News & Reports 2011-04-23

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In This Edition

China's State Council calls for stricter regulation of the use of food additives 1 in response to a series of food safety problems.

China's copyright watchdog says they are investigating a copyright row between search engine Baidu and Chinese writers.

The Japanese government will expand the planned evacuation zone within a 20 to 30-kilometer radius 2 from the nuclear power plant, due to dangers of accumulated radiation.

The death of a 25-year-old female employee at a well known international company in Shanghai causes intense discussions over whether overwork threatens the health of white-collar workers.

Hot Issue Reports

China's State Council Seeks Stricter Ban on Additives

China's State Council has called for stricter regulation of the use of food additives, in response to a series of food safety problems. The announcement shows a strong determination to intensify 3 supervision 4, upgrade safety limits, and greatly increase penalties for violators. Wang Jing has the story.

The new announcement stresses that non-edible materials, apart from certified 6 food additives, are banned from use in food.

Meanwhile, illicit 7 drugs or any other materials that jeopardize 8 human health are banned in the growing, cultivation 9, processing, and transportation of agricultural products.

At a high-profile national meeting, Vice 10 Premier 11 Li Keqiang warned of the great harm illegal additives in food might do, saying severe penalties must be imposed on violators in accordance with the Food Safety Law.

This is believed to be the latest measure by the government to ensure food safety in the country and restore the public's trust after frequent discoveries of illegal additives.

Professor Hu Shoujun from Fudan University says, inspection 12 needs to keep up.

"First, there is no effective enforcement of law. The government needs to strictly 13 enforce the law, and that must be a commitment."

Much of the food in China is currently produced by backyard farms and small-scale manufacturers.

Current affairs commentator 14 Yang Yu from China's Central Television says scattered 15 operation poses potential risks for food safety.

"We have around 500 thousand to 600 thousand food processing manufacturers across the country, and 80 percent of them have less than 10 workers. This type of workshop is difficult to supervise."

So far this year, authorities have uncovered sales of drug-tainted 16 pork, bean sprouts 17 treated with chemical compound to make the vegetable grow faster, and old bread treated with sweeteners and dye to make it seem fresh.

The worst food safety scandal in recent years involved infant formula and other dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, which can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

It killed six children and sickened more than 300,000 others in 2008.

For CRI, I'm Wang Jing.

China Destroys Illegal Publications

China has destroyed millions of illegal publications, ranging from pirated books, music CDs and DVDs in a public demonstration 18 of its crackdown on copyright infringement 19.

More than 26 million illegitimate publications collected nationwide during the first three months of 2011 have been crushed up and set to fire.

Deputy Director of China's National Copyright Administration Yan Xiaohong says, despite crackdown efforts, there is still a long way to go.

"I am not saying that we have done a perfect job. This is because China is a big country. China is also in a transitional period and is completing the market economy and Chinese society is still developing. For such a phenomenon to occur there are objective, unavoidable and historical reasons."

Yan Xiaohong adds that China will continue to strengthen its fight against piracy 20 and copyright infringement. The next step is to forcibly close down the illegal printing houses and pirated DVD production workshops.

Yan has also called on the public to purchase the authentic 21 publications and boycott 22 the illegitimate ones.

Around 46 million and 36 million pirated and illegal publications were destructed in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

China's Copyright Watchdog Investigate Baidu Copyright Row

China's copyright watchdog says they are investigating a copyright row between search engine Baidu and Chinese writers.

Yan Xiaohong is the deputy director of the National Copyright Administration.

"The Baidu Wenku database is not a very good business model, as most of the literary works it provides on its space without authors' prior approval. So it arouses an intense public concern by copyright holders 23 and copyright organizations, including Chinese writers and all walks of life. The investigation 24 is under way and we have met with the senior managers of Baidu."

Yan also says the search engine is showing a "proactive" attitude and is considering a plan to overhaul 25 its free literary database"

More than 40 Chinese writers have posted an open letter online, accusing Baidu of stealing their work and infringing 26 on their copyright by publishing and offering free downloads of their work.

Japan to Expand Evacuation Zone around Troubled Nuke Plant

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has announced that the government will expand the planned evacuation zone within a 20 to 30-kilometer radius from the nuclear plant, due to dangers of accumulated radiation.

"If you continue to live in this area, accumulated radiation will be higher, and within one year of the accident, accumulated radiation could reach 20 milisieverts. So today, we will designate the area as the planned evacuation zone."

Edano says the government will ask residents living in the area to leave within one month. And facing the international concerns over the mounting radiation from the six damaged reactors 27 at Fukushima, the government will strengthen environmental monitoring of radiation.

"We aim to do this in order to prepare to evaluate the radiation in each area. By implementing 28 environmental monitoring we will create a radiation distribution map, radiation measurement map, accumulated radiation estimation map, soil radiation concentration map. In addition to the land area, we will also measure and predict the distribution of radiation out at sea."

One day before, Japan declared the 20-kilometer exclusion 29 area around the Fukashima Nuclear Power Plant a no-go zone, telling people there to stay away and abide 30 by the order for their own safety.

1 Year on from Gulf 31 Oil Spill

Overnight on 20 April 2010, Transocean's Deepwater Horizon burst into flames while drilling a well for BP.

In the months that followed, more than 200 million gallons (780 million litres) of oil flowed in the Gulf of Mexico from the well, soiling hundreds of miles of coastline in the worst US oil spill in history.

So what have we learned from this disaster one year on and could the Oil Leak in the Gulf happen again elsewhere in the world?

Earlier, Alex McNab got a chance to talk to Dr. Yang Fuqiang - a Senior Advisor 32 on Climate and Energy at the Natural Resources Defense 33 Council.

Russia, U.N. Reach Consensus 34 on International Affairs

Russia and the United Nations vowed 35 to continue efforts to ensure international security after a meeting between the Russian president and the UN chief in Moscow.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reached consensus on a wide range of international affairs.

"Certainly, the Secretary-General and the President of Russia have discussed in details the situation in Libya, Yemen and other nations of the Middle East and North Africa and the Ivory Coast. They also discussed outstanding issues such as the need to resume six-party talks on the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula."

Lavrov said Russia would continue "trusting close-working contacts with the secretary-general."

The UN chief also thanked Medvedev for Moscow's efforts to support the UN's role in global management.

"I deeply appreciate once again Russia's support for the United Nations, its political backing, its resources and most importantly Russia's guidance and direction as we navigate 36 the challenges ahead."

Meanwhile, Lavrov said Medvedev also expressed Moscow's concerns over the UN-mandated use of force.

"We have discussed in details such questions as the necessity for strict adherence 37 to the mandates 38 of the United Nations, especially in the situations linked to the use of force, and to ensure a more precise phrasing of these mandates."

Russia has voiced concern that UN member states have overstretched the bounds of the world body's mandates by taking an increasingly assertive 39 approach in international conflicts.

Moscow abstained 40 from voting on the resolution that authorized 41 the use of military force in Libya.

Nissan Checks Radiation Levels on Its Cars before Export

As Japan's nuclear crisis lingers, Japanese automaker Nissan has stepped up to assure its foreign customers that its vehicles were not contaminated by radiation.

Nissan's PR manager Sumiyuki Shimizu says to avoid losing trust from its customers and dealers 43 was Nissan's priority.

"We began checking radiation level on our vehicles independently from March 18 to avoid groundless rumours 44 about contamination. We hope we can give peace in our customers' minds with this process."

Fears of radiation contamination in neighbouring countries was the catalyst 45 for Nissan to reassure 46 customers of its product safety.

New York Auto 42 Show to Kick off

The New York Auto Show has coasted into town.

Auto makers 47 from all over the world are in Midtown Manhattan to show off their latest models and concept cars.

General Motors, Ford 48, Toyota, and Hyundai are all among the automakers represented at the show.

Angus MacKenzie, the Editor-In-Chief of Motor Trend magazine, says this year, automakers are focusing on fuel efficiency.

"A couple of the themes here at the show is that the globalization of the auto industry really has come to the United States, and also 40 miles per gallon is the new 0 to 60 among auto makers."

To boost fuel efficiency, more diesel 49 engines are showing up, as well as improved four-cylinder engines.

Jack 50 Nerad, the Executive Editorial Director at Kelley Blue Book, says the economy is not only tough on consumers, but also continues to stall auto makers.

"It is an unbelievably competitive business, number one. We haven't come near to recovering from where we were four years ago in terms of overall sales and it doesn't look like we are going to get that kind of recovery even though we are seeing a pretty significant recovery now... For those companies competing in North America it's going to be tougher and tougher and tougher."

The New York Auto Show runs from today through May 1.

France Suffers Drought

Local authorities in parts of France have introduced restrictions 51 on crop irrigation in response to dry weather that has left water reserves below normal levels.

Farmers in the European Union's top grain producer are worried about their crops.

Among the worst hit by the drought is the department of Essonne where young farmers like 29 year-old Pierre Bot fear for their livelihoods 52 as the soil dries out.

"We have already seen a dry month in April. It's been hot like this, it's pretty exceptional in April, and this added to the fact that March was dry too, it's really exceptional. But we have already seen years like 2007 when the harvest arrived very much in advance, and May, June, July and even August were very wet. It's a not catastrophic yet, but we can already estimate there will be yield losses on wheat."

Eight administrative 53 departments have applied 54 various crop irrigation restrictions with the authorities in Charente-Maritime and Deux-Sevres in western France applying blanket limits across their departments.

France is in the midst of a warm, dry spell that has brought summer-style temperatures and left farmers fearing crops will dry out at a time the spoil is supposed to be taking on water.

Bot grows cereals such as corn and wheat, but also fruits and vegetables which he started to grow because cereals were too unpredictable with the weather.

Every day he prays for rain.

European wheat prices have surged to a near two-month high this week as dry conditions were forecast to continue in grain belts in France, Germany and Britain.

Money or Health

The death of a 25-year-old female employee at the Shanghai office of PricewaterhouseCoopers recently has led to intense discussions over whether overwork threatens the health of white-collar workers. Although, there is no clear evidence linking the death to her work at the company - except for her micro blog, the accident caused an instant debate about high salaries and good health.

Zhang Wan 5 takes a closer look.

In large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, overwork is seen everywhere, although people always hear that overwork and fatigue 55 commonly lead to various occupational diseases.

A 33-year-old white collar worker, Mr. Wu, says he would accept a well-paid job with less leisure time, since he believes a successful career comes first for men. His peer, Mr. Zhang, agrees.

"I'd go for a high salary. I work about ten hours a day, everyone works the same length. Whenever there is a project, everyone in the team is busy."

According to a survey by the Chinese Medical Doctors' Association and the Chinese Hospital Association, more than 60 percent of the white-collar workers in large Chinese cities are faced with the risk of contracting maladies resulting from overwork.

26-year-old Ms. Han previously 56 worked for a construction company, she says there was a time that she only slept six hours within 48 hours of working on a presentation, she felt exhausted 57.

"I think health is more important than a high salary. Compared with the arduous 58 but well-paid job, I'll go for the less-paid job, which gives me more time with family."

Another survey by the doctors' association shows that employees in the manufacturing, financial and educational industries care about their health least.

However, besides those ambitious white-collar workers who consider their job more important, there are people who put health as a top priority.

"I will certainly think about it if I can take the tense job. No matter how much money I can earn from the job, I can't risk my life doing it."

Apart from concerns for health, there are more reasons for some people to refuse those well-paid jobs.

"I think the quality of life is the most important thing. It doesn't make any sense to earn a high salary without good quality of life. Despite that you get more money, you get no time spending it."

"Before I married, I'd choose the arduous jobs, but after I got a family, I'll definitely give up the time-consuming but well-paid job. I got two babies now, time that I spend with my kids is the most important part of my life."

Experts called on white-collar workers, especially those in poor physical shape, to pay more attention to their own diets and mental conditions. And be sure to go for routine physical examinations.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.

Newspaper Picks

Global Times: Police in the Jitou township in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, have found a bizarre method to protect vehicles in the town from theft – deflating their tires.

Around 7 am on March 29, when Zhang Shuang, a resident in the Chaoyin community, approached his minivan to find its left front tire completely deflated 59.

Zhang's minivan was parked by a road with hundreds of other vehicles belonging to residents living in the community.

After calling the number on a note left on the car that offered free inflation, two men shortly arrived. According to the paper the local police station send workers to deflate tires of cars left on the street to try to stop vehicle theft. The police say that is a highly effective means of protecting residents cars.