Olympic Torch Lit in Beijing

Pollution, human rights, food safety issues all draw fire

(NEWSER) - As the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics begins tomorrow, activists and Olympic organizers alike have been vocal in their concerns about the host city. The government is under fire for press harassment: journalists were detained for several hours yesterday after a Reporters Without Borders conference, and six Free Tibet activists were arrested recently for unfurling a banner at the Great Wall. More»

Long critical of Beijing, speaker will focus on environment in visit

(NEWSER) - Like Hillary Clinton before her, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will sidestep Beijing's human rights record on her weeklong trip to China that began today, reports the Washington Post. Pelosi, who has been a vocal critic of the Tiananmen Square massacre and Chinese policies on Tibet, says the focus of her trip will be climate change. More»

But Yank, Brit protesters busted for 'Free Tibet' banner

(NEWSER) - After a beleaguered relay dogged by Tibet protesters in many of its legs around the world, the Olympic flame finally reached Beijing today. Ecstatic crowds under smog-choked skies shouted "Go Olympics, go Beijing" to greet torchbearers in Tiananmen Square, with Chinese basketball sensation Yao Ming holding the torch above "a sea of beaming faces," Reuters reports. Four British and American protesters who unfurled a giant "Free Tibet" banner near the main stadium were quickly arrested. More»

(NEWSER) - Those shocked by China’s bristly response to Olympic protests and criticisms would do well to remember some history, Orville Schell writes for the New York Review of Books. After what the Chinese call a "century of humiliation" at the hands of the West and Japan, the nation has developed an institutionalized paranoia and sense of injury that even a booming economy hasn't fixed. That's where the Olympics come in. More»

Torch relay demonstrated stability, state media says

(NEWSER) - China is allowing foreign tourists to enter Tibet for the first time since March protests, sources tell the BBC. The Olympic torch’s smooth reception in Lhasa over the weekend means "Tibet is safe,” a Tibetan tourism director tells state media. "We welcome the domestic and foreign tourists." Tibet remains essentially off-limits, however, to foreign journalists. More»