Beijing has officially acknowledged that it has tightened visa procedures ahead of the Olympic Games, AP reported. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that the approval process has become "more strict" and authorities were now "more serious" with the visa approval procedures, adding that the stricter policies would continue for "a period of time." Qin […]
Category: Politics & Society
As my colleague Tom Pellman noted yesterday, lining up for Olympics tickets can be quite a pain. Today, I experienced it for myself. A couple of friends had spent most yesterday morning and afternoon industriously refreshing the Olympics ticketing site. Their efforts paid off – we scored nine seats for men’s football quarterfinals at Shanghai […]
President Hu Jintao will arrive in Tokyo today for an official visit, marking the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Japan in 10 years, AFP reported. Ahead of the five-day trip, Hu said he hoped the visit would lead to a "warm spring" with Japan, China’s top commercial partner. The visit is […]
Heavy demand for Olympic tickets caused website problems and hours-long waits at Bank of China (BOC) branches as the third round of domestic ticket sales began on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. As the 1.38 million tickets became available for purchase at 9am, both BOC workers and online buyers reported error messages and delays […]
The World Health Organization said that an infectious virus responsible for the deaths of 24 children in China is unlikely to threaten the Beijing Olympics, although it is too early to say whether the infection has peaked, AP reported. The enterovirus 71, or EV-71, causes severe hand, foot and mouth disease and mostly affects children. […]