Elephant damage adding up for Yunnan farmers
Authorities in Yunnan Province have paid about 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) so far this year to locals as compensation for crops damaged by wildlife, mostly Asian elephants from natural reserves near the locals' villages.
The amount of compensation has doubled since 2001, when authorities began to deal with the issue.
Many farmers have not had anything to harvest over the past few years due to the increasing amount of damage by elephants.
www.xinhuanet.com
Bees cause truck to crash, damaging road
An expressway from Mianyang to Guangyuan of Sichuan Province had to be closed for about 2 hours last week due to an accident caused by massive bees flying over the section.
The road was seriously damaged after a truck, fully loaded with 27 tons of goods, crashed by the roadside and fell 30 metres, though no one was seriously injured.
The accident occurred when the truck's driver tried to wave some bees away from his cab while driving.
West China's Metropolis News
Barking dogs present legal conundrum
Over 50 families from a residential building in Chongqing were being driven mad over the past week as a score of dogs kept by a neighbour kept barking at night.
"We cannot sleep for days with such barking at night," they said. "It was actually a barking competition."
Police said they had not been authorized to take the pets away for lack of specific rules. Local media are openly seeking tips to settle the issue.
Chongqing Business News
Ill-gotten possessions land ex-official in jail
Ma Sheng, former top official of the Yunnan Provincial Forest Police Bureau, was sentenced to jail for 20 years with 200,000 yuan (US$25,123) of his properties to be confiscated over the weekend by a court in Kunming.
Procurators charged him with taking bribes and holding a huge amount of property with unidentified sources.
As head of the bureau between 2000 and 2005, Ma was found to have taken 300,000 yuan (US$37,684) of briberies, with over 3.3 million yuan (US$414,532) in stolen personal property.
www.xinhuanet.com
Hotline at work against unwanted pregnancy
Free abortions have been given to 28 young women troubled with unexpected pregnancies in Guiyang of Guizhou Province thanks to a special hotline opened earlier this month.
Most of the women helped were migrant workers living on the outskirts of the city. The youngest was only 16.
Working for the hotline as operators, doctors have since advised 82 young women on how to avoid, or deal with, such a pregnancy.
Guizhou Metropolis News
(China Daily 09/13/2006 page5)
