Nigerian Times

Artists underneath movable boxes perform during the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on August 8, 2008 in Beijing. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) 27. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. ~ Matthew 23:27 (King James Version) Yes, it was definitely the most spectacular opening ceremony so far in the history of the Olympic games and China surpassed the expectations of the rest of the world with the grandiose panorama of Chinese Arts and Culture in an awesome opera in the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing , People's Republic of China . I saw the colourful faces of the people in the stadium beaming in ecstasy, but thousands of prisoners of conscience were languishing in Chinese jails while the rest of the world were dazed and fazed by the dazzling three-hour razzmatazz of the openi...

Reporters Without Borders BEIJING GAMES 2008 Come and demonstrate outside Chinese embassies and online on 8 August Reporters Without Borders is calling for demonstrations outside China's embassies in London, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Washington and Stockholm on 8 August, when the Olympic Games opening ceremony will be taking place in Beijing. Two demonstrations will be organised on 7 August in Rome and Ottawa. A rally is also planned outside the Olympic Museum in the Swiss city of Lausanne. In Paris, those wanting to take part should meet at 1 p.m. at the corner of Avenue George V and Rue de la Trémoille in Paris' 8th district. Reporters Without Borders will distribute "Beijing 2008" T-shirts to participants, as well other material for a peaceful demonstration. Here are the times and venues of the demonstrations in the other cities: - Berlin: in front of the Chinese embassy (Jannowitzbrücke) from 1 p.m. onwards on 8 August. - Washington: near the Chinese embassy (2300 Co...

I have already sent a formal letter of protest to the Government of the People's Republic of China and signed the petition of the Human Rights First on the complicity of China in the genocide in Darfur , Sudan. China sold over $55 million worth of arms to Sudan from 2003-2006. China supplied the assault rifles, heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank weapons, and mortars used by the ruthless Sudanese military and the Janjaweed in Darfur. For decades, hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested and incarcerated for their dissenting opinions and religious beliefs. Tibetan nuns have been raped in detention and in 1994, a Tibetan nun was tortured to death. The recent attacks on Tibet have only made things worse and I am now calling for the boycott of the Beijing Olympics by all people of conscience. We must petition the International Association of Athletics Federations , IAAF, to support the boycott of the Beijing Olympics. There is no guarantee of the safety and security o...

The December 31, 2007 - January 7, 2008 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, December 24), "What's Next: China" explains how China's ascension to a global superpower is no longer a forecast but a reality. In the cover package, a team of correspondents and columnists look at China's dramatic changes, its new place in the world and its hopes for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Plus: the people, ideas, issues and items that will most likely make an impact in 2008. (PRNewsFoto/Newsweek) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES 12/23/2007 24 Dec 2007 17:17 Africa/Lagos NEWSWEEK: Cover: What's Next: China The Beijing Olympics and Impressive Growth Ensure That 2008 will be the Year of China China's Rise as a Global Superpower is no Longer a Prediction NEW YORK, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- China's ascension to a global superpower is no longer a forecast but a reality. Three decades after its emergence from Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, China has grown from one o...

23 Nov 2007 12:00 Africa/Lagos China Leads the US in Digital Self-Expression IAC and JWT study reveals new means of expression for China's Tech-Savvy Youth NEW YORK, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Millions of young Chinese are embracing the Internet as a discreet space for their thoughts and emotions, according to a survey of Chinese and American youth released today by IAC, which operates businesses in sectors being transformed by the Internet, and JWT, the fourth largest advertising agency network in the world. The findings show how readily young Chinese are taking to the Internet and its possibilities-for example, almost five times as many Chinese as American respondents said they have a parallel life online (61 percent vs. 13 percent). And while fewer than half of the 1,079 American respondents agreed that "I live some of my life online" (42 percent), a sizable majority of the 1,104 Chinese respondents agreed with the statement (86 percent). The two random online s...