steven mcdonnell — country at the moment? steven mcdonnell in _ country at the moment?try at the moment? steven mcdonnell in beijing, thank- country at the moment? steven mcdonnell in beijing, thank you j mcdonnell in beijing, thank you for the update. and with the opening ceremonyjust hours away, a little later in the programme we'll hear from someone who's planned not one, but five of the big events. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines: an operation is underway in morocco to rescue a young boy trapped in a deep well. the 5—year—old, called rayan, fell down the 32—metre well on tuesday evening in a village in a rural northern province. he's said to have suffered some injuries, but remains conscious. an oil production and storage vessel has exploded off the coast of nigeria. it's not clear what caused the blast, or if any oil spilled into the sea. the fate of the ten crew members on board is unknown. nasa says the international space station will be taken out of service in 2030 and then will have a controlled crash into the pacific ocean in 2031. it

here's our china correspondent, steven mcdonnell, on the chinese leader's rare intervention.offering their suggestions that everything should be done, you know, pull out all stops to try to tackle the latest covid outbreak in hong kong. on the face of it, people might hear those words and think, so what? you know, it's kind of broad language and as if people in hong kong wouldn't be doing their best already to try and tackle the crisis. two things, though, that are very significant about this. one is that this is the first time it seems since wuhan, when this all started, that he's so directly injected himself into the way a city is handling this crisis. so, we've had other outbreaks in xi'an, in nanjing, you name it, but we didn't have xi jinping offering this sort of direct instruction in the same way we're getting for hong kong. what this shows is how concerned the chinese government is about the situation there. and i think chinese officials, they're having the communist party leader so directly placing himself into this, it will focus their minds and, you know, try to ge

steven mcdonnell is in beijing and looks back at the games.lympics has come to an end. for ordinary people this is as close as they came. you can see the barrier there, with police stopping them is of the public from getting any closer to the main stadium. but the fireworks are going off up in the air, and forthat are going off up in the air, and for that reason we have had people from the local community come out and try to spin the camera around, to try to get a look at them, to take photos of the fireworks, to feel like they are part of the event. you know, you haven't been able to buy tickets to go to the winter olympics, because of covid. and 0lympics, because of covid. and so by coming to see the fireworks people can really feel like they are part of these games. beijing's 0lympics these games. beijing's olympics will be remembered for the russian skater who was able to compete despite taking a banned substance. forthe compete despite taking a banned substance. for the ethnic chinese, a skier who was born and raised in the us but represe

steven mcdonnell for us in beijing.e a young boy from a well in northern morocco. rayan, who is five years old, fell nearly 100 feet down the shaft while his father was repairing it. the shaft is narrow, so rescuers are digging a large hole parallel to it. simonjones has this update on their progress. it isa it is a race against time. rayan has now spent a fortnight trapped deep underground, pictured by a camera lowered into the well. above him, the effort to save the five—year—old has continued around the clock. askew workers say they won't stop until they get him out, while worried locals can only look on and hope. translation: irate worried locals can only look on and hope. translation:— worried locals can only look on and hope. translation: we are praying for ra an hope. translation: we are praying for rayan to — hope. translation: we are praying for rayan to be _ hope. translation: we are praying for rayan to be alive. _ hope. translation: we are praying for rayan to be alive. and _ hope. translation: we are prayin