Ounce of prevention

Flood prevention workers at Taiqian County in Central China's Henan Province examine the banks of the Yellow River, where the flooding period started this month. In the past several years, the Yellow River area has suffered a rain shortage, which raised the river bed, posing a threat of floods.

SHANGHAI

Cooler weekend

THE sweltering hot days at 38 degrees centigrade have tortured Shanghai residents, especially when they have to take a bus. The average temperature inside buses with air conditioners reached 33 degrees centigrade and in ordinary ones 42 degrees in the sun. However, this weekend the temperature will fall thanks to forthcoming tropical storm Uter that will blow cooler winds into the city.

Boy killed by broken glass

A 10-YEAR-OLD boy by the name of Lu Zhijun died after the arteria cruralis on his leg was cut by a broken goldfish bowl in a rubbish heap. Lu fell on the jagged glass when he was playing ball with other children near his home. He was sent to a nearby hospital. His heart stopped beating en route there, and started again briefly after emergency treatment, but sadly he died soon after. Residents said the rubbish had been accumulating outside for more than two months.

Huge Party flag

TO mark the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai TV Station hung an 80-metre-long and 56-metre-wide Party flag on the wall of the station's building on Sunday morning. Made by the Shanghai Flag and Banner Factory, it is the biggest Party flag ever made.

No cycles on Huaihai Lu

FROM Monday only motorized vehicles will be allowed to run along Huaihai Lu, traffic police said. Previously, bicycles and tricycles had been allowed to enter the road before 7am and after 5am every day and the whole day at weekends. But this failed to resolve the traffic problem. Police said streets near Huaihai Lu would see some adjustments for non-motorized vehicles.

Water rescue

AFTER eight hours of efforts by firemen, some 200 households in Nanhui County got their water supply back in scorching 38-degree temperatures on Sunday. The firemen injected 200 tons of water into the container on top of the buildings that was virtually empty, cutting off the supply to all households above the fourth floor.

Woman saved

A 49-year-old woman was saved by a taxi driver when she asked him to take her to Nanpu Bridge so that she could commit suicide by jumping into the Huangpu River. The woman, an Anhui native, was depressed because her kidney transplant had failed and she did not want to be a financial burden to her husband's family, which had spent 200,000 yuan ($24,096) on treatment. The cabbies drove her to a nearby police station. The woman lied about her situation at first, but upon promptings from the police for several hours, told them the truth. She was sent back to her husband, who had been looking for her the whole day.

Extra-mainland marriages

THE number of local residents marrying overseas Chinese and foreign citizens outside the Chinese mainland saw a significant rise last year. Some 3,187 Shanghaiese married people from 46 countries and regions in 2000, up 10.96 per cent on the year before, a record for the past five years, authorities said. Some 68.12 per cent of the marriages were between local residents and foreigners, which was also the portion that increased fastest.

Suspected embezzler held

A cashier suspected of embezzling 1.62 million yuan ($195,181) from a transportation services firm has been arrested by Shanghai police. Zhang Zhenlong absconded in April. The money went on soccer betting and whoring. Zhang was found in the company of an "escort" girl in Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province and the police arrested him in a hotel at an arranged date in the name of the girl. Only 6,000 yuan ($723) was left when Zhang was arrested. The rest had been gambled away.

Sleepy driver killer

A taxi driver suffering from fatigue, who had been driving continuously for 21 hours, crashed into a tricycle and another taxi. The owner of the tricycle, surnamed Chen, died after being taken to a hospital near the site. The cabbie, surnamed Ling, began driving the taxi at 5:30am that day and kept at it until midnight. He admitted that he had nearly nodded off just before the crash.

Good water found

SHANGHAI is known as a city where there is a lack of "high-quality" water, but experts entertained doubts about this view recently. They found rich superior water 170 metres underground. If not aggravating the sinking of the ground, Shanghai can explore 50 million cubic metres of high-quality drinkable water, which will meet the requirements of all local households. However, experts felt it was a pity that such a resource was being wasted. Only 520,000 cubic metres is used every year to produce bottled water, beer and other beverages. Some of the water is even used as industrial water. Experts said the problem was that no one was willing to invest in exploration.

BEIJING

Purchase of foreign planes

CHINA is planning to purchase 400 aircraft from around the world within the coming five years for civil aviation to keep the industry growing fast. The state civil aviation industry plans to increase its volume of passengers to 100 million per year by the end of 2005. And its freight service is expected to reach 2.8 million kms a year. In 2000, China soared to No. 6 in the world in passenger transport volume, while in 1978 it ranked 33rd. Statistics from CAAC indicate that China's passenger transport volume in 2000 rose to 67 million. To date, China has 57 civil freight planes across the nation and the passenger planes in service offer more than 92,000 seats at any given time.

NANCHANG

Corrupt official punished

HAN Jingchang, former deputy director of the Jiangxi Provincial Economic and Trade Commission, was sentenced to a jail term of 17 years for bribe-taking, abuse of power and being unable to clarify the source of his huge property. Han was deprived of his political rights for three years and 1.65 million yuan ($198,795) of his illegal earnings were confiscated. In a separate case, Zhou Xuehua, the principal culprit in the bribery of Hu Changqing, the former deputy governor of Jiangxi Province, was also sentenced by the same court to life imprisonment after being found guilty of four crimes including bribery and embezzlement. Hu Changqing was executed on March 8 last year for taking bribes totalling 5.4 million yuan ($650,602).

YANTAI

Ferry tragedy men tried

FOUR people connected with the capsizing of a ferry in 1999 on the Yellow Sea were brought to trial Monday at the Yantai Intermediate Court in East China's Shandong Province. The four include Gao Feng, general manager of the Yantai Car Ferry Company, and Yu Chuanlong, the company's deputy general manager. On November 24, 1999, the ferry "Dashun", with 262 passengers and 40 crew members on board, capsized off Yantai due to bad weather, huge waves and errors made by the captain, Qu Hengming, and the crew. The tragedy killed 282 people including the captain.

KUNMING

AIDS forum

AN international seminar on AIDS prevention in the Mekong River valley was held Monday in this capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province. The participants discussed the spread of AIDS in the region, medical developments concerning AIDS prevention, and promotion of Red Cross societies' role in the sector. Problems in the region such as drug taking, prostitution and unsafe blood supplies all contribute to the spread of the disease, the experts said. With economic development in the Mekong River region, AIDS has become one of the most dangerous threats to these countries. The experts also held exchanges on educational co-operation in the field of AIDS prevention.

JI'NAN

Desalination project

EAST China's Shandong Province is to launch a sea water desalination project using nuclear energy in its eastern coastal area, which is short of fresh water. A local official said that the project will utilize technology related to nuclear energy developed by Beijing's Qinghua University. The project will require over 1 billion yuan ($120 million). Once it is in operation, the project will have a daily production capacity of 160,000 tons of fresh water. Experts point out that nuclear technology can reduce the cost of desalination, as well as improve production capacity.

LHASA

Green efforts in Tibet

THE Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China has exerted great efforts to protect local wild plant and animal resources, according to a report on the regional environment. The report shows that at present, Tibet has three State-level and 14 regional-level nature reserves with a total area of 38.19 million hectares, or 32.7 per cent of the region's total land area. Tibet, a source region for major rivers in China, South and Southeast Asia, is rich in plant and animal resources, which are well preserved.

(Star News)