The All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has called on trade unions throughout China to enlarge the scale of the national campaign of visiting workers' families with financial difficulties between New Year and Spring Festival.

The annual campaign, which was first initiated by ACFTU in 1992, had altogether raised donations of 26.36 billion yuan ($3.56 billion), which had been used to lift 4.45 million households out of poverty by the end of 2006.

This year, all workers' families living on government basic living allowances and those with temporary difficulty as a result of accidents or natural disasters, totaling 6.278 million households, will be visited by trade unions and given donations. The total donation is expected to surpass 3 billion yuan ($405.4 million).

Drug Recall Encouraged

China's drug safety watchdog has issued a new drug recall method, which encourages pharmaceutical manufacturers to recall unsafe drugs voluntarily.

The regulation, promulgated by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), says that enterprises, which voluntarily recall unsafe drugs, will be subject to lower, or even be exempted from, administrative punishment.

Those who are aware of problems with their drugs but fail to issue voluntary recalls, will face heavy fines or even be deprived of drug manufacturing licenses, according to the regulation.

China has witnessed a series of drug safety scandals over the past years. The move by the SFDA comes in the wake of pressure on the Chinese Government to overhaul the country's food and drug safety system.

Tightened Use of Rural Land

Urban Chinese are banned from buying residential land or houses from farmers, the Central Government stressed recently in a bid to control land use.

At an executive meeting of the State Council, China's cabinet, State Councilors urged local governments to strengthen rural land management and tighten control over the construction of farmers' homes.

Farmers' homes shall be built primarily on land that is idle or approved for housing and the policy that each rural household is allowed to have only one patch of housing land will be rigidly enforced.

Urban residents are forbidden from buying housing land or homes from farmers, and work units and individuals are prohibited from renting or occupying rural land for real estate development.

Price-cutting of Airport Groceries

Prices on all items sold at the Beijing Capital International Airport will be cut by 25 percent to 30 percent on average by the end of this month, said a manager of the airport trading company.

As a response to passenger complaints about high food prices at the airport, the campaign is to bring prices at the facility in line with those charged by downtown retail outlets.

Beijing Capital Airport Trading Development Co. Ltd. drew up plans in August to reduce the prices of 8,600 items sold at the two terminals, T1 and T2, to levels comparable with downtown department stores or supermarkets. Since September, the company has cut the prices of more than 100 items, including imported and domestic liquor, tobacco products, clothes, toys and cosmetics, according to a Xinhua report.

Restaurants Under Inspection

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday it had shut down more than 41,200 restaurants operating without permits and revoked some 2,000 hygiene licenses since September in connection with its efforts to ensure food safety.

About 79,000 restaurants were found to have broken hygiene laws during the three-month inspection campaign, which involved more than 1.9 million restaurants, the MOH said. Of that number, 26,433 restaurants were investigated and 101 cases were transferred to judicial departments. Fines worth a combined 37.3 million yuan ($5 million) were levied.