| China has announced the Olympic Torch relay | | | | Taiwan agreed to accept the torch from a |
| route for next year's Games in Beijing, with | | | | country other than China. Beijing says Taiwan |
| the flame scheduled to travel through Tibet | | | | is a renegade province, a status Taipei |
| and Taiwan on its way to the Opening | | | | rejects. |
| Ceremonies. | | | | |
| | | | Wednesday, four activists were detained on |
| Chinese officials said the torch, a | | | | Mount Everest after they unfurled a banner |
| red-and-silver tube shaped like a Chinese | | | | calling for Tibet's independence. |
| scroll covered with a cloud design, begins | | | | |
| its journey in Athens and will cover more | | | | Chinese troops occupied Tibet in the 1950s, |
| than 137,000 kilometers. | | | | and Beijing continues to rule the region with |
| | | | a heavy hand. China says Tibet has been part |
| Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee head Liu | | | | of China for centuries, but many in Tibet say |
| Qi said the torch will pass through five | | | | it was an independent state for much of that |
| continents and all through China. | | | | time. |
| | | | |
| A video shown at the ceremony announced that | | | | In 1959, the spiritual leader of Tibetan |
| toward the end of its international leg, the | | | | Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, went into exile in |
| torch will go from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City | | | | India after a failed Tibetan uprising against |
| to Taipei, Taiwan's capital. Among its dozens | | | | Chinese rule. |
| of stops in China will be Tibet, including | | | | |
| the summit of Mount Everest. | | | | Some information for this report was provided |
| | | | by AFP and AP. |