A US photographer won the top prize in the World Press Photo competition yesterday with an image of a police officer searching a debris-strewn home in Cleveland, Ohio to ensure evicted residents had left after a mortgage foreclosure.

A CHINESE court yesterday sentenced two people to death for what it said was an attempt to sabotage the Beijing Olympics with an attack in the far-west region of Xinjiang that killed 17 police four days before the Games.

REVOLUTIONARY starting blocks are expected to send world swimming records tumbling again in 2009, after an Olympic year when hi-tech suits helped competitors go faster than ever.

The quest to create the mascot for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics began today.

China called for the arrest and extradition of eight alleged separatists accused of plotting a campaign of terror to coincide with the Beijing Olympics - a scheme that reportedly included bomb attacks within China and in unspecified countries in the Middle East and South Asia.

A Chinese army officer has warned that Islamic separatists are the biggest threat to the Olympics.

A young Chinese man confessed to killing a Canadian model during a robbery at her apartment, police in Shanghai said today.

Canine cuisine is being sent to the doghouse during next month’s Beijing Olympic Games.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy will attend the opening of the Beijing Olympics next month, his office said today.

THOUSANDS of rioters torched police and government office buildings in south-west China, in unrest triggered by allegations of a cover-up over a girl’s death.

The High Court has reserved judgment in an action brought by an International rower who is seeking an injunction requiring the Irish Amateur Rowing Union (IARU) to sanction his participation in a Polish regatta next week in a last-ditch bid by him to represent Ireland in the Beijing Olympic games.

Police in Nepal have broken up protests by Tibetan monks near the Chinese embassy in the capital Kathmandu.

The Dalai Lama’s envoys and Chinese officials are planning a second round of talks, China’s state-run news agency said today.

The Dalai Lama’s envoys met Chinese officials today – the first talks between the two sides have since violent anti-government protests erupted in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama said he welcomes China’s offer to meet his envoy, but he wants serious talks to reduce resentment about Chinese rule in Tibet.

China has agreed to meet an envoy of the Dalai Lama following rising calls for talks in the wake of Tibetans’ anti-government protests, which threaten to tarnish this summer’s Beijing Olympic Games.

China agreed today to meet an envoy of the Dalai Lama following growing calls for talks in the wake of Tibetans’ anti-government protests, which threaten to tarnish this summer’s Beijing Olympic Games.

JOHN JOE JOYCE claimed his place in the Beijing Olympic Games in spectacular fashion when he outclassed and outpointed Harun Sipahi (Germany) a veteran of the Athens Olympics, 27-12, in an action-packed light welterweight semi-final at the qualifying tournament in Athens yesterday.

China says it has uncovered a criminal ring planning to kidnap athletes and others at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Hollywood actor and humanitarian Richard Gere joined protestors in California on Tuesday to voice his support for Tibetan independence.

The recent anti-government demonstrations in Tibet were “outbursts of long pent-up physical and mental anguish” that proved most Tibetans want freedom from Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama said today.

China has ordered more ideological education in Tibet to reduce support for exiled Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama.

Beijing tightened security today ahead of the Olympic torch’s arrival after demonstrations by protesters during its passage through Greece.

Dozens of Tibetan exiles burned an effigy of Chinese President Hu Jintao as they reached the Indian capital New Dehli today carrying a symbolic flame which they said would burn along with the official torch for the Beijing Olympic games.

Chinese police captured and killed alleged Islamic terrorists plotting attacks targeting the Beijing Olympic Games, a senior Communist Party official said today.

FILM director Steven Spielberg should be congratulated for his decision to pull out of his role as artistic director of the Beijing Olympic Games due to China’s involvement in the Darfur crisis.

China said today that it was investigating a company whose insecticide-tainted frozen dumplings made 10 people ill in Japan.

BEIJING Olympics organisers vowed yesterday to come down hard on any cases of children being used to produce merchandise for the Games, after a report accused factories of “gross exploitation”.

THE Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) has announced that Irish hockey will benefit from a special one-off grant of $85,000 (€65,000) aimed at helping qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

THE new management team for Irish international show jumping will be officially unveiled on Monday, according to the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI).