Beijing: Beijing will try its best to meet its citizens' aspirations for marriage registrations August 8, the opening day of the Olympic Games, Vice-Mayor Ding Xiangyang has said.
He said at a civil affairs working meeting that citizens who want to register their marriages on the date can fulfil their wish if they meet the Beijing registration requirement. Ding also suggested on-line booking to avoid the registration jam. Through the Internet, only two days' advance registration is required.
Chinese couples are keen to tie the knot on an auspicious date. Aug 8 is more than just a date, it marks both the opening of the Olympics and is considered a lucky day for marriage with all the number eights in the date - 08.08.08. Eight is the most auspicious number for Chinese who believe it could bring them fortune and happiness.
China to crack down on bank card crime
Beijing: The People's Bank of China (PBOC, the central bank) and the Ministry of Public Security plan a nationwide crackdown on bankcard crime so that shopping by plastic will be safer during the Olympics. The crackdown will start this month and end in July, focussing on Olympic host cities Beijing, Qingdao, Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinghuangdao and Shenyang.
Credit card fraud has been on the rise in China. In the first half of last year, the number of cases rose 29 percent to 1,171, which involved 4.46 million yuan ($602,000), according to figures issued by the Ministry of Public Security. During the Olympics, Beijing is expected to have 800,000 foreign and 900,000 domestic visitors. Total overseas visitor arrivals this year are forecast at 4.6 million.
PAGE_BREAK
Indonesia abandons hopes for wildcards
Jakarta: Indonesia has abandoned hopes of receiving wildcard entries to the Olympics, now known as a tripartite invitation, as they are only allocated to countries or regions with few competing athletes. "Our athletes will have to fight it out in qualifying arena if they wish to compete at the Olympics," Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) general secretary Arie Ariotedjo told The Jakarta Post newspaper.
Indonesia has already secured 24 places in six sports and has been hoping for some back door spots. However, in a letter the IOC said the invitation was only for participating countries with fewer than six competing athletes. According to the letter, the IOC has received 1,100 wildcard requests from 158 countries and regions, but it only has 90 to give out.
The 24 Indonesian athletes will compete in badminton (14), men's weight lifting (4), archery (2), swimming (2), athletics (1) and sailing (1).
Zhang breaks Chinese 400m freestyle record
Shaoxing: China's top freestyle swimmer Zhang Lin set a new national record of three minutes 44.97 seconds in the men's 400 metres freestyle at an Olympics test event here Thursday. The world record for the event is 3:40.08, set by Australian Ian Thorpe in 2002.
Zhang, 21, shaved 0.07 second from his own national record of 3:45.04 set at the Good Luck Beijing Swimming China Open competition in February. In the final, Zhang led throughout the race, beating national teammate Sun Yang to the second with 3:48.26. "This is a good result, but as far as I know, the score would be out of the top three at the Olympics," said Zhang, who will go to Australia for more training in May.
Comments
0 comment