2008 Beijing Olympics – News Stories About 2008 Beijing Olympics - Page 20

Jul 16, 2007 8:04 AM CDT

Runner Blasts Olympics for Indecision

Amputee sprinter says IAAF should help, not hassle him

(Newser) - Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee fighting to run in the 2008 Olympics, finished seventh in a British 400m trial yesterday, and was then disqualified for running out of his lane. But his performance, substantially off his best, wasn't what was bothering him afterwards. Pistorius lashed out at the...

China Shoots Down Bad Weather

Jul 13, 2007 5:30 PM CDT

China Shoots Down Bad Weather

High-tech program controls climate, plays rainmaker.

(Newser) - China has a solution for its unpredictable weather: create its own. The county is toying with the world's largest weather modification program in terms of size, budget and equipment. The original idea was to ease droughts and improve harvests with man-made rain, but the program has evolved uses in fighting...

Olympic Schedule Caters to US

Jun 15, 2007 11:42 AM CDT

Olympic Schedule Caters to US

International broadcasters fume over odd times

(Newser) - Some marquee events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics will air live during US prime time, and the schedule is giving international TV execs a scorching case of jet lag. But complaints from outside North America are falling on deaf ears, the Wall Street Journal reports, because money talks: NBC paid...

China Curbs Executions as Olympics Loom

Jun 9, 2007 10:05 AM CDT

China Curbs Executions as Olympics Loom

Executions down 40% in runup to 2008

(Newser) - Capital punishment is on the decline in China, a country responsible for more than half of the world's executions. Beijing doesn't release figures, but human rights watchers say death penalty cases are down as much as 40% over the last six years. Sinologists reckon much of that drop represents an...

China Eases Up Slightly
on Tiananmen Anniversary

Jun 5, 2007 9:51 AM CDT

China Eases Up Slightly on Tiananmen Anniversary

Government allows memorials for the first time

(Newser) - As part of its campaign to attract Western visitors to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China allowed Tiananmen Square memorials this year for the first time since the protests of June 4, 1989. The government maintains that the uprising was a counterrevolutionary riot and refuses to release details; a security crackdown...

Hollywood Shapes China's Darfur Policy

Apr 13, 2007 9:08 AM CDT

Hollywood Shapes China's Darfur Policy

Stars use Olympics as leverage to get China to protest genocide

(Newser) - China is finally joining the international outcry over genocide in Darfur—and it’s down to Hollywood clout, not Washington’s. Long one of Sudan’s closest protectors, China is suddenly calling on the government to accept UN peacekeepers. The reason, reports the Times: Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg are...

LeBron Tepid
On Team USA

Apr 3, 2007 10:23 PM CDT

LeBron Tepid On Team USA

He's been studying Mandarin, but may not be heading to Beijing

(Newser) - In Beijing next year, basketball's Team USA may be missing one of the sport's most familiar faces. For flaky-sounding reasons, LeBron James has let it be known that he is "50-50" for the upcoming Tournament of the Americas, an Olympic qualifier, and Jerry Colangelo, the man putting the...