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Associated Press
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Jul 23, 08 1:08 PM CDT
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Beijing will set up specially designated zones for protesters during next month's Olympics, a security official said today, in a sign that China's authoritarian government may allow some demonstrations during the games. "This will allow people to protest without disrupting the Olympics," said the director of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, which lobbied Chinese leaders to set up the protest zones.
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New York Times
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Jul 23, 08 8:47 AM CDT
(Newser) -
These days you have to watch your step in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love is suffering from an epidemic of manhole-cover theft, as rising scrap metal prices have led to a 2,500% increase in stolen covers and grates. Thieves are selling the covers for $5 to $10 at junkyards, reports the New York Times, and some streets now have so many orange cones marking off danger zones that they look like a slalom course.
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NPR
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Jul 23, 08 8:35 AM CDT
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Zhao Yonghua was a Chinese national skiing champion and won several gold medals. But now, at 31, she is bedridden from diabetes, exacerbated by overtraining. With no hope of recovery or employment, the former star finally had to sell one of her gold medals to raise money for treatment. As NPR reports, Zhao is only one of many athletes whose lives have been upended in pursuit of sporting glory.
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Wall Street Journal
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Jul 23, 08 3:30 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The troubled run-up to the Beijing Games hasn't spared the cartoon mascots, the Wall Street Journal reports. China's critics have already created mock characters for the five—like "GenGen Genocide"—and superstitious Chinese fear a link between the "witch dolls" and the disasters the country has suffered this year. The already hyper-commercialized "Fuwa," or good-luck dolls, are a fish, panda, Tibetan antelope, swallow and the Olympic flame.
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Los Angeles Times
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Jul 23, 08 2:12 AM CDT
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Team USA got a shock last night when LeBron James sprained his right ankle in a practice scrimmage in a high school gym, reports the Los Angeles Times . Team officials said it was a minor injury, but the star will be carefully evaluated today. His Beijing-bound teammates were optimistic James would bounce back in time for Team USA's Olympic opener against China August 10.
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Reuters
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Jul 22, 08 8:07 AM CDT
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Sales of Italy's answer to champagne have been bubbling up for years, Reuters writes, but prosecco producers plan to boost output to 250 million bottles next year, with an eye on someday overtaking champagne as the world's favorite sparkling wine. The bubbly is cheaper to make than its French rival, and vintners believe its sweeter taste will go down well in red-hot export markets like China.
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ABC News
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Jul 22, 08 4:57 AM CDT
(Newser) -
In addition to concerns about air quality in Beijing this August, many Olympic athletes are worried about contaminants and chemicals in the food, ABC News reports. With many of China's agricultural products boosted by growth stimulants, or steroids, or amped by antibiotics, athletes are particularly concerned that they might unwittingly ingest a banned substance.
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Associated Press
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Jul 21, 08 1:10 PM CDT
(AP) -
Half of Beijing's drivers left their cars at home today and took public transportation on the first workday under new restrictions meant to clear the city's notoriously polluted skies before the Olympics. Under the plan that kicked in yesterday, half of the capital's 3.3 million cars will be removed from city streets each day, alternating odd and even license plates. Those caught driving on days they shouldn't will be fined $14, a pricey penalty even for China's capital.
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Wall Street Journal
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Jul 21, 08 11:34 AM CDT
(Newser) -
To protect its athletes from Beijing’s polluted air, the US Olympic Committee has secretly developed a mask for them to wear during next month’s Games, the Wall Street Journal reports. But if the 600-plus American Olympians decide to wear the high-tech filter, they risk insulting their Chinese hosts—not to mention looking like geeks.
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Globe and Mail
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Jul 21, 08 10:17 AM CDT
(Newser) -
African residents of Beijing say they are facing growing harassment from police ahead of the Olympics, reports the Globe and Mail . Bar owners near the city's Workers Stadium have reportedly been ordered not to serve "black people or Mongolians." The groups have been targeted as part of China's crackdown on groups it sees as potential troublemakers.
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New York Times
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Jul 21, 08 3:07 AM CDT
(Newser) -
NBC paid a record $900 million to cover the Beijing Olympics, but it and other networks are already nervous about how much Chinese officials will actually allow them to cover, reports the New York Times . If political protests erupt, networks will also face the dilemma of covering them and angering the Chinese—or ignoring them and facing charges of censorship from the West. Reporters are already facing intimidation and harassment.
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Independent (UK)
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Jul 19, 08 5:58 PM CDT
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Kung Fu Panda may not seem very controversial, but it sure offended Zhao Bandi, a Chinese performance artist who is renowned for using panda images in his work. Zhao is suing Dreamworks for the film’s “insulting” portrayal of China’s national icon, the Independent reports. “Designing the panda with green eyes is a conspiracy,” Zhao says. “A panda with green eyes has the feeling of evil.”
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Hollywood Reporter
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Jul 18, 08 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Steven Spielberg or his films could be banned from China under the new rules barring artists seen as a threat to national sovereignty, the Hollywood Reporter notes. Spielberg rankled Chinese leadership when he publicly withdrew from an artistic advisory board for the Beijing Olympics in protest of the nation’s trade arrangements with Sudan.
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Wall Street Journal
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Jul 18, 08 12:55 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Beijing’s newest construction binge may lead to a glut of rooms as hoteliers race to finish new properties before the Olympic Games begin in August, the Wall Street Journal reports. When the Games open, Beijing will have 50 five-star hotels, more than double the total of five years ago. While three-quarters of those rooms are booked, fewer than half the rooms at four-stars are reserved.
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