IN BRIEF

Labor

Law protects workers from heat

Chinese workers will have a shorter workday if the temperature hits 37 C, thanks to a draft regulation.

The draft, made by China's top work safety watchdog, the health ministry, human resources and social security ministry and the top labor union organization, will replace an outdated version that went into effect in 1960.

The draft, which for the first time defines high temperatures as being above 35 C, has just finished soliciting public opinion.

It stipulates that employers should not make pregnant women work outdoors where the temperature is above 35 C or indoors where the temperature is above 33 C.

It also widens the old regulation's beneficiaries from industrial, transportation and construction workers and farmers to all laborers who would be affected by high temperatures at work.

Tourism

3-day visit window for tourists

Beijing is considering allowing foreign tourists a 72-hour window to explore the capital without a visa.

Fu Zhenghua, the city's director of public security, has confirmed that authorities are mulling over the move, saying it would represent a crucial sign that Beijing is open to the world.

Lin Song at the public security bureau's exit-entry administration echoed that view on May 27. "It's expected that the project will attract more tourists from abroad," Lin said.

Neither the bureau nor the Beijing Tourism Development Committee, which proposed the policy, would offer more details about the visa window.

Experts said the policy is expected to be similar to ones in Shanghai (48 hours) and South China's Hainan province (21 days for tour groups).

Expats

721 foreigners get 'green cards'

A total of 852 foreigners have applied for "green cards" in Beijing since 2004, and 721 have been approved for the permits that grant them permanent resident status as of May 26, said authorities with the Beijing municipal public security bureau.

Foreigners who obtain the permanent residence permits can enter and exit China without any additional visa procedures, Beijing police said.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, 4,752 foreigners nationwide had received permanent residence permits as of last year.

Children

System to reduce child injuries

The Ministry of Health will speed up the establishment of a nationwide monitoring system for children's injuries, said a senior official on May 29.

The system will collect and release information including child deaths and disabilities due to traffic accidents, drowning, poisoning or other kinds of injuries, said Yan Jun, a division director of the ministry's disease prevention and control bureau.

Yan said that the ministry has run a project in 127 hospitals across the country since 2005 to record patients' injuries.

Internet

City clamps down on cybercrime

Shanghai police will assign a team of officers to monitor all city-registered websites to combat the rise in online crime, said a senior officer from the Shanghai municipal public security bureau.

"Cybercrime is no longer a high-tech crime exclusive to technical professionals. Internet users can use entry-level hacking software and become a real threat on the network platform," Lu Weidong, deputy chief of Shanghai police bureau, said at a forum on cybercrime on May 26.

"We'll improve supervision on the Internet and have police overee every website to scrutinize illegal conduct, similar to how police officers patrol communities in real life," he said.

The number of online crimes is growing quickly as online shopping and recreation flourish, police said.

China Daily