With the Beijing detainees now out of reach of the Chinese government, they're doing some talking. Animal spoke with New Yorker Jeffrey Goldin last night, one of the ten American activists released earlier this week. Like James Powderly, Goldin was also taken in V for Vendetta-style, but he goes further into the details about the 2 a.m. wake up call, saying the eight secret police were asking a lot of questions about “Earth Mouse."

Goldin had met with Powderly and the others earlier in the day in Beijing to discuss the high tech L.A.S.E.R. protest, but eventually trouble came. "That's the night they picked us up." After being taken to a basement of a hotel and interrogated one by one in conference rooms, the six were then put in vans and told they were going to be deported. However, the mini-caravan drove past the airport and continued on, straight to a prison. more ›

With James Powderly & Co. safe at home stateside, details about how he was detained are surfacing. Animal New York reports that "cops busted in Powderly's hotel room 'V for Vendetta style' while he was sleeping and carted him away to the Chong Wen Detention House." The website also notes that while Powderly never even got to L.A.S.E.R. the words "Free Tibet" over there, he managed to get the word out nonetheless--the activists were greeted by a slew of reporters at the airport yesterday. The crew flew in to LAX, five days ahead of time--likely due to U.S. officials pressuring Beijing to release them. more ›

The Beijing Olympics ended after a memorable 16 days of competition and world record-breaking. The opening was massive and lavish, focused on China's history, and the finale was another extravagant display of modern, fanciful performances and fireworks. more ›

Last week it was announced that James Powderly and 9 other activists are being held for 10 days after protesting at the Olympics in Beijing. Now U.S Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt Jr. has asked that the protesters be released. The activists will be held until August 30th and 31st, and Randt Jr., who met with the detainees, said there were no claims of "maltreatment at the hands of Chinese officials," but noted "We are disappointed that China has not used the occasion of the Olympics to demonstrate greater tolerance and openness." While China agreed to allow protests in three designated areas, in which activists could apply for permits, no applications turned in were approved. Meanwhile, GRL has word from Powderly (being held for “upsetting public order”), saying he "is in good health and eager to get back home." UPDATE: This afternoon Students for a Free Tibet tell Boing Boing that the protesters have been released. "James Powderly, Brian from Alive in Baghdad, and everyone else all arrive at LAX around 6 or 7pm tonight," says an SFT rep. more ›

There's finally some word on James Powderly and five “citizen journalists” (not the other five artists), together dubbed the Beijing Six, who were detained in China for their Free Tibet protests. The AFP reports that "Beijing police said Thursday it had handed out 10-day detention terms to six foreigners believed by an overseas activist group to be pro-Tibet campaigners involved in Olympic protests this week." F.A.T. has a statement Powderly made on video prior to being detained, in which he says, "I'm participating in this non-violent direct action because as an artist I've taken the role of an engineer that builds tools to allow people who don't have a voice to express their voice in the public sphere." The SFT's blog has the latest news on all Free Tibet protesters in Beijing. more ›

Following yesterday's news of Graffiti Research Lab founder James Powderly being detained in Beijing, came news of five other American artists being held for a similar reason. The pro-Tibet activists held a banner with the words “Free Tibet” written in bright blue LED throwies in both English and Chinese. The peaceful protest took place in Beijing’s Olympic Park, and within 20 seconds the five were being detained. more ›

Reports are coming in that NYC street artist and Graffiti Research Lab founder, James Powderly, has been detained in Beijing for planning a pro-Tibet protest via a L.A.S.E.R. Stencil art piece. When Boing Boing reported the news at nearly 8 this morning, he had been held for around 19 hours already. They were tipped off by Students for a Free Tibet, who learned of it via a Twitter message that read "held since 3am." There's no further word about the status of this situation, and Beijing officials have yet to acknowledge he's being held. more ›

Two Americans were stabbed in Beijing today by a crazed Chinese man who then immediately committed suicide. The victims were a man who was killed and a woman who was injured, both relatives of a U.S. Men's Volleyball Coach. The stabber, a 47-year-old man from Hangzhou, then threw himself from the second story of the site of the attack, the 13th-century Drum Tower three miles from the main Olympics site. more ›

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing were officially kicked off, and the NY Times reported that the festivities were an "opening ceremony of soaring fireworks, lavish spectacle and a celebration of Chinese culture and international good will." The ceremonies were produced by director Zhang Yimou, and NBC will be broadcasting the ceremony beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST tonight, but in case you want to get a sense of the highlights to look for, USA Today has a liveblog. more ›

Yesterday, the U.S. Olympic cycling team arrived at Beijing's airport and their masked visages caused a frenzy. The cyclists wore the U.S. Olympic Committee-designed and issued masks to protect them from Beijing's polluted air. One team member told the NY Times, “They told us that the Chinese were mad and that this is a politically charged issue, but we didn’t mean to offend anybody. When [the USOC] handed us these masks, they never said, ‘Here they are, but don’t wear them.’" Now the team has apologized, saying, "The wearing of protective masks upon our arrival into Beijing was strictly a precautionary measure we as athletes chose to take, and was in no way meant to serve as an environmental or political statement." more ›

Infinite emails (all from the same source) flooded inboxes citywide last night (following a Reuters photo that was published) with messages pondering "how Americans would feel if they knew that just before the Olympics start, a theme park in Beijing still shows the Twin Towers standing in a NYC exhibit of mini models?" With many Americans already protesting the Olympic Games, this might not help the Chinese government's boffo P.R campaign. more ›

City Council member and probable 2009 mayoral candidate, Tony Avella, is the latest politician to ask for America's withdrawl from the Beijing Olympics if China will not grant Tibet independence. Under China's rule for over 50 years, Tibet has made no headway, even with the support of human rights groups, activists...and Richard Gere. When we interviewed Robert Thurman, co-founder of the Tibet House, earlier this year he touched on the Olympics, saying:

The thinking is that if you give them a big P.R. thing to do like the Olympics, they won’t want people to see how they’re beating up the Falun Gong or whatever it is they’re doing lately. This is a fallacious concept but within that it’s true that the Chinese are trying to clean up their act so they won’t be embarrassed during the Olympics. Unfortunately, what the Chinese consider ‘cleaning up their act’ is to wipe out people who might do human rights protests; they don’t mean stopping the human rights violations.

It’s never to early to start planning for the future One World Government, and one great way to fill the odd hours is by building websites about it, as one group of visionaries have done with their Reservoir Project. The pseudo-serious website is dedicated to securing New York City as the capital of the “Earth Government” and converting the Central Park Reservoir into “the Biggest, the Tallest, the most Elegant and Innovative Structure in the history of our civilization. The CENTRAL, a.k.a. CTRL.” more ›

Mayor Bloomberg continued his whirlwind tour through Asia yesterday with a stop in Bali, Indonesia to talk to United Nations officials about the global effects of climate change. This is after a foray to China, that brought to mind Ed Koch's Beijing inspiration for bike paths in NYC to The New York Times' Clyde Haberman. Like NYC, Bali was the victim of a devastating terrorist attack that killed and injured hundreds of people. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg will be speaking at a United Nations conference in Indonesia, but he made a stop in Beijing first. He said to the audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "Some people believe that by mid-century, as [much] as 75 percent of China's population may be city dwellers. Even an occasional visitor to China, like me, is struck by this rapid urbanization. It is one of the largest internal migrations by people in... more ›

Years ago before the nearby Flushing Mall opened, Prince Street near 38 Ave. was well known for the "octopus guy", a friendly gent who grilled up skewers of baby octopus, among other things. When he vanished, we barely frequented that block. The other restaurants just never held much appeal; instead we stuck to Little Pepper, a nearby bastion of fiery Sichuan flavor. Largely because of the crowds and the huge posters of its specials Gothamist had always been curious about a spot with the auspicious name Canton Gourmet. Thanks to a Chowhound post that whet our appetite, we finally ventured inside last night. more ›

Just a day before the running of the NYC Marathon, the U.S. Olympic trials for the men's marathon were marred by an untimely death today. 28-year-old Ryan Shay died while competing in the Olympic trials in Central Park, just a few miles into the 26.2 mile race. Shay collapsed at the 5.5 mile mark of the race and was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital where he was declared dead. The cause of death has yet... more ›

Photograph the 2006 New York City Marathon finish line by CraigsPage on flickr Marathon fans, your time is here because this weekend, there are two 26.2 mile races in the city. In addition to the New York City Marathon on Sunday, Saturday is the USA Olympic Trials for the 2008 Olympic Men's Marathon. Saturday's Olympic Trials will feature the country's best long distance runners as they contend for the first spots on the 2008... more ›

Aha! We were right when we suggested that August 8, 2008 might be another coveted wedding date to consider, now that July 7, 2007 has passed. The date 08/08/08 is considered very auspicious by Asian cultures (in fact, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will start on that day), and some weddings planners who specialized in Chinese weddings are seeing a big rush. One told LJWorld, "We like to do three weddings max a day, but we might end up doing four to five because of this hot date." more ›

The eight Democratic presidential candidates debated in New Hampshire last night, covering immigration, health care, and, of course, Iraq. Former Senator John Edwards, who is a distant third in the polls, went after Senators Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's voting on the Iraq spending bill, saying, "They went quietly to the floor of the Senate. They were among the last people to vote. They cast the right vote, and I applaud them for that. ... But there is a difference between leadership and legislating." But Obama fought back, pointing out that Edwads voted to go to war in 2002 (the Daily News gave Obama an "A" for his debate performance). more ›

Virgin Vacations created a list of the 11 Top Underground Transit Systems in the World, complete with photographs and YouTube videos to give readers a sense of what mass transit might be like on their trip. The number 1 underground transit system is the oldest - the London Underground. After that, it's the Paris Metro. Then the Moscow Metro. Then Madrid, Tokyo, and Seoul, until you finally see New York City's subway coming in at number 7.

Highlights: Offers express services that run on separate tracks from local trains. The MTA is currently testing out LED displays in subway stations to let commuters know when the next train is expected to arrive. 24 hour service. Unique and distinct artwork (mosaics) throughout the system.

Towards the end of the year, it becomes sport to wonder who Time's Person of the Year will be. It's sort of like wondering who will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated or who People's Sexiest Man Alive is (both are also Time Inc. publications, as it were). Time tried to get its readers excited, asking them to vote online for who they thought should be the Person of the Year, with choices being George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Kim Jong Il, Al Gore, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, Nancy Pelosi, and The YouTube Guys. Well, if you bothered to vote, you never had a chance - Time decided to make "You" the Person of the Year. more ›

Today, a drunken man visiting the Beijing Zoo climbed into the panda habitat - and there was also "hugging" and biting. Reports say that 35 year old Zhang Xinyan had drunk "four draught beers" before heading to the zoo, where he was suddenly overcome with a desire to touch Gu Gu, a 6 year old male panda. Gu Gu freaked out and bit Zhang's, so then Zhang bit back. Zookeepers managed to get Gu Gu off Zhang by using a hose, and Zhang was taken to a hospital for stitches on his leg. The AP reports:

The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along well with people." more ›

Chinatown has moved on up to East 14th Street. Well, at least a little piece of it has, at Vanessa’s Dumplings. The proprietor, Vanessa Weng, opened this outpost a few months ago between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, after starting a smaller dumpling shop years before on Eldridge Street. At first, the new Vanessa’s looks like yet another storefront serving Americanized Chinese glop, but there is some fairly authentic Beijing-style street food here. more ›

I have a soft spot in my heart for novels that are deceptively simple or straight-forward, and for plots that take their sweet time unraveling their secrets. I appreciate the nuance, the seduction, of well-shaped characters and quiet implications. In certain keys, Nell Freudenberger’s new novel – the chaser to her 2003 short story collection, Lucky Girls – was a well-suited match. more ›

World Trade Center developer Larry Siilverstein might be starting a global war of the words as he now claims a deal company Beijing Vantone to rent the top 7 floors of 7 World Trade Center has collapsed. Silverstein says the Chinese real estate company failed to meet a deadline for a security deposit (for the fourth time), but Vantone's spokesperson says lease negotiations only ended 10 days ago. The NY Times suggests that Silverstein may be fishing for tenants who can pay more than Vantone, as Midtown commercial rents continue to climb. The deal with Vantone was intially announced in January, which is light years ago in terms of the real estate market. While you can't blame Silverstein for trying to get top dollar for the space, we wonder if the city and state will intercede, as having a Chinese company would be good for global relations. According the Silverstein Properties website, the floors marked for Vantone have a "lease pending." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg was not very successful with the Summer Olympics, but his daughter Georgina hopes that she can ride her way into the games. Georgina, the younger of Mayor Bloomberg's two daughters, has her sights set on making the Olympic equestrian team for the 2008 Beijing Games. Riding since she was 4 (Gothamist was riding our little wooden horsey), Georgina was in her first competition at the age of 6 (we competed against our reflection in the mirror - we won every time). Last year, she was the 5th rated show jumper in the country. more ›

After two weeks of winter sports competition, the 2006 Torino Games have officially come to a close. Winning the medal tally was Germany with 29 medals (11 gold, 12 silver, 6 bronze). Second was the United States, which had 25 (9, 9, 7), and Canada was third with 24 (7, 10, 7). The US total was its higest outside of the United States, where it had 34 in the 2002 Salt Lake City games. more ›