TUESDAY APRIL 18 2000      PUBLISHED BY CHINA DAILY
                                                           CITY NEWS

Policy benefits aliens
A NEW policy adopted since early March this year regarding granting residence status to overseas Chinese and foreigners is benefiting a growing number of people.

May Day spending spree looks in the offing
INTERNATIONAL Labour Day will be celebrated with a week's holiday from May 1 to 7.

Visit strengthens ties with Haifa
MAYOR Xu Kuangdi expressed his desire for furthering mutual ties while meeting with Amram Mitzna, mayor of Haifa, one of Shanghai's sister cities.

Urban air slightly polluted
SHANGHAI's air quality deteriorated last week from the previous week, according to a report from the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Centre.

US movie star Arnie back for fund-raising
ARNOLD Schwarzenegger, an international film star as well as the spokesperson for Special Olympics International, will lead a delegation to visit China in May to help raise money for and awareness of the Special Olympics China.

Singapore's leader hails Pudong's development
MUNICIPAL Party Secretary Huang Ju and Mayor Xu Kuangdi met with visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong over the weekend.

Innovation contest kicked off at Jinmao
ORIGINAL ideas, innovations and inventions are invited for a "555 Inspirations" contest in search of progressive plans for social contribution. Five winners will be selected in July when the competition ends.

Ex-husband sets fire to marital home
A MAN was recently arrested for starting a fire in his ex-wife's house to vent his spite after she refused to let him stay the night, according to the Zhabei District Procuratorate.

Beware of thieves posing as friends
INGRATITUDE of several persons shown towards the kindness of their relatives or friends will result in their punishment.

Man gets 10 yrs for stabbing prostitute
A LOCAL farmer was recently sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by Minhang District Court for stabbing a prostitute.

May Day, May Day calling all shoppers
MAY days will be soon upon us. And it is May days or May daze. The annual May Day (May 1) holiday is to be celebrated, not by just one day of rest, but as I am told, by a sybaritic seven days off in Shanghai. I still struggle to get my Western mind around the East's system of awarding holidays and how one day can become, like loaves and fishes, seven. Maybe, it is coming from crabby cultures where the day off was fought for tooth and nail over years of union militancy. All this will be of vicarious interest

Fengshui fears foil telegraph
IN the present Internet and information age, it is interesting to look back to the time of the telegraph before modern com-munications.

Competition too hot in the ice cream market
ICE cream makers face a market meltdown in the coming summer.

Brief

Hi-tech mover
PUDONG New Area today will usher in Shanghai's first major international conference this year with United Nations officials and foreign scholars attending to discuss business incubation and technology innovation.

Sheraton returns after two years
By Tracy Tao

TWO years after its withdrawal from Shanghai's hotel market, the Sheraton Hotel Group has returned to Shanghai with the declaration of an agreement on Friday with two partners to establish a "Four Points Hotel" in Pudong.

The new hotel, a joint venture co-invested by Shanghai Lianghua Enterprises Co Ltd and Discovery Hotel Group and managed by Sheraton Hotel Group, will open to the public next year after converting the existent Liangyou Mansion in Pudong into one equipped with modern hotel facilities.

Four Points Hotel will mainly target budget travellers.

In July 1999, Business Travel News, a trade magazine for corporate travel planners, ranked Four Points Hotels by Sheraton the top mid-scale hotel chain in America.

The new hotel in Pudong marks the entry of Four Points in China.

"We expect to have more Four Points Hotels in China. Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Wuhan and Dalian will be our target areas for future Four Points Hotels," Ted Teng, president of Asia-Pacific Division of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc, the parent hotel group of Sheraton, stated in a press release.

Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.