LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that there will be “effectively a diplomatic boycott” of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games by Britain, which joined the United States and others on Wednesday in a decision to pull its top officials from attendance of the Winter Games. The boycottContinue Reading
A simple question has gripped the sports world and drawn the attention of the White House, United Nations and others: Where is Peng Shuai? The Chinese tennis star disappeared from public view for weeks this month after she accused a top Chinese leader of sexual assault, prompting a global chorusContinue Reading
Athletes traveling to Beijing for the Winter Olympics will be able to skip quarantine if they are fully vaccinated, a signal that China is willing to ease some restrictions to ensure that teams make it to the Games in February. But athletes will still face strict rules, and punishment forContinue Reading
The Olympic torch arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, beginning a countdown to a Winter Games being held under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic and calls for a boycott over China’s rights abuses in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang. The arrival ceremony, like the official lighting of the Olympic flameContinue Reading
The World Health Organization on Wednesday named 26 scientists to a new advisory group charged with studying the origins of the coronavirus, opening another chapter of the fraught search for how the pandemic began. The group, chosen from more than 700 applicants, includes scientists from 26 countries, a reflection ofContinue Reading
China is trying to cool its costly and dangerously debt-ridden housing market, where high prices and go-go levels of borrowing and spending are increasingly seen as a national threat. But as the troubles of a major property developer and its $300 billion mountain of debt drive a government effort toContinue Reading
We’ve all seen it, we’ve all cringed at it, we’ve all done it ourselves: talked to a baby like it was, you know, a baby. “Ooo, hellooooo baby!” you say, your voice lilting like a rapturously accommodating Walmart employee. Baby is utterly baffled by your unintelligible warble and your shamelesslyContinue Reading
More than a dozen Chinese cities are grappling with a spate of Covid-19 outbreaks driven by Omicron subvariants, prompting widespread lockdowns and mass quarantines of millions of people that could worsen China’s slumping economy. Just days after China’s economy reported its worst quarterly performance in more than two years, officialsContinue Reading
Beijing is introducing vaccine requirements to enter libraries, museums and other public gathering places on Monday, the city government said, as it encouraged older people to get vaccinated. The city government announced the change on Wednesday, months after many other countries had introduced so-called vaccine passports, possibly signaling a pivotContinue Reading
BEIJING — Beneath a curving concrete overpass, behind a wall of green fencing, surrounded by the roar of traffic, a swimming hole beckons in the heart of Beijing. The water, a slim current running along Beijing’s often-congested innermost ring road, may not look like an ideal spot for a dip.Continue Reading