Etc...

OK, then, just forget it

From Beijing comes word that businessman Zhang Cheng is unhappy with something he bought on eBay and wants his money back. Zhang, if you hadn't heard, went on China's version of the online auction site, decided the item would be perfect to put on display at his company's headquarters , and struck while the iron was hot. His winning bid: $24,730 - $2,000 of it a deposit to hold his purchase. Then, because the object of his desires was in the hands of a resident of faraway Oregon in the US, he had to arrange for shipment. That's when the transaction began to go sour. Legal experts, according to the Beijing Times, informed him that the obstacles involved would make it "almost impossible" to bring his purchase to China. Then there was the fine print: The seller had specified that the sale be restricted to a resident of the US or Canada. Meanwhile, some of Zhang's less affluent countrymen were accusing him of flaunting his buying power just to gain fame. So what did he buy, for goodness sake? Oh, a decommissioned Russian-built MiG-21 jet fighter in mint condition that had been acquired by a military buff from the air force of the former Czechoslovakia. It's roughly 40 feet long, has a wingspan of 23-1/2 feet, and weighs a little over six tons. "I like to collect valuable items," Zhang explained.