China's State-owned Sinochem Corporation, one of the world's top 500 companies, had profits of more than eight billion yuan (US.1 billion) in 2007, up 95 percent over the previous year, the firm said on its web site.The Beijing-headquartered company didn't elaborate on these figures. Preliminary estimates showed that revenue topped 200 billion yuan, up 19 percent. Total assets exceeded 100 billion yuan. Sinochem, which began as a trading company in 1998, is involved in a range of businesses including agriculture, energy, chemicals, finance and real estate.Sinochem International, one of its subsidiaries, said last month that it would buy part of the business of Monsanto Company, a US-based agricultural company.Under the terms of the agreement, Sinochem will purchase the assets related to Monsanto's pesticide business and certain other assets in China's Taiwan Province and countries including the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Shanghai - German luxury car maker DaimlerChrysler AG is recalling 1,443 Chinese-made Chrysler 300C sedans to fix defective transmission cooling systems, China's quality watchdog said on Friday. The cars were produced between March 21 and May 29, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site. Imported Chrysler 300C cars were not affected, it added. It did not say whether any accidents or personal injuries had been linked to the defect. DaimlerChrysler's Chinese joint venture in Beijing began limited production of the 300C in 2005.
Migrant workers who were previously farmers will get the same labor rights as their counterparts from towns and cities starting next year, under a new regulation by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS)."No discriminatory restrictions should be set against the rural laborers entering cities for employment," the Employment Services and Employment Management Regulation issued on Wednesday stated.Under the regulation, all laborers cannot be discriminated because of ethnicity, race, gender, and religious belief when seeking employment.Farmers-turned-laborers or those without local household registration can also register for unemployment at local public labor service agencies if they have worked in a place for half a year and more.Employment units should go to local public service agencies to register laborers or terminate their contracts."The provisions reflect tremendous progress in the country's labor policies," Mo Rong, the vice-president of the labor science research institute under the MLSS, told China Daily.Mo said policies toward laborers from rural areas have been changing with the times - in the early 1980s, they were forbidden to migrate to cities, but this restriction was later lifted with the provision that the laborers brought their own "grain tickets" in the face of a grain shortage.Since the 90s, the laborers have moved freely between rural and urban areas under the regulations of respective cities. The first great wave of migrants heading to cities occurred in 1992."They could finally 'float' between rural regions and cities without policy limitations after 2000," Mo said, referring to the country's policy improvements in the area."Laborers from rural areas will now be able to enjoy many free employment services in the cities with the new regulations," Mo added."These are possible under the auspices of a good amount of government subsidies."With the new regulation, employers are now forbidden to refuse women work except when such jobs are stated as unsuitable as stipulated by the State."When an employing unit recruits female workers, it shall not stipulate in the labor contract any content which restricts female workers from getting married or having child," said the ministry.Those suffering from infectious diseases are now also protected from discrimination.In particular, laborers cannot be denied work based on Hepatitis-B tests unless the job already prohibits carriers of the disease according to laws, administrative rules and regulations set by the administrative department of health under the State Council.Such employment units can be fined as much as 1,000 yuan (5) along with other compensation liabilities.
BEIJING - More than 50 people in the Chinese capital have been fined for spitting during the week-long May Day holidays, according to officials in charge of the city's image. Beijing's management department and civilization promotion office have jointly sent five inspection teams to patrol the downtown Wangfujing pedestrian street, Tian'anmen Square, commercial centers and railway stations to stop people from spitting, littering, random posting of advertisements and scrawling. By Sunday, 56 people were fined for spitting and refusing to correct the bad habit, according to the teams. The officials also handed out more than 10,000 bags to tourists, reminding them not to litter. The government is now anxious to correct the embarrassing habits of Chinese travelers ahead of next year's Olympics Games. And there is no better opportunity of doing it than the May Day travel spree, when an estimated 150 million Chinese will be on the road. The China National Tourism Administration has issued a circular, making travel agencies and tour guides responsible for correcting tourists' bad behavior during the holidays. Jumping the line, spitting, littering and clearing one's throat loudly in public are some of the frequently observed practices among Chinese travelers, according to a guideline prepared and released last year by the Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee (SCSC) of the Chinese Communist Party, the official etiquette watchdog. "We are supposed to remind people constantly throughout the tour, and also lead an etiquette discussion at the end of the tour," said Huang Xiaohui, a travel guide with a Beijing-based travel agency. "The Olympics are coming, and we don't want to get disgraced," Huang said, summing up the purpose succinctly.
Another two closed-end stock funds have received official approval from China's securities regulator, Xinhua learned from a company source here on Friday. The China Nature Asset Management Co. Ltd's Tianzhi Fund and the Dongwu Fund run by Soochow Asset Management Co., Ltd received regulatory approval from the State Securities Regulatory Commission Friday. The Tianzhi stock fund will open through China Communication Bank, China Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Industrial Bank Co., Ltd, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, CITIC Bank, Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd, and with big brokers. The Dongwu fund is to be issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, the Postal Savings Bank, Huaxia Bank and qualified individual brokers. Both companies declined to say how much they expected to reap from the listing. Four stock funds launched by Bank of China Investment Management Co., Ltd. and AXA SPDB Investment Managers, CCB Principal Asset Management Co. and China Southern Fund Management Co., respectively, received official approval in the first half of February. Of the four, CCB Principal Asset Management's Jianxin Fund and the Nanfangshengyuan Fund run by China Southern Fund Management Co. made their debut on Feb. 18. Market analysts said the launch of these funds was expected to bring a new round of fresh capital into the sliding stock market. China's securities watchdog suspended the launch of new funds late last year in reaction to the surging domestic stock market. The Shanghai Composite Index nearly doubled last year.
BEIJING - China's quality control watchdog has rejected a Hong Kong media report which alleged the mainland had exported hairy crabs containing carcinogens to Taiwan, confirming that the mainland had not exported any hairy crabs to Taiwan so far this year."The mainland's quarantine authorities have not approved the exports as the two sides are still in talks about quarantine standards," said a spokesman with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ ).Hairy crabs, mainly bred in East China's Jiangsu Province, have become a popular autumn delicacy in the mainland and have sold well in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the United States.But in August the Taiwan authorities published new standards requiring the crabs to contain no detectable drug residues, despite an agreement met with the mainland in July."The new standards are too picky and have no scientific grounds, nor do they comply with the WTO rules," said the GAQSIQ spokesman."We have noticed that a group in Taiwan is trying to discredit mainland food products. Such politically driven acts will harm normal trade across the Taiwan Strait," said Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council earlier this week.Official figures show more than 99 percent of the Chinese foods exported to the United States, the European Union and Japan were up to standard in the first half of the year.China's number one hairy crab exporter, Wuzhong District of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, sold 1,800 tons of hairy crabs abroad over the last two years.
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A special assistance center was set up in Beijing Prison recently where policewomen, who are also qualified counselors, provide help for special "clients", male prisoners who are serving long sentences, Beijing Youth News reported on July 5. A policewoman counselor chats online with an inmate at a counseling and education center in Beijing Prison. [ynet.com] The police use computers with Internet access and chat through web cameras with lifers to help ease their psychological problems especially with those who have difficulty communicating. A short message service is also available for them to contact their families. The newly-established center is composed of policewomen. Due to regulations in prisons, the policewomen are not allowed to communicate with prisoners face-to-face, according to Lu Yanyan, the director of the center for counseling and correctional education in the Beijing Bureau of Prison Administration. "The work of counseling used to be the responsibility of policemen," explains Lu. "But because they are also officials who enforce correctional education on the prisoners, those who have psychological problems are reluctant to open their hearts to share their troubles. That's why policewomen fill this need." Wearing civilian clothes, not uniforms, the five policewomen appear much closer to the people they counsel. Though not face-to-face, the prisoners encounter a friendly and kind smile and feel more relaxed to talk openly about their feelings and emotions. A prisoner who was sentenced to life imprisonment seldom talked as he was abandoned by his family. But when a counselor surnamed Ren started to make appointments with him, he "became happier than before," as Ren put it. The special short message service is free for lifers. They can send as many messages as they want, but every message is checked by the officers. The quantity of messages sent and received currently is about 1,500 a day. Another prisoner told the reporter, even though he was concerned about his child's education and could not solve the problem himself, he felt more comfortable after he poured out his troubles to the counselor. As the counseling and correctional education director explains, it is important to provide counseling for those with long sentences, Lu says crimes are always the result of psychological problems and the prisoners are also disturbed by depression and anxiety in confinement.
The central government has ordered coal firms to stop driving up prices and said they must honor their supply contracts with power plants in an effort to head off a power shortage.At the request of the National Development and Reform Commission, the China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association has threatened to cancel the license of any company that ignores the order to stabilize prices."Coal producers must strictly implement their contract prices for 2008 and must not take advantage of the current tight supply to raise prices as they like," the association said in a circular issued yesterday.Prices should be held at around the same level as at the end of last year, the circular said.The government is also banning all coal shipments other than those to power plants.The crackdown comes as the country faces a severe power shortage. Several power plants are struggling to secure the coal they need, while others are reducing their output rather than lose money as coal prices soar.Brownouts have already hit at least 13 provinces, and at its peak last week, nationwide demand outstripped supply by nearly 70 gigawatts, the People's Daily newspaper reported yesterday.About 80 percent of China's electricity is generated by burning coal.The crackdown on unsafe mines, high global demand, which pushed up prices and the cold snap that has closed roads and downed cables have added to the problem, an official from the State regulator said.
Construction workers toil on the roof of a new building being erected in Beijing April 1, 2007. [Reuters]Stronger-than-expected economic figures have prompted a number of international economic research institutions to revise upwards their forecasts for China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Almost all the major economic indexes in the first two months of this year have exceeded those for the same period last year. "The country's GDP growth in the first quarter will be faster than in the equivalent period last year and also that of the previous quarter," Chen Dongqi, deputy director of the Institute of Economic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission, said. The State Information Center has adjusted its GDP growth forecast for the first quarter from 10.2 percent to about 11 percent. Despite the government last year adopting a number of tightening measures, economic growth has shown clear signs of rebounding in the past quarter. Statistics show that urban fixed-asset investment picked up moderately to 23.4 percent year-on-year in January-February, and from about 20 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, reversing the trend of a gradual slowdown since last July. Meanwhile, the trade surplus registered a massive leap of 230 percent, and retail sales were up 14.7 percent on the first two months of last year. "Industrial growth is a key driving force behind overall economic growth, and power generation is also a useful indicator," Chen said. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's industrial output rose 18.5 percent year-on-year while industrial profits soared 43.8 percent in the first two months. Growth in power generation also accelerated to 16.6 percent year-on-year from less than 14 percent in the same period last year. Despite expectations the government will introduce another round of tightening measures soon, global investment bank, Lehman Brothers, still revised up its forecast for the Chinese economy. According to a recent report by the firm, the first quarter growth forecast has been raised from 9.8 percent to 10.1 percent, and the annual growth rate from 9.6 percent to 9.8 percent. "In the light of the stronger-than-expected figures in the first two months of this year and the likely policy responses, we have lifted our full-year growth projections for this year to 10 percent from 9.1 percent, based mainly on stronger growth in credit, investment and exports," Qu Hongbin, the chief China economist with HSBC, said. Domestic banks extended new loans of 982 billion yuan (7 billion) in the first two months of this year compared with 716 billion yuan ( billion) in the same period of 2006. The government forecast early last month that the country's GDP is to grow by about 8 percent this year. The country has just witnessed four consecutive years of double-digit growth, including 10.7 percent GDP growth last year, the fastest in a decade. The latest official forecast reflects the authorities' determination to shift the focus of economic growth from quantity to quality.
CHONGQING -- A bus fire that killed 27 people in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday had been an arson attack, local police said on Wednesday.Xiao Yonghua, a former employee of the company that operates the ill-fated Yutong bus, hid gasoline in his baggage before he got on the bus that left Wansheng district for downtown Chongqing at around 5:00 pm on Tuesday, said Wang Yunsheng, deputy head of the municipal public security bureau.In less than 20 minutes, the bus carrying 38 people caught fire. The driver pulled over, and the panic-stricken passengers tried to flee. But the flames started in the front of the bus and blocked the exit.Twenty-seven were killed in the accident, including 17 men and 10 women, and the remaining 11 people were injured.One passenger, Zhang Dazhong, said he had to jump out of the window to survive but was injured on the head.Xiao, 50, was sitting with his wife, 38-year-old Zhang Xiaoya, in the first row on the left side of the bus, right behind the driver, said Wang.Both died in the fire.Lab work has confirmed the presence of gasoline traces on their seats.Until September 20, Xiao was deputy manager of the Wansheng branch of the Guanzhong Public Transport Company that owned the bus.He was suspended from his post because of family disputes, and was unhappy with the punishment, the company said.The Ministry of Public Security sent experts to join the investigation in Chongqing.Hospital sources said the 11 injured are out of danger.By 5:00 pm Wednesday, 26 of the dead have been identified by their families.