The Chinese have a novel way of ensuring that their soldiers are picture perfect all the time:

Ouch.

Disclaimer: Item vía the Daily Mail.

An especially virulent form of hand foot and mouth disease has already killed some 24 children in China, WHO (World Health Organization) reports. Other Asian countries are also affected. More cases are expected to come up due to summer temperatures, though the representative of WHO in China doesn’t expect it to be an issue for the upcoming Olympic games, as the disease mostly affects very young children.

So I think maybe you’ll want to skip taking little Jimmy to see the games this summer.

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General for the United Nations, has said he will not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also said he will not attend.

Paging President Bush….

‘Athletes who display Tibetan flags at Olympic venues — including in their own rooms — could be expelled from this summer’s Games in Beijing under anti-propaganda rules,’ the Times (of London) reports. Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) hilariously said that ‘competitors were free to express their political views but faced sanctions if they indulged in propaganda.’ (more…)

The Times (of London) has an exclusive report up: ” Chinese paramilitary police killed eight people and wounded dozens more when they fired on a protest by several hundred Tibetan monks and villagers, The Times has been told.” (more…)

The European Union is considering joining the growing global movement to boycott the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics to protect Chinese crackdowns in Tibet.

The boycott of the opening ceremony may become a consensus alternative to either ignoring the Chinese crackdown entirely (the position so far embraced by the Bush administration) and boycotting the entire Olympics (a position rejected even by the Dalai Lama himself).

Those pesky Tibetans just won’t let poor old China alone, using an Olympic ceremony to remind the world that not all is well, no matter what China attempts to claim.

Protestor interrups speaker during ceremony. He was quickly hauled away.

The Chinese police say that this woman was painted in red as a sign of protest. I dunno, it seems kinda real to me.

This is the kind of thing athletes need to do this summer, when they’re in Bejing for the Olympics: “German pole vaulter Anna Battke plans to protest China’s intervention in Tibet at the Beijing Olympics. Although Olympic regulations prohibit political statements, Battke wants athletes to dress up as Tibetan monks and Chinese officials and symbolically shake hands.” (more…)