Belts help save suicide woman

A group of passers-by rescued a lovelorn woman who had attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the sea in Xiamen, Fujian Province, by joining their belts together to make a lifeline.

The woman, surnamed Zhang, had traveled from her hometown in Henan Province to repair a broken relationship with her former boyfriend. However, the ex-boyfriend rejected her, so Zhang jumped into the sea while they were sightseeing with two other friends. Zhang's friends immediately jumped into the water to rescue her. Passers-by then linked their belts together and pulled the woman and her friends out of the water. Zhang nearly drowned, but is now out of danger.

Umbrellas fail to cushion boy's four-story fall

A 7-year-old boy in Taipei was seriously injured on Wednesday night after he jumped out of a fourth-floor window with three open umbrellas that he hoped would cushion his fall.

The boy was apparently attempting to join his parents in Nicaragua.

The boy, surnamed Lu, migrated to the Central American country with his parents several years ago. His parents wanted him to be educated in Taiwan, so they sent him home to live with his grandparents. However, Lu could not get used to the life in Taipei and kept crying for home. Last Wednesday, Lu packed two bags of clothes and decided to leave secretly. While his grandparents were in a neighboring room, Lu jumped out of the window with three open umbrellas in hand, which he hoped would act as a parachute. The boy is in critical condition.

Lu's case follows one earlier this spring in which a teenage girl in Jingning, Zhejiang, survived a six-story fall when the umbrella she was holding slowed her descent.

Zhang Haijin, 18, was airing out some clothes on her roof during a storm. She was carrying an umbrella to ward off the wind and rain. A sudden gust blew her off the roof. Medical reports indicated that zhang escaped with only some bone fractures in her chest. After several days of treatment, Zhang was now in stable condition. Doctors said the open umbrella had served as a kind of parachute and probably saved the girl's life.

Woman returns from work to find house destroyed

A woman surnamed Meng returned to her bungalow in Beijing's Xicheng District last Thursday only to find that it had been destroyed.

Her house had been reduced to a pile of rubble, with all of her clothes and furniture buried beneath.

"My house was destroyed by a group of workers hired by a developer who is planning to renovate the area where I'm now living," she said.

She and the developer have not been able to agree on compensation. "How could they demolish my home before the issue was settled?" she asked.

Jaywalkers face public shaming in Wuhan

A Wuhan resident named Lu blushed when a screen on a busy street revealed that he was a jaywalker on Sunday.

Lu had previously been stopped by traffic police while crossing a street during a red light.

Police have posted 15 such screens around the city. Lu was just one of the more than 300 jaywalkers whose name has appeared on one of the big screens since the beginning of the month. Traffic police in Wuhan said the move was aimed at encouraging pedestrians to abide by traffic rules while frightening possible jaywalkers. But some local residents said the police might have violated people's privacy by posting their personal information on the screens.

(China Daily 06/21/2007)

（英语点津 Linda 编辑）

About the broadcasters:

Matt Doran is an award-winning American newspaper journalist and an undergraduate student at Albion College. He is currently a polisher for China Daily Website and is on summer break from Beijing Foreign Studies University, where he will resume his study of Chinese in the fall.

Suzann Riddle is a senior double majoring in Health Care Management and Economics at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. She finds herself at China Daily Website after visiting many areas of China as a Holland Fellow, Appalachian's international exchange program with Fudan University.