Sothebys unveils rare blue diamond

Sotheby's has unveiled a 7.03 carat vivid blue diamond, the rarest to enter the international market this year.

The blue diamond will come up for sale as the centerpiece of a jewellery auction in Geneva on May 12.

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(APPhoto/Keystone,MartialTrezzini)

It is one of only a handful in existence in the world and one of the rarest ever auctioned by Sotheby's.

Its sellers estimate it is worth between 5.8 to 8.5-million US Dollars. If it sells for its top value it would break the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction.

Sports Scene Overview

Sports Scene is a daily 15-minute sports news program on CCTV International. The program brings a roundup of major sports stories taking place in China and around the world with a focus on domestic sporting events.

Every Sunday, there is a 30-minute special edition of Sports Scene (on Sundays, the program broadcast time begins 15 minutes earlier than weekday broadcasts).

In addition to the latest sporting news, the weekend edition of Sports Scene includes a recap of the past weeks main stories and a profile of one of Chinas Olympic champions. With the Olympic Games coming to Beijing, China in 2008, Sports Scene will be playing an even more important role in keeping the world abreast of Olympic Games related developments in Beijing and Chinas contributions to the world of sports.

Davydenko reaches Estoril Open quarter-finals

LISBON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Second seed Nikolay Davydenko beat former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 7-5 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals at the Estoril Open on Wednesday

Davydenko, the 2003 winner, set up a last eight meeting with American Mardy Fish in seeking his first tournament title of the season.

"I don't want to say I am now the favourite for this tournament. I am not Nadal, and I have not won any tournaments this year," the world number 11 told.

Third seed David Ferrer was beaten 6-2 6-4 by fellow Spaniard Oscar Hernandez.

Ferrer saved two match points against his serve at 5-3 but Hernandez capitalised on the third to secure a last eight meeting with Chilean Paul Capdeville.

Fourth seed James Blake battled past local favourite Frederico Gil 5-7 6-4 6-2 to advance to the second round.

It was the American's first win on clay this year.

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Cesar Cielo guarantees spot at World Championships of swimming

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- In the 50 meters freestyle event at the Maria Lenk Trophy swim meet, Cesar Cielo won on Wednesday with a time of 21.33 seconds. The victory and time are good enough to guarantee his participation in this year's World Championships in Rome.

Wearing an old suit that had to be cut in the hamstring at the last minute in order to provide room for the athlete, Cielo came close to his gold medal winning performance in Beijing last year. He stated that the new world record of 20.94 seconds set by Frenchswimmer Fred Bousquet, is not as far away as he imagined.

"I was surprised with my time today. I now see that the world record is closer than I thought and not as scary as I had imagined. My race today had its flaws. I needed to take some extrabreaths that ended up slowing me down. There is definitely the possibility of bettering my time and chasing the world record," analyzed Cielo after Wednesday's competition.

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Fulllana and Absalon win World Cup cross-country mountainbike

In World Cup cross-country mountainbike action. Margarita Fullana claimed her 5th career victory in Belgium on Sunday.

The win helped her to move the top of the World Cup standings. China's Ren Chengyuan placed third. The men's title went to Julien Absalon.

Fullana is the reigning cross-country world champion, and she went on the attack during the first of four laps around a 7.4-kilometre circuit in Houffalize, Belgium. Fullana tried her best to outdistance her pursuers and powered to victory in a time of one hour, 25 minutes and 1 second.

In the men's side, World Cup leader Absalon sealed his second straight victory. The defending men's World Cup cross-country champion increased his lead at the top of the UCI series standings after Sunday's win.

Dialogue 09/05/03 Preparing for a possible A/H1N1 outbreak

Special Report:World tackles A/H1N1 flu

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Ronaldo tops worst haircut voting in soccer history

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- With his invention of his 2002 World Cup winning haircut, Ronaldo topped the worst-ever haircut voting in the world of soccer.

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Beating out some of the outrageous styles of David Beckham and the fern-like afro of Carlos Valderrama, Ronaldo took first place on the list of bad haircuts, English newspaper the Sun reported.

The haircut, which featured a completely shaved head, except for a thin patch over his forehead, was apparently used in homage of the Brazilian equivalent of Charley Brown.

Ronaldo is undoubtedly considered to be one of the best forwards and is currently the leading scorer in the history of the World Cup.

But in 2002, it was not his goals that caught the attention of the world but his exuberant hair style that had the whole world buzzing.

Even before walking away from the game, with this latest honor Ronaldo is guaranteed his spot in the history books of soccer.

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09/04/03 China promotes unity at G20

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Background Report:

Intro:
Hello, I am Yang Rui with Dialogue brought to you live from Beijing. Cynics would argue that the G-20 summit in London would be nothing short of a big photo opportunity. They say that it is virtually impossible to address the global monetary crisis and economic recession within four hours.

There is a serious divide between the German-French axis and the debt-based US and UK consumption over the issue of banking regulations and stimulus package. Unity is hard to achieve since Russia and China have proposed a shift from the dollar-dominated world reserve currency.

But, despite the walkout threats from President Sarkozy, Chinese president Hu Jintao and his American counterpart Barrac Obama demonstrated unity when they met on the sidelines before the opening of the second G-20 summit. These two world leaders agreed to set up an annual bilateral strategic and economic dialogue to upgrade the existing economic disputes settlement mechanism of the two large economies.

We are joined live here by Mr. Henry Wang Huiyao, vice president of the Western Returned Scholars Association, and Mr. Brandon Blackburn-Dywer.

Dialogue 09/04/30 Preparing for Shanghai World Expo 2010

Special Report:2010 Shanghai Expo Countdown

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Dialogue 09/04/26 IPR protection in a globalized world

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Background Report:

Intro:

From Beijing, I'm Tian Wei, and this is Dialogue live on CCTV International. Sunday marks the world intellectual property day. The theme for this year is promoting green innovation. Emphasizing the intellectual property system's role in advancing the development of green technologies and icon freely products.

However, some also argue just the opposite as they suspect if the IP underlining the technology, it has been an important barrier to globalizing the response to climate change. To answer those questions, I'm joined in the studio by Mark Allen Cohen, he is the of counsel from Jones Day, that's a law firm here, based on Beijing.

And previously he's also being dealing with IPR protection issues with the US Empersy here in Beijing. Meanwhile in the studio we have Professor Guo Shoukang from Renmin University of China. Before we go to a discussion with both of you, let's take a look at this background report.

2010 World Expo: Tour the world in one day

Special Report:2010 Shanghai Expo Countdown

BEIJING, May 1 -- How much will it cost to tour the world? The answer is 160 yuan (23.35 U.S. dollars). In just a year's time, people will be able to enjoy tea in a French garden, chat with friends on Australia's Uluru and take a trip on Switzerland's Mount Titlis cable car, all on the same day. The dreamlike journey will take place in the 2010 World Expo site along the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

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With 365 days to go and more than 1 million tickets already sold in China, it's time to think about what the 2010 world fair will have to offer.

What can visitors expect for their 160 yuan? The organizers have the answers: pavilions, foreign cultures, exhibitions, performances as well as cuisine and shopping.

Visitors will be dazzled by more than 200 innovative pavilions. For example, the United Kingdom Pavilion will be a huge "light box" with 60,000 spines projecting out into the air. The Poland Pavilion will be designed like a *** cutting. The Spain Pavilion will look as if it was woven out of reeds. The newly unveiled India Pavilion will replicate a 2,000-year-old Buddhist stupa.

While strolling around the world, visitors can also experience the atmosphere of the exotic. Couples may like to take in a French wedding in the France Pavilion. The Republic of Korea will let visitors to walk through Seoul's streets. Visitors to the Norway Pavilion will have the chance to stroll through Scandinavian fjords and forests.

World Expo has plans for U.S. absence

Special Report:2010 Shanghai Expo Countdown

SHANGHAI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai World Expo organizers said Monday they had emergency plans if the United States fails to show at the event.

Tuesday's China Daily quoted Hong Hao, director-general of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau, as saying that the bureau has plans for the potential withdrawal of any participants from the event.

He said on request of the Consulate General of the U.S., the expo's organizers had allotted a very "good and appropriate" location for the U.S. pavilion in the expo site.

"Should the U.S. complete fund-raising and project design, it can still use the reserved land for the construction of its pavilion," he said.

Hong nevertheless sounded upbeat about US participation by adding, "progress had been achieved in fund-raising as far as I know thanks to support from both government and enterprises."

Organizers Monday also confirmed that preparations for the expo have been going smoothly, with 234 countries and international organizations having confirmed their participation in the event.

Bolt looks ahead to world championships

Double Olympic champion and world record holder Usain Bolt is throwing down the gauntlet to his sprint rivals ahead of this year's world championships in Berlin. He warned that they will have to work hard to beat the fastest man in the world.

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The 22 year-old Jamaican spoke at the launch of the 'Puma Street Meet World Tour' in Boston on Sunday. The worldwide project is expected to find the sprinting talent of the future. Hundreds of fans gathered to buy up some merchandise and catch a glimpse of the sprint superstar.

Bolt is the biggest name in athletics since his astonishing performances in the Beijing Olympics last year. The big meeting of the 2009 Athletics season comes up in August, with the World Championships in Berlin. Bolt is planning to be at his best at the tournament and says he is going to be very hard to beat.

Usain Bolt, Olympic Sprint Champion, said, "Well, training is going well so far. I'm looking forward to the World Championships, going there to do my best. I'm definitely going there to win, that's my aim to be a world champion, so I'm definitely going there focused and ready."

World govts race to contain swine flu outbreak

Special Report:Tech Max

WASHINGTON – The world's governments raced to avoid both a pandemic and global hysteria Sunday as more possible swine flu cases su***ced from Canada to New Zealand and the United States declared a public health emergency. "It's not a time to panic," the White House said.

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[Agencies]

Mexico, the outbreak's epicenter with up to 86 suspected deaths, canceled some church services and closed markets and restaurants. Few people ventured onto the streets, and some wore face masks. Canada became the third country to confirm cases, in six people, including some students who — like some New York City spring-breakers — got mildly ill in Mexico. Countries across Asia promised to quarantine feverish travelers returning from flu-affected areas.

The U.S. declared the health emergency so it could ship roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states in case they eventually need them — although, with 20 confirmed cases of people recovering easily, they don't appear to for now.

Make no mistake: There is not a global pandemic — at least not yet. It's not clear how many people truly have this particular strain, or why all countries but Mexico are seeing mild disease. Nor is it clear if the new virus spreads easily, one milestone that distinguishes a bad flu from a global crisis. But waiting to take protective steps until after a pandemic is declared would be too late.

"We do think this will continue to spread but we are taking aggressive actions to minimize the impact on people's health," said Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Spaniard Blanco beats 50m butterfly world record

MADRID, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Spaniard swimmer Rafael Blanco Sunday beat the world record of 50m butterfly, timing 22.43 seconds in the Spain's championship held in Malaga, south of Spain.

The previous mark was held by South African Roland Schoeman in 22.96 seconds at the World Cup Montreal 2005. The European record was 23.11 seconds, set up by Serbian Minorad Capic.

Blanco is the first European swimmer to reduce the barrier of the 23 seconds in 50 meter butterfly.

Blanco, 21, had also achieved the second best record in history of 100m butterfly with a time of 50.58 seconds, with this he is coming closer to the best swimmers of the world.

My goal is to get the world record, today I did it in 50 meter butterfly, but my real goal is to achieve it on 100m, Blanco said.