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By MOHAMMED GHOBARI AND MOHAMED SUDAM REUTERS SANAA — Yemen’s Presi- dent Ali Abdullah Saleh was due to sign a Gulf-brokered pact on Sunday that would make him the third Arab leader to be ousted by pro- tests this year, but snags were emerging that could scupper a deal yet again. Saleh, a political survivor who has twice backed out of signing at the last minute, is under strong diplomatic pressure to go ahead this time to end three months of protests that have paralyzed the economy and raised fears of anarchy. The deal would ease Saleh out of power within a month and give him, his family and close aides immunity from prosecution, ensuring a digni- fi ed exit aft er nearly 33 years at the helm of the state. Hundreds of Saleh loyal- ists rallied against the deal on Sunday, blocking main roads and briefl y preventing a Gulf mediator from heading to the presidential palace in Sanaa, as the ruling party added new demands ahead of the signing. “We reject signing the Gulf initiative and the coup against legitimacy,” some pro-Saleh demonstrators shouted from their cars over loudspeakers, while others piled up stone barricades to block traffi c. Witnesses said the media- tor, Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani, as well as US and European envoys, were strand- ed in the embassy compound of the United Arab Emirates where they were staying as Saleh’s supporters protested nearby. The United States and Saudi Arabia, both targets of foiled attacks by al-Qaida’s Yemen wing, are keen to end SEE “YEMEN” PAGE 11 By WU JIAO CHINA DAILY TOKYO — China, Japan and South Korea pledged greater eff orts to ensure the safety of nuclear power and vowed to boost cooperation in disaster management, spe- cifi cally through the sharing of data, at a trilateral summit on Sunday. Beijing and Seoul also made a commitment to support Tokyo’s massive reconstruc- tion plan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. In a joint declaration issued aft er the summit the leaders of the three East Asian nations agreed that nuclear energy remains an impor- tant option, but stressed that safety was “a prerequisite”. The leaders pledged to work toward a framework that would allow nuclear experts to share information and data through an early notifi cation system. Agreement was also reached to facilitate joint pro- grams on renewable energy and energy conservation to avoid excessive dependence on nuclear power. Th e leaders promised that if a natural disaster occurred in any of their countries the other two nations would dis- patch rescue teams and off er the “utmost aid”. Experts from the three nations will conduct joint investigations in the disaster- hit areas in Japan to boost measures to prevent disasters and help rebuilding work. Japan promised, in the dec- laration, to share “the lessons learned” from the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, and the earth- quake and tsunami that left more than 24,000 dead or missing. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologized to Pre- mier Wen Jiabao for Japan’s delay in reporting its release of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear complex into the Pacifi c. Tokyo, how- ever, did inform Washington of the plan beforehand. Wen urged Tokyo to continue providing timely information on the nuclear crisis and to “understand the interests and worries of a neighbor”, the Kyodo News Agency said. South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak also said timely information is necessary to assure the people of ‘‘neighboring countries’’. Wen said Beijing was will- ing to import more food from Japan, if safety standards were met, and South Korea prom- ised to adopt its safety policies on “scientifi c evidence”. According to Japanese foreign ministry officials, as a fi rst step Beijing would remove two Japanese pre- fectures in an area near the crippled nuclear plant from SEE “SUMMIT” PAGE 2 T wo workers died in an explosion at the iPad factory in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, on Friday evening. Sixteen others were injured, three seriously. Th e cause of the explosion was still under inves- tigation late on Sunday. Th e blast occurred, accord- ing to Xinhua News Agency, at about 7:20 pm in the polishing workshop of a company that is part of Taiwan- based electronic giant Foxconn, one of Apple Inc’s most impor- tant partners for iPad assembly and parts production. Th e factory went into opera- tion seven months ago and is “an important production base for the iPad, Apple Inc’s tablet computer”, China Central Tele- vision (CCTV) reported. “Apple Inc’s iPad 2 is entirely assembled in China by Fox- conn. The Chengdu plant accounts for two-thirds of Foxconn’s iPad capacity,” Tong Bin, an analyst with Shanghai- based iResearch Consulting Group, told China Daily. The deaths on Friday fol- lowed a string of suicides and labor disputes involving Foxconn and its client, Apple. In 2010, 13 Foxconn workers jumped from the company’s buildings in Shenzhen. Eleven died. Work safety authorities in March promised increased vigilance at a factory where eight workers were exposed to a chemical used to clean the apple-shaped logo on iPads. SEE “BLAST” PAGE 6 CHINADAILY chinadaily.com.cn RMB ¥1.5 COVER STORY MONDAY,�May 23, 2011 Nation Additives are food for thought Safety experts express doubts after offi cials say chemicals in rice are safe. > PAGE 2 Nation Rainmakers to alleviate drought along the Yangtze > PAGE 5 Life Israeli tour guide saves Jewish history in Shanghai > PAGE 20 Contacts News: (86-10) 6491-8366 Subscription: (86) 400-699-0203 Advertisement: (86-10) 6491-8631 E-mail: editor@chinadaily.com.cn iPhone app: chinadaily.com.cn/iphone © 2011 China Daily All Rights Reserved Vol. 31 — No. 9689 国内统一编号:CN11-0091 国际 标准 excel标准偏差excel标准偏差函数exl标准差函数国标检验抽样标准表免费下载红头文件格式标准下载 编号:ISSN0253-9543 邮发代号:1-3 On chinadaily.com.cn Web comment: More fl exible RMB will help China Special: CPC marks 90th birthday (left) Video: Interview with Prime Minister of Pakistan Slides: Fighting equipment on display in Beijing Language tip: Don’t go over the top In this issue NATION ...........................................2-5 COVER STORY ....................................6 COMMENT.....................................8,9 WORLD.......................................10-12 BUSINESS.........................13, 14, 16, 17 LIFE...............................................20, 21 SPORTS.......................................23, 24 Latest incident again puts company’s image under a harsh spotlight, report Gao Changxin in Shanghai, and Hu Yongqi and Tuo Yannan in Beijing. 18 KILLED IN IRAQ BOMBINGS PHOTO BY AHEMED AL-RUBAYE / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE An Iraqi soldier inspects the scene of a car bomb in north Baghdad on Sunday. More than a dozen bomb attacks, in and around the Iraqi capital, left 18 people dead and 80 wounded. See story on page 12. CLOUD OF CONCERN PHOTO BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE A plume of smoke and ash rises from the Grimsvotn volcano in southeast Iceland on Saturday. Iceland closed its main international airport and canceled all domestic fl ights on Sunday out of safety concerns. Ash clouds last year from another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafj allajokull, led to the closure of a large section of European airspace. See story on page 12. iPad factory blast may hit sales Summit boost for nuclear eff orts Leaders agree on joint drive to ensure safety, ease food import ban New doubts over Yemen power deal Ruling party adds conditions to signing, demonstrations continue Inside Full coverage on page 3: • Premier reaches out • Resolving Korean issue • Asian giants meet PAGE 2 | nation 23 / 33 23 / 32 26 / 32 27 / 32 24 / 34 26 / 34 27 / 33 26 / 33 26 / 32 28 / 38 28 / 40 16 / 19 15 / 20 24 / 32 21 / 31 22 / 31 21 / 30 24 / 27 24 / 28 27 / 33 28 / 33 25 / 33 25 / 33 16 / 19 16 / 23 22 / 27 22 / 29 6 / 21 6 / 19 14 / 23 15 / 23 MONDAY TUESDAY 15 / 31 17 / 29 10 / 21 12 / 25 TRAVELER’S FORECAST Chengdu Urumqi Beijing Xining New Delhi Kathmandu Thimphu Yangon Singapore Jakarta Kuala Lumpur Bangkok Vientiane Ulaanbaatar Shanghai Bandar Seri Begawan Macao Hong Kong Guangzhou Manila Hanoi Taipei Seoul Pyongyang Tokyo Lhasa CHINA AMERICAS MAY 23-24MON - TUE LOW/HIGH TEMPERATURES, IN DEGREES CELSIUS, AND EXPECTED CONDITIONS C Cloudy D Drizzle Du Dust F Fog O Overcast R Rain Sh Shower S Sunny Sn Snow St Storm T Thunderstorms weather ASIA-PACIFIC-MIDDLE EAST EUROPE BuenosAires 9 / 19 S 11 / 19 S Chicago 17 / 26 T 11 / 14 T Caracas 20 / 28 T 20 / 28 T Houston 24 / 33 C 24 / 32 C Las Vegas 18 / 28 S 17 / 29 S Los Angeles 14 / 19 C 13 / 19 C Mexico City 15 / 29 T 16 / 31 T New York 14 / 20 Sh 18 / 28 Sh Ottawa 16 / 26 T 15 / 18 Sh Rio De Janeiro 18 / 26 S 20 / 25 S San Francisco 11 / 16 S 9 / 16 S Sao Paulo 13 / 25 S 13 / 23 S Vancouver 9 / 16 Sh 9 / 17 Sh Washington 19 / 30 T 21 / 31 T Athens 17 / 24 C 17 / 24 C Berlin 12 / 22 S 12 / 22 S Brussels 9 / 20 C 12 / 19 C Geneva 13 / 24 C 14 / 26 C Istanbul 14 / 21 S 14 / 21 S London 10 / 18 C 11 / 18 C Madrid 14 / 29 S 16 / 29 S Moscow 10 / 24 S 14 / 21 S Paris 8 / 24 C 11 / 23 C Rome 16 / 26 S 15 / 27 S Vienna 16 / 23 S 13 / 26 S CHINA AFRICA 14 / 25 13 / 27 Cairo 21 / 32 S 21 / 33 S CapeTown 13 / 17 T 11 / 15 T Johannesburg 8 / 20 S 9 / 20 S Lagos 23 / 31 T 23 / 31 T Nairobi 14 / 25 Sh 16 / 24 Sh Abu Dhabi 23 / 46 D 25 / 45 R Bangkok 26 / 34 T 27 / 33 T Colombo 26 / 32 T 26 / 32 Sh Dubai 30 / 37 C 31 / 39 C Hanoi 23 / 28 T 23 / 28 T Islamabad 24 / 40 S 26 / 42 S Jakarta 23 / 33 O 23 / 32 O Karachi 27 / 34 C 28 / 34 C Kuala Lumpur 25 / 34 O 24 / 34 O Manila 27 / 33 T 28 / 33 T Mumbai 28 / 31 T 28 / 31 T New Delhi 28 / 38 T 28 / 40 T Pyongyang 13 / 24 C 13 / 26 S Riyadh 32 / 39 C 31 / 41 C Seoul 14 / 25 C 13 / 27 C Singapore 26 / 32 C 27 / 32 C Sydney 16 / 22 C 12 / 16 C Teheran 21 / 30 S 21 / 29 S Tokyo 16 / 19 Sh 15 / 20 Sh Wellington 12 / 15 C 12 / 15 C Yangon 26 / 33 T 26 / 32 T Beijing 15 / 31 S 17 / 29 S Changchun 8 / 22 C 11 / 25 S Changsha 13 / 18 O 15 / 21 O Chongqing 14 / 23 O 18 / 22 O Dalian 13 / 23 S 14 / 22 S Fuzhou 20 / 24 R 19 / 25 R Guangzhou 22 / 27 Sh 22 / 29 Sh Guilin 16 / 24 C 17 / 28 C Guiyang 12 / 18 O 14 / 18 D Haikou 24 / 30 T 24 / 29 T Hangzhou 14 / 17 D 15 / 20 O Harbin 8 / 20 C 10 / 24 S Hefei 12 / 19 O 14 / 22 O Hohhot 9 / 26 S 12 / 24 C Hongkong 24 / 27 Sh 24 / 28 Sh Jinan 13 / 26 S 15 / 27 S Kunming 14 / 22 D 16 / 25 C Lanzhou 10 / 24 C 11 / 22 C Lhasa 9 / 20 O 8 / 19 T Lijiang 12 / 22 Sh 12 / 23 Sh Macao 22 / 26 Sh 22 / 27 Sh Nanchang 14 / 19 Sh 15 / 21 Sh Nanjing 12 / 19 D 13 / 24 O Nanning 19 / 26 C 20 / 28 C Qingdao 14 / 20 S 14 / 21 S Sanya 27 / 32 T 26 / 32 C MONDAY, MAY 23, 2011 Shanghai 16 / 19 Sh 16 / 23 O Shenyang 10 / 27 S 11 / 26 S Shenzhen 23 / 27 R 23 / 29 Sh Shijiazhuang 15 / 29 S 16 / 26 S Suzhou 14 / 18 D 15 / 20 O Taipei 24 / 32 Sh 21 / 31 C Taiyuan 10 / 26 C 12 / 26 C Tianjin 16 / 30 S 16 / 29 S Urumqi 10 / 21 S 12 / 25 S Wuhan 11 / 22 O 15 / 23 C Xiamen 21 / 25 R 20 / 25 R Xi’an 11 / 24 C 13 / 24 C Xining 6 / 17 Sh 5 / 18 D Yantai 14 / 24 S 16 / 26 S Yinchuan 9 / 25 C 15 / 22 C Zhengzhou 11 / 24 C 14 / 23 C Zhuhai 23 / 26 R 24 / 28 Sh By SHAN JUAN AND ZHOU WENTING CHINA DAILY BEIJING — Some food safety experts have expressed doubts about the use of additives in rice, although offi cials said they are free from potential safety hazards. In response to media reports questioning the revised Nation- al Standard for Food Additives, the Ministry of Health issued a statement on Saturday, say- ing two additives — sodium diacetate and chitosan — were permissible for rice, and that a thickening agent — sodium starch phosphate — can be used in some rice products, such as rice noodles. In the statement, Wang Zhu- tian, deputy director of the For- tifi ed Food Offi ce (FFO) under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said sodium diacetate is a widely used preservative in grain, rice and pastry, and chitosan is a coating agent used in rice. Both can help retain freshness and prevent mildew. Th e revised regulation, issued early this month, comes into force on June 20. “The two additives were allowed in rice before 2007, and they passed the safety assess- ment,” Chen Junshi, director of the offi ce, told China Daily on Sunday. However, some food experts warned that using additives in rice might put food safety at risk, Beijing News reported on Friday. One expert who wished to remain anonymous was less convinced. “Rice is a staple food in China as well as a major ingre- dient for other food products. We must treat the use of rice additives with great caution,” the expert was quoted by the newspaper as saying. Other experts also ques- tioned the need for additives in rice. “According to the standards for using additives, a substance is used when it is technically indispensable. If rice is rot- resistant without additives, they should not be added,” said Sang Liwei, a food-safety lawyer and the China representative of the NGO Global Food Safety Forum. “I have worked in the grain industry for many years, but never heard of the practice of adding additives to rice dur- ing processing. There is no need,” a technical veteran with the Food Research Institute of Guangdong province, sur- named Guo, was quoted on Saturday by Guangzhou-based Information Times as saying. According to Guo, there are two ways of packaging grain products in China to keep the rice fresh: vacuum packaging and aerating nitrogen into the packaging bags. “It is easy, safe and inexpen- sive to retain the freshness of rice,” Guo told the paper. Th e revised national standard sought opinions from July to September last year, but offi- cials said they did not receive any objections, so the additives were included on the fi nal list. “According to the procedure, if someone files an objection, the health department will examine and decide whether to exclude the additive,” Chen said. The standards can also be changed at any time if there are objections from the industry. “If any rice manufacturer objected to the use of the addi- tives, the health authority will take advice from other busi- nesses and the industry, and make changes in the standard accordingly,” Chen said. Experts query use of rice additives By CHENG YINGQI CHINA DAILY BEIJING — China has formed the world’s larg- est network of volunteer lawyers in a bid to protect minors’ rights. Th e network, which now has 8,900 lawyers on its books, was established by the Special Committee of Child Protection under the All China Lawyers Associa- tion. When it was set up in the 1990s, the network had fewer than 100 volunteer lawyers. “Th e safeguarding of chil- dren’s rights is an important step in the prevention of juvenile delinquency,” said Tong Lihua, director of the Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center and an expert on juvenile law. According to statistics released by the Depart- ment of Legal Aid within the Ministry of Justice, legal aid departments across the country handled 87,530 cases concerning the infringement of children’s rights during the past year and off ered free legal advice to more than 1.1 million minors. “Since minors have their own social character, we spared no eff ort in extend- ing legal aid services to them,” said Sun Jianying, director of the legal aid department at the ministry. Sun said 12 provinces have included domestic violence, abuse and abandonment as legal aid matters. Some 14 provinces, including Liaoning, Jilin and Hubei, off ered legal aid to minors seeking compen- sation for trauma they had suff ered. However, experts said the defense of children’s rights is still a long and arduous process. “For example, in cases in which children have suff ered from domestic vio- lence, they cannot even sue their parents without their guardians’ signature of con- sent,” said Zhang Wenjuan, deputy director of the legal aid center. “It is probably because of the Chinese traditional belief that parents would never harm their own children but what if they do, or if the family is inca- pable of taking care of its children?” Xiao Long (not his real name), a 10-year-old boy in Beijing, has lived for years in temporary shelters for homeless children, ever since his father died and his mother became disabled. Local civil aff airs depart- ments agreed to act as Xiao Long’s guardian and admit- ted him to the children’s home, where he could stay permanently, only after lawyers coordinated with various departments. “Th e crux of the problem is that the law says relative departments should shoul- der the responsibility of tak- ing care of such children but does not make clear exactly which department has that responsibility,” Zhang said. Since legal action alone cannot provide the warm family atmosphere a child needs, Zhang urged other government departments to establish security system for such children. During this year’s Chi- nese People’s Political Con- sultative Conference, rep- resentative Yang Chunxing put forward a draft piece of legislation calling for a law to be enacted to terminate parents’ right to have cus- tody over their children if the children have been abused. “We have to build a national level guardianship organization for the chil- dren,” Yang said. He Dan contributed to this story. Lawyers helping abused children SICHUAN Gas blast hurts 10, traps six Ten miners were injured and six others were trapped aft er a gas explosion early Sun- day morning in Sichuan prov- ince, local authorities said. Th e blast happened at a coal mine in Rongxian county at about 7:30 am, a spokesman from the county’s emergency response offi ce said. Twenty-eight miners were working underground when the explosion happened, the spokesman said. Rescue operations for the trapped miners are under way. BEIJING Drug banned for health risk Th e State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) issued a circular on Friday banning the use of Nimesulide — an anti-infl ammatory drug — among children under 12. Th e drug was banned because of the potential for side eff ects, such as liver and kidney damage. Nimesulide is a non-steroi- dal anti-infl ammatory drug that fi rst became available in Italy in 1985. It is now used in more than 50 countries and regions. Th e drug entered the Chinese market in 1997. According to the SFDA, while common adverse reac- tions to the drug include vomiting and stomach pain, domestic and overseas statis- tics indicate that more severe issues are related to the drug. UN and BFSU sign agreement Th e United Nations signed a Memorandum of Under- standing with Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) for the training of professionals attending language competi- tive tests on Friday. Shaaban M. Shaaban, dep- uty secretary-general of the UN General Assembly Aff airs and Conference Services, and Chen Yulu, president of BFSU, signed and exchanged the agreement at the ceremony held at the university. Internationally recognized for its outstanding teaching quality, BFSU is one of 17 institutes that have signed the memorandum of understand- ing with the UN. CHINA DAILYXINHUA briefl y Summit: Studies on trilateral FTA put on fast track WORKER WALKS THE LINE PHOTO BY LI JIA