China says Olympic sailing venue now algae-free

"We cannot slack off for even a second. We must strive for victory and keep clear-headed at this time," a notice on the city government's website (www.qingdao.gov.cn) said.

Algae blooms regularly blight the shores of Qingdao, where Chinese tourists flock in their millions, but local residents say the current bloom is the biggest they have ever seen.

Officials have been at pains to cast the algae bloom as a harmless natural phenomenon, but local residents and scientists have expressed skepticism, blaming industrial pollutants and agricultural run-off for feeding the bloom.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Ian Ransom; Editing by Ken Wills)

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