1.   His father and stepmother, Thomas and Diane Kolb of Wellesley, Mass., amid funeral preparations, also declined to comment.

2.   Funeral preparations are underway in Beijing and police tighten security.

3.   Funeral preparations continued with workers hoisting lights into place and building a temporary stage in the indoor sports stadium where the ceremony will be held.

4.   Funeral preparations continued Wednesday, with workers hoisting lights into place and building a temporary stage in the indoor sports stadium where the ceremony will be held.

5.   Funeral preparations were not immediately announced.

6.   Relatives allowed a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press into the ranch Monday to see the funeral preparations.

7.   They said the family of Alexandru Ghinescu discovered during funeral preparations that his eyes had been replaced by cotton balls and his eyelids had been sewn together.

8.   On Tuesday, the ministry received a report from Beijing that President Jiang Zemin and other Chinese leaders had begun funeral preparations.