Free Republic

BEIJING (AFP) - Foreign reporters will not have complete access to the Internet during the Beijing Olympics, Games organisers said Wednesday, reversing a pledge to bring down the Chinese firewall of censorship. Sites linked to the banned Falungong spiritual movement and other unspecified ones would remain blocked for the thousands of foreign reporters covering the Games, organising committee spokesman Sun Weide told AFP. "During the Olympic Games we will provide sufficient access to the Internet for reporters," said Sun Weide, spokesman for the organising committee. However "sufficient" access falls short of the complete Internet freedoms for foreign reporters that China's...

BEIJING (AFP) - Olympic officials here warned world leaders wishing to snub China over its crackdown in Tibet that using the Beijing Games will only hurt their own athletes, as a top US aide said a boycott would be a "cop-out." US President George W. Bush and other leaders have come under pressure from activists to boycott at least the opening ceremony of the August extravaganza to protest at issues including Tibet and China's human rights record. China has built up the Olympics as a prestige "coming-out" party onto the world stage and would likely take a dim view of...