News from around China that the international business press may have missed

Caught short

A long-haired thief snatched the bag of a beauty salon boss, surnamed Yao, on her way to work as he rode past her on his motorcycle in Shantou, in eastern Guangdong province, reported the Shantou Metropolis News. Later that day, the thief found himself in a hairy situation when he was recog-nized by Yao upon entering her shop in the hopes of getting a haircut to hide his identity. Yao called the police, and after the man was arrested, he made a full confession. Lesson to be learned? Beware of short-haired motorcyclists - they may have been long-haired motorcyclists earlier in the day.

Drunkard misses fiight

When the unfortunate occurrence of a missed fiight happens, most of us have a good excuse: traf.c, faulty alarm clock, house on 're. But a man named Wang, who missed a Shanghai-bound fiight departing from Guangzhou International Airport, was not so lucky. After a lunchtime drinking session, Wang passed the security check, stretched out on a bench in the waiting room and nodded off. Three hours later, the care less drinker awoke to .nd that his fiight had left without him. Perhaps Wang should have taken the standard approach most of us take: get drunk after you've boarded the plane.

An itch in time

A Hong Kong woman is suing Rolex because a watch she bought has given her psychological trauma. Lee Ka-wai is now forced to wear long sleeves to cover up a skin rash she got from a label on the back of the luxury timepiece. Detrimental to Lee's case, however, is evidence that although she was aware that it was the label causing her skin to squirm, she did not consider removing the offending matter. Her defense is that she was afraid she would invalidate Rolex's worldwide guarantee, or that her real timepiece might have been mistaken for one of the many fakes doing the rounds. "rolex should have mentioned it in the manual or asked its agent to remind customers to remove the label," Lee said. Perhaps the manual should have included instructions on common sense.

Bad dog

Neighbors in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, ac-cused a man's dog of stealing items from them after their belongings began to mysteriously disappear, according to the Lhasa Evening News. The creature's owner, Zhang, pleaded innocence at first on behalf of his light-pawed canine. But an investigation later revealed that the cheeky dog had in fact hidden the loot underneath Zhang's bed, when a stash of socks, shoes, towels and toothbrushes were found. Zhang apologized for his pet's misdeeds and handed back the swag - rather than letting sleeping dogs lie.