Visitors to this summer’s Beijing Olympics will get an immediate lesson in the environmental cost of China's break-neck economic development: the world's worst air pollution.

Australia's Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Thursday he would attend the Beijing Olympics, ignoring human rights activists' demands that he boycott the event over China's Tibet crackdown.

The controversy over China's treatment of  Tibet has had many discussing whether world leaders should skip the summer Olympics in Beijing.  A survey  in Germany and France found a majority believe their leaders should not attend the Opening Ceremonies.

Motion Picture Association of America boss Dan Glickman talks about Beijing's efforts to crack down on film piracy ahead of the summer Olympics.

Travelers to the  Olympic Games this August in China better book airline tickets soon, but a dramatic buildup of Western hotels—many still just coming on-line —should make finding a room less of a challenge.

Beijing airport’s new Terminal 3 — twice the size of the Pentagon — is the largest building in the world.

While passing the Olympic torch has become a focal point for demonstrations over China's human rights record, major sponsors of the games aren't expected to flame out over the controversy.

China's economy will avoid a post-Olympics recession, thanks to its vast size, rising consumer spending and big appetite for investment, one of the country's top economic advisers told a state newspaper.

A mob wielding stones and knives killed a Chinese policeman in a Tibetan part of western China, state media said on Tuesday, in a sign that unrest continues despite a massive influx of police and troops.

Tibetans in China's mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan on Friday disputed the government's claim that nobody was killed in anti-Chinese riots there this week, saying they believed several died.

China warned of a "life and death" struggle with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday, as it sought to end a wave of protests in its Tibetan regions with arrests and tightened political control.

A deadline for Tibetan rioters to hand themselves in passed on Tuesday, but attention switched to China's premier, who was due to address the media after days of violence marring the run-up to Beijing's Olympic Games.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao vowed on Wednesday to focus on fighting inflation, pollution and misgovernment as the nation readies for a year when it will be tested by the Olympic Games and global economic gloom.

A new study has cast doubts about whether air quality has truly improved in Beijing and has concluded that "irregularities" in the city’s system of measuring air pollution have enabled the city to meet environmental targets linked to the coming Olympic Games.

A top official of the games says work has finished on schedule for  36 competition venues The National Stadium is expected to be finished by March.