Beijing - US President George W Bush on Sunday visited a state-sanctioned Beijing church that a US Christian group has decried as reflecting the Chinese government's "deception" on freedom of worship.

"You know, I've just, Laura and I just had the great joy and privilege of worshiping here in Beijing, China," Bush said as he left the Kuanjie Protestant church.

"You know, it just goes to show that God is universal, and God is love, and no state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion," he said.

Beijing - More than 300,000 Chinese couples registered marriages Friday as the opening of the Olympics added to the auspicious triple eight in the 8.8.2008 date, state media said on Saturday.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs recorded 314,224 marriages nationwide, the highest number since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Olympic host city Beijing recorded 15,646 marriages on Friday, 23 times the daily average, the agency said.

Beijing - US President George W Bush on Saturday expressed deep "concern" concerning the fighting between Georgian and Russia troops in the South Ossetian crisis.

"The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," Bush said, speaking in the Chinese capital Beijing where he attended the Olympic opening ceremonies on Friday.

Bush called on the two sides to resolve the regional issue peacefully, adding that Georgia was a sovereign nation whose territorial integrity needed to be respected.

Beijing - China on Saturday called for a ceasefire in Georgia's South Ossetia region and expressed "serious concern" over the escalating conflict there.

"China is seriously concerned about the worsening situation and armed conflict in South Ossetia," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

"We call on the relevant parties to keep restraint and cease fire immediately," Qin said.

New Delhi, August 9 : Huang Qijun, the 45-year-old maker of the Xiangyun (lucky clouds) torch, actually heaved a sigh of relief when it lit the Olympic cauldron on Friday night.

He was the one who produced the safety lantern and community cauldrons used in every relay, and accompanied the torch from Greece to Beijing.

"I instantly felt relaxed. I was exhausted, but also excited. My job is done," the China Daily quoted him as saying during an interview, after the cauldron was ignited.

Throughout the torch’s journey from Greece to Beijing, Huang kept the lowest profile.

Beijing - Prominent rights activist Zeng Jinyan is out of contact and is feared to have been detained by police before the opening of the Beijing Olympics, a rights group said on Saturday.

All attempts to contact Zeng had failed and she was thought to have "disappeared" from her Beijing home on August 7, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) reported.

She has lived under "residential surveillance", or virtual house arrest, for many months and was already prevented by state security police from meeting foreign journalists or speaking to them by telephone.