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/ 3 June 2008

China urged to free Tiananmen-era prisoners

A New York-based human rights watchdog urged China on Tuesday to honour its commitment to improve its rights record before the Beijing Olympics by freeing some 130 Tiananmen-era prisoners. Human Rights Watch made the call on the eve of the 19th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army’s crushing of student-led demonstrations.

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/ 28 May 2008

Bad publicity may hurt Olympic turnout

A senior Chinese tourist official admitted on Wednesday that the storm of bad publicity surrounding China in the run-up to this summer’s Olympics could affect the number of foreign visitors to the Beijing Games. Southern China has been hit by freezing weather, there has been violent unrest in Tibet and now the huge earthquake in Sichuan.

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/ 23 May 2008

Danny Jordaan condemns violence

Soccer World Cup chief organiser Danny Jordaan condemned anti-immigrant violence in South Africa on Friday but said it would pass before the tournament takes place. ”Our standpoint is that this World Cup must be a celebration of Africa’s humanity,” he told the International Football Arena conference.

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/ 21 May 2008

China denies weapons shipped to Zimbabwe

China on Wednesday denied that a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe had managed to get its cargo to the landlocked African nation, saying the ship and the weapons were on their way back to China. Zimbabwe would not comment at the weekend on reports that his government had finally taken delivery of a consignment of arms.

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/ 14 May 2008

China’s Olympic year of celebration turns to tragedy

A devastating earthquake is the latest in a series of disasters and controversies that have turned what China had hoped would be an Olympic year of celebration into one of turmoil and tragedy. With tens of thousands of people either dead or missing, Monday’s quake in the south-west of the country has plunged China into mourning less than 90 days before the Games.

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/ 12 May 2008

Powerful quake kills thousands in China

A massive earthquake stunned south-west China on Monday, killing more than 8 000 people and flattening schools, factories and homes in a powerful tremor that was felt across a swathe of South-East Asia. The quake, with a magnitude of 7,8, struck close to densely populated areas of Sichuan province in what Premier Wen Jiabao called a ”major disaster”.

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/ 12 May 2008

China quake kills five children, injures over 100

Five children were killed and more than 100 injured in a 7,8 magnitude earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday, causing buildings to sway and residents rushing out into the streets. China’s official Xinhua news agency said the deaths occurred when two primary schools toppled in Liangping county of Chongqing, a municipality of 30-million that neighbours Sichuan.

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/ 8 May 2008

Safety in numbers for speeding drivers

Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines which switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday. ”More than 50% of cars caught on camera for speeding and other offences either cover up their plates or use a fake licence plate,” said a policeman.

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/ 7 May 2008

Drivers fined for slow-drive on scenic bridge

China opened the world’s longest cross-sea bridge last week aiming to cut travel time between two major ports, but hundreds of drivers have been fined already for, unexpectedly, driving too slow to enjoy the view. The 36km structure spans Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang and is designed to slash travel time between its port city of Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai.

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/ 6 May 2008

Safety in numbers for speeding Chinese drivers

Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines that switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday. ”More than 50% of cars caught on camera for speeding and other offences either cover up their plates or use a fake licence plate,” a traffic policeman in the Guangdong city of Yangjiang said.

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/ 5 May 2008

System meltdown as China tries to sell tickets

China’s Olympic ticketing system appeared to suffer another meltdown as the final phase of sales for the Beijing Games got under way on Monday, fans and official media said. Long internet delays and system crashes were reported as the 1,38-million tickets went on sale, echoing last year’s fiasco in which the computer booking network completely crashed.

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/ 5 May 2008

Child-killing virus no threat to Olympics

A virus that has killed 25 children and infected thousands across China will not threaten Beijing’s Olympic Games in August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in comments published on Monday. Health authorities in China have been battling to contain outbreaks of EV71, a sometimes fatal intestinal virus.

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/ 26 April 2008

Dalai Lama talks unlikely to bring success

China’s offer to hold talks with aides to the Dalai Lama is unlikely to bring a breakthrough on Tibet, experts cautioned on Saturday, saying it was a PR exercise ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Chinese state media said on Friday that government officials would meet soon with a representative of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

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/ 25 April 2008

Interpol raises spectre of terror attack at Games

There is a ”real possibility” that the Beijing Olympics will be targeted by terrorists or that anti-China groups could attack athletes, Interpol’s secretary general said on Friday. ”An attempted act of terrorism is a real possibility and a real concern that all Olympic host countries have shared in recent years,” said Ronald Noble.

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/ 20 April 2008

Torch protests stir strident Chinese nationalism

Dogged by anti-Chinese protests in Paris, London, San Francisco and New Delhi, the Olympic torch relay is acting as a catalyst for an outpouring of nationalism and indignation by the man on the street in China. In an increasingly wired society, many, especially the internet-savvy young, have taken to the web to express their feelings.

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/ 19 April 2008

Chinese protest Tibet independence, slam France

Chinese people in several cities took to the streets on Saturday to denounce Tibetan independence and call for a boycott of French goods following anti-China protests on the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay. Pictures from the central city of Wuhan showed large crowds marching carrying banners reading: ”Oppose Tibet independence, support the Olympics”.