The Fort Worth Press - Beijing Olympics set to open under cloud of Covid, rights fears

USD -
AED 3.673051
AFN 67.000198
ALL 92.450129
AMD 386.974854
ANG 1.802123
AOA 912.000177
ARS 1000.362898
AUD 1.543841
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.691881
BAM 1.857325
BBD 2.01886
BDT 119.48491
BGN 1.852673
BHD 0.37685
BIF 2897.5
BMD 1
BND 1.345641
BOB 6.908832
BRL 5.782302
BSD 0.999886
BTN 84.392794
BWP 13.725155
BYN 3.272208
BYR 19600
BZD 2.01548
CAD 1.402975
CDF 2866.000089
CHF 0.88797
CLF 0.035343
CLP 975.229905
CNY 7.230299
CNH 7.244025
COP 4483.25
CRC 510.721544
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.903343
CZK 23.953046
DJF 177.720183
DKK 7.06422
DOP 60.450092
DZD 133.619613
EGP 49.468904
ERN 15
ETB 122.050129
EUR 0.94716
FJD 2.275017
FKP 0.789317
GBP 0.78725
GEL 2.724958
GGP 0.789317
GHS 16.049785
GIP 0.789317
GMD 71.000218
GNF 8630.99963
GTQ 7.721894
GYD 209.184836
HKD 7.781925
HNL 25.060355
HRK 7.133259
HTG 131.382772
HUF 384.7675
IDR 15929.25
ILS 3.74008
IMP 0.789317
INR 84.46215
IQD 1310.5
IRR 42105.000021
ISK 137.989828
JEP 0.789317
JMD 158.287592
JOD 0.709103
JPY 155.788976
KES 129.506089
KGS 86.376501
KHR 4051.000265
KMF 466.495264
KPW 899.999621
KRW 1403.499466
KWD 0.30742
KYD 0.833207
KZT 495.71708
LAK 21944.999806
LBP 89600.000301
LKR 292.121707
LRD 184.097004
LSL 18.249887
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.870249
MAD 9.958049
MDL 18.112322
MGA 4655.000126
MKD 58.237769
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999946
MOP 8.01546
MRU 39.874993
MUR 47.190157
MVR 15.449695
MWK 1735.99992
MXN 20.46769
MYR 4.480502
MZN 63.901556
NAD 18.250431
NGN 1679.859944
NIO 36.779633
NOK 11.10269
NPR 135.033904
NZD 1.702273
OMR 0.385021
PAB 0.999905
PEN 3.804497
PGK 3.93475
PHP 58.856502
PKR 278.04999
PLN 4.095903
PYG 7808.968491
QAR 3.64055
RON 4.712597
RSD 110.634002
RUB 99.304003
RWF 1365
SAR 3.755981
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.598198
SDG 601.498491
SEK 10.956202
SGD 1.343095
SHP 0.789317
SLE 22.680291
SLL 20969.504736
SOS 571.504424
SRD 35.3565
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.749122
SYP 2512.529858
SZL 18.249753
THB 34.870301
TJS 10.658475
TMT 3.51
TND 3.151967
TOP 2.342098
TRY 34.327599
TTD 6.789045
TWD 32.579498
TZS 2660.000424
UAH 41.219825
UGX 3669.445974
UYU 42.477826
UZS 12824.999812
VES 44.994212
VND 25400
VUV 118.722009
WST 2.791591
XAF 622.917458
XAG 0.032786
XAU 0.000389
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.753255
XOF 616.501263
XPF 113.349704
YER 249.849944
ZAR 18.199145
ZMK 9001.199107
ZMW 27.421652
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    -0.9400

    59.25

    -1.59%

  • CMSC

    -0.0600

    24.55

    -0.24%

  • RYCEF

    -0.3200

    6.79

    -4.71%

  • BCC

    -2.2000

    140.35

    -1.57%

  • NGG

    0.2500

    62.37

    +0.4%

  • AZN

    -0.2500

    65.04

    -0.38%

  • GSK

    -0.7200

    34.39

    -2.09%

  • RELX

    -0.1700

    45.95

    -0.37%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.68

    -0.81%

  • RIO

    -0.1900

    60.43

    -0.31%

  • SCS

    -0.1000

    13.27

    -0.75%

  • CMSD

    -0.0050

    24.725

    -0.02%

  • BCE

    -0.3700

    26.84

    -1.38%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.21

    -0.23%

  • BTI

    0.0700

    35.49

    +0.2%

  • BP

    0.4800

    29.05

    +1.65%

Beijing Olympics set to open under cloud of Covid, rights fears
Beijing Olympics set to open under cloud of Covid, rights fears

Beijing Olympics set to open under cloud of Covid, rights fears

A Winter Olympics overshadowed by rights concerns and Covid will officially begin in Beijing on Friday with an opening ceremony at the "Bird's Nest" stadium.

Text size:

The distinctive lattice-shaped arena took centre stage at the 2008 Games -- seen as China's coming-out party to the world -- and will do so again as Beijing becomes the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics.

Friday's opening ceremony starts at 8:00pm (1200 GMT) and will be attended by President Xi Jinping, under whose rule China has become a much more belligerent proposition in global affairs compared to 14 years ago.

Xi, who will announce the Games are officially open, will be joined by leaders including his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin but the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia are among countries staging a diplomatic boycott over China's human rights record, particularly the fate of the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.

Other countries cited the coronavirus pandemic for not sending officials.

Their athletes will still compete at the Games, which run until February 20 and are taking place inside a vast "closed loop" bubble designed to thwart the virus.

Some spectators will be present at the opening ceremony but it is unclear how many and, like sports events at the Games, tickets were not sold to the general public because of the pandemic.

World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are among leaders of global institutions coming to the ceremony.

The ceremony is the mastermind of acclaimed Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, who was behind the 2008 extravaganza.

Zhang has promised a "totally innovative" show but conceded that the pandemic and freezing weather will limit its scale compared to the Summer Games, when 15,000 performers took part in a lavish gala featuring opera singers, acrobats and drummers.

This time there will be about 3,000 performers and themes will include "environmental protection and low carbon emission", Zhang previously told state media.

But China's assertion that these will be a "green Games" has been challenged by some experts because they will take place in one of the driest places in the country and on almost entirely man-made snow.

- Covid bubble -

There are other concerns around these Olympics, including warnings from some Western nations about surveillance of their athletes and what will happen to them if they make anti-China comments or other displays of protest against local authorities.

Striking an upbeat tone on Thursday, IOC president Thomas Bach said the Games will "change the scale of winter sports forever".

China has little tradition of winter sports but has consistently said that staging the Olympics are part of a drive to inspire 300 million people in the world's most populous nation to "engage" in ski and ice pursuits.

Bach said that goal had already been exceeded.

Concerns about Covid linger. The nearly 3,000 athletes and tens of thousands of support staff, volunteers and media have been cut off from Beijing's general population.

China, where the virus emerged in late 2019, has pursued a no-nonsense zero-Covid policy nationwide and adopted the same approach to the Games, with everyone cocooned inside the bubble having daily tests and required to wear a mask at all times.

They cannot leave the "closed loop" until the Games are over.

There have been nearly 290 Covid cases in the bubble, among them an unknown number of athletes.

Germany said Thursday six members of its team had tested positive on arrival in Beijing, without saying if those concerned were athletes or support staff.

C.M.Harper--TFWP