Elevated rail still in track-laying stage
CONSTRUCTION workers are laying normal track along the first phase of the city's first elevated rail, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
Drugs in mail
MIND your mail, Shanghai Customs warned recently.
Carmival mood in Yangtze ballroom
FUNNY costumes and weird make-up, hugging, drinking and dancing. The specially decorated Crystal Ballroom of the Yangtze New World Hotel became a sea of some 400 revelling expatriates and local people on Saturday night.
Merger brings first exhibition JV
THE first local Sino-foreign exhibition joint venture was formed in Shanghai last week after the merger of two established exhibition services firms.
Water transport services safe for Spring Festival
SPRING Festival, which means a peak in the numbers travelling by sea, begins on Thursday and will last forty days.
Legal services market to heat up
WHILE China's imminent entry to the WTO spells a great opportunity for the development of China's legal profession, it must restructure to meet the challenges, according to a seminar sponsored recently by Shanghai-based AllBright Law Offices.
Survey:drinkable water at low ebb
LOCAL government officials are stepping up efforts to push forward a general survey of local water resources, that targets rivers, lakes and reservoirs.
Blast-hit road reopens No deaths, no injuries from gas explosion
AFTER 23 hours' hard work, repairs to the broken gas pipes which exploded on Saturday morning at the intersection of Gonghexin and Luochuandong roads was completed on Sunday morning.
A ride on the wrong side of the law
IT had to happen. As a frequent user of the city's taxi cabs I have often been able to curl a scornful lip at the poor souls who are sitting in a cab which has been pulled over by a traffic policeman. There they sit in lonely splendour while the driver - depending on the demeanour of the officer of the law and the real or alleged seriousness of the offence - either engages in much armwaving and fingerpointing, or cowers, as he, or she, fishes for licence and permit.
Trash-picker who steals bag quickly arrested
A MIGRANT woman who allegedly stole a handbag while collecting trash was recently arrested by Putuo Police on a charge of theft.
Ambitious young man dies in Germany
I REALLY don't know how I have come through these past four months. Every day when the sun rises, I long for the darkness, so that I may be shrouded in sleep. But when the night does come, I long for the day, for I cannot sleep."
4 years for date-raping 17-year-old
By Wan Lixin
AN employee of Shanghai's City of Books was recently sentenced to four years' imprisonment by Pudong New Area People's Court for raping a girl last year. In early February last year, 32-year-old Ding Pingfan was working at the book shop when he found a card on the floor, according to the court. There was a girl's name and telephone number on the card which also detailed her likes and dislikes. Such name cards, giving more than the usual amount of information on a business card, are very popular among young women. The card belonged to a 17-year-old girl who worked at a paging station. She had given the card to one of her girl friends who had lost it. Ding later contacted the girl by telephone saying he was very interested in her and asked if they could meet. The girl agreed. They met at People's Square one afternoon. Ding suggested they eat at a steakhouse in Yaohan Department Store in Pudong. When they arrived there, Ding said he wanted to visit a friend of his to get something as a gift for the girl. He led the girl to his own home instead and pushed her through the door. He gave her lots of port wine, and when the girl was intoxicated, he raped her.
Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.