1.  Chinese President inspects preparatory work for Olympic sailing event

QINGDAO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday visited east China's port city of Qingdao to inspect preparatory work for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games' sailing event and local enterprises.

Hu was pleased at the efforts Qingdao had made to clean seawater and make it qualified for Olympics' sailing event. He urged continuing to keep alert and make efforts to ensure a smooth sailing event.

Starting in mid-June, the coast of Qingdao was coated with a vast algae coming from the Yellow Sea. A bright green covering of algae smothered beaches and extended out several hundred meters. It once covered 32 percent of the sailing venue at the peak of the outbreak.

Hu visited the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, highly praising the adoption of renewable energy and environment-friendly materials in the center's buildings.

Hu urged the center staff to make more earnest preparations for a sailing event to be satisfied by the world, athletes and Chinese people.

He encouraged Chinese athletes to achieve good results with confidence and morale.

Hu also talked with some foreign athletes in Qingdao for preliminary trainings. "The Chinese people are showing their warm welcome to athletes from all over the world. We will do our best to provide good service for you," he said.

On Sunday afternoon, Hu paid visits to two local enterprises to inspect their operations.

Hu stressed that the slowing growth of the world economy and increase of uncertain and unstable factors are bringing disadvantageous influence on China's economic development.

But we should turn this challenge into an opportunity, speed up the transfer of growth patterns, push forward innovation and improve management to maintain a sound development trend for the enterprises, the president said.

He called on local governments to boost policy support and services for the enterprises, small and medium-sized firms in particular.

Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)

2.  Beijing poised to welcome peak of Olympic arrival

BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Beijing Capital International Airport will receive some 100,000 Olympic family members and it has fully prepared for their arrival as the peak of arrival comes, a Beijing Olympic organizing committee official said on Sunday.

He Yan, secretary general of the Beijing Capital International Airport Venue team of the organizing committee, said though his team only began receiving accredited Olympic members on July 8, a number of accredited personnel arrived as early as June, before the service period of the organizing committee.

"Up to now, some 1000 Olympic family members, both within and out of our service period, have arrived, mainly from the media," said He.

He said the peak of arrival has just begun. On July 20-30, the arrival will gradually reach its peak, and from July 31 to August 7, it will shoot up further. The arrivals include VIPs, officials, athletes, media personnel and sponsors.

Small groups of foreign athletes have being arrived sporadically these days, but chartered planes of delegations will not come before July 27, according to He.

The arrival of such a large number of Olympic guests is a challenge to the host nation and the capital airport is fully mobilized to meet the challenge, He said.

As an innovative measure in Olympic history, He's team had provided foreign planes with specially-made DVDs showing in real-scene the full process of Olympic members' entry and departure at the airport. The DVDs, which are shown on these planes, give passengers a picture of what they will go through at the airport in advance.

Other measures include a welcome center set up at the airport where volunteers offer information and guidance to comers. Exclusive Olympic lanes are also set up at sites such as the border check, inspection and quarantine, and customs to ensure Olympic members' easy passage.

Some 2200 volunteers, all college students in Beijing, will serve at the capital airport during the Games. In peak time, there will be about 500 of them on duty daily. They will serve Olympic guests in eight languages, according to He.

Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)

3.  No death penalty handed down so far over Lhasa violence

Forty-two people had been jailed so far for their involvement in the March 14 riot in Tibet's capital Lhasa, but no death penalty had been handed down, a senior official said.

They were convicted of arson, robbery, disrupting public order and assaulting government offices, among other crimes, Palma Trily, executive vice chairman of Tibet, said Thursday at a press conference for Indian and Italian journalists.

Sentences for the first 30 people were handed down on April 29 by the Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa, and ranged from three years to life.

On June 19 and 20, four local courts in Lhasa and the Shannan Prefecture announced prison terms for another 12.

Meanwhile, another 116 suspects were on trial, said Palma Trily.

"It would be decided under Chinese laws whether some would be sentenced to death," he said.

Following the Lhasa violence, police detained 953 people, including 362 who turned themselves in.

The violence involved widespread attacks against people and property, in which 18 innocent civilians and one police officer died and 382 civilians and 241 police were injured.

Rioters also torched 120 houses and 84 vehicles and looted 1,367 shops, resulting in a direct economic loss of 320 million yuan (about 47 million U.S. dollars).

The government gave tax cuts and subsidies of more than 200 million yuan to the affected shops, said Xiao Bai, vice mayor of Lhasa.

Yishion clothing store, the retail outlet where five female sales staff died in a fire during the riot, got 1 million yuan of concessional loan and has re-opened.

"Thanks to the joint efforts of people and governments from all levels, Lhasa has restored social order," Palma Trily said.

Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)