WASHINGTON: President George W Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the White House said last night.

BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON: President George W Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the White House said last night.

While there was no question Bush would attend the Olympics in August, the president's plans for the opening ceremonies had not been confirmed until now. Some world leaders have said they may boycott the August 8 opening event to protest against the most recent Chinese security crackdown in Tibetan areas of China.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush will travel to South Korea, Thailand and China in August. The trip is built around the Olympics, which the White House has long said that Bush planned to attend as a celebration of sports.

Just hours earlier, the White House was equivocating about whether Bush would attend the ceremonies. At first, Perino said "I would certainly think" the opening ceremonies would be part of his trip. Questioned whether that was what she meant to say, she backtracked, saying, "I said it's a distinct possibility" and the opening ceremonies "could be part of the schedule."

Firm dates for Bush's travels have not been released.

In China, Bush will meet with President Hu Jintao to discuss the multicountry effort to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons capability.

Then the president and the first lady will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, Perino said.

The announcement was a timely boost for Beijing, which is struggling to clear an invasion of algae in waters to be used for the Games' sailing competition.

China has thrown 10,000 people and 1200 vessels into the fight to clean up a huge algae bloom that has turned large swathes of Qingdao's offshore waters green and encroached on one-third of Olympic sailing waters.

Algae blooms develop in water rich in nutrients, often because of run-off from heavy fertiliser use, chemical pollution, or untreated sewerage.

In Qingdao, officials have set a deadline of July 15 to banish the algae. About 170,000 tonnes have been scooped from Qingdao, where about 30 countries are training for sailing events.-AP