Officers are searching for weapons and drugs entering Beijing. (Getty Images)Expressway Queues
A new security perimeter around Beijing causes massive traffic tie-ups as some motorists wait hours to get into the city.
Hundreds of checkpoints came online on July 15, their staff tasked with inspecting every car heading for the city. Sniffer dogs and armed police are manning the stations.
On the first day of operation, some motorists and bus riders on major expressways waited outside the perimeter for more than three hours. Some were willing to vent their frustration to international media.
"They don't have any bomb detectors and they let cars go when they feel like it," one commuter tells AP.
"Now the bad guys can't get in, but neither can the good guys," says another.
State media reports confirm the congestion on major roads.
"We hope drivers and passengers could understand and support us in the coming two months," a Xinhua report quotes a spokesperson for the Beijing Police Bureau.
Drivers on surface streets both inside the city and in the suburbs are now also subject to random security checks, as part of the security program.
Paralympic Torch Starts at Temple of Heaven
The Paralympic Games torch lighting ceremony will take place at Beijing's Temple of Heaven on August 28, launching two simultaneous relays that will reach 11 cities before reuniting in Beijing on September 5. The 600-year-old Temple of Heaven in Beijing. (Getty Images)
BOCOG announced the venue after an executive board meeting July 16.
The so-called "modern China" relay stays in the east, visiting some of China's most important industrial centers. Its "ancient China" counterpart heads inland and includes a stop at the city of Xi'an, home of the Qin Shi Huang Terra Cotta Warriors museum.
A planned international Paralympic torch relay was cancelled in June, as were stops in four Chinese cities. The Sichuan earthquake was the reason for the reduction, said BOCOG.
Some 140,000 Paralympic tickets have been sold since sales began on June 20, the committee also reports.
Opening Ceremony Update
Visitors near the Bird's Nest stadium on the evening of A hint about the Olympics opening ceremony was revealed when performers dressed as terra cotta warriors were sighted heading to a rehearsal. (Getty Images)July 15 observed some clues to the Olympics opening ceremony program.
Performers dressed as terra cotta warriors were seen outside the venue where a rehearsal was held. Later in the evening, fireworks lit up the sky.
Producers held the first full dress rehearsal last week; two more are on the schedule. But all the participants have pledged to keep the secret of the 90 minute performance program within the 31/2 hour ceremony.
A source familiar with the ceremony tells Around the Rings that rehearsals of portions of the program are held every night.
July 15 marks the deadline for legal one-time-only transfer of opening ceremony tickets, but no count of such transfers is available, according to state media. A report in the Wall Street Journal suggests front-row tickets are going for $50,000.
Fireworks over the Bird's Nest during the opening ceremony rehearsal. (Getty Images)Beijing Briefs…
The Czech prime minister makes a point of wearing a Tibet flag pin when he announces he will go to the Olympic Games. Mirek Topolanek wore the pin when he formally accepted a Czech Olympic Committee invitation for a three-day visit to Beijing beginning August 13 – after the opening ceremony. Earlier this year, his cabinet advised he skip the opening ceremony due to the Chinese crackdown on protests in Tibet this March. Topolanek says he wants to support Czech athletes in Beijing, but the pin suggests he is keeping his cabinet advice in mind as well.
The Czech Republic's most senior official at the opening ceremony will be the deputy minister of education, Czech media report.
President Vaclav Klaus has cited scheduling problems since March; the minister for education and sport reportedly declined the invitation for political reasons.
Three Chinese internet portals win the right to broadcast the Games online, breaking Sohu.com's monopoly. Sina, NetEase and Tencent now have the right to show live online broadcasts and video-on-demand, under a deal with Olympics broadcaster CCTV. Sohu.com paid some $30 million for exclusive rights, but its CEO tells Chinese media that his company has already recouped that outlay.
Media Watch
Three ads commissioned for Amnesty International's Games-themed China campaign never got used because of their graphic depictions of torture, but they are attracting attention and anger online anyway. The TBWA agency created the ad for AI's France chapter, but AI declined to use them. But after the agency submitted them for a Cannes Lion Award and they started circulating online, some Chinese web users are getting angry. Website Ads of the World hosts stills from the ads plus angry comment in English and Mandarin.
The Wall Street Journal reckons that the Olympics will attract more corporate bigwigs than the World Economic Forum at Davos, and that there are not enough VIP services to give them all the red carpet treatment.
Written by Maggie Lee
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