The chances of Beijing hosting the 2008 Olympics appeared to increase today when the International Olympic Committee expressed "confidence" that the city could organise an excellent Games.
Toronto and Paris also received ringing endorsements from the IOC but Istanbul and Osaka were virtually ruled out because of concerns about poor economic conditions and infrastructure, respectively.
In the conclusion of their evaluations into the candidate cities today, the IOC described China's bid as "a combination of a good sports concept with complete Government support" resulting in "a high quality bid".