Paris Olympic torch relay cut short

The Paris leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay has been cut short after city-wide protests against China's crackdown in Tibet.

Pro-Tibet demonstrators had disrupted the torch relay through Paris a number of times, forcing officials to repeatedly extinguish the flame and take refuge on the bus.

The relay had travelled 200m from its starting point at the Eiffel Tower when it was first put on the bus on the banks of the River Seine.

It was then taken off the vehicle for a brief time before being carried back on board.

Hundreds of police had been deployed on the streets of the French capital to protect the torch relay from the expected demonstrations.

Five activists were arrested as rowdy protests erupted on the path of relay.

Two campaigners brandishing a Tibetan flag were arrested for trying to bar its path, and two members of media rights group Reporters Sans Frontieres were held for trying to vault over the security cordon protecting the route.

The Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, unfurled a giant banner over the city hall in defence of human rights.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has refused to rule out a boycott of the Olympic opening ceremony.

The 80 runners in today's ceremony are guarded on the route by a cordon of 65 motorcycles, 100 police on rollerblades and 200 riot police.

US bridge protest ahead of Olympic torch run

Meanwhile three pro-Tibet demonstrators scaled San Francisco's landmark Golden Gate Bridge, as protests against China mounted ahead of the Olympic torch's arrival in the US.

The demonstrators unfurled a giant banner reading 'One World, One Dream' and 'Free Tibet 08,' and at least one could be seen carrying a Tibetan flag, two days before the US leg of the global Olympic torch relay.

The demonstration ended peacefully the activists climbed down from the bridge and were promptly arrested.

The protest came as Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton urged President George W Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, saying he should press China over Tibet and Darfur.

Police in San Francisco say an unprecedented security blanket will be in place on Wednesday as they attempt to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes in Paris.

Several hundred police are expected to line the streets for the only appearance of the torch on US soil during its 21-country journey.

Athletes push for free speech

European athletes and officials have demanded clearer guidelines on how free they will be to express opinions on human rights, Tibet and other issues at the Beijing Olympics.

The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), which represents the world's 205 National Olympic Committees, is meeting in Beijing, and spent much of its first day addressing the free speech issue.

The International Olympic Committee has said that all 10,500 competitors attending the Games will be free to speak out as long as they respect the Olympic Charter.

Under the charter, a set of rules drawn up by the IOC governing  the operation of the Games, athletes are barred from using venues to promote racial, political or religious propaganda.

Olympic Council of Ireland responds

The Olympic Council of Ireland says it is obliged to take part in the opening ceremony of the Olympics but Irish athletes are not mandated to do so.

There has been a call today from a campaign group for Ireland to boycott the opening ceremony of the games over the situation in Tibet.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has already indicated that the Government does not support the principle of boycotting the Olympics on political grounds.

UNICEF pulls out of North Korea Olympic torch run

The UN children's agency UNICEF said it had withdrawn from the North Korean leg of the Olympic torch run because it would not help draw attention to the plight of children in North Korea.

'We are no longer convinced that UNICEF's participation in the run will support the aim of raising awareness of the situation of children in the DPRK (North Korea) and elsewhere,' UNICEF spokesman Christopher de Bono said in a statement.