CHINESE WOMAN, 80, RECEIVES SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE IN DRUGS CASE

an 80 year old woman received a suspended death sentence in southern China for smuggling opium to pay for her grave plot, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. A court in Guizhou saved Zhang Shouzhen from immediate execution after she was convicted of smuggling 8 kilograms of opium to Beijing in August in return for 10,000 yuan (1,297 dollars). She also enlisted the help of her daughter and her daughter's ex-husband, who received 15 year and 12 year sentences respectively. Xinhua said the sentences were handed down recently.