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Daily Life in China Ke Dawei |
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Week 2, Newspaper
Reading Assignment: Write Titles and leads for the following articles. Titles and
Leads for three assigned articles. Article bodies below titles and leads. By Fu Jing (China
Daily) Updated:
2005-08-31 05:49 In the face of a
rising death toll this year, China has ordered one-third of its coal mines to
suspend production by the end of this year because they are unsafe. China-U.S. textile talks fail -official (Reuters)Updated: 2005-08-31 20:26 Talks between China and the United States over China's surging textile exports ended on Wednesday with the two sides still far apart, a U.S. industry official said, Reuters reported. No brain cancer link to mobile phones-study (Reuters)Updated: 2005-08-31 20:36 Ten years of using a mobile phone results in no increased risk of a tumour in the nerve connecting the ear to the brain, researchers said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. 1. Industry insiders said the suspension will leave a huge number of miners jobless, but coal supply will only be slightly affected because most of the pits involved are small. The State Administration of Coal Mine Safety publicized yesterday the first group of 1,324 mines that are required to stop production and meet national safety standards. If they do not, they will be shut down permanently. "The number is not all of the mines on the suspension list; the total will reach 7,000 soon," the administration's press officer, surnamed An, told China Daily. Administration figures indicated that China has about 24,000 coal mines, which satisfy 70 per cent of the country's annual energy demand. However, because of the transient nature of mining employment, no official statistics on the number of miners are available. An said the responsibility to monitor the suspensions and supervise the safety improvement of the 7,000 mines will fall on local governments. "The central government will soon unveil regulations which require provincial and local governments to play a key role in safeguarding coal mine safety," she said. "Otherwise, they will be severely punished." An said a new central government system for monitoring coal
mines will be announced today, which includes detailed measures to prevent coal
mine disasters. Some local
governments and officials have been protecting poorly equipped coal mines, where
accidents have claimed an average of 18 miners a day in the first six months of
this year. In the United States and other developed countries, the annual death
toll in coal mines is generally no higher than 40. Already the
central government has attempted to eliminate questions of impropriety by
requiring local government officials and leaders of the State-owned enterprises
to withdraw their shares in collieries before September 22. Collusion between
government officials and colliery owners worsens the work safety situation and
makes it more difficult for work safety departments to address the problem. "The central
government's decision to get tough on the collusion will make safety
supervisors' work easier," said Li Wenge, safety director of Provincial
Coal Industry Group of Shaanxi. He said the
suspensions will affect many miners. "Those in private and small mines will
lose their jobs and their families will become poorer." Li said he
expected the average incomes of workers in State-owned mines to drop because
these miners will have to give a portion of their extra incomes to the miners
laid off by the suspensions. "I'm sure the
coal supply will not be affected because many State-owned big mines have
increased production capacities since last year," Li said. 2. But amid public concern about a possible link, the scientists who conducted the largest study so far on the subject said they could not rule out a higher risk over a longer period. "The results of our study suggest there is no substantial risk in the first decade after starting use," said Anthony Swerdlow of the Institute of Cancer Research. "Whether there are longer-term risks remains unknown, reflecting the fact that this is a relatively recent technology." The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, focused on the risk of acoustic neuroma, benign tumors which grow in the nerve connecting the ear and inner ear to the brain, close to where handsets are held. Research has also investigated the possible association of other kinds of brain tumour with mobile phones but scientists say acoustic neuroma would be a prime candidate to be affected. Previous independent studies have found mobile phone radiation may have some effect on the human body, such as heating up the brain and causing headaches and nausea. But no study that could be independently repeated has proved mobile phones have permanent harmful effects and the mobile phone industry argues there is no conclusive evidence that electromagnetic radiation causes harm. About 780 million mobile phones are expected to be sold this year, and nearly 2 billion people around the world use one. The institute's analysis pooled studies conducted in Britain, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden -- all countries where mobile phones were introduced early. Cancer charities welcomed the findings. "However, it's important researchers continue to monitor phone users over coming years as mobiles are still a relatively new invention," said Cancer Research UK's Julie Sharp. 3. Negotiators had hoped to strike a deal so it could be blessed by presidents Hu Jintao and George W. Bush when they meet at the White House next Wednesday. But Cass Johnson, president of the U.S. National Council of Textile Organizations, told Reuters that negotiators had not even narrowed their differences during two days of talks. He said the American team would fly home on Thursday, while U.S. textile makers would respond to the failure of the talks by seeking to expand restrictions on Chinese garment exports. "People thought there was a good chance of an agreement coming out of these meetings, but it's clear the Chinese government was not interested in moving off its position -- and neither was the U.S. government," said Johnson, one of a number of U.S. industry lobbyists who have been tracking the talks in Beijing. U.S. and Chinese officials have now met four times since Washington imposed emergency curbs, known as safeguards, in May to restrain a burst of Chinese exports unleashed by the abolition of global textile quotas on January 1. The Bush administration was already scheduled to decide on Wednesday on industry requests for emergency restrictions on six more categories of Chinese clothing and textiles, including bras, sweaters, dressing gowns and knit fabric. Johnson said U.S. textile manufacturers had held off requesting protection in even more categories in the expectation that this week's talks would yield progress. "So now we will begin filing new safeguard petitions next week on additional categories," Johnson said. He declined to say which lines of goods would be affected. Chinese spokesmen were not immediately available for comment. FRAYING AGREEMENT China's textile exports to the United States surged 97 percent to $7.4 billion in the first six months, setting alarm bells ringing in textile-producing states and heightening wider fears about China's growing economic clout. The United States had a $162 billion trade deficit with China last year. Negotiators had been eyeing a deal similar to one signed with the European Union on June 10 that capped growth in 10 lines of textile exports at 8 to 12.5 percent a year. China went along because the EU would have been permitted under World Trade Organization rules to limit growth in China's textile exports to 7.5 percent a year until the end of 2008. That deal has since run into trouble as the new quotas were quickly filled, leaving a pile-up of more than 80 million made-in-China bras, blouses and sweaters at EU customs posts. Industry officials said earlier that the obstacles in the way of a Sino-American agreement included the length of any pact, the categories it would cover, how much Chinese exports would be allowed to grow each year and the right of the United States to impose new safeguard restrictions in the future. Johnson said no date had apparently been set for new talks. "What's striking is that they did not narrow their differences," he said. "It's hard to see what it's going to take for the two sides to agree." |
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