News Logging

There are some 83 million disabled people in China, but the country has never been particularly hospitable to them. Why bother building subway ramps and bus lifts, the attitude has long been, for people who aren't expected to leave home? But when Beijing was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Paralympic Games, an event featuring 4,000 disabled athletes, came along with it. So in the spirit of the 12-day competition, which opened on Saturday, China's government raced to bring Beijing up to international standards, creating 16 special bus lines for the athletes, installing street-crossing signals for the blind and adding wheelchair-friendly subway exits. It even outfitted a section of the Great Wall with a ramp and an elevator.

There are some 83 million disabled people in China, but the country has never been particularly hospitable to them. Why bother building subway ramps and bus lifts, the attitude has long been, for people who aren't expected to leave home? But when Beijing was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Paralympic Games, an event featuring 4,000 disabled athletes, came along with it. So in the spirit of the 12-day competition, which opened on Saturday, China's government raced to bring Beijing up to international standards, creating 16 special bus lines for the athletes, installing street-crossing signals for the blind and adding wheelchair-friendly subway exits. It even outfitted a section of the Great Wall with a ramp and an elevator.

Since Russia's rout of the Georgian armed forces in August, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has suggested that Washington secretly provoked the conflict. But the Americans wanted no such thing, according to Lt. Col. Robert Hamilton, who ran the U.S. military training program in Georgia until six weeks ago. (He's now on a year's fellowship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.) "At no time did the U.S. attempt to train or equip the Georgian armed forces for a conflict with Russia," he says. "In fact, the U.S. deliberately avoided training capabilities [that] were seen as too provocative" to Russia. That's one reason Georgia's troops crumpled so fast—precisely because their training didn't cover conventional-warfare topics like tanks, artillery and helicopters.

Since Russia's rout of the Georgian armed forces in August, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has suggested that Washington secretly provoked the conflict. But the Americans wanted no such thing, according to Lt. Col. Robert Hamilton, who ran the U.S. military training program in Georgia until six weeks ago. (He's now on a year's fellowship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.) "At no time did the U.S. attempt to train or equip the Georgian armed forces for a conflict with Russia," he says. "In fact, the U.S. deliberately avoided training capabilities [that] were seen as too provocative" to Russia. That's one reason Georgia's troops crumpled so fast—precisely because their training didn't cover conventional-warfare topics like tanks, artillery and helicopters.

How ransom kidnappings, once a rarity in most of Afghanistan, have become a cash source second only to the narcotics trade for the country's insurgents

How ransom kidnappings, once a rarity in most of Afghanistan, have become a cash source second only to the narcotics trade for the country's insurgents

That's how supporters of Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, hailed his election to Pakistan's presidency. But a very rough road lies ahead.

That's how supporters of Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, hailed his election to Pakistan's presidency. But a very rough road lies ahead.

A movement is afoot to identify and exhume the victims of Francisco Franco.

A movement is afoot to identify and exhume the victims of Francisco Franco.