Beijing Winter Olympics Set To Open Under Cloud Of Covid, Rights Fears

A Winter Olympics overshadowed by rights concerns and Covid will officially begin in Beijing on Friday with an opening ceremony at the "Bird's Nest" stadium. The distinctive lattice-shaped arena took centre stage at the 2008 Games -- seen as China's coming-out party to the world -- and will do so again as Beijing becomes the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics. Friday's opening ceremony starts at 8:00pm (1200 GMT) and will be attended by President Xi Jinping, under whose rule China has become a much more belligerent proposition in global affairs compared to 14 years ago.

Xi, who will announce the Games are officially open, will be joined by leaders including his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin but the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia are among countries staging a diplomatic boycott over China's human rights record, particularly the fate of the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.

Other countries cited the coronavirus pandemic for not sending officials.

Their athletes will still compete at the Games, which run until February 20 and are taking place inside a vast "closed loop" bubble designed to thwart the virus.

Some spectators will be present at the opening ceremony but it is unclear how many and, like sports events at the Games, tickets were not sold to the general public because of the pandemic.

World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are among leaders of global institutions coming to the ceremony.

The ceremony is the mastermind of acclaimed Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, who was behind the 2008 extravaganza.

Zhang has promised a "totally innovative" show but conceded that the pandemic and freezing weather will