China Limits Media Coverage Of Olympic Torch's Everest Ascent

BEIJING — China is altering plans for media coverage of the Olympic flame's ascent of Mount Everest, with officials saying Tuesday that harsh weather is making reporting conditions difficult.

The changes, in effect, mean that foreign reporters would likely spend only 10 days overall in Tibet _ about half the time initially planned.

Officials denied that the changes were connected to protests and riots in Tibet against Chinese rule last month. After the protests, the government allowed a group foreign reporters to visit the Tibetan capital of Lhasa only to have the carefully scripted trip upended by a protest by monks at an important Buddhist shrine.

"This has nothing to do with the situation in Tibet," Wang Hui, a spokeswoman for the organizing committee, known as Bocog, told foreign reporters. "It's all because of the uncertain weather conditions."