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Beijing imposes broader smoking ban

By Xinhua,

Beijing : Beijing brought into effect new regulations against smoking in more public places Thursday, amid efforts to create a smoke-free Olympics.

Compared with the 1996 regulations, smoking bans are expanded to more public venues including fitness centres, cultural relics sites, offices, meeting rooms, dining halls, toilets, aisles and lifts in buildings belonging to government or private institutions.

Restaurants, internet cafes, parks, waiting halls in airports, railway stations and coach stations are required to separate smoking and non-smoking areas as part of the new regulations.

Hotels are told to offer smoke-free rooms or floors but the regulations do not spell out the specifics.

People caught smoking in forbidden areas will be fined 10 yuan ($1.4) while enterprises and institutions that violate the ban face fines between 1,000 yuan ($143) and 5,000 yuan ($715).

Local authorities will dispatch about 100,000 inspectors to check the enforcement of the smoking bans. The city had banned smoking in hospitals, kindergartens, schools, museums, sports venues and other places before the broadened regulations.

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Canada unveils athletes’ uniforms

Ottawa: Canada has unveiled athletes’ uniform, which are made of eco-friendly fabrics and decorated with a fusion of Canadian and Chinese symbols. The red-and-white Olympic uniforms are made from environmentally friendly fabrics such as bamboo and organic cotton. They also contain super-light material that will help athletes stay cool during the expected high temperatures in Beijing.

In designing, the number ‘8’ is the most important element to be used, said fashion director Suzanne Timmins from Hudson’s Bay Company, which is in charge of the design. “Eight is a lucky number for the Chinese people, and a lot of people don’t know that on the eighth day, of the eighth month, in the year 2008, on the eighth hour, in the eighth minute, maybe on the eighth second, the Games begin,” he said.

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133 Cuban athletes qualify for Beijing

Havana: A total of 133 Cuban athletes in 16 sports have qualified for the Beijing Olympics. Cuban fencing athletes Maylin Gonzalez and Misleidys Company earned this past weekend the most recent berths at the pre-Olympics in Queretaro, Mexico.

Sources in the Cuban Sports Institute (INDER) confirmed that Cuba has also obtained Beijing passes for athletics (36), baseball (24), women’s volleyball (12), wrestling (12) and boxing (9). Cuban athletes will also compete in rowing (9), weightlifting (6), diving (5), judo (5), taekwondo (3), shooting (3), cycling (3), boating (2), archery (1) and pentathlon (1).

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Nigeria to send five boxers to Beijing

Lagos: Five Nigerian boxers who will represent the country at the forthcoming Beijing Olympics Games have another chance to prove their class at the World Championships in Morocco, according to an official with the Nigeria Boxing Federation.

The boxers are Saheed Lawal, Lanre Durodola, Ekene Danloko, Dauda Izobo and Ehwareme Onorode. National boxing coach Femi Babafemi told local media that the competition was good for the boxers.

“The five boxers who have qualified for the Olympic Games will attend the tournament in Morocco from May 20 to May 30,” he said. He said the tournament would serve as part of the country’s training program for the Olympics.

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US names chef-de-mission for Olympics

Los Angeles: The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has announced the appointment of Judge Charles Carter Lee as chef-de-mission for the US Olympic contingent for the Olympics.

Judge Lee, 61, speaks Mandarin and has given various lectures on the California legal system in China in both English and Mandarin. He has served as a judge with the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 1989. “Judge Charles Lee will make an exceptional chef-de-mission for the 2008 US Olympic Team,” said USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth.t