Olympic Bird’s Nest to become entertainment, shopping centre

June 19th, 2009 Beijing claims profit on Olympic hostingBEIJING — Beijing Olympic organizers say they made a profit out of hosting last year's Summer Games. According to figures released Friday by the government audit bureau, $2.8 billion was spent on organizing and staging the Games, including the Paralympic Summer Games that followed.

May 14th, 2009 GENEVA - More of the world's species of birds are threatened with extinction than ever before, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said Thursday. The critically endangered list has increased by two birds since last year and the larger list of species threatened with extinction stood at 1,227, the IUCN said.

May 1st, 2009 Jackie Chan stages show at Beijing's Bird's NestBEIJING — Jackie Chan and a host of Chinese pop stars performed at Beijing's massive Bird's Nest stadium on Friday without a hint of the uproar caused by the veteran action star's recent comments about freedom and China. The 55-year-old "Rush Hour" star told a business forum last month that freedom may not be a good thing for authoritarian mainland China.

April 28th, 2009 IOC reports 6 Olympic athletes test positiveLAUSANNE, Switzerland — The IOC says six Olympic athletes have been found positive for doping in retesting of Beijing samples. The International Olympic Committee says a total of seven positive tests involving six athletes came back positive for CERA, an advanced version of the blood-boosting drug EPO.

April 24th, 2009 AMSTERDAM - Amsterdam will earmark Olympic locations over the next months in a first step to host the 2028 Games, the city's alderman for public spaces said Friday. Amsterdam hopes to land the Games 100 years after hosting the 1928 edition.

April 23rd, 2009 Beijing Olympic stadium podium visits on discountBEIJING — Beijing's Birds Nest Olympic stadium has slashed the cost of visiting the winners' podium, underscoring the iconic venue's difficulties attracting post-games business. For a mere 120 yuan ($17; €13), visitors can don China's red and yellow Olympic uniform and mount the three-step podium, the official China Daily newspaper said Thursday.

April 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Think birds are just some "high-flying, cute looking" species? Well, it's time you jiggle your thinking and respect their mental abilities, for a new study has found that jackdaws can interpret looks and gestures in the same way as humans. According to a study reported online on April 2nd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, jackdaws-birds related to crows and ravens with eyes that appear similar to human eyes-can change their behaviour when someone is looking their way.

March 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With the weather getting hotter in Bihar, it's time for migratory birds to fly away. But the heat and dust of general elections is making some other creatures flock right back home - politicians.

March 14th, 2009 DHAKA - A massive fire broke out Friday afternoon in a crowded shopping complex in this Bangladesh capital, an official said. The fire broke out on the top floors of the 20-storey Bashundhara City shopping complex, The Daily Star reported.

February 14th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - William Wordsworth's 'vision of delight', in his poem 'The Sparrow's Nest', has almost gone missing from our lives as sparrows have long since stopped building nests in our homes and neighbourhoods. 'We thought of it as a nuisance.

January 30th, 2009 LUCKNOW - At least six people have died after consuming meat of Siberian birds in a village in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh Saturday, an official said. 'Apparently, the Siberian birds had fed on poisoned fish,' a spokesman of the state home department said.

January 27th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Wednesday requested the central government to award the Padma Bhushan to Olympic bronze medal winner Vijender Kumar and others who performed well at the 2008 Beijing games since they were left out of the national honours list this year. Hooda appealed to the centre that Vijender Kumar as well as boxers Akhil Kumar and Jatinder Kumar, and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt - all of whom made it to the quarterfinal events in respective categories in the 2008 Olympics - be suitably honoured.

January 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Democrat and Republican rivals feasted on 'American birds' in a traditional last friendly act Tuesday at the close of Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. The luncheon menu for Obama and Congress members at the Statuory Hall in the Capitol was a three-course fare: it began with a seafood stew, followed by the main course of 'a brace American birds' - pheasant and duck.

January 18th, 2009 HONG KONG - Police in Hong Kong were investigating Monday whether an alleged assault by the wife of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe during a shopping trip was captured on video. Investigators were told that Grace Mugabe repeatedly punched a newspaper photographer in the street, at a location believed to be in view of a security camera on the side of a shopping centre.

December 24th, 2008 KOLKATA - With the aim of emulating shopping festivals in Dubai and Singapore, the Great Kolkata Shopping Festival has got off to a glittering start. Inaugurating the festival here Wednesday evening, West Bengal Tourism Minister Manabendra Mukherjee said: 'This is the first time any such festival is happening in India.