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Originally published Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 12:00 AM

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Locust infestation could plague Olympic Games

More than 33,000 exterminators have been dispatched to battle a locust infestation in northern China in hopes of preventing a potentially disastrous migration to Beijing during next month's Olympic Games, state media reported Tuesday.

BEIJING — More than 33,000 exterminators have been dispatched to battle a locust infestation in northern China in hopes of preventing a potentially disastrous migration to Beijing during next month's Olympic Games, state media reported Tuesday.

The insects, which devour crops, routinely plague the Inner Mongolia region and have damaged 3.2 million acres of grassland in three areas near Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

"To ensure a smooth Olympic Games and stable agricultural production, we have launched a full prevention plan to prevent and control further locust migration," Bao Xiang, the director of the badly hit Xilingol League grassland work station, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Under the plan, some 200 tons of pesticides, 100,000 sprayers and four airplanes were being used to kill the pests, Xinhua reported. The Ministry of Agriculture created a locust prevention and control plan for northern China in late May to prevent an infestation during the Olympics, Bao was cited as saying.

The locusts hatched in early June this year instead of July because of warmer and drier weather conditions, according to the government Web site of Hohhot, the regional capital. Inner Mongolia is home to one-fifth of China's grasslands.

It was not clear how serious of a threat the locusts posed to Beijing. There have been no reports of the pest flying from Inner Mongolia to the Chinese capital in recent years, Xinhua said.

Phones rang unanswered at the Ministry of Agriculture office in Hohhot after hours Tuesday.

The locust-extermination campaign was the latest effort by Beijing to ensure that the Summer Olympics, which begin Aug. 8, are flawless.

The Chinese government has tightened visa procedures to keep out potential troublemakers and mobilized a 100,000-strong anti-terrorism force as part of its preparations.

Environmental problems were also a concern in the coastal city of Qingdao, which is hosting Olympic sailing events. An algae bloom has smothered coastal waters, and officials have mobilized 10,000 workers and 1,000 boats to clear the blue-green infestation.

Also

Dissidents detained: A group of Chinese human-rights lawyers were detained and later put under house arrest by government security officials to prevent them from attending a dinner Sunday held by two members of the U.S. Congress. The incident is the latest in a series of moves Chinese officials have made to clamp down on dissent in the run-up to the Olympic Games. The potential for unexpected protests was illustrated over the weekend when thousands of people burned government buildings in the county of Weng'an in Guizhou province over the death of a local teenage girl. Family members of the girl believe she was killed by relatives of local officials. The riot erupted after the police ruled her death a drowning and cleared the officials' relatives.

Police slain: A jobless man bent on revenge and armed with a butcher knife stormed a police station in Shanghai on Tuesday. He slashed and stabbed officers inside and killed at least five, authorities and local media said.

Reporter sentenced: On Tuesday, a Chinese court sentenced a reporter for a U.S.-based online news site to four years in prison on charges of illegal weapons possessions and public disorder. Sun Lin, a reporter who used the pen name Jie Mu, regularly wrote on sensitive topics such as crime and police brutality for the Chinese-language site Boxun.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

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