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The clock is winding down on the start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. On Aug 8, the historic Games will begin. Over 500,000 visitors will flock to Beijing and 10,000 competitors will participate in 203 events in 28 sports. It will be the most expensive Olympics in history – China has spent $40 billion upgrading infrastructures in and around Beijing. For China, it was suppose to be a “coming out” party. When China was awarded the Games in 2001, the state news agency reported: “The Games will be a milestone in China’s rising international status and...

(BEIJING) — China's new plan for press coverage of the Olympic torch's ascent of Mount Everest has touched off a new controversy. Health experts and media groups said Wednesday the plan will expose reporters to undue health risks due to the altitude. It also underscores Beijing's worries about reporting in Tibet and adds another sour note to what Beijing hoped would be a grand feat — taking the torch up the world's tallest peak. Like the entire torch relay, the event has become more contentious after last month's protests of Chinese rule in Tibet, where Everest stands. Under the new...

THE Canberra leg of the Olympic torch relay has been declared a success, despite skirmishes between police and Chinese guards and clashes between protesters. Olympic swimming legend Ian Thorpe, flanked by dozens of police, took the torch to the finish line in Commonwealth Park and lit the community cauldron, which quickly went out. The Chinese torch attendants moved in to relight the cauldron with the Olympic flame. Thorpe looked slightly sheepish after the cauldron went out so soon after he lit with his torch. "It was very exciting ... it was incredible,'' Thorpe said after completing his first torch relay,...

As the clock started ticking for the arrival of the Olympic torch in New Delhi, India on Wednesday said no Chinese personnel would be involved with the security of the torch relay and assured that there will be no repeat of the London and Paris hitches on the restricted route in the Indian capital. New Delhi also stressed that no Tibetan would be allowed near the torch route between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate, but added that they can hold their protests elsewhere in the city. "As per international rules, there will be torch attendants from China. There will be...

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the United Nations of the sports world. Politically correct to the point of self-parody, it lectures developed countries on ethics, then ignores real human rights transgressions in developing nations. Full of Western delegates who are condescending internationalists and Third World delegates who are the cronies or failed siblings of dictators, the IOC exists mainly so that its members can jet about the world holding lavish meetings at posh hotels. Given the environment in which he operates, then, it is somewhat surprising that IOC president Jacques Rogge would go as far as he did on...

April 11, 2008 Japan bans tracksuited Chinese torch guards, as relay moves to Buenos Aires Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent The "thug" Chinese security guards who have accompanied the Olympic torch on its route through London, Paris and San Fransisco, will not be allowed to make a repeat performance in Japan. Matters of security on Japanese soil will be handled by the domestic police alone, and that principle will not be compromise just because it is the Olympics, said the Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission in Tokyo. “I do not personally accept the idea that they will run...

A little lesson on the history of the Olympic torch relay: You might think, as I did before Tuesday, that it was a representation of everything that is good in all of us. That its history was lush with goodwill. Maybe you thought the relay dated back to the ancient Greeks, that it was a dramatic tribute to mythology. Prometheus stealing the fire from Zeus. Those of us who watched, as the torch was carried across the Cascades and into a high-school stadium in Wenatchee on the Fourth of July in 1984, felt inspired. Wasn't that what this relay was...

The Olympic flame’s procession through San Francisco drew world-wide ridicule when the torch-bearers ran only a few yards before disappearing into a warehouse, only to re-emerge on a bus half an hour later. After furious clashes between Free Tibet protesters and pro-China demonstrators, the authorities seemed to panic and abruptly changed the route, cutting it by half and scrapping the closing ceremony. What Chinese Olympic organisers have called a “Journey of Harmony” quickly became the mystery tour of the missing flame. By 1.20pm local time — 20 minutes after the scheduled start— even the TV news helicopters had lost track....

SAN FRANCISCO - Demonstrators amassed on the city’s waterfront Wednesday before the start of the Olympic torch’s only stop in North America, and law enforcement officers attempted to prevent a reprise of the chaotic demonstrations that have followed the flame along its journey to Beijing. The relay is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. PT, and officials have decided that two runners now will share the torch, thus likely shortening the duration of the event, NBC News reported. The torch’s 85,000-mile, 20-nation global journey is the longest in Olympic history, and is meant to build excitement for the games. But...

Angry protesters, riot police, mass demonstrations, arrests for disorderly conduct -- it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing for the Olympic-torch relay. If people are looking for another reason to be pissed at China, how about this: By the time this pyro parade is over, it will have produced about 11 million pounds of carbon emissions. So when the torch isn't being marched through city streets and/or extinguished by protesters, how is it getting around? You guessed it, by plane -- an Air China A330 custom painted with the Olympic logo and color scheme. The A330 burns 5.4 gallons of fuel...

Get your popcorn boys and girls this is going to be good. China has lined up 1000's of supporters, while protestors range from Tibetan monks and their supporters, Burmese Monks, other critics of China, and your usual rabble rousers. Google Route with Incidents Live Video Here

The global Olympic torch run has descended into chaos and China has only itself to blame, write German media commentators. The protests have even created a new sport -- "Flame Extinguishing." Authorities in San Francisco, the next destination for the troubled Olympic torch relay, are gearing up for the same kind of pro-Tibet protests that disrupted the relays in London and Paris in recent days. Signs of protest are already visible after three people climbed the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday to unfurl a Tibetan flag and two protest banners. Billboards protesting China's human rights record have already gone up...

The head of London's 2012 Games described as "horrible" the burly henchmen who barged their way through the capital, shoving the public and even police out of the way. His trenchant remarks followed those of former Blue Peter presenter and torchbearer Konnie Huq, who revealed the Chinese minders barked orders at her and pushed her arm up to hold the flame higher. Sunday's scenes, which were repeated in France yesterday, brought accusations that Britain had imported Chinese police state tactics to control the supposedly showcase relay. Lord Coe made his remarks during a conference phone call, which unknown to him,...

The International Olympic Committee will discuss whether to terminate the international leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay if the event, already marred by radical anti-Chinese protests in London and Paris, is disrupted further in San Francisco, the next stage, sources close to the situation said Tuesday. The relay will continue in San Francisco but the entire situation surrounding the event will change if further disruption involving injuries occurs in the U.S. city, the sources said. Asked about the possibility of the IOC ending the remaining portion of the relay, IOC President Jacques Rogge told a news conference in Beijing...

Who are the men in blue? Chinese paramilitary team protects Olympic flame AP[Wednesday, April 09, 2008 03:01] By Anita Chang BEIJING, April 6 - They wear bright blue tracksuits and Beijing Olympic organizers call them "flame attendants." But a military bearing hints at their true pedigree: paramilitary police sent by Beijing to guard the Olympic flame during its journey around the world. Torchbearers have criticized the security detail for aggressive behaviour, and a top London Olympics official simply called them "thugs." "They were barking orders at me, like 'Run! Stop! This! That!' and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, who...

April 9, 2008 is the date of the Official Beijing Olympic Torch Run in San Francisco. This is the only U.S. city on the Torch's world tour. The national and international media will be here. A nude torch run is being planned to coincide. We are inviting you and your nude friends to join us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make an indelible statement for human rights. Meet: 12:30 pm sharp near the front of Tacqueria Pancho Villa Pier 1, the Embarcadero (waterfront side) [ the next building north from the Ferry Building] Look for faux "torch" labeled "Human...

Olympic Games torch rushed into hiding Daily News[Wednesday, April 09, 2008 15:03] Tibetans and supporters hold up flags at a rally in protest of China's Olympic torch at the U.N. Plaza in San Francisco as the torch arrived there Tuesday. (Chiu/AP) San Francisco officials were playing hide-and-seek with the Olympic torch on Tuesday to keep it safe from protesters for Wednesday's 6-mile trek through the city's hilly streets. The torch arrived in the San Francisco Bay area in the morning and was whisked off to a secret location as demonstrators vowed to douse the clarion call of the Summer Games...

The tumultuous reception to China's Olympic torch relay around the world has touched a nationalistic nerve here, where heavily censored reports about Tibet and other topics at hand have left many wondering why China is under attack from foreign critics. "It's just bad, bad, bad," retired army officer Wang Guanghai said of pro-Tibetan demonstrations that marred the torch relay in London and Paris. Wang, who chatted at a fruit stand in a downtown Beijing neighborhood, said he was certain the United States would be more welcoming when the torch arrived in San Francisco. Although protesters had hung pro-Tibetan freedom banners...

The guards protecting the Olympic flame had paramilitary training and were chosen by Beijing for their toughness and fitness. China’s blue-clad flame attendants, whose aggressive methods of safeguarding the Olympic torch have provoked international outcry, are paramilitary police from a force spun off from the country’s army.

500 protest Olympic torch relay in Paris By JEROME PUGMIRE and ELAINE GANLEY, Associated Press Writers 49 minutes ago Paris became the stage Monday for the latest round of global protests against China, with thousands of police deployed to protect the Olympic torch relay after chaos in London the day before. About 500 protesters congregated at the Trocadero Square, which faces the Eiffel Tower, the relay's start-point. They carried signs reading "Save Tibet," and "Act fast, Tibet is dying." Across town, City Hall was draped with a banner reading, "Paris defends human rights around the world." In London on Sunday,...