The Great Wall of China was named Saturday as one of the seven "new" wonders of the world in at a celebrity-studded televised ceremony in the Portuguese capital.

A private Swiss foundation launched the contest in January, allowing Internet and telephone voters to choose between 21 sites short-listed from 77 selected by a jury.

It said it had gathered more than 90 million votes by the end of polling at midnight Friday.

Frontrunners out of the short-listed sites include the Acropolis in Greece, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Coliseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, Petra in Jordan, the statues on Easter Island, Britain's Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal in India.

(CRI July 8, 2007)