Wal-Mart acts to ensure food safety

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is strengthening food safety in its Chinese stores after the world's largest retailer fired Chinese staffers who accused it of food safety violations.

Wal-Mart's fresh food delivery network will cover all Chinese stores by the end of 2014, bringing to 11 the number of its fresh delivery centers in China, according to the company. Wal-Mart will also introduce third-party organizations to strengthen supervision, ensuring that all cooked food is either served or discarded in a timely fashion in its stores.

Four workers at a Shenzhen Wal-Mart store were fired after they accused the retailer of repeatedly using cooking oil. Some workers also claimed the store used expired meat and rice to prepare cooked food for sale. Wal-Mart said that the dismissals were unrelated to the claims. (Photo 1)

Entrepreneurs' confidence declines again: Survey

Business confidence among Chinese entrepreneurs fell in the third quarter, marking the third consecutive quarter of decline, a central bank survey showed.

The result throws fourth-quarter growth prospects into question, given that lower confidence may mean a reluctance to invest in an uncertain environment.

The People's Bank of China said on Friday that the entrepreneurs' confidence index slid to 63.6, down by 1.3 points from the second quarter.

The central bank surveys 5,000 entrepreneurs, 3,100 bankers and 20,000 households quarterly.

The bank's report followed other official data released earlier this month, which indicated that economic growth probably weakened further in August.

Monday - September 22

Food company lays off workers in Shanghai

US-based OSI food company said it is laying off 340 workers at its Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd, which was involved in a food safety scandal in July.

OSI, a supplier to a number of global brands, such as McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks in China, made the announcement on its website.

In July, local media revealed that one of OSI's Shanghai plants repackaged old beef and chicken and slapped on new expiration dates.

The scandal, which spread as far as Hong Kong and Japan, sparked a Chinese investigation of the firm and dragged down China sales at KFC-parent Yum and McDonald's, which have both since cut or suspended ties with Aurora, Illinois-based OSI. (Photo 2)

Study pressure blamed for double suicide

Two high school students died by jumping from a campus dormitory in Central China's Hunan province, leaving notes saying they could not endure the pressure of study.

They jumped from the fifth floor of their dormitory building minutes after midnight on Monday.

Both left notes saying they felt too much pressure and were distressed that their scores did not meet their own expectations nor those of their parents.

China's education system has often been criticized for its exam-driven curriculum, focused on memorizing textbooks and getting good test scores.

The college entrance exam, known as gaokao, is seen as the only way to a promising career beyond vocational training.

Tuesday - September 23

Uygur academic sentenced to life

Ilham Tohti, a Uygur former economics professor at Beijing's Minzu University, was sentenced to life in prison for separatism by a court in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The court also ordered all his property confiscated.

The verdict was handed down by the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday following a two-day trial last week. Ilham was indicted on a charge of separatism and accused of being involved in secession activities.

Ilham used a website he set up, "UighurOnline", to spread rumors and separatist thought, as well as to misrepresent events to instigate ethnic hatred and calls for "Xinjiang independence", the Urumqi Public Security Bureau said in a statement.

Factory production up, employment slumps

China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly picked up in September even as factory employment slumped to a five-and-a-half- year low, a survey showed.

The HSBC/Markit Flash China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in September from August's final reading of 50.2.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected factory growth to stall at 50, the level which separates expansion in activity from contraction, citing a further deterioration in business confidence and the rapidly cooling property market.

But a measure of employment shed more than a point to drop to 46.9, its lowest since February 2009 during the global financial crisis.

A hefty drop in employment could raise alarm bells for the Chinese government, which has indicated it will tolerate slower economic growth as long as employment is not affected. (Photo 4)

Wednesday - September 24

Beijing plans to end flat subway fare

Beijing will end its flat rate subway fare and replace it with one based on distance or number of stops, as authorities plan to implement a metered option for public transportation.

No date was given for the change described in an outline from the capital city's municipal authorities, and a public hearing will be held later.

A single-ride ticket now costs two yuan (32 US cents) and includes unlimited transfers.

A swelling population and huge losses by the public transport system have caused the government to consider a fare increase.

The number of passengers taking subways hit 3.2 billion last year, an increase of 350 percent from 2007. Subsidies also jumped to 20 billion yuan ($3.25 billion) in 2013 from 13.5 billion yuan ($2.19 billion) in 2010. (Photo 5)

Food, drug producers to be strictly graded

China's Food and Drug Administration has pledged stronger oversight on food and drug companies, a move to address serious food safety problems of recent years.

The administration has introduced a four-tier credibility monitoring system, ranking companies A, B, C or D, said Mao Zhenbin, head of the supervision department of the administration, which will also issue a "blacklist" open to the public with information about enterprises.

As consumption has boomed in China, food safety problems have cropped up. According to Mao, regulatory authorities in China cracked 130,000 cases involving food safety violations, 90,000 involving drugs and more than 4,000 involving medical equipment.

Thursday - September 25

Army cracks down on abuses by officers

In a move against corruption and abuse of power, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has told officers to hand in any houses or cars they are using in violation of regulations.

A group responsible for tackling graft and misconduct in the Chinese military recently exposed irregular occupancies or use of PLA-owned houses and vehicles by officers, and over employment in large units, PLA Daily reported, citing an order issued by the group.

The order also requested that the benefits given to retired senior officers or family members of deceased senior officers be checked and that excessive treatment be abolished, the report added.

Reduction in water pollution on target

China will exceed its 2014 target for cutting water pollution, the government announced amid reports that it will allocate $326 billion to clean up rivers and lakes.

Toxic waste from factories has polluted 70 percent of rivers and lakes and over half of the groundwater.

But in the first six months of this year, emissions of ammonia nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand (a measure of organic pollutants in water) fell by 2.7 and 2.3 percent, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced. The overall target for 2014 is a 2 percent cut.

The data came as the State-owned China Securities Journal reported that the ministry is readying a 2 trillion yuan ($326 billion) plan to clean up polluted water, including wastewater deemed so polluted it is not even fit for industrial use. The ministry was not immediately available for comment.