RIGHTS-CHINA: Tibet Protests Won't Slow Olympic Torch

A crackdown on Tibetans protesting against Chinese rule over their Himalayan homeland - in the ancient capital of Lhasa and other Tibetan cities - is beginning to parallel the brutal suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy demonstrations.

ENVIRONMENT-CHINA: Faced With Olympian Water Shortages

Holding the Summer Olympic Games in one of the world’s driest cities poses a tough challenge for the hosts in Beijing though they have been working assiduously to ensure adequate water supplies during the events in August.

POLITICS-CHINA: Spielbergian Snub – Blow To Cultivated Image

For image conscious China the public snub by Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg, withdrawing involvement with the Beijing Olympics to protest the country’s indifference to the Darfur crisis, is seen as a setback to painstaking efforts to stage the perfect ‘coming-of-age’ party.

CHINA: Beijingers Under Siege as Olympics Tempo Rises

For a city in the middle of zealous Olympics preparations a public debate over its future, set off by an academic’s call to shift the national capital out of congested and parched Beijing, has been baffling.

RIGHTS-CHINA: What Will EU Stress At Summit?

Issues ranging from food safety to German contact with the Dalai Lama are creating tension ahead of a Nov. 28 summit between the European Union and China in Beijing. Yet, these political ‘hot potatoes’ do not diminish the attractiveness of the Chinese market for Western firms.

DEATH PENALTY-CHINA: Going Easy on Executions Ahead of Olympics

Conscious of the need to burnish its international image ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, China has been more sparing in applying the death penalty this year - but the country is far from abolishing capital punishment.

POLITICS-BURMA: Will the Olympic Card Nudge China to Act?

Having scored a subtle victory in using the Olympics card to nudge China to apply pressure on Sudan, international activists are now hoping to tie the 2008 Beijing Olympics with the unfolding civil crisis in Burma and draw the world’s attention to China’s potential to act there.

CHINA: Rehearsing the Coming Out Party Called Olympics

When the capital of the Middle Kingdom hosts the summer Olympics next year, nothing will be left to chance or spontaneity. Image-conscious and averse to PR gaffes, Chinese leaders are staging a grand rehearsal to fine-tune a coming out party into the world.

CHINA: Close Sudan Links Cast Shadow On Olympics

Elaborate celebrations are being planned for the Aug. 8 one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, but Chinese leaders fear both the party and the games could be spoiled by an escalating international campaign to link the violence in Sudan's Darfur region to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.