Swedes who work hard, play hard
THE Swedish Society held its first get-together in the new year on Friday evening at O'Malley's pub on Taojiang Road.
Air quality improves
SHANGHAI'S air quality took a turn for the better last week thanks to speedier winds and less frequent inversion (cooler air trapped near the earth's surface by warm air), according to the latest report from the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Centre.
Baby sun bear born on New Year
A "SUN bear" cub born on New Year's Day in Shanghai Zoo is now in good health and under the special watch of zoo keepers.
21st Century English contest
FORGET millennium celebrations. Forget Y2K bug. "Prospects for the 21st Century" is the new topic for a new era.
Nike jerseys safe, TBT levels miniscule
NIKE (Suzhou) Co, wholly-owned subsidiary of Nike Co - a global giant in the manufacture of sports products - admitted yesterday 251 of its Borussia Dortmund soccer jerseys from Europe had been made with raw materials containing TBT, but emphasized all of its other products in China are made from safe substances.
Ex-couple in court over fraud
HEARINGS began yesterday morning at Municipal No 1 Intermediate People's Court regarding Cai Linfen and Qiu Laifa who were suspected of being involved in a 62.96-million-yuan ($7.6 million) fraud.
Man stabs girlfriend to death
A MAN who confessed to hacking his girlfriend to death when she tried to leave him is now in police custody.
Socks appeal, or does size matter?
AN Acadian American I know has trouble with his socks. The size that is. He has a good grip on the ground, which was the polite way your maiden aunt had of saying you have very big feet. Plus he likes to walk - one of the world's best forms of exercise.
Jaywalkers arrested for violence
A TOTAL of eight jaywalkers who used violence against traffic police have been detained recently.
Man jailed for killing baby girl
A 21-YEAR-OLD man was recently arrested for strangling his infant daughter just after his girlfriend gave birth to the infant, according to Yangpu District Procuratorate.
Experts evaluate China's WTO entry
LOCAL experts seem to be pretty confident China's entry to World Trade Organization (WTO) will not have any immediate disastrous effects for Chinese banks.
From race course to People's Square
SHANGHAI was once known as a "Paradise for Adventurers." Few places could conjure up a more graphic picture of old Shanghai's decadence than the former horse race track on what is now People's Square.
Teachers wanted
By Shi Hua
LOCAL universities are going outside city limits in the search of the teaching talent needed to fuel Shanghai's economic takeoff in the new century. "On the one hand, the city's top universities provide a good environment for researchers to produce scientific results; on the other hand, these researchers are also professors who will train the great minds of the future," said Xu Guoliang, an official with the Shanghai Education Commission. Shanghai Jiaotong, Fudan, Tongji and several other universities are all offering attractive packages designed to hook the excellent teachers - especially for high-tech faculties - they badly need. Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) alone is looking to recruit 120 or so new teachers in more than 40 subjects. "We plan to recruit more talent from outside the city in an effort to bring in fresh blood," said Wang Min, director of the Personnel Department of the SJTU. Last weekend in Beijing, 12 local universities held a joint job fair, the first of its kind, to recruit highly qualified people to fill 650 teaching posts in 53 subjects. Attracted by Shanghai's promising future and favourable living and working environment, hundreds of people with high academic backgrounds flocked to the fair. Among the job hunters, many were Chinese doctorate students who had studied abroad. Benefits offered - published on the Internet before the fair - included an extra annual subsidy of over 100,000 yuan ($12,000) for specially-appointed professors, while the yearly salary of excellent young and middle-aged teachers would amount to between 40,000 ($4,800) and 60,000 yuan ($7,200). All teachers would be allocated apartments and their spouses would get permanent Shanghai residential rights and get jobs. "We returned home, our hands full with 130 application forms from people who want to join Shanghai Jiaotong University," said Wang. "And 95 per cent of them have doctorate degrees." A recent poll by the Ministry of Education suggested that Shanghai is now the favourite city with postgraduate students looking for jobs and wishing to settle. For the first time Beijing came second in the poll. At the same time, the competition among economically developed coastal cities is becoming increasingly acute. To face up to the challenges posed by neighbours, Shanghai has recently formulated many favourable policies to attract talented people to work here. As of 1999, Shanghai gave the green light to all professionals at or above bachelor degree level, wishing to settle in the city with permanent residential status as long as they could find a job here.
Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.