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/ 13 March 2008

Man burned alive for ‘not washing feet’

A Chinese bride burned her new husband to death after he got into bed after a drunken argument without washing his feet. ”Wang and his wife, Luo, were married on February 2. The couple, however, frequently fought over trivial things while still on their honeymoon,” the Xinhua news agency quoted a local newspaper as saying.

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/ 10 March 2008

Olympics will be safe, organisers say

Beijing Olympic organisers on Monday sought to play down security concerns looming over the Games, a day after authorities said two "terrorist" plots from its Muslim-majority north-west had been foiled. "We are confident that we will be able to have a safe Olympics," said Sun Weide, a spokesperson from Beijing’s Olympic Organising Committee.

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/ 9 March 2008

China says it thwarted attack on Olympics

Suspected ”terrorists” killed in a raid in north-west China’s Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region earlier this year had been planning an attack on the Olympics, a top official said on Sunday. In separate comments, another high-level official from the same region said authorities had on Friday foiled a planned ”terrorist attack” on a passenger jet.

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/ 7 March 2008

China urges Sudan to seek compromise in Darfur

China has urged Sudan to do more to stop fighting in Darfur and speed up the arrival of more peacekeepers, Beijing’s envoy on the crisis said of Friday, defending his country as a diplomatic bridge to help end the bloodshed. China has faced widespread criticism that it has not used its stakes in Sudan to press for an end to deadly havoc in the Darfur region.

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/ 4 March 2008

Beijing opens multibillion-dollar air terminal

Beijing has opened a huge new ,6-billion airport terminal ahead of the expected influx of millions of visitors to this summer’s Olympics, part of a multibillion-dollar infrastructure boost for the capital. The impressive terminal’s nearly 3km-long concourse is divided into three sections and connected by a shuttle train.

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/ 4 March 2008

China says defence budget to rise, warns Taiwan

China will raise its heavily scrutinised defence spending by nearly a fifth this year, a top official said on Tuesday, warning self-ruled Taiwan that Beijing would ”tolerate no division”. Jiang Enzhu, spokesperson for China’s National People’s Congress, or Parliament, stressed that China adhered to a path of peaceful development.

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/ 3 March 2008

No second chance in Olympic IT race

A marathon contest longer and more complex than any race at the Olympic Games is unfolding behind the windowless facade of Digital Beijing. This secretive, slate-black tower complex that looks like a row of computer chips stands close by the two most famous Olympic venues — the National Aquatics Centre, known as the Water Cube, and the National Stadium, or Bird’s Nest.

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/ 29 February 2008

Beijing opens new $3,6-billion air terminal

Beijing opened a huge new ,6-billion airport terminal on Friday ahead of the expected influx of millions of visitors to this summer’s Olympics, part of a multibillion infrastructure boost for the capital. The impressive terminal’s nearly 3km long concourse will boost capacity at the airport to 76-million.

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/ 29 February 2008

Sudan told to speed deployment of peacekeepers

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called Friday for Sudan to speed up the deployment of peacekeepers to Darfur and to end aerial bombing in the troubled region’s western districts. Miliband said the international community is united in the need for a hybrid United Nations-African Union force, but the effort is stalled by a lack of necessary support from Khartoum.

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/ 27 February 2008

Pollution turns Chinese rivers red and foamy

Pollution turned part of a major river system in central China red and foamy, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to as many as 200 000 people, the provincial government and a state news agency said on Wednesday. Some communities along tributaries of the Han River were using emergency water supplies.

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/ 20 February 2008

Confucius says: Too many descendants

More than two million people have registered as descendants of Confucius, tripling the size of the celebrated Chinese philosopher’s family tree, state media reported on Monday. The new list, which was last updated in 1930, has rocketed by more than 1,3-million, the Confucius genealogy compilation committee said.

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/ 20 February 2008

Chinese booze makers try to end drinking ban

A group of Chinese alcohol producers is trying to overturn a ban on government officials enjoying a lunchtime tipple that has seen a fall in restaurant trade, state media reported on Wednesday. Officials in several cities in central Henan province were banned from drinking during their lunch break in an effort to improve government efficiency.

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/ 14 February 2008

China faces Games crisis over Darfur

China was facing a major international crisis linked to the Olympics on Thursday amid mounting pressure over its role in Darfur after United States filmmaker Steven Spielberg severed his links to the Games. So far neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Olympic organising committee has responded to the decision by Spielberg.

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/ 11 February 2008

Beijing backs gag order following uproar in UK

Beijing Olympic organisers said on Monday they backed a ban on political protests by athletes attending this year’s Games, amid an uproar over an effort to silence British athletes. Following widespread anger, the British Olympic Association backed down on Sunday on its plan to prevent British competitors from commenting on ”politically sensitive issues”.

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/ 7 February 2008

China enters a year that defines its future

The Spring Festival is traditionally the time for China to put up its feet and relax. That has rarely been more necessary. With food prices rising, Olympic expectations growing and much of the country snarled up in snow and ice, China enters the Year of the Rat under more pressure than at any time in more than a decade.

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/ 4 February 2008

Beijing pollution worries some Olympic athletes

Tyson Gay has heard stories that some athletes may wear face masks at the Beijing Olympics, hoping to fend off fumes in one of the world’s most polluted capitals. ”I hear a lot of people saying, ‘You’ll have to wear a mask, you’ll have to do this or that,”’ the 100m and 200m world champion said on Monday.

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/ 2 February 2008

China arrests leading rights activist

Chinese state security forces have arrested one of the country’s most prominent civil rights activists in an apparent crackdown on dissent ahead of the Olympics. Hu Jia — who used blogs, webcasts and video to expose human rights abuses — is expected to face charges of inciting subversion of state power, his lawyers said on Saturday.

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/ 30 January 2008

‘Cheer for the athletes, glory for the country’

On the top floor of the Yansha Friendship Shopping Centre in Beijing, Huang Kuoshan and 49 of his colleagues are waiting to be sworn in to the Beijing Workers’ Civilisation Cheerleading Squad. With the Beijing Olympic venues all but ready and the -billion upgrade of the city’s infrastructure nearing completion, it is part of a drive by city authorities to ensure bad manners do not mar the August 8 to 24 Games.

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/ 16 January 2008

English-learning frenzy as China prepares for Olympics

When Zhi Lijiang first signed up to be an Olympic volunteer for the 2008 Beijing Games, she could hardly have imagined she would be playing the role of a Canadian tourist in English and etiquette classes. The classes are all part of Beijing’s effort to get its population to speak English to welcome the millions of foreigners expected to flood to the city in this Olympic year.