McDonald's, KFC under fire for labor rights violations

Four-yuan Scheme

What can a part-time Chinese employee of McDonald's afford by his hourly pay?

Only two small ice creams, which are valued at four yuan (US50cents).

A McDonald's outlet. [File]

American fast-food giants McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) are being bombarded for their work contracts which offer their part-time Chinese employees just four yuan per hour, well under the state requirement, state media reported.

An employee is entitled to no less than 4.3 yuan per work hour, said a rule released by the Guangzhou city government last November. The hourly pay averages 7.5 yuan in the city.

An unnamed source in Guangzhou told the New Express newspaper that the contract violated the legal rights of employees.

"Once administrative departments discover acts of violations, officials will order these enterprises to revamp and compensate the employers for their losses," the source told the Guangzhou-based paper.

"If the problem is so grave that a punishment will be handed out," the source said without giving details.

The source also cast doubts on the probation system implemented by the fast-food giants.

"Part-time employees don't need to undergo a one-month probation period."

McDonald's and KFC have nearly 3,000 outlets all over China and a work force of nearly 200,000, according to a state media report.

Zhu Yongping, a Guangzhou lawyer, has begun to move for the rights of employees.

He told the paper that the work contracts have 'seriously violated' the legal rights of employees.

A Lin, a McDonald's employee in Guangzhou, regarded McDonald's as a respectable foreign-funded enterprise before starting to work there. But the working experience has changed her mind.

"I don't have enough rest. It seems that I was overly exploited."

Cui Minghuan, Manager of KFC'S Guangdong market, refuted the claims of rights violations, saying the current rule of the minimum hourly rates of pay for the non-full-time employees implemented in the province is not applicable to the part-time employees working for KFC.

"KFC does not breach relevant laws in China."

Cui said these part-time employees are neither full-time workers nor non-full-time workers. "Their hourly rates of pay cannot be measured by the rule.

An unnamed offical with the Provincial Department of Labor and Social Security said Cui's words are ridiculous.

"So what kinds of workers they are on earth? "

The official said the rule is applied to these part-time employees.

Mcdonald said in a written statement that "it is always committed to relevant laws and regulations in China."

Central Government Actions

The report came just days after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in his work report to the congress in early March, called for more efforts to implement the minimum hourly wage system in a bid to protect the workers' rights.

The minimum wage system aims to protect the rights of Chinese employees. For example, Bejing has set a minimum wage about 550 yuan per month, while the economic hub Shanghai has a minimum wage about 650 yuan.

The central government has beefed up efforts to protect the rights of its huge crowd of employees to quell any likelihood of unrest and maintain social stability.

China is planning to adopt an unemployment law that aims to build an unemployment benefit system.

The draft law is aiming at promoting employment around the country. The law states that the government will implement new policies, such as boosting professional training and increasing financial investment in employment promotion.

As discrimination turns rife in China, the draft law contains a clause on anti-discrimination in an effort to provide employment equality in the country.

The clause states that discrimination against job seekers with respect to their background, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, age, or physical disability, will be prohibited.

The government is also taking actions to set up trade unions in foreign-funded enterprises in China.

Up to date, about 26 percent of China's 150,000 overseas-funded enterprises have established trade unions, with a total membership of 4.29 million, previous media report said.

However, McDonald's and KFC have not set up unions so far.

Grindhouse premieres in Los Angeles

Cast member Rose McGowan poses at the premiere of "Grindhouse" at the Orpheum theatre in Los Angeles March 26, 2007. The movie features two full length horror movies, "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror", written and directed respectively by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The movie opens in the U.S. on April 6. [Reuters/Mario Anzuoni]

Cast member Jordan Ladd poses at the premiere of "Grindhouse" at the Orpheum theatre in Los Angeles March 26, 2007. The movie features two full length horror movies, "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror", written and directed respectively by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The movie opens in the U.S. on April 6. [Reuters/Mario Anzuoni]

Directors Quentin Tarantino (L) and Robert Rodriguez pose at the premiere of "Grindhouse" at the Orpheum theatre in Los Angeles March 26, 2007. The movie features two full length horror movies, "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror", written and directed respectively by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The movie opens in the U.S. on April 6. [Reuters/Mario Anzuoni]

China confirms human death from bird flu

HEFEI -- China's Ministry of Health has confirmed a 16-year-old boy has died from bird flu in eastern Anhui Province, bringing the number of people in the country who have been killed by the virus to 15.

China's Ministry of Health has confirmed a 16-year-old boy has died from bird flu in eastern Anhui Province, bringing the number of people in the country who have been killed by the virus to 15. [Reuters]

The student, surnamed Wu from Bengbu City of Anhui, died on Tuesday in hospital after being treated there for ten days, a spokesman for the Anhui provincial health department said.

The boy developed symptoms of pneumonia, fever and muscle aches on March 17. He was admitted to hospital on March 18, the spokesman said.

Tests by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed that he had been infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

Local health authorities said they are monitoring those who had close contact with the patient. So far they have not shown symptoms of the disease, and there has been no reported outbreak of the disease among local fowl.

The local authority has not provided information on how the young student may have contracted the disease.

Last December, a 37-year-old farmer in the province was confirmed to have contracted the H5N1 strain of bird flu. The patient surnamed Li was discharged from hospital on January 6 after a full recovery.

According to Anhui health authorities, the Health Ministry has informed the World Health Organization (WHO), health agencies in the two regions of Hong Kong and Macao and Taiwan Province, and some other countries.

China has reported a total of 24 human cases of bird flu since 2003.

On February 28, a 44-year-old woman in southeast China's Fujian Province was confirmed by the health ministry to have contracted the bird flu virus. The patient, surnamed Li who is still being treated in hospital, had eaten chicken together with her family, but neither her husband nor son have fallen ill.

In early March, three wild birds and two head of poultry tested positive for the H5 bird flu virus out of 325 head of poultry and 20 wild birds tested in Fujian province.

The Ministry of Health confirmed last August that the country's first human case of H5N1 bird flu virus occurred in November 2003. The case of a 24-year-old man who died in Beijing in 2003, was initially thought to be a SARS case but was finally confirmed as a human avian influenza case after further laboratory tests.

China's last confirmed human fatality from the H5N1 strain of bird flu was a 62-year-old farmer in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The man fell ill late last June and died on July 12.

Investigations showed the man did not have close contact with any sick or dead poultry, or humans infected with the disease, in the last month of his life.

The H5N1 bird flu virus remains hard for people to catch, but experts fear it may mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.

A batch of chickens who suddenly died in a market on March 1 in Lhasa, capital of southwestern Tibet region, were confirmed to have contracted the H5 virus, according to China's Ministry of Agriculture. But no human cases of bird flu have so far been reported in the region.

According to the WHO figures, as of March 28, the cumulative number of confirmed human cases of avian influenza reported to the WHO was 284 worldwide since 2003, including 169 deaths. The figure does not include China's latest case.

Indonesia recorded its 71st human death from avian influenza after a 28-year-old woman died from the disease on Wednesday in Jakarta, an official with the country's health ministry said on Thursday.

Brit presses Iran; woman may be freed

A British patrol boat conducts a patrol in the Shatt al-Arab waterways of Basra, south of Baghdad, February 15, 2007. [Reuters]

LONDON - Britain said it was freezing talks on all other issues with Iran until it freed 15 Royal Navy crew members seized last week, and the British military released what it said was proof its boats were within Iraqi territorial waters when they were seized.

Iran's foreign minister said meanwhile a female British sailor held captive by Iran may be released later Wednesday or on Thursday, a Turkish TV station reported.

"The woman soldier is free either today or tomorrow," CNN-Turk television quoted Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying on the sidelines of an Arab summit meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the woman, identified as sailor Faye Turney, 26, had been given privacy.

Britain's military said its vessels were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when Iran seized the sailors and marines on Friday.

Vice Adm. Charles Style told reporters that the Iranians had provided a position on Sunday - a location that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, Iranian officials had given a revised position 2 miles east, placing the British inside Iranian waters - a claim he said was not verified by global positioning system coordinates.

"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.

Style gave the satellite coordinates of the British crew as 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude, and said it had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.

Prime Minister

Tony Blair told the House of Commons that "there was no justification whatever ... for their detention, it was completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal."

"We had hoped to see their immediate release; this has not happened. It is now time to ratchet up the diplomatic and international pressure in order to make sure the Iranian government understands its total isolation on this issue," Blair said.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Britain had frozen bilateral talks with Iran on all other issues until Tehran frees the crew.

"No one should be in any doubt about the seriousness with which we regard these events," Beckett told lawmakers.

Blair said he believed the crew acted sensibly in not putting up fight after being confronted by six Iranian vessels.

"If they had engaged in military combat at that stage, there would have undoubtedly been severe loss of life. I think they took the right decision and did what was entirely sensible," Blair said.

Britain and the United States have said the crew was intercepted after completing a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border between Iran and

Iraq has been disputed for centuries.

Iran has said the 15 were being treated well, but refused to say where they were being held, or rule out the possibility that they could be brought to trial for allegedly entering Iranian waters.

The Iranian Embassy statement said: "We are confident that Iranian and British governments are capable of resolving this security case through their close contacts and cooperation."

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the case was following normal procedures, holding out the possibility that the Britons could be brought to trial.

He said the Britons were being treated well and that the only woman among the sailors, 26-year-old Faye Turney, had been given privacy.

"They are in completely good health. Rest assured that they have been treated with humanitarian and moral behavior," Hosseini told The Associated Press.

In talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Beckett demanded that British diplomats be allowed to meet with the crew to make their own assessment.

Chinese satellite to orbit Mars in 2009

A Chinese satellite is expected to orbit Mars in 2009, thanks to an agreement the country signed with Russia on Monday.

During President Hu Jintao's current visit to Moscow, the two countries agreed to stage a joint unmanned mission to the red planet and one of its moons in two years, the China National Space Administration said Tuesday in Beijing.

The agreement represents a "milestone" in the history of space cooperation between the two neighbors, the agency said in a statement.

"It indicates the two sides have taken a key step forward to working together on a large space program."

According to the agreement, a micro-satellite developed by China will be launched along with "Phobos Explorer", the Russia spacecraft, atop a Russian rocket in 2009.

A timetable was not mentioned, but earlier Russian reports said the launch window for the 10-11 month voyage to Phobos, a Martian moon, will be October 2009.

Phobos became a satellite of Mars millions of years ago, so studying material from the asteroid will give scientists information on the origins of the solar system and of Earth, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti cited Russian Academy of Sciences member Mikhail Marov as saying.

After entering Mars' orbit, the Chinese micro-satellite will be detached from the Russian spacecraft, and probe the Martian space environment, according to the statement.

The "Phobos Explorer" spacecraft, with some equipment developed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, will land on the Martian moon and return to Earth with soil samples.

Monday's agreement was signed by the China National Space Administration head Sun Laiyan and the Russian Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov and witnessed by the two countries' presidents.

Last year, the Russian space chief revealed that his country would work "closely" with China on lunar exploration.

Youriy Nosenko, deputy chief of the Russian space agency, told a press conference in Beijing last November that Russia regards China as a "partner" in space exploration, and the two sides have shown interest in a lunar project.

China has started a three-stage moon exploration project, including sending a lunar orbiter some time this year, followed by a soft landing in 2012 and the return of lunar samples in another five years.

President Hu arrives in Moscow for visit

China's President Hu Jintao (R) waves after his arrival at the Vnukovo II airport in Moscow March 26, 2007. [Reuters]

MOSCOW -- Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Moscow on Monday for a three-day state visit, during which he will attend events marking "the Year of China in Russia."

During his visit, Hu is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and other Russian leaders, to exchange views on the further development of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry official.

They will also discuss important regional and world issues, the official said.

On Monday evening, Hu will attend the opening ceremony of "the Year of China in Russia," which is aimed at deepening friendship, enhancing cooperation and promoting the China-Russia strategic partnership.

Chinese and Russian leaders agreed to stage "the Year of China in Russia" this year during President Hu's visit to Russia in July 2005. "The Year of Russia in China" was marked last year.

Hu will also visit a Chinese national exhibition, one of the 200 events planned throughout "the Year of China in Russia."

The exhibition will be the biggest comprehensive show China has held outside the country in almost three decades, Yu Guangzhou, vice minister of commerce, told a news conference in Moscow last month.

China-Russia relations maintained a good momentum for vigorous development over the past year, marked by frequent exchanges of high-level visits and effective functioning of various consultation and cooperation mechanisms between the two neighbors.

Russia is now China's eighth-largest trading partner, while China is Russia's fourth-largest. The volume of China-Russia trade reached a record high of US$33.4 billion in 2006, up 15 percent over the previous year.

China's President Hu Jintao waves as he leaves a plane upon his arrival at the Vnukovo II airport in Moscow March 26, 2007. [Reuters]

China's President Hu Jintao waves after arriving at the Vnukovo II airport in Moscow March 26, 2007. [Reuters]

China's President Hu Jintao (2nd R) inspects the guard of honour after his arrival at the Vnukovo II airport in Moscow March 26, 2007. [Reuters]