Olympics: Haze that has covered Beijing for the last few days cleared today as rain fell 10 days before the Olympics begin, but the build-up to the event has again been soured by a positive drugs test.
The city's chronic pollution, an acrid mix of construction dust, vehicle exhaust and factory and power plant fumes, has been one of the biggest worries for Games organisers, who promised a green Games and have enacted emergency measures to lift the pall.
Beijing is not the only city to suffer under the pall of pollution. Hong Kong, host to the Games' equestrian events, was hit by its worst air pollution ever recorded on Monday.
The pollution was thick again on Tuesday, making it hard even to see across the famed harbour.
"I think it's very difficult for the horses and for the riders too, they have to acclimatise," said Reinhard Wendt, the chef de mission for the German equestrian team.
"We can see how the horses and riders feel. But we don't know if it's from the heat or the humidity or the dirty air. We are not used to such circumstances, and the feeling is not so good at the moment."
A Jamaican male athlete, meanwhile, has been removed from the Caribbean nation's Olympic team after failing a drugs test.
"I can tell you that an athlete tested positive for a banned substance and the necessary steps are being taken to deal with the matter appropriately," Mike Fennell, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, announced. He also confirmed the athlete had been removed from the Jamaican team.
The positive test did not involve Jamaican 100 metres world record holder Usain Bolt nor former holder Asafa Powell.
The athlete tested positive for an undisclosed substance at Jamaica's national championships in late June.
He has been informed of the positive test of the 'A' sample and has been given until Friday to decide whether to accept the result or ask that his 'B' sample be tested, a Jamaican athletics official said.
It was confirmed yesterday that a mountain biker in Denmark's team tested positive for the banned blood-boosting drug EPO while the Italian women's world road race champion Marta Bastianelli also failed a doping test.