Hard-working brothers fulfil mum's wishes

Four brothers have invested 300,000 yuan (US$36,990) of their savings to build a school.

The brothers surnamed Liu moved to Heilongjiang Province years ago from Henan Province to seek their fortunes.

Before their mother died, she told the brothers her last wish was for a school to be built in their birthplace in Henan, a poverty-stricken area where children have no access to education.

The brothers diligently accumulated the money and finally realized their mother's dream.

www.sina.com.cn

Neighbour from hell asks man to shell out money

A middle-aged man died of a heart attack after quarrelling with a neighbour, who was later ordered to pay compensation to the man's family.

Ji, 47, was arguing with neighbour Cao over the construction of a house in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.

Cao wanted to partly obscure one of the windows of Ji's home with his new home.

As Ji keeled over right after the heated exchange, a court instructed Cao to shell out more than 53,000 yuan (US$6,543).

Life Daily

Adopted toddler has third leg removed

A 1-year-old boy with three legs is recovering after a successful operation in Beijing.

Wei Wei was abandoned on a street in Yongan County, Hebei Province, by his parents early this year.

A kindly farmer from the county adopted him and carried him everywhere, begging for the money to pay for an operation.

The Children's Fund of China heard about Wei Wei and offered to help out.

Beijing Times

Don't try this at home, really, don't

A man apparently ignored warnings about not playing with fire and decided to emulate a fire-eater he saw on TV on Monday at his home in Tianjin.

Just about to run away with the circus he was so excited, Zhao lit a cotton roll and spat alcohol on it.

The huge flames burned the poor man's mouth and face, so his family had to take him to hospital.

Tianjin Morning Post

Doctors and nurses game goes wrong

A 3-year-old girl stuck a thermometer into her father's ear, perforating his eardrum.

Wang gave his little daughter the thermometer to play with, but made the error of falling asleep on his sofa at home in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Doctors said the father had temporarily partly lost hearing in that ear.

Inner Mongolia Morning Post

New homes will put animals in mood for love

Changchun Zoo has moved its young animals to new homes, hoping the surroundings will encourage them to start mating.

In Northeast China's Jilin Province, the junior beasts, including lions, tigers and wolves, have been enjoying showing off their new pads since last week.

Zookeepers are hoping for a new generation in the spring and summer next year.

East Asia Trade and Business News

(China Daily 10/28/2005 page5)