The Russian Tennis Federation announced on August 1 that Vera Zvonareva will take the place of Maria Sharapova, who is out with a shoulder injury, in the Women's Singles Tennis competition at the Beijing Olympics.

The second full dress rehearsal of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony will be held in the National Stadium on Saturday night, as previously scheduled.

"The Games of the XXIX Olympiad will receive 52,000 registered guests, including 17,000 athletes and team officials who will reside in the Beijing Olympic Village," said Xiang Ping, deputy director of BOCOG Games Services Department.

China will ease its restrictions on Internet access during the Olympic Games.

The Chinese are leaving nothing to chance in their quest to have a good Olympics, and that goes beyond preparing its athletes. First we heard about its plans to seed clouds so that rain does not fall on the opening ceremonies on August 8th.

With the Beijing Olympics set to begin on August 8 (day of the opening ceremony), LoyalTV -- the new peer-to-peer video-sharing Web site where people post videos about what they're most passionate about -- has joined forces with the Dalai Lama-blessed campaign, 'Candle for Tibet,' that promises to be the greatest light protest on Earth.

The big day approaches, and as with any of the previous Olympic Games, in any city , whichever country, the controversy has now started. If it isn’t infrastructure problems or stadiums not finished, it is accommodation which is inadequate, small or both. It’s either security which is too heavy or it’s not heavy enough. Why should the Beijing Olympics in 2008 be any different?

Let it not be said that the 2008 Olympic Gamnes offer nothing for the toddler group as Nick & Nickjr plan an Olympic related show.

Tickets for Olympic events in Beijing are completely sold out. The authorities say there are still some tickets for events in other cities.

With Olympics barely 11 days away and the skies over Beijing still not clear, Chinese authorities have come up with an emergency plan that would lead to 90 per cent of the private vehicles going off the roads during the Games.

If bad weather threatens the August 8 opening of Beijing’s Olympic Games, then meteorologists may change the weather, according to a Chinese meteorology official. CHINESE scientific research weather experts say they have stopped the rain from falling in experiments aimed at guaranteeing a dry opening ceremony at Augusts’ Olympic Games.

Successful, measurable steps have been taken to promote the concepts of “Green Olympics” since Beijing’s successful bidding for the Olympic Games in 2001.