I hope everyone had a good weekend and had the time and energy to watch the Olympic opening ceremony from the start to end. I heard a trained panda was going to light the torch. Well, I guess reality is always closer to the truth.

Front Page Story

The U.S. volleyball team had their first win on Sunday beating Venezuela in the preliminary-round competition. The team played without their head couch, Hugh McCutcheon, whose father and mother-in-laws were viciously attacked by a regular citizen while touring the Drum Tower in central Beijing. The attacker committed suicide immediately after the crime by jumping from the tower.

The motive of the attacker is still unknown. Tang Yongming, the attacker, was an unemployed man who lost his house and his wife. It might be the case of a desperate man trying to leave his footprint before ended his own life. Aside from all the sadness, this proves every Chinese holds Olympics in high regards even a hopeless Chinese.

Other headlines today

• Total four golds for the Chinese Olympic team on Sunday: the favored Chinese female pair in synchronized diving, female karate gold in the 52kg weight class, women’s 10 meters air rifle and men’s weightlifting in 56kg weight class. Each of the winners has a whole page covering their individual story. If you want to know them on a more personal level, go online.
  

• A side note on Olympic action on Sunday. The Chinese men’s soccer team lost to Belgium 0-2. I was having dinner in a restaurant while this game was on. I wanted to leave as a part of my strategy to isolate myself from Chinese soccer. Too late! Belgium scored a goal before I finished eating, 10 minutes into the first half. The Chinese men’s team is full of surprises.
  
  

• State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council announced on Sunday that Chinese government will not be decentralizing stated-owned enterprises just yet. This is a reasonable move given the status of the Chinese stock market right now. Unless the government wants to the market hit all times lower, it better hold off the offering of state-owned shares.
  

With all of the Olympics and the air conditioning, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd forgotten about the weather already. 34 degrees Celsius shouldn't be that hard to overlook.

Zaobao! Zabao! is a daily article by Li Yizhong that translates and puts into brief perspective the headlines of the Shanghai Morning Post's daily newspaper. Read more of his work on the Zaobao! Zaobao! blog.