Joey Cheek, American speed skater, gold-medalist and president of Team Darfur, a group of Olympic athletes working to end the genocide, had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities today and won’t be able to attend the upcoming Beijing games.

The Chinese authorities have made no comment and don’t intend to. The news came the night before Cheek was expected to fly to China to support his country and his politics.

One of Cheek’s main Olympic goals during the Beijing Games was to urge the international community to persuade Sudan abide by the tradition of the Olympic truce.

So many athletes “are drawn to this issue,” Martha Bixby (Team Darfur spokesperson) says, referring to Darfur. “To me, this fits in with the Olympics, which are about the world coming together for the betterment of mankind.” [NPR]

While this is of course frustrating, awful and in direct conflict with the spirit of the Olympics, it is getting Joey and Team Darfur a lot more press than they normally would have. I can’t help but wonder if this will help the cause more than if he had quietly made his way to China?

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U.S. swimmer Amanda Beard defied a Chinese ban and unveiled her nude PETA ad in Beijing. Former Olympian Joey Cheek, meanwhile, got his Via revoked in advance of a trip to urge China to bring peace to Darfur.

U.S. Olympian swimmer Amanda Bear just became the latest in a long line of celebrities to pose nude for a PETA (animal rights) ad.

Chinese officials had earlier prohibited her from unveiling the photo indoors (”for security reasons”), so Beard merely moved the procession outside. Security officials didn’t press the issue.

I guess China didn’t want to risk another international incidient — not when it’s trying so hard to make sure no Olympian mentions the word “Darfur.” (Just today it revoked the Visa of Ex-Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek, who intended to travel to China to urge Beijing to promote peace efforts in Darfur)

takepart visiting AmandaBeard.net for ways to take action on animal rights (yes, there are more photos, too.)

takepart by visiting the takepart wiki to take action on Darfur

Mother earth called, and she isn’t happy.

A 6.0 earthquake rattled a western Chinese region today. One person was killed and 23 injured.   The quake struck a few hours after the Olympic torch passed through and hit the same region devastated by the May 12th 7.9 quake that killed over 69,000 people.

A powerful storm tore through Chicago yesterday. Wrigley Field was evacuated and tornado sirens echoed through the downtown area

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Foreign athletes at the Bejing Olympics may have to compete in uniforms like these if China doesn't get its pollution under control

Bejing just announced a new set of anti-pollution measures aimed at staving off the concerns of Olympic athletes who aren’t too thrilled by the prospect of competing in uniforms made for Ebola outbreaks.

Four Giant Panda Cubs were born in a Chinese Panda Breeding Center within 14 hours yesterday. The newborns are a very welcome addition to the endangered whose population currently numbers at most a mere 3,000 bears worldwide with only 1,600 of those living in the wild.

The Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center was a busy place with Qiyuan, or Magic Luck, giving birth to twin female cubs, followed by Chenggong, or Success, having one cub a little over an hour and a half later and Zhuzhu, or Pearl, giving birth about 11 hours after, the following morning.

The births couldn’t have come at a better time for the embattled Giant Panda population. China’s recent devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province put many of the beloved bears at risk, with many Pandas needing to be relocated from Wolong National Nature Reserve, China’s most famous Panda Preserve, for their safety.

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The Summer Olympics in Beijing are just about three weeks away, and to attempt to lower pollution levels as much as possible before the games start, China is removing half the cars on the road.   The Associated Press reports:

Under the two-month plan, half of the capital’s 3.3 million cars will be removed from city streets on alternate days, depending on whether the license plate ends in an odd or even number.

The plan came into effect yesterday, apparently creating slightly clearer skies and lighter traffic.   In addition to the traffic limitations, China is adding 3,000 busses to the roads by the time the Games start, which will increase the daily bus capacity from 12.5 million to 15 million people.   Beijing has also opened new subway lines, which are anticipated to carry 1.1 million people every day during the Olympics.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Everything I Know About Climate Change, I Learned in the Fifth Grade by Martin Musatov

When Torture Is Condoned, Is FISA That Shocking? by Wendy Cohen

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Nicole Hughes:

Baltimore Woman Turns Tragedy Into Art

Why Don’t We Do More to Stop Global Warming?

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Andy Kondrat:

Foods You Should and Shouldn’t Buy Organic

Paper or Plastic? The Environmental Impact

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Jon Popham:

The Energy Independence Bill: A Filibuster Odyssey

“Bruno” Fools Mossad Agent

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Gina Telaroli:

While Iran Tests Missiles, Test These 5 Iranian Films

Mao’s Out, Time to Capitalize On the Olympics

The world’s richest nations and emerging economies joined together at a summit on the island of Hokkaidou, Japan to commit to long range cute in global greenhouse emissions. They concluded their meetings today, calling climate change one of the great global challenges of our time. Good news, right? Well, not just yet.

Yesterday, leaders of the G8 (United States, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Britain and Russia) pledged to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases in half by 2050. But the Group of 5 emerging economies (China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa) refused to sign onto that goal. They are holding out until rich nations like the United States take more aggressive steps to cut pollution over the next decade.

It is good that the developing countries have embraced the principal of a global target that they will participate in, Philip Clapp of the Pew Environmental Group said. It would have been better if the United States and the other G-8 countries would have been willing to step up to the plate and make a strong commitment about what they would do over the next 10 years.”

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The Chinese have taken Chairman Mao, the founding father of Chinese communism off of their 10-yuan bill and replaced him with a picture of their new National Stadium. While there aren’t a lot of these new bills being made and they are supposedly just for the duration of the Olympics I can’t help but see this as another sign of China’s crumbling communism.

What would the kids in La Chinoise think?

Joking and 60’s cinema references aside, I’ve been watching the cinema of Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke a lot lately. His quiet meditations on where China is headed politically and spiritually seem to be backed up by practical stories like the 10-yuan redesign everyday.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Arrested in Development by Wendy Cohen

Is Google Making Us Dumber? by Blair Golson

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 5 Ways to Green Your July 4th

Greenopia: Eco-Guides For Your City

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Andy Kondrat:

Hypermiling Contest Winner Gets 124 Miles to the Gallon

Rise in Fuel Prices May Lead to Dirtier Energy Sources

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Jon Popham:

Red Tide in Yellow Sea Threatens Olympics

Mercedes-Benz Ditching Gasoline Cars by 2015

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Giulia Rozzi:

46664 Concert: Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela

Denise Richards Likes to Share

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Gina Telaroli:

Top 10 Movies for the 4th of July: For Patriots and Cynics!

The Radical and Beautiful Journey of Wall-E