CNN spotlights Beijing as Olympics countdown begins

Hong Kong -In the lead up to the Beijing Olympics countdown, CNN has dedicated a week of live coverage from the Chinese capital, themed ‘Countdown Beijing', to showcase the city as it prepares for the 2008 summer Olympic Games.  

Throughout the week from 4 to 12 August, CNN will feature live filming from sites around Beijing, interviews and in-depth reports on CNN Today, World News Asia and Talk Asia by Kristie Lu Stout, Andrew Stevens, John Vause and Anjali Rao.

In addition to the news programming, there will be an online special on the website featuring exclusive stories, reports, interviews as well as interactive multimedia elements highlighting the city and how it has changed in preparation for the games, including poll questions and blogs from CNN journalists and streaming of the video packages.

Some of the topics include a day in the life of gold medallist Guo Jingjing, how Beijing intends to clean up its air for the Games and interview with the winning architects for the Olympics ‘Birds Nest' national stadium and the ‘Water Cube' aquatics centre.