Air tragedy

KUNMING Airport of South China's Yunan Province refused to compensate 200,000 yuan (US$24,096) to parents of 14-year-old boy Shu Qing who fell to his death after hiding with another boy, Liang Panlong, in a plane's landing gear on November 11. Liang survived the hour-long flight from Kunming to Chongqing in West China.

The Beijing Star Daily reported the parents of Shu considered the airport at fault for not checking the plane carefully and finding the boys before take-off. An official from the airport admitted they were "partly" responsible and would give the family some amount of "subsidy" instead of the compensation Shu's parents demanded. He said the main reason for the boy's death was the lack of parental care.

These two boys ran away from home in Central China's Hunan Province.

Lawyers' fee

A MORE reasonable standard and detailed regulations on lawyers' fees in Beijing will be reportedly drafted soon, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

To date, Shanghai, Anhui Province in East China and Guangdong Province in the south have stipulated that lawyers must charge by the amount of hours they are involved in a case.

Insiders said lawyers in Beijing earn tremendous profits and many luxurious villas in the city belong to them. Beijing lawyers currently charge according to the amount their clients sue for, so most lawyers prefer to represent clients in financial or economic cases. An attorney who refused to be identified said some young lawyers even violate their professional ethics to obtain counselling fees. (Star News)