British Prime Minister Gordon Brown won't be there. Neither will Germany's Angela Merkel. France's Nicolas Sarkozy says he will await the outcome of neogiations between the Chinese and the Dahli Lama - talks that are not going well at all which he means that the French President also will likely join the boycott by western leaders of the opening ceremonies of the Chinese Olympic games.

But evidently, not President Bush:

US President George W Bush will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the White House says.

Human rights groups and opposition politicians including presidential hopeful Barack Obama had urged Mr Bush to consider boycotting the ceremony.

Beijing's rights record has come under intense scrutiny since Tibetan protests were suppressed in March.

Troops used force to quell the biggest anti-China demonstrations in Tibetan communities for two decades.

Beijing says rioters killed about 20 people in the unrest, but exiled Tibetan groups accuse security forces of killing scores of protesters.