China Scene: South

Fire brigade called in to rescue entangled dove

Onlookers cheered as firefighters rescued a dove that had become entangled by a wire attached to billboard in Guilin, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, last Tuesday.

The scene took place at about 4:30 pm when a little dove was seen hanging from a sign, 30 m above the ground.

A fire truck arrived on the scene soon after it was reported.

The firefighters spent two hours climbing up the sign and disentangling the bird.

(www.chinanews.com.cn)

Higher fees for divorce case adopted in Foshan

The minimum litigation fee for a divorce case rose to more than 300 yuan ($42) this month in Foshan, Guangdong province.

The previous minimum litigation fee for a divorce case was only 50 yuan. And the court will charge 0.5 percent of the value of the property involved in a divorce case should both parties agree to distribute it.

(Southern Metropolis Daily)

Elderly mother battles son's addiction with rope

A 70-year-old woman on Tuesday turned to police and a length of rope to get her son, Pan Moufang, to visit a drug rehabilitation center, in Xinfeng county, Guangdong province.

The woman had tied up Pan at her home.

Pan and his wife once lived a contented life running a hotel, but business suffered after Pan became a drug addict in 2003.

In 2006, Pan was condemned to reeducation through labor because of drugs. He was released last August, but soon fell back into his old habits.

(www.chinanews.com.cn)

(China Daily 03/25/2008 page6)