2008 Summer Olympics

The Olympic torch was carried through New Delhi today, escorted by 15,000 police on a route shortened to less than two miles through a locked-down city center, the AP reports. Some 70 runners each held the torch for just seconds before handing it off. Only a few hundred, sitting in bleachers, saw the event, which was closed to the public More »

The Olympic torch was greeted with furious protests as it arrived in Delhi today, and 15,000 security forces have locked down the heart of the city ahead of the relay, Reuters reports. Members of India's large community of Tibetan exiles have vowed massive protests to highlight China's human rights abuses. Dozens were arrested outside the hotel where the torch is being kept. More »

The Chinese Internet is aflame with vitriol at Western governments and news organizations for “insults” over Tibet and recent Olympic torch incidents, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Chinese authorities, usually quick to censor the Web, have let the sentiment flow, believing "the West is trying to humiliate them again," according to a US political scientist. More »

CNN has issued an apology to Beijing after one of its anchors called the Chinese "goons" and called Chinese-made products "junk." Jack Cafferty, who appears on The Situation Room , said that the Chinese were "basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years." CNN's contrition came after an angry demand from the Chinese foreign ministry. More »

Security protecting the Olympic torch will face its toughest test yet as thousands of Tibetan protesters converge on New Delhi for the Indian leg of the relay tomorrow. Hunger strikes, relay disruptions and attempts to grab the torch are all being planned. One Indian television station is referring to the flame as the "tortured torch."      More »

Lenovo execs were hoping for some major branding momentum from winning the Olympic torch design competition—not to mention from plunking down some $100 million as sponsors of the 2008 Beijing Games. What they got was anti-China vitriol that has accompanied the torch around the globe, and a marketing campaign fast going up in smoke, reports the Wall Street Journal . More »

The last-minute drama brewing in the runup to this summer's Olympic Games is of a more global and more personal nature than the infrastructure issues of Olympics past—and Chinese leaders are bristling under the scrutiny, the Chicago Tribune reports. But pride in the country's hosting gig remains strong, even among the impoverished workers who could never afford a ticket. More »

The foreign dignitaries opting to skip the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony are engaging in a "cop-out," said President Bush's national security adviser today. What's more, claimed Stephen Hadley, they're missing an opportunity to meaningfully pressure China via behind-the-scenes diplomacy—as the US is doing. Bush has said he doesn't "view the Olympics as a political event," the AP reports. More »

Chinese state-sponsored media today blasted US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her stance supporting Tibet.  Belligerent  editorials from the official Xinhua news agency ripped Pelosi as "the most disgusting person" and a "protector of mobsters, arsonists and murderers." Pelosi has urged President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the upcoming Olympic games to protest China's human rights abuses. More »

A few water balloons were the worst threat to the Olympic flame yesterday in Buenos Aires, where the torch relay enjoyed an uninterrupted run, the BBC reports, after major disruptions in London, Paris, and San Francisco. Groups of pro- and anti-China protesters gathered along its route, guarded by some 5,000 police officers, but only minor scuffles occurred and the mood was largely festive. More »

Go to a table tennis match between, say, Poland and Finland, and you’ll see something confusing. “It’s just Chinese playing against each other,” says America’s national team coach. China is so mind-bogglingly dominant at table tennis that it exports players throughout the world and still wins nearly every major competition. The Wall Street Journal checks it out. More »

The controversy around the Olympic flame continued as Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel laureate, announced she was dropping out of the torch relay. Maathai was to carry the torch this weekend in Tanzania but pulled out in protest of China's human rights record. Maathai also told the Los Angeles Times that she supports fellow Nobelist Desmond Tutu's call for a boycott of the opening ceremony. More »

The protests following the Olympic torch around the globe are a “crisis,” but the International Olympic Committee has faced worse, its chief said today. The Games, he said, would “rebound," the BBC reports. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama said China “deserved” to host, CNN reports. "We are not anti-Chinese," the Tibetan spiritual leader said. But he also supports the protesters' right to be heard: "Nobody has the right to tell them to shut up." More »

China has rooted out two terrorist groups plotting to kidnap Olympic athletes and attack tourist hotels during the games, the Ministry of Public Security announced today. Chinese forces rounded up 45 suspects and seized explosives and “jihadist” literature in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. But China has often cried “terrorism” as a means of repressing dissent in Xinjiang, human rights groups note. More »

The San Francisco leg of the Olympic torch relay avoided some of the chaos that plagued London and Paris, but pro-Tibetan activists were fuming that Mayor Gavin Newsom rerouted the flame's path at the last minute to dodge protesters. "He did it so China can report they had a great torch run," one demonstrator complained to the San Francisco Chronicle . More »

Throngs of pro- and anti-China demonstrators in San Francisco forced drastic changes in the Olympic torch's tour of the city, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Officials bused the flame and relay runners from the bayside opening ceremony miles across town; after heading west toward the Golden Gate Bridge, the convoy turned south and headed for the airport. More »

British PM Gordon Brown will not attend the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony, the BBC reports, though his office made clear it was not a boycott. Brown said he never intended to go to the opening and emphasized that that he will be present at the closing ceremony for the torch handoff—London will host the 2012 Games. More »

The Olympic flame’s mysterious Chinese guardians have been rubbing Europe the wrong way, Der Spiegel reports. The men in the powder blue track suits haven’t hesitated to get rough, and local authorities wonder why they’re necessary. “They are horrible,” said London’s Olympic Committee Chairman. “I think they were thugs.” The men reportedly hail from China’s special forces. More »

The Olympic torch winds its way through San Francisco today and authorities are bracing for big trouble from protesters who have already hit the streets, AP reports. The torch was buffeted by protests in London and Paris, where the relay was cut short, and the worst may be yet to come as Left Coast pro-Tibet activists harry the flame. Officers will accompany the torch every second of its six-mile route through the city—which is likely to be changed at the last minute. More »

The Olympic flame landed in San Francisco early this morning, accompanied by Chinese officials and protected by riot-ready security, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The 3:40am landing was followed by a round of photographs before a quick retreat to an undisclosed location, where the torch will await tomorrow's relay around the city. More »