WEEK IN BRIEF

WEEK IN BRIEF

Shanghai
Driver escapes
A PREGNANT woman was hit by the tail of a bus on Cao¡¯an Lu on September 5. The bus fled from the scene, leaving the woman on the ground. Wen Qiaoling, who is five-month pregnant, was sent to hospital. To protect the health of the fetus, doctors used a stethoscope, rather than CT and x-rays, to give her an examination. The fetus was found to be healthy. Witnesses said they cried at the bus driver to stay, but the bus left quickly. Wen¡¯s husband said they would report the incident to the police.
Embalmed monster
SEVERAL fishermen in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, recently caught a 2-metre-long fish weighing about 3 tons and three businessmen bought it to donate to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. The fish was sent to Shanghai on September 5. Experts checked the fish and said it was called a ¡°Monster Fish.?Some fishermen suggested that they could eat the strange fish but it was finally purchased by the three donors. However, the fish died and the museum planned to make it into a specimen. For fear of the fish skin rotting, it was peeled off and soaked in salty water on its way to Shanghai. The 150-kilogram fish skin is being kept in a refrigerator until the fish is embalmed.
Week of festivity
PART of the Shanghai Tourism Festival, Zhoushan Seafood and Culture Week will open on September 16 at the square of Longhua Temple. A coastal city in neighbouring Zhejiang Province, Zhoushan will introduce its renowned seafood delicacies to Shanghai people. Twelve food stands will be set up during the festival and chefs from Zhoushan will cook fresh seafood for visitors on the site from 4 pm to midnight during the week. Folk artists are going to present Zhoushan-featured crafts at the event as well.
Heart-broken arsonist
A woman was recently sentenced to nine years in prison by the Putuo District People¡¯s Court for setting a fire in her own apartment that badly injured her son. The woman, who was not identified, ignited gasoline she poured onto the floor to threaten her husband who was involved in a love affair. Firefighters rushed to the scene and rescued the family. Both the woman and her husband were also slightly burnt. The woman had attempted suicide three times before the arson.
Illegal vendor sentenced
A young man from Fujian Province of East China was sentenced to one year in prison and a 5,000 yuan (US$617) fine for selling fake brand sports shoes in Shanghai. Hired by someone else, Deng Xiaodong and another man surnamed Li began to purchase fake Nike, Adidas, Mizuno and other brand sportswear from Fujian Province to sell them in the city early last year. When they were arrested in August, more than 4,900 pairs of sports shoes were found in their possession.
Political talk
REPRESENTATIVES from consulates from more than 30 countries took part in an information meeting with the Shanghai Municipal People¡¯s Political Consultative Conference on September 5. Yang Qiqing, secretary of the conference, told the foreign diplomats about proposals of the conference members and their researches into local politics, economics and society.
Healthy race
THE 2005 Amway Nutrilite Health Run will be held in the city October 2. China¡¯s former athletics Olympics champion Wang Junxia will lead the run. This is the fourth time the run is being held in the city. It is a non-competitive event which aims to promote a healthy lifestyle. The run will start from the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in Pudong, runners should run or walk along Fangdian Lu, Dingxiang Lu, Shiji Dadao, Yuanshen Lu. The finish point is the Pudong Yuanshen Sports Centre. The total distance is 4.3 kilometres. A total of 20,000 people can participate in the run. Anyone interested in it can sign up in outlets of Amway, All Days, the King¡¯s Fitness Club or Yuanshen Sports Centre. The sign up fee is 15 yuan (US$1.80).
TV tower discussed
ON September 2 Netherlands architect Ole Scheeren, heading the China Central Television (CCTV) building project, gave a speech entitled ¡°Made in China?at the Shanghai Library. The speech was hosted by CA Group, a Shanghai-based architectural consulting company. In his speech, Scheeren revealed the architectural concepts behind the new CCTV tower. After his speech, Tadao Ando, the renowned Japanese architect, and other guest lecturers also discussed ideas related to new cultural buildings.
Fast moves
FIFTY per cent of the relocation project involving households located within the prospective Shanghai Expo Zone has been completed, with more than 9,000 households moved out in the past five months, according to statistics from the Shanghai World Expo Bureau. Pudong created a record in the history of Shanghai household relocation by settling more than 1,000 relocation contracts with locals in a single day. The relocation project involves three districts ?Pudong, Huangpu, and Luwan, including six residential districts and 18 neighbourhoods. Two large-scale settlement bases for those who have signed the contract are now under construction.
Alien influence
THE latest Hollywood blockbuster ¡°War of the Worlds?has reportedly caused serious mental problems for a local child named Leilei. Leilei was very scared when the terrifying aliens emerged and suddenly set off a high-pitched squeak in the cinema. The child later became terrified of darkness because in the movie, whenever the aliens planned to attack, they used EMP and all electrical devices including lighting went dead. Every night, Leilei demanded the lights not be turned off when he was sleeping.
Fridge blast
ACCORDING to the Shanghai Youth Daily, a household refrigerator exploded in the city recently. The Lu family were shocked awake by a huge explosion in their kitchen at midnight on September 4. The explosion was caused by dry ice in a pack of Haagen-Dazs ice-cream mooncakes. A notice had been printed on the product packaging warning that the dry ice was only to be used to prevent the product melting on its way to the customer¡¯s home, and it should have been discarded in an open environment when no longer needed.

BEIJING
Fragile platform
FOUR people were killed and 22 injured following the collapse of a platform on the sixth floor of a construction site in Beijing¡¯s Xidan area on September 5, reported the Xinhua News Agency. The dead workers came from Sichuan Province, Southwest China. Disregard for safety regulations is believed to have caused the accident, said an official from the Beijing Municipal Construction Committee.
Google for business
GOOGLE has launched a beta version of a service that allows Chinese Web surfers to search for businesses in their local area, reported the Economic Information Daily on September 5. The service, called Google Bendi, offers similar features to Google Local, which was launched in the US last year. The Chinese service provides information about businesses in over 170 Chinese cities. China is the fifth country where Google has launched this service, after the United States, Canada, Britain and Japan, according to the report.
ANHUI
Death for drug dealers
A FAMILY of four involved in trafficking drugs were recently convicted and sentenced to death in Fuyang, Anhui Province of East China, reported the Jianghuai Morning News in early September. Farmer Hou Zhanqi, 55, from Yunnan Province of Southwest China, started the illegal trade with his wife, son and daughter in 2003. Of the four, only his wife got a two-year grace period, which allows the death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment if she does not commit another offence in the period.

HUBEI
Overturned verdict
A MAN who was convicted of murdering his wife, only to be released early this year when she showed up alive, received more than 450,000 yuan (US$55,000) in compensation from the local court and government in Jingshan County, Hubei Province of Central China, reported the Modern Express newspaper in early September. She Xianglin was sent to prison in 1994 shortly after his wife disappeared and a female body was found in a nearby pond. In March this year, his wife returned to Jingshan from an abduction to East China¡¯s Shandong Province where she was sold to a man in need of a wife.

SHANDONG
Longest painting
THE longest scroll painting ever created by Chinese painters recently made its first public debut in Shandong Province of East China. The painting measuring 36 metres long and 0.56 metres wide took local painter Wang Chengxi two years to complete. The painting illustrates fishing and social life on a series of islands along the coast of Shangdong.
world
Anti-Arroyo protests
MANILA ?Thousands of people marched in the Philippine capital on September 7, struggling to keep up the momentum of street protests against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo a day after she survived an impeachment attempt. Protesters ranging from left-wing militants and students to a small number of Catholic bishops ignored the government¡¯s call to bury the hatchet after months of bitter feuding, but were unable to match the size of a rally the previous day. Tens of thousands marched on Congress on September 6 after lawmakers rejected impeachment complaints against Arroyo that accused her of rigging last year¡¯s election as well as committing graft and human rights abuses. Arroyo has denied any wrongdoing. Analysts see little chance of another ¡°people power?revolution following those in 1986 and 2001 because the protests have not attracted many middle-class Filipinos and the influential Catholic Church has refused to take sides.
Egyptians vote
CAIRO ?Egyptians voted on September 7 in the country¡¯s first contested presidential elections, with President Hosni Mubarak expected to win a fifth six-year term as the leader of the Arab world¡¯s most populous nation. Polling stations opened across the country of 72 million at or soon after 8 am and trickles of people chose between Mubarak and his nine rivals, most of them little-known leaders of political parties with few members. Mubarak, 77, has won office four times since 1981 through referendums in which he was the single candidate, chosen by a parliament dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party.
(Star/Xinhua)