BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Pop Festival (BPF), one of the biggest outdoor music events in Asia, has announced a line-up of big-name acts, including Brett Anderson of Suede and Nine Inch Nails, this year.

Leading hip-hop stars PE, celebrating their 20th anniversary, will perform on the first night on Sept. 8 with a career-spanning set.

Nine Inch Nails, winners of two Grammy Awards, would close the festival on the night of Sept. 9, said Liu Fei, spokesperson for Rock for China Entertainment Ltd. (RCE), one of the festival organizers, here Tuesday.

 BEIJING, July 29 -- Two hours was enough for singer Zhang Liangying to prove her continued popularity among fans.

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States won the team title of synchronized swimming and qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

In Saturday's free routine competitions on Saturday, the American team had the same outstanding performance as in Thursday's technical routine.

The American team, which had scored 47.500 points in technical routine, recorded a higher score of 48.167 in the free routine. They totaled 95.667 points for the gold medal.

Imagine a Tesco branch that stocks live turtles. That's just one of the curiosities of the retail invasion of Beijing. Clifford Coonan indulges in a spot of British consumerism with Chinese characteristics
Published: 26 July 2007

BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing may introduce its first specific food safety law amid concern by politicians that a poisoning scare could mar next year's Olympic Games, state press said Wednesday.

The legislation, currently before the Chinese capital's parliament, would see businesses fined 500,000 yuan (66,000 dollars) or have their licences revoked if they use substandard ingredients, the China Daily reported.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing couples intent on stealing a kiss in public are being warned they could be caught on closed-circuit television — and suspected of committing a crime, a state news agency reported Wednesday.
Xinhua News Agency said "intimate acts of lovers may be initially categorized as 'kidnapping' or 'robbery' by the computers, which are programmed to be sensitive to violations of safe distances."

But police officers monitoring the cameras will decide if the situation really is dangerous.

by Robert J. Saiget

BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing's top Olympic organiser on Wednesday appealed to the city's residents to clean up their act so that China can present a modern, civilised face to the world at next year's Games.

With little more than a year to go before next year's Olympics, Games organiser Liu Qi called for mass public support for efforts to eliminate a range of civic embarrassments from public spitting to pollution.

SHANGHAI - July 25, 2007: Beijing Hyundai, a joint venture between South Korea's biggest automaker Hyundai Motors and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding, is actively planning to promote procurement in China in the hope of cutting costs. But the problem is that it's far from being complete. All the business of the joint venture must be decided by its South Korea headquarter first, for the automaker to purchase auto parts in China.

Top Turkish business group to open Beijing office
July 25, 2007

ISTANBUL -- Turkey's influential TUSIAD businessmen and industrialists' association will open an Asia-Pacific office based in Beijing, the group said in a statement in Istanbul Wednesday.

The office, which will be based at Beijing's EU Chamber of Commerce in China complex, will formally open November 27, TUSIAD said.

TUSIAD already has representations in Washington and Brussels and offices in Berlin and Paris.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing police have detained a television reporter for fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China's food safety is under intense international scrutiny.
A report directed by Beijing TV and played on state-run national broadcaster China Central Television last Thursday said an unlicensed snack vendor in eastern Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavoring.