Pro-Tibet demonstrators tried to hijack the Beijing Olympic torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia on Monday. In a globally televised ceremony to mark the start of a five-month torch relay, the actress Maria Nafpliotou, playing the high priestess, used a break in the clouds to light the torch in front of the Temple of Hera.
One way or another, Beijing will get its Olympic flame. At Sunday’s final rehearsal, clouds over the ancient Games’ ruined birthplace prevented organisers from kindling the torch for the 2008 Olympics in the traditional way — using the sun’s rays harnessed in a convex mirror.
Firefighting planes took off at first light on Monday, targeting dozens of fires blazing across Greece, a day after a massive effort prevented the birthplace of the Olympics from being devastated by the flames. Sixty-three people have been killed by the country’s worst wildfires in living memory. New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under control.