MOBILE HOSPITAL: Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark sails in the Indian Ocean September 13. The ship arrived in the Gulf of Aden on September 15 to provide medical service for the Chinese escort fleet, as its first overseas medical mission (ZHA CHUNMING)

Tightened Monitoring

Listed Chinese companies in heavily polluting industries will be required to inform investors of environmental accidents, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced on September 14.

A draft guideline for listed companies to release environment-related information was unveiled on the ministry's website to solicit public opinions.

According to the draft, listed companies in 16 heavily polluting industries, including thermal power, steel, cement and electrolytic aluminum, will have to release information about their pollutant emissions and management of environmental impacts annually.

In addition, a listed company will have to inform investors of details of environmental accidents, including the date, location, casualties and damage, within a day of its occurrence, the draft rules said.

Any listed company that is punished, fined, suspended or shut down by authorities for environmental reasons must inform investors of the violations, punishment and remedy measures within a day of receiving the penalty, the draft said.

Favoring Labor

China's courts will favor worker claims for overtime payments in lawsuits where neither the employee nor the employer can provide proof of time worked, the Supreme People's Court declared on September 14.

The court's judicial explanation stipulates that an employer also has a burden of proof if employees sue for overtime payments.

Lawsuits brought by workers against employers for overtime payments have increased significantly since the implementation of the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes on May 1, 2008, said the explanation, the third on the law issued by the Supreme People's Court.

Accessible Leadership

An online message board titled "Go Directly to Zhongnanhai" was launched by People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on September 8. The website provides people with a new and direct way of reaching the top leaders in Zhongnanhai.

Visitors to the site can leave messages for all nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, including Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, as well as to important departments under the CPC Central Committee.

Netizens had left 49,888 messages by September 13, with nearly 20,000 for Hu and about 12,000 for Wen.

Videos' Copyright

China's press watchdog has included 15 major domestic video websites on its self-check list and ordered them to examine copyright issues and remove unauthorized videos. The deadline for their self-check is September 21.

According to Wang Ziqiang, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication, the 15 sites, including youku.com, ku6.com and video.baidu.com, took up more than 80 percent of the country's video watching market share.

"If these websites can abide by the laws and regulations with an honest attitude, the entire copyright infringement situation on the Internet will be greatly relieved," Wang said at a meeting on the supervision of video websites on September 15.

The 15 sites have been ordered to remove all videos which have not been authorized or had unknown copyright terms and conditions.