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BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Olympic Cultural Festival will feature many activities with Beijing residents most welcomed to participate in, the organizing committee of the Beijing Olympic Games (BOCOG) said here on Monday.

The three-week Festival, the fifth and the last one before next year's Games, will kick off on June 23, when BOCOG starts the selection process for Beijing Olympics torchbearers.

There will be the "Olympic Rhythms" open air concert lasting from June 24 to July 14 with more than 300 pop stars making their appearances, singing Olympic songs with their fans.

International Forum for Beijing Olympics will take place, for the fourth year running, on June 24 and 25 while 2007 Beijing Cultural Forum is held to discuss how to deliver a "People's Olympics" on June 28 and July 12.

The 100 or so activities also include Beijing International Sports Film Week, a series of exhibitions by people with a disability as well as "Fitness for All" Sports Festival.

The Olympic Cultural Festival will be launched at Beijing Shijingshan International Sculpture Park and end at China Millennium Monument on July 15.

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BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhua) -- A big number of city volunteers will be needed to provide information, language and emergency services during the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympics, said the organizers here on Monday.

Liu Jian, director of Volunteer Department of the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Olympic Games (BOCOG), said 400,000 city volunteers will be recruited and the recruitment started Monday.

"People as young as 14 can apply for the voluntary job on the condition that they get the permission of their guardians," said Liu. According to city volunteer general policies, people born before June 30, 1994 are eligible. For applicants under 18, they should get permission from their guardians.

"Actually we welcome parents to join their children instead of merely agreeing them to apply," he said.

"Compared with Beijing Games and Paralympics volunteer selection, we set lower standards in choosing city volunteers.

"If you are willing to do something for the two Games and have at least 12 hours of spare time then, you can apply," he said.

City volunteers will work at least three shifts with four hours each.

"We will set up 500 voluntary service posts around Olympic venues and in other major areas in Beijing, providing information, language and emergency services," he added.

Beijing residents can go to respective government website of the districts or counties they live in for application forms or people can dial 86-10-12355 to apply.
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BEIJING, June 25 -- A total of 23 events have been on display in Shanghai on Sunday as part of the celebrations to mark the 100-day countdown to the Shanghai Special Olympics 2007.

The celebrations were spearheaded by a jogging attended by at least 20,000 citizens, including some mentally handicapped people.

The mini-marathon was augmented by art shows, rummage sale, autograph-signing and some donating ceremonies.

"I came here to give my support to those mentally handicapped people, they are born equal," said Wang Junxia, China's former 5,000-meter Olympic champion, who headed the jogging. "And they can compete and live as everybody else does. I would like to call on the attention from all the corners of the society to those people."

According to Han Zheng, mayor of Shanghai and Chairman of the organizing committee of the Special Olympics, all the preparation has been well underway, with building a harmonious ambiance for the Games and the mentally handicapped people as the priority.

"We don't build new venues, we don't make profits from the Games, all we need to do is make it public and have more people involved to create a civilized and harmonious environment for the mentally handicapped people," Han said at Sunday's Special Olympics 100-day countdown ceremony.

The 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games will be held in Shanghai from Oct. 2 to 11. More than 10,000 athletes and coaches, 20,000 family members from over 160 countries and regions are expected to show up.
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BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said on Sunday that he believes the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing would be the best ever in Olympic history.

"I would like to repeat I am sure that the Olympic Games in Beijing will be the best in Olympic history," said Samarach when addressing the opening ceremony of the World Olympic Collectors Fair in the Chinese capital.

Part of the fifth 2008 Olympic Cultural Festival, the fair is being held in China for the first time, featuring a large display of pins, stamps, coins and other memorabilia bearing the Olympic rings. Other items on display will include Olympic torches, trophies and warm-up suits. There will also be a collection of Olympic-related stamps donated by Samaranch to the Lausanne-based Olympic museum.

Over 320 exhibitors from 30 countries and regions will display their Olympic collections.

Olympic pin trading has become a tradition, arising from the first modern Olympics in Athens, Greece, where athletes, officials and judges exchanged cards with their names and titles affixed.

Beijing Olympic organizers launched a pin-designing contest in May, welcoming people from all over China to share ideas about the Beijing Games. The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) has issued over 500 types of Olympic pins with the figure expected to reach 4,000.
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LOS ANGELES, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors on Monday passed a resolution supporting Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The resolution encourages all Americans to support Chicago's bid and embrace the ideals of the Olympic Movement.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors passed the resolution at their annual meeting, currently taking place in Los Angeles. The annual meeting is being hosted by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who took the lead in shepherding through the resolution.

"This resolution is a clear sign of the unwavering, bipartisan support for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games and shows that leaders from around America respect the ideals and guidelines that have sustained the Olympic Movement over the years," said Chicago 2016 chairman and CEO Patrick G. Ryan. "It's another positive development in an incredibly exciting process."

"I want to thank Mayor Daley and the Conference for their continued support of our efforts. I'd also like to thank the Conference not just for recognizing the benefits the Games can bring to our community, region and country, but also the benefits that having the Games in America can have on the Olympic Movement."

"It's an exciting time to be a Chicagoan as we continue to embrace sport and celebrate excellence."
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BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhuanet) -- A report recommending that internet and video gaming addiction be considered a mental disorder was watered down after a heated debate broke out among delegates at the American Medical Association's annual convention in Chicago, media reported Tuesday.

Some of the delegaes said more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games -- a problem that affects about 10 percent of players -- could be considered a mental illness.

"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

While occasional use of video games is harmless and may even help with some disorders like autism, doctors said in extreme cases it can interfere with day-to-day necessities like working, showering or even eating, they added.

"Working with this problem is no different than working with alcoholic patients. The same denial, the same rationalization, the same inability to give it up," said Dr. Thomas Allen of the Osler Medical Center in Towson, Maryland.

Researchers in Britain found that 12 percent of gamers are "addicted" according to World Health Organization criteria, and researchers in the United States found that as many as 10 to 15 percent of gamers are affected by "overuse," the report said.

"However, as with findings on long-term aggression, there is currently insufficient research to conclude that video game overuse is an addiction," the report concluded.
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PHNOM PENH, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Thai government has provided the Cambodian government with medicines and medical equipment for the prevention and control of bird flu, local newspapers reported Tuesday.

The aid, approved at a signing ceremony at the Cambodian Ministry of Health, is in the framework of a joint project to fight avian influenza signed by Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, Chea Moneth, Deputy Director of the Communicable Disease Control Department in the Health Ministry, was quoted by the Koh Santepheap as saying.

The donation consists of 53 bird flu testing kits, four cases of masks, nine cases of N95 masks, 17 cases of Latex gloves, four cases of hand-washing gel, and seven bags of Surveillance and Rapid Response Team (SRRT) equipment, the newspaper said.

The Thai government has spent 2.5 million U.S. dollars on the aid from a fund it set up in 2005 to help the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) fight outbreaks of the virus, reported the Kampuchea Thmey newspaper.

The aid aims to strengthen the capacity of hospitals in the border provinces of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, it added.
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BEIJING, Jun 26 (Xihuanet)-- Byetta, a diabetes drug formed of a hormone minicking a compound in the Gila monster's spit helped people with type 2 diabetes lose weight, according to a three-year study presented in U.S. Monday.

People with type 2 diabetes can neither produce enough insulin nor properly use it. The hormone called exendin-4 found in the lizard's saliva works to boost the production of insulin in order to regulate blood-sugar levels.

The study of 217 patients with type 2 diabetes found when the patients get an adequate good blood-sugar control over the three years period on the drug, they also get weight loss averaging 11 pounds.

"Overweight and weight gain is an almost universal problem for people with diabetes," lead researcher Dr. John Buse, chief of endocrinology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, said in a statement.

The study also found Byetta might improve the body's own insulin production.

The study was funded by two drug companies -- Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) and Eli Lilly (LLY)-- that collaborate on the development and commercialization of exenatide.

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NEW DELHI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The number of people across the globe consuming drugs has remained constant since last year, a report released here Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
The report was released by the United Nations (UN) worldwide to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse And Illicit Trafficking.

The report said there are signs of stability in production, trafficking as well as consumption for almost all drugs including cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines.

There are 200 million people on drugs worldwide, which is 4.8 percent of the world population aged between 15 and 64 years.

A message by UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa, released here, said there is some ground for optimism that the run-away train of drug addiction is being slowed down.

Antonio said people worldwide must impress upon their governments, family, friends and co-workers the need to continue and push back against drugs.

With regards to Southeast Asia, the report said the region is closing a tragic chapter that has blighted the Golden Triangle for decades. The region is now almost opium free.

However, since the region is not free of poverty, farmers remain vulnerable to temptations of illicit incomes.

Farmers need assistance to move to alternate farming and need financial assistance.

The same goes for Afghanistan and Andean nations.

In 2007, the report said, the UNODC plans to open regional narcotic information-sharing centers in central Asia and the Gulf to check drug trafficking.
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BERLIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Three swans were found dead with bird flu in a second German state one day after authorities confirmed six cases of bird flu in the southern state of Bavaria, local reports said Tuesday
The health ministry in the eastern state of Saxony said three dead swans were found near Leipzig and a quick test confirmed that they were infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, said a report by German news agency DPA.

Authorities said the infections could still be isolated cases. Experts have yet to establish if the infection is connected to the bird flu outbreak in the neighboring Czech Republic, said the report.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in geese and turkeys in a total of four farms in Hungary, Britain and the Czech Republic this year.

According to the World Health Organization, the H5N1 virus has killed nearly 200 people out of more than 300 cases globally since2003.

Health experts fear that H5N1 could develop the characteristics of seasonal flu and begin spreading easily among people, causing a global outbreak that could kill millions. ??
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