IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Labor Contract Law under review

Lawmakers in China are expected to discuss draft amendments to the Labor Contract Law that seeks to prevent excessive labor outsourcing and ensure uniform treatment at workplaces.

Wu Ritu, vice-chairman of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, said many employment agencies are now outsourcing labor. The outsourced employees often tend to be overworked and do not enjoy the same wages or social security benefits as regular workers who are doing the same jobs.

A report released last year by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions said the country is home to more than 60 million outsourced workers and that they make up almost 20 percent of the urban workforce.

Work permit rules to be tweaked

The minimum length for residential work permits for foreigners will be slashed from 180 days to just 90, according to the latest draft of a new immigration law currently under review.

The draft law on exit-entry administration is receiving its third review from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress that began on June 26. Zhang Bailin, vice-chairman of the NPC Law Committee, said the change was put forward because "some foreigners who come to China for temporary work stay less than half a year". If passed, the law will affect foreigners on short-term projects, analysts said, although long-term residents will still be able to apply for permits from 180 days to five years.

Science

Xuelong heading back to Arctic

China's icebreaker Xuelong will set out on its fifth Arctic expedition on July 2, after a four-day stopover in Qingdao, Shandong province.

Xuelong, which can break through ice 1.2 meters thick, will voyage an estimated 31,484 kilometers over 90 days on its first trip along the northeastern route to the North Pole.

"A 120-member expedition team, including a scientist from Taiwan and four from France, Denmark and Iceland, will be aboard, and they will spend 512 hours in research," said Qu Tanzhou, chief director of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration. During the expedition, the scientists will study how environmental changes in the Arctic region have affected China's climate.

Society

Exam and divorce link denied

Authorities have denied recent claims that the divorce rate in China rose after the latest round of the annual national college entrance examinations, which ended on June 8. However, the authorities said that some couples did wait till the end of the examinations before deciding to file for divorce.

Many couples, they said, believe they had fulfilled their parental responsibilities by raising their children to the age when they would take the tests - usually 18 - thus making it an appropriate time to end their marriages.

Numbers obtained from courts in many cities showed no evidence that there are more divorces after the examination. Every quarter, civil affairs authorities release statistics on divorce.

Services

Parcel post used by smugglers

Express mail service has unwittingly become an accomplice of drug smugglers, Shanghai Customs said. Eight of the nine drug-smuggling cases intercepted at Shanghai ports this year so far were via parcel post, according to customs authorities. Last year, 16 out of the 28 drug-smuggling cases involved express mail services.

Most of the recipients of the shipments are not usually drug dealers, the authorities said, and in most cases it is young women who are being used as drug couriers. In a typical case this year, a man became acquainted with a woman in Shanghai and later asked her to receive a parcel of clothes from overseas as a favor. The parcel contained more than 700 grams of heroin.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/29/2012 page2)