ATM thief appeals

A FORMER court security guard in Guangdong Province yesterday filed an appeal to the provincial higher court to challenge his five-year jail term after he stole money from a malfunctioning automatic teller machine even though the sentence was already cut from life in jail.

Forest fires

AT least five forest fires are currently raging through China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the local authority said Tuesday.

A forest fire, which broke out at about 5:15 p.m. Sunday, was still burning out of control in Shangrila, southwestern Yunnan Province, local government officials said yesterday.

Conviction upheld

YU ZHIFEI, an important figure in Shanghai's pension-fund scandal and former head of the Shanghai Formula One racing circuit, was sentenced Tuesday to four years in jail for embezzlement in a final ruling of the higher people's court in eastern Anhui Province.