NEW YORK The Olympics are still three months away, and already Yao Ming is trying to work the officials.

BEIJING Cheering mountaineers raised the Olympic torch at the summit of the world's highest peak Thursday, producing the triumphant image that China has longed for in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

The Olympic torch relay made its way up Mount Everest, as the flame reached the world's highest peak on Thursday.

DHARMSALA, India The Dalai Lama's envoys and Chinese officials disagreed more than they agreed at weekend talks on how to move beyond the unrest in Tibet, one of the Tibetan spiritual leader's representatives said Thursday.

NEW YORK Roger Clemens isn't welcome on the U.S. Olympic baseball team. U.S. general manager Bob Watson said Wednesday that he isn't considering the 45-year-old right-hander for his roster for the Beijing Games.

BEIJING When some 11,000 athletes arrive in Beijing for the Summer Olympic Games in August, a few will be playing cat-and-mouse games to avoid random anti-drug tests.

BEIJING The Olympic torch moved to within striking distance of the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday, with the flame likely to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain in the next several days.

HAIKOU, China Paramilitary police donned Hawaiian shirts and pink buses shuttled in more cops in camouflage. Security was heavy but officers were markedly relaxed as jubilant crowds, apparently free of protesters, helped kick off the Olympic torch's tour of China.

BEIJING China has tightened visa controls ahead of the Olympic Games, with invitation letters and hotel reservations required for some travelers, the government acknowledged Tuesday after weeks of insisting the entry process was business as usual.

ATHENS, Greece Athletes from 10 European countries will take part in an allergy and asthma study at the Beijing Olympics.

DENVER Waving the Tibet flag or paying tribute to the Dalai Lama during the medals ceremony will be against the rules at the Beijing Olympics, though the penalties for those infractions remain unknown.

SANYA, China Cheering Chinese stood on their chairs and waved flags as the Olympic torch started its mainland leg Sunday on the tropical island of Hainan - the first stop in what is expected to be a peaceful three-month journey to Beijing.

BEIJING China's capital is tightening security around the highly symbolic Tiananmen Square ahead of this summer's Olympic Games.

SANYA, China Cheering Chinese stood on their chairs and waved flags as the Olympic torch started its mainland leg Sunday on the tropical island of Hainan - the first stop in what is expected to be a peaceful three-month journey to Beijing.

SANYA, China Cheering Chinese stood on their chairs and waved flags as the Olympic torch started its mainland leg Sunday on the tropical island of Hainan - the first stop in what is expected to be a peaceful three-month journey to Beijing.

MACAU The Olympic torch began its relay Saturday past glitzy Las Vegas-style casinos and pastel colored colonial buildings in the Chinese city of Macau - the world's most lucrative gambling center.

HONG KONG Runners carried the Olympic flame through Hong Kong on Friday, as large groups of flag-waving torch supporters shouted insults at pro-Tibet and human rights protesters, forcing them to seek refuge in police vans.

WASHINGTON Seven of Marion Jones' relay partners filed an appeal Thursday with the Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking to retain their 2000 Olympic medals.

BEIJING Beijing's battle to ban smoking in most public areas began in earnest Thursday as part of the government's commitment to hold a smoke-free Olympics.

WASHINGTON A U.S. senator accused the Chinese government on Thursday of ordering U.S.-owned hotels in China to install Internet filters that can spy on international visitors coming to see the summer Olympic games.

HONG KONG An activist traveling with Mia Farrow says she and the actress have been allowed to enter Hong Kong to protest China's relations with Sudan.

HONG KONG The Olympic torch arrived in Hong Kong Wednesday after the Chinese territory deported at least seven activists who planned to protest the flame.

A wide-ranging group of U.S. Jewish leaders plans to release a statement Wednesday urging Jews worldwide to boycott the Summer Olympics in Beijing, citing China's troubling record on human rights and Tibet.

BEIJING Shimmering stadiums and billions of dollars spent to remake Beijing into a modern city have been overshadowed by pro-Tibet protests, chaos on the Olympic torch relay, and an anti-Western backlash by angry Chinese who sense their coming-out party is being spoiled.

KINGSTON, Jamaica World-record holder Asafa Powell won't race for the next two months because of a chest injury. His manager says the sprinter will be able to run at the Beijing Olympics in August.

PYONGYANG, North Korea North Korea mobilized tens of thousands of citizens on Monday to celebrate the Olympic torch relay in Pyongyang, the flame's first visit to the authoritarian nation.

PYONGYANG, North Korea The Olympic torch began its first-ever run through North Korea on Monday, where the flame was assured of a trip free of the anti-Chinese protests that marked other legs of the relay.

BAGHDAD Nearly a year ago, a sniper shot at Olympic hopeful Dana Hussein as she ran around one of the few jogging tracks in Baghdad. Another time, she and her coach narrowly avoided driving into an ambush and sure death at a checkpoint in the city.

HONG KONG Three human rights activists who planned to protest during Hong Kong's leg of the Olympic torch relay have been barred from entering the Chinese-ruled territory, one of the activists said Sunday.

BEIJING Miao Lijie scored 26 points and host China upset the United States 84-81 in Saturday's championship game of a pre-Olympic women's basketball test tournament.

SEOUL, South Korea North Korean defectors vowed Saturday to disrupt the South Korean leg of the Olympic torch relay in protest of China's repatriation of refugees to the North where they could face execution.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced Friday details of a new voluntary initiative to send clean athletes to this year's Olympics in Beijing.

WASHINGTON The State Department says terrorists may want to disrupt this summer's Olympics in China and warned of a heightened risk of terrorist attacks there in the coming months.