2008 Olympic Games.

A forum on the significance and methods of carrying out Olympic education was held in Beijing on November 24.

Officials from the United Nations Education Scientific and Education Organization, International Olympic Committee, London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, and local educational administrations participated the meeting co-hosted by Beijing municipal government and Humanistic Olympic Study Center(HOSC) the Renmin University of China.

Also present were the designer of the National Aquatics Center, John Bilmon of Australia and education experts from home and overseas.

Beijing, China’s capital and host of the 2008 Olympic Games, is playing a major role in promoting the Olympics among the 1.3 billion people living in China.

According to Du Songpeng, deputy director of the Beijing Education Committee, 200 primary and high schools in Beijing were named Olympic model schools. Classes on Olympic knowledge have been required at these schools every month.

After the forum, winners of an Olympics themed video and cartoon contest were awarded. The HOSC plans to organize three competitions of this sort before 2008; this was the second.

The trio all clinched qualification on Wednesday. Australia were the first to book their ticket with a 1-1 draw in North Korea to finish top of Group A, three points ahead of Iraq. 

South Korea drew 0-0 at home to Bahrain to clinch top spot in Group B and a sixth consecutive Olympic appearance.

The Koreans were unbeaten in the group but drew their last three matches 0-0.

Japan won Group C by a two-point margin and clinched their place in the Chinese capital with a 0-0 draw at home to Saudi Arabia.

Beijing (dpa) - State-run China Central Television (CCTV) won a record 8.03 billion yuan (1.07 billion dollars) at its annual auction of prime-time advertising slots, as the approach of next year’s Olympic Games spurred an 18-percent rise from last year, state media said on Monday.

Air China, the country’s flagship airline, paid 36.7 million yuan (4.9 million dollars) for a slot immediately after the national evening news next August, the Beijing News said.

“When you consider that that August 2008 is month of the Olympics, it makes the whole year into a bumper one for advertising,” the newspaper quoted Xia Hongbo, head of advertising for CCTV, as saying at Sunday’s auction.

The broadcaster earned about 6.8 billion yuan (915 million dollars) from 180 companies at its annual auction of prime-time advertising last year, up 16 per cent from 2005.

US cosmetics giant Procter and Gamble spent 420 million yuan (57 million dollars) last year, keeping its place as CCTV’s biggest customer at the auction for the third year in a row.

Slots for Olympic-related programmes were included for the first time last year, with the state-run Bank of China agreeing to pay a total of 127.7 million yuan (17.2 million dollars) to become sole sponsor of two Olympic shows.

Medals of the 2008 Paralymic Games are unveiled by the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 14, 2007. (Xinhua Photo)

    By Sportswriter Zhang Rongfeng

    BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) — In accordance with the Olympic medal style of gold and jade, the Paralympic medals unveiled here Wednesday signifying “two Olympics, same highlights”.

    The design for Paralympic medals features the Beijing Paralympic emblem in the center. Jade is inserted in the face and the rear covers the emblem of International Paralympic Committee, sports disciplines, and the English, Chinese and braille versions of “Beijing 2008 Paralympics”.

    The inspiration of jade inlay comes from the fracture of ancient Chinese jade article. The gold, silver and bronze medals will carry the same design, with a finer white jade in the gold medal, a slightly darker shade in silver medal, and a green jade in the bronze medal.

    According to Zhao Dongming, director of culture department in the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG), the International Paralympic Commitee sets down strict prescriptions on medal’s material, distinction, weight, size and design.

    ”For top two finishers in Paralympics, the medal is made of pure silver, but the medal for champion needs to gild at least six pure gold,” said Zhao at the design releasing ceremony.

    ”The design of inserting jade not only complies with relevant specifications of International Paralympic Committee, but also echoes that of Olympic medals,” commented Zhao, adding the design indicates equality and mutual respect between the able and disabled physically.

    The design for Olympic gold medal comprises the Beijing Olympic logo, the Olympic rings and “Beijing 2008″ in a center circle. It is surrounded by a ring of jade with a gold-plated rim on the outside.

    The winning design for Olympic medals was released on March 27 this year.

    ”The Olympic medals and Paralympic medals are all valuable and honorable, which best represents the aspiration of ‘one world, one dream’,” said Zhao.

    The layout work for Paralympic medal design started on November2006 carried on by three units — Central Art Academy, Art College of Tsinghua University and China Banknote Printing and Minting Company. The design was selected from 21 submitted by the three units.

    After amendments by experts, the design won the approval of BOCOG and International Paralympic Committee on September 20 and October 11 respectively.

A contract to cleanse Beijing of its creepy-crawlies ahead of the Olympic Games next year has lifted Rentokil to a 21 per cent increase in underlying profit.

The company said that its contract to supply the Clean Beijing campaign was powering its Asia-Pacific operations, which is one of its fastest-growing divisions.

Pre-tax profit from continuing operations reached £59.1 million in the three months to September 30, up from £48.8 million last year.

Revenue from its Asia-Pacific division rose nearly 60 per cent to £41.4 million.

Doug Flynn, the Rentokil chief executive, said: “The business in Beijing is mostly around crawling and flying insects.”

He added that there was a particular problem with German cockroaches.

“If you had an apartment in Beijing, trust me, you’d notice it.”

The deal, with the Beijing Patriotic Health Committee (BPHC), follows Rentokil’s buy-out earlier this year of Rentokil Tai Ming, a local pest control company.

The BPHC have long struggled with insects. In 2000 it implored the city’s 14 million residents to kill as many cockroaches as possible.

But Rentokil intends to utilise patented fogging machines to fumigate buildings, sparing Beijingers the arduous task of killing the creatures manually.

The UN recently praised Bejing’s huge drive to clean-up in time for the Olympics, which includes shutting factories, but pointed out that improvements in air quality may not meet targets in time for the games.

City Link, Rentokil’s parcel delivery service, that provided the strongest growth, following the acquisition of Target Express.

It recorded a 146 per cent increase in revenues to £107.6 million and an operating profit of £11.4 million, up 68 per cent.

The figures were calculated at constant exchange rates, so some of the improvements will have been eroded by the depreciation in the dollar.

A pre-tax profit increase of 21 per cent was based on present exchange rates.