The Associated Press reports that temporary measures to reduce traffic snarls and pollution ahead of the Beijing Olympics have led to a 20 per cent drop in major pollutants. Du Shaozhong, deputy director for the city’s environmental protection bureau said pre-Olympic moves to take cars off the road and close factories have helped.
Du said that since July, 22 of the first 25 days have qualified as “blue sky” days – days that Beijing considers fairly good air quality. It’s slightly higher than last year’s count of 20 days during the same time period. Since the start of the year Beijing has logged 145 “blue sky days” – 15 more than the previous year, he said.
But Du admitted that the last two days have been particularly bad, failing to meet the city’s standard for good air quality, but he blamed it on weather conditions without rain or wind to blow away accumulated emissions. He added the overall trend for air quality is improving and Beijing’s air will be clean by the time the Games open on August 8.
Meanwhile traffic on major roads in Beijing has dropped by about 25 per cent since vehicle restrictions began Sunday, said Wang Li, deputy general director of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.
With the Games quickly approaching there were scuffles at Olympic Ticket sales outlets while fans were waiting up to two days to get some of the 25,000 tickets from the final batch that were released. Despite the problems an Olympic official said the start of the sale went well. “There were so many people who wanted tickets so we decided to open more ticket windows. In general, so far the ticket sale has gone smoothly, said Sun Weide, spokesman for Beijing’s Olympic organizing committee”.
Beijing organizers said Friday they were sympathetic to Iraqi athletes after the suspension of Iraq’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) ruled them out of the Olympics. Sun Weide, spokesman for the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games said, “it is a decision made by the IOC according to relative regulations…BOCOG feels sorry for the Iraqi athletes being unable to participate in the Beijing Games”.
A group representing Iraqi athletes is filing a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice against the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over its decision to uphold its ban on Iraqi athletes at the Beijing Games, an Iraqi sports official said Friday. The Association for the Protection of Iraqi Athletes’ Rights is taking legal action against the IOC for damaging Iraq’s reputation and infringing on its sovereignty and independence, Jaza’ir al-Sahlani, spokesman for the country’s interim athletic committee, told the Voices of Iraq news agency. The association is consulting with a committee of six lawyers headed by an attorney from Germany over the planned lawsuit he said, adding the Iraqi government has nothing to do with the lawsuit and the IOC had refused to receive Iraqi officials who wanted to make their case. The IOC said Thursday that Iraqi officials were invited to meet its members in Switzerland to discuss possible solutions but did not receive a positive response.
China has decided to standardize the designation “Chinese-Taipei” for Taiwan’s team participating in the Beijing Games. Beijing clarified Thursday night that in addition to the official reference of the island’s Olympic designation, Chinese media would also address the island as “Zhonghua Taibei” in their Chinese language translation for the island’s officially registered title – “Chinese-Taipei” at the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The dropping of the controversial name for the Taiwan team has removed an obstacle to the island taking part in the Games, reports DPA. Taipei had threatened to boycott the Games if the term China’s Taipei was used.
APP reports that Beijing’s Olympic Village is ready to welcome athletes from across the world as it officially opens Sunday to receive 16,000 athletes and officials from more than 200 countries and regions. The village has 42 apartment buildings. The rooms are decorated with pictures drawn and framed by Chinese and foreign children using environmentally friendly paper and materials. The pictures will be given to the athletes as gifts once the Games are over. After checking in each of the villagers will receive a welcome letter from village head Chen Zhili. About 100 foreign and 2,300 Chinese chefs and waiters will be offering around-the-clock service, said Deng Yaping, the village’s deputy head. There will also be a religious centre in the village covering the major religions – Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism – and all have worship rooms. A clinic has also opened in the village providing 24-hour free medical service as well as traditional Chinese acupuncture and massage. Also ready are the village’s car park, media centre, visitors’ centre, shuttle bus stops and logistic centres. The village closes on August 27 but reopens as the Paralympic Village on August 30 to September 20.
