Beijing - The over-budget Beijing Olympic Games will still not register a deficit, Wei Jizhong, the Chinese Olympic Committee's former general-secretary, was quoted by state media as saying Friday.

The total cost of the Games was recently estimated to be 2.2 billion US dollars, far exceeding the original 1.6 billion dollars estimate made by China when it bid for the Olympics back in 2001, Wei was quoted by the Xinhua news agency saying.

But revenue was also likely to have surpassed projections, he said, without disclosing figures.

Beijing - An international human rights group on Friday urged China to stop torturing Liu Jie, an activist who is serving 18 months in a labour camp for organizing a petition signed by more than 12,000 people seeking political reforms.

The group, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said in a statement that Liu has been subjected to torture since August 15 when she was beaten by a guard in a labour camp in northern China's Heilongjiang province for confronting him about the mistreatment of a fellow detainee.

During the beating, Liu pushed the guard in an act of self-defence, according to the rights group.

The camp accused Liu of attacking its staff and, as punishment, forced her to sit on a "tiger bench."

New Delhi, Aug. 22: At least three people were killed by a 5.9-magnitude tremor in China’s Yunnan Province.

According to a China View report, two quakes were recorded in Yingjiang, a county on the Sino-Myanmar border, on Thursday: one 4.9-magnitude event at 8:20 p. m. and another 5.9-magnitude quake four minutes later.

Provincial officials said 106 people were injured, including 24 seriously. They also said that about 120,000 people had to be evacuated.

There was also damage to transport, power, water and communications infrastructure, as well as education and health facilities.

Blackouts were reported in the county seat of Yingjiang and some of its townships. Some areas got their power back by
10:20 p. m. on Thursday.

London, Aug. 22 : China has become Japan’s top export destination, overtaking the US for the first time last month, reports the Financial Times.

Exports to China, which have risen in each of the last 38 months, expanded by 16.8 per cent in July to their highest level since the Japanese government began compiling statistics in 1950. At the same time, exports to the US declined by 11.5 per cent, marking the 11th consecutive monthly drop.

Overall, shipments rose by 8.1 per cent by value, after falling in June for the first time since 2003, the finance ministry said.

Beijing - A second earthquake in two days hit a border region in south-western China, killing three people and injuring more than 80, news reports said.

The magnitude-5.9 quake struck Thursday night in the Yinjiang region close to the Myanmar border in Yunnan province, the official Xinhua news agency said.

More than 120,000 people evacuated the quake-hit area. A day earlier, a magnitude-5 quake damaged a number of buildings in the same county.

Brussels  - New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV), a Chinese television broadcaster critical of the authorities in Beijing, on Thursday urged Eutelsat, a French-based satellite provider, to resume its transmissions to China.

"We are all familiar with the stories that companies like Yahoo and Cisco are assisting the (Chinese) regime on their internet blockage. Now, it looks like Eutelsat is willing to follow suit," said Jenny Fang, NTDTV's director of corporate relations, at a press conference in Brussels.

Eutelsat stopped NTDTV's broadcasts to China on June 16 citing technical problems.