■ China
No more Chen Jies, please
Who's the real Chen Jie? According to city statistics, Chen Jie is Shanghai's most popular name shared by nearly 4,000 people. Prefer Zhang Min? Well, you'll have to share that moniker with 3,751 other Shanghainese. Local residents say the common names cause havoc with school registrations and bank accounts and other personal documents. One Chen Jie told the Shanghai Daily she kept getting another woman's letters. "Every time I have to pass the letters to her, and her office is two floors up." Surnames have proven to be even more problematic.
■ China
Dissident released from jail
A veteran dissident who helped organize a banned Chinese opposition party has been released after serving a seven-year sentence on charges of subversion, a fellow activist reported yesterday. Zhu Yufu (朱虞夫), 52, was released on Thursday, according to fellow activist Cheng Fan. A telephone number provided for Zhu rang unanswered. Zhu was arrested in the eastern city of Hangzhou in June 1999 along with three others accused of circulating pro-democracy articles on the Internet and producing a party journal.
■ Singapore
Wolfowitz slams bans
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz yesterday called Singapore's restrictions on the entry of activists for the World Bank/IMF meetings "authoritarian." But he said the World Bank and IMF did not plan to postpone their annual gathering, which is being hosted by the Southeast Asian city-state this month. "Enormous damage has been done and a lot of that damage is done to Singapore and self-inflicted," he said.
■ Australia
Cow to receive artificial leg
A prized cow that lost a leg in a farm accident in Australia may soon be walking back on all four hooves after medical experts offered to help its owner fit an artificial leg. Farmer Geoff Heazlewood began the search for a new leg for his breeding Jersey, Theresa, two months ago after the cow fell down a river bank and broke its leg, forcing vets to amputate the limb between the knee and ankle. Theresa is a prized breeding cow at Heazlewood's stud farm in Tasmania, with genetic lines from Canada, and the farmer said he was determined to get the animal back on four hooves.
■ Japan
Terrorist's appeal rejected
The Supreme Court yesterday finalized the death sentence of Shoko Asahara, the founder of the doomsday cult that attacked the Tokyo subway in 1995, throwing out his last appeal, media reports said. The court refused to consider a motion by the guru's lawyers, who had missed a deadline to submit an appeal arguing that Asahara was mentally unfit and could not communicate with them, public broadcaster NHK and other media said. Court officials had no immediate comment. Asahara, a 51-year-old former acupuncturist, was convicted of ordering the gassing of the rush-hour subway trains in March 1995 that killed 12 people and injured thousands.
■ Thailand
New airport hits snags
Bangkok's new international airport hit a few snags when it opened yesterday for a handful of domestic and international flights, a soft-launch for the flashy new hub two weeks ahead of its grand opening. Check-in services went on the blink and phone lines at the airport's call center, set up to answer traveler's questions, were not working. Full commercial services are expected to start Sept. 28 at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, which will take over most of the traffic from the aging and overcrowded Don Muang Airport. Yesterday marked the beginning of a gradual shift to the new airport, with a portion of Thai Airways domestic flights scheduled to use Suvarnabhumi.
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