when is the file /etc/profile and /etc/environment loaded

["lucky.rand" <lucky.random@gmail.com>]

I use the mldonkey-sever, which started by /etc/rc2.d/S98mldonkey-
server. And the locale is set in the file /etc/profile:

    export LC_CTYPE=zh_CN.UTF-8

However, it seems that the file /etc/profile has not been loaded when
the mldonkey-server starts.As a result, mldonkey don't use the right
locale, and the file names which include Chinese characters are
encoded wrong.

Certainly, I could change the  S98mldonkey-server file directly and
also ugly. But I don't think it's a good solution. Hence, I'd like to
know, when and how are the file /etc/profile and /etc/environment
loaded, and where is the right place to set the system wide variables
such as locale.