass protests and violence in Tahrir Square. Among those we meet: members of the Black Bloc, youthful revolutionaries who disguise themselves with hoods and scarfs while vowing to oust Morsi and destroy the Muslim Brotherhood.
VICE on HBO: Season 1, Episode 4
Segment 1: Chinese Cockblock
What happens when 50 million men can’t get laid? China’s “one child” policy, coupled with a longstanding cultural predilection for male babies, has created a market where marrying-age men outnumber women by the millions. The fabric of this social engineering has thrown old-fashioned courtship out the window and created a lucrative business catered to matchmaking. VICE travels across China to meet with bachelors searching for love, and talk to a professional matchmaker who explains the scope of the issue and tries to find a girlfriend for correspondent Thomas Morton.
Segment 2: European Meltdown
With their economy in the toilet and no jobs to be had, Europe’s youth are taking to the streets to demand radical changes. There has been a rise in extremism on both ends of the spectrum, as people respond to economic precarity and political impotency. VICE heads to Greece and Spain, two of the countries hardest hit by the financial crisis, to see how the youth are responding.