Raymond Ho Chung-tai, chairman of the Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and Ling’ao Nuclear Power Station Nuclear Safety Consultative Committee, made the statement at an annual meeting at the station, reports The Standard.

An air radiation monitor failed to operate in one of the Ling’ao reactor buildings on March 27. Ho said a worker was negligent by sealing a radiation monitor in order to keep dust from entering it.

In other recent developments regarding nuclear energy, Chinese premier Li Keqiang announced in London that China will design, own, and operate nuclear power plants for Britain, reports the Daily Mail.

However, the announcement was met with concerns over national security. As well, British MPs expressed some reservations about cooperating with China to build the nuclear power stations because of the country’s human rights record, an act they say amounts to “accepting money tainted with blood“.

Ling’ao is one of three nuclear power plants operating in Guangdong Province, with the other two being Daya Bay and Yangjiang. In conjunction with other local power plants currently under construction, Guangdong has more nuclear power plants than anywhere else in China.

Guangdong is set to host a national-level safety drill simulating a nuclear disaster next year, the first held since 2009.

Photo: henu.edu

Employees from the Guangzhou software company rejoice with the lottery tickets

Football fans who have had to resort to using “sick leave” certificates on their boss’ desk, hoping it will allow them to stay up all night watching the 2014 FIFA World Cup will be envious of one Guangzhou boss’ generosity.

The Chinese reads: Resign! Watch World Cup!

Mr You, owner of a software company in Tianhe District, will not only give his employees the morning off whenever England is playing during the World Cup, but also bet RMB 100,000 (USD 16,100) in sports lottery tickets on England winning the whole tournament. He gave the tickets to each employee.

And it didn’t stop there; You also bought England team jerseys for each of his employees and encouraged them to wear them during each of England’s games, the Information Times reported on June 11.

The owner of the lottery shop said he spent nearly 40 minutes printing out all of You’s lottery tickets.

Employees at the Guangzhou company

A soccer maniac himself, Mr You revealed he is hoping his staff can learn the spirit of teamwork from the games.

At this point, you must imagine that You is a die-hard fan of England’s soccer team, but that is not the case at all. You was originally trying to bet on China, but due to the fact that China did not qualify, he opted for the team with the closest affinity to China—England, otherwise known as “Europe’s China team”.

China’s national football team often serves as the target of scorn, mockery and hand-wringing because it continually finds new ways to disappoint its fans. It made its first and only appearance in the World Cup in 2002.

Let’s hope that won’t jinx England’s fate.

Home page and content page: Information Times 

UPDATE 1: Reports are coming in that revise the death toll from this incident to seven.

UPDATE 2: A total of six victims transported to hospital have succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll to 11. Named to that list includes the foreman of the construction site reportedly responsible for the building of the bridge without government approval.

A 20-meter long bridge under construction near Maoming, Guangdong Province was the scene of a deadly incident yesterday when it suddenly collapsed and killed five workers, reported Guangdong Daily.

The collapse occurred yesterday afternoon at 1pm in the village of Liangping, Gaozhou City just as the annual Labor Day long weekend was concluding.

300 rescue personnel descended upon the scene, and by 7:30pm that evening, 26 people had been rescued, all workers of the bridge, of which eight were seriously injured.

The bridge under construction was to be a stone arch bridge, and whose construction is reported to have not taken the proper building procedures despite being authorized by the village itself.

In related news about collapsing structures, two people are dead and three injured when a three-story brick building collapsed early today in the Hongkou District of Shanghai.

Labor Day is the Chinese holiday in which the diligence and hard efforts made by manual labor are celebrated through giving workers time off from work.

Photos: Weibo (Guangzhou Daily, Caijing) 

The video contains still images of the woman using a napkin to wipe the sweat off road cleaners, construction workers, and white collar workers who appear both moved and bewildered.

A nightclub singer by night, the beauty is determined to give back to some of society’s least heralded, but most essential people, claiming this is part of her bid to mark International Environment Day, which fell on June 5.

She also stated that she wants to set an example to children and other members of the middle class to cherish the workers.

The pictures appear to have been taken in areas ranging from some of Shenzhen’s most developed areas, such as Futian Book City, to construction sites.

Courtesy of Baidu Images

What’s poisoning these workers, both men and women, all of whom work in making shoes or leather cases, is suspected to be toxins contained in industrial strength glue used in their factories. Yesterday, the Guangzhou No. 12 People’s Hospital, which specializes in treatment and prevention of occupational illnesses, began the formal process of identifying the illnesses affecting this group of patients.

Liu Yimin, deputy warden of the hospital, says that the patients all suffer from damage to the central nervous system.

New Express was able to interview Fan Xiuwen, a worker in a shoe factory in Baiyun district fortunate enough to have gone to hospital earlier for a routine body check, before chemicals from the toxic glue began eroding his mind—the same glue, he came to realize, which he was using daily to paint onto shoes.

Factory worker Tan Qiuyan, among those poisoned, being fed by her mother

Many other of those affected have not been as lucky. On the 8th floor of the No. 12 hospital, 27 factory workers are currently receiving treatment for suspected poisoning from their daily exposure to the glue. After those who succumbed to the poison, the most serious currently is a man lapsing in and out of a coma; the newspaper writes that at times when the man is conscious, his situation has deteriorated to the point where he can’t give the answer of one plus two.

Treatment for the more than 30 workers has already cost around 1 mln RMB. Media have reported that while their employers should be covering medical costs for treatment of workplace injuries such as this, 70% of the accumulated costs still remain unpaid.

A reporter with Beijing Morning Post visited the shoe factory of one of those poisoned in Guangzhou’s Liwan district, finding that the “factory” is actually an illegal workshop, no operating license or ventilation, situated in an old residential area.

The owner of the factory, Liu, told the newspaper that he has paid more than 10,000 RMB to cover his employee’s medical expenses. New Express writes that given the size of his workshop, it’s quite evident that 10,000 RMB is pretty much all he can afford.

The same reporter went to visit another leather factory with poisoned employees, finding only that the factory was previously closed down.

Police have arrested six suspects with the charges of manufacturing defective glue and the illegal storage of dangerous chemicals.