Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce (L) looks to shoot around Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant in the second quarter during Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball championship in Los Angeles, June 15, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)  

VICE-PRESIDENTS Hassan CHIKH (ALG) Born on April 28th, 1954. Education Graduated from the National Institute of Sports and the faculty of psychology and Education of Algiers. Career High civil servant working close to the minister at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Higher Education and Scientific Research, especially in the field of school and […]

 Mario Ancic of Croatia reacts during his quarterfinal match of the men’s singles against Roger Federer of Switzerland at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, capital of Britain, on July 2, 2008. Ancic lost 0-3 (1-6, 5-7,4-6). (Xinhua/Xie Xiudong)  

Jane Lai, Ren Xianbo SHENZHEN’S service industries, including the catering, tourism, retail and taxi sectors, promised to offer high-quality services to consumers especially during the Olympic Games, at a ceremony at the Wuzhou Guest House yesterday. “The 2008 Olympic Games can not only realize our century-old dream, but also offer Shenzhen a perfect opportunity to […]

THE Olympic torch on its first-day relay in Beijing will travel 16.4 km in just over four hours with 433 torchbearers, the organizer said in the capital city yesterday. The relay will start from the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City today, Sun Xuecai, deputy director of the city sport department and deputy chairman of […]

Two members of the Libyan Olympic delegation walk past a poster of “siheyuan”, a Chinese traditional courtyard dwelling, at the Beijing Olympic village in China’s capital yesterday. Elements of Chinese culture have been weaved into designs and decorations in the village, attracting residents from home and abroad. Xinhua EARLY residents in the Olympic Village on […]

 Torchbearer Daga(L2) displays the torch at the launching ceremony during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Qinghai Lake, northwest China’s Qinghai Province, on June 23, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)  

Li Zhi, a migrant worker, displays her admission notice from Sichuan University yesterday. Sponsored by the Guangdong Provincial Trade Union, Shenzhen Municipal Trade Union and Shenzhen Charity Association, 104 migrant workers were offered the chance to go to college free of charge. About 65 percent of migrant workers in Shenzhen are holders of junior high […]

Elsewhere, the Williams sisters moved closer to another potential final showdown, using their power tennis to cruise into the semifinals in straight sets. Defending champion and four-time winner Venus Williams beat Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3, and two-time champ Serena swept 19-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-0. The Williams sisters are in opposite halves […]

CHINA National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), the country’s third-largest oil company, signed a memorandum with the Shenzhen government yesterday to set up a large ethylene project here. The project was designed to have a handling capacity of 1 million tons each year, a meeting between Fu Chengyu, chairman and chief executive of CNOOC, and Shenzhen […]