Athletes and spectators are gearing up for Wednesday evening's opening of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, set to be the biggest ever held.
What has happened to my country? This last fortnight has made me feel like a foreigner in my own home as a collective wave of happy-clappy good will descended on this once curmudgeonly isle. Where has our natural suspicion of organized fun gone, our disdain for overt displays of emotion, our celebration of hapless failures.
Chinese swimming sensation Ye Shiwen says she believes the doping allegations against her are "really unfair."
Women's Olympic shot put champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk has been stripped of her gold medal after testing positive for a banned substance.
If voters in the United Kingdom were offered the chance tomorrow, in a snap referendum, to change the name of the nation to "Team GB" the result would hardly be in doubt.
Trust the British to get it right -- in the end. When it comes to taking stock on London 2012, I believe the London Games will be regarded as having brought the Olympics concept home.
CNN's Jim Boulden interviews Daniel Moylan, Chairman of London Legacy Development Corporation.
Since starting with plenty of pomp, the 2012 London Olympics has been a forum for a number of stunning performances. Yet that won't be the case for much longer, as athletes have just two days left to realize their Olympic dreams. Here are five things to watch for Saturday, when 31 gold medals will be on the line:
The United States has injury worries on the track while the basketball team worries about a familiar foe.
Usain Bolt bids to become the first man to win the Olympic sprint double twice while World Cup champ Japan seeks to win a second major football title.
A German tries again for a piece of gold medal history, and the sprint queens will find glory just around the corner.
It's a big day at track and field, topped by the always exciting men's 1,500-meter final. In other notable events, several athletes say farewell to the London Games while others look for one more shot at glory.
There's a lot to look forward to in the last week of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, including individual event finals for men's and women's gymnastics. Can all-around women's champ Gabby Douglas add to her gold tally in Monday's uneven bars? Who will reign supreme in the men's 400 meters, for which South Africa's Oscar Pistorius - the Olympics' first double amputee runner - failed to qualify.
Look through street artist, Jimmy C's work including his Olympic portrait of Usain Bolt. Artwork by Jimmy C
Hackney Wick is nestled next to the Olympic site, separated only by a waterway known as the Lee Navigation. It is a half industrial, half artistic enclave, little known to Londoners, but which has, in recent years, become rich in street art from a cast of artists who have been integral to regenerating east London and informing its cultural identity.
As the swimming meet comes to its final days, the action at track and field begins at the Olympic Stadium. Here's what to look for as that competition starts and in four other notable sports:
Gymnastics once again takes center -- or is it centre? -- stage Thursday when the women compete in the individual all-around. Here's what to look for in that and other top events:
A Palestinian athlete prepares to compete in judo at the London games. CNN's Elise Labott reports.
Brits rail against Mitt Romney's gaffe. Carol Costello talks with GOP consultant John Brabender about the trip-up.
Watch a time lapse film of how a run-down area was transformed into an Olympic arena ahead of the grand opening ceremony.
He's brought bloodthirsty zombies, squalid junkies and murderous housemates to life on the big screen, but faced the toughest task of his career at London 2012: bringing boogying nurses, bucolic scenes and butterflies on bicycles to a worldwide audience of a billion people.
The streets of London are paved with Olympic gold.
Sunny, warm weather embraced London on Thursday amid last-minute preparations for the Summer Olympic Games, now less than 24 hours away.
Few shows can claim such an audience. As the dramatic spectacle of the Olympics Games opening ceremony in London unfolds Friday night, millions of people around the world will be glued to their television sets.
As tens of thousands of athletes, team officials and visitors gather in London ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday, security is paramount for the Games organizers and British authorities.
Before I ever laid eyes on London I laid ears on it, learning its streets, train stations and neighborhoods from song lyrics, as if all were diagramed on the A-to-Z Map of London that every newcomer to the city required. Or so I gathered from "Strange Town," by The Jam, which went: "I bought an A-to-Zed guidebook, trying to find the clubs and YMCAs ..."
London will at be the center of the sporting universe come Friday but as far as the city's commercial community is concerned, it will be business as usual during the Olympics.
Becky Anderson gives you the do's and dont's of visiting London during the Olympic Games.
Forget staid scones. Go to the right London spot, and you're more likely to be served green-tea-infused scones or tea-smoked salmon squares with Japanese yuzu mayonnaise.
These will be the green Games, to many they will be the austerity Games -- and they may even be the rain Games.
Basketball, track and swimming have been staples at the Olympics for decades, drawing thousands of spectators. But solo synchronized swimming or live pigeon shooting?
The Olympic torch relay began its first full day in London on Saturday, marking the start of the final week-long countdown to the opening of the 2012 Games.
The Olympic torch is set to make a dramatic entry to London Friday, descending via a 180-foot line from a helicopter to the historic Tower of London.
Queen Elizabeth II welcomes the Olympic torch to Windsor Castle, as it makes its way around the UK.
British police arrested six people in England on terror charges as security fears are elevated before the Olympic Games.
With 10 days to go before the Olympic Games open in London, questions over the provision of security guards for the event are dominating the British media.
The Dutch women's beach volleyball team sailed through Heathrow airport as it arrived in London for the Olympic Games, but not every athlete had such a smooth arrival.
CNN's Ben Wyatt gives an insider's guide to getting around London for the 2012 Olympic Games.
The contractor responsible for providing security guards for the Olympic Games said Saturday it stands to lose up to $77 million after failing to recruit enough staff, less than two weeks before the event opens in London.
Forty years ago London's docklands were an industrial wasteland. The shipping companies had moved to deeper waters, factories were left abandoned and poverty was rife.
British authorities arrested a 22-year-old woman Saturday on suspicion of terror offenses amid heightened security before the London Olympics.
Seven men have been arrested in the United Kingdom on suspicion of terror offenses, West Midlands police said Friday.
Armed police shut down a busy motorway in central England Thursday amid a security alert centred on a bus, a stark reminder of the heightened watch being maintained by authorities just three weeks before the London Olympic Games.
CNN's Nic Robertson has the latest on a passenger bus stopped by authorities in Britain.
An alert on a bus that led armed police to close a major motorway near Birmingham, England, on Thursday is not terror-related, Staffordshire police said.
The Olympic torch for the Summer Games in London began its journey in an elaborate ceremony in Greece.
Two members of the Basque separatist movement ETA, including one who has been convicted of more than 20 murders, were arrested Friday in London over alleged terror offenses, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.
Reaction is mixed after the Basque terrorist group ETA pledges to end violence. CNN's Al Goodman reports.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson is open to the idea of a Formula One race in Britain's capital, but has yet to be approached by the sport's powerbrokers.
Five huge rings on the Tower Bridge are among many signs that the London Olympics are coming soon. Alex Thomas reports.
Unable to compete due to injury, Dalma Malhas reacts to news that Saudi Arabia will allow women to compete in Olympics.
Saudi Arabia will let its female athletes compete in the Olympics for the first time, its embassy in London said.
All eyes are on London this summer. The Olympic Games begin next month; earlier this month, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee provided glorious pictures and joyous sounds to the watching world.
People in London step up to CNN's Open Mic and deliver their messages to Queen Elizabeth II on her Diamond Jubilee.
If you want to make a phone call you will have to find a big red box on the street -- that's if you're prepared to brave the occasional dense smogs that afflict London.
CNN's Atika Shubert attends a Pearly coronation. The Pearlies are a London tradition and charity fund-raising machine.
When Queen Elizabeth II took to the Thames to mark her diamond jubilee alongside tens of thousands of well-wishers, it wasn't the first time the royals have made merry by messing about on the river.
CNN's Phil Han went to the Regents Canal as revelers took to the waters for their version of the jubilee river pageant.
Libya's prime minister laid a wreath Friday at the spot where a London police officer was killed outside the Libyan diplomatic offices 28 years ago.
London detectives have been granted visas to Libya to continue an investigation into the 1984 shooting death of Scotland Yard officer killed outside the Libyan diplomatic offices in London, authorities said Thursday.
Tommy Godwin won two cycling medals at the 1948 Olympics. Now he's been chosen as one of Lloyds TSB's torch bearers for the 2012 Games.
[Updated 3:30 p.m. Monday, May 14] This photo is from a rehearsal ceremony for last week's lighting of the Olympic flame.
James Ibori, the former Governor of Nigeria's oil region, pleaded guilty to stealing $250 million over eight years
The arrest of a Nigerian politician who deposited millions of dollars of stolen money in UK accounts has raised questions about the role of British banks in corruption.
When it comes to Olympic ceremonies, London is keen to make sure its schoolchildren play a starring role.
Londoners check out the Olympic centerpiece -- the new main stadium. CNN's Erin McLaughlin reports.
CNN's Ayehsa Durgahee reports on the return of the iconic London Routemaster bus.
Boris Johnson was re-elected as Mayor of London Friday after a narrow victory over Ken Livingstone, who held the post until 2008.
British defense officials consider surface-to-air missiles as part of security during the London Olympics.
The British Ministry of Defence might place surface-to-air missiles on a water tower in a densely populated London neighborhood as part of security for the Olympic Games this summer, a ministry official said Sunday.
CNN's Matthew Chance reports on a 49-year-old man who went on a rampage, destroying office equipment in Central London.
Police identified Saturday the man believed to be at the center of a security alert that closed a major shopping street in central London a day earlier.
Police have arrested the man believed to be at the center of a security alert Friday that closed a major shopping street in central London, a police spokesman said.
Police arrest the man believed to be at the center of a security alert that closed a major shopping street in London.
Three men convicted in a London gang shooting that left a little girl paralyzed were sentenced to life in prison Thursday, the Metropolitan Police said.
Seven years after upsetting favorite Paris to win the right to host the 2012 Olympics, London is in the final straight of a long and often bumpy run-up to stage the sporting showpiece.
An arena where the Taliban used to execute women provides a chilling and incongruous setting for one teen girl's unlikely Olympic dream.
British police look for those responsible for shooting a Russian businessman in London. CNN's Atika Shubert reports.
Police hunting the would-be killer of a former Russian banker gunned down outside his east London home have appealed for help to trace the taxi driver who dropped him off shortly before he was attacked.
CNN's Atika Shubert takes a look at the sentences handed down to those involved in the London riots.
Occupy London protesters tell CNN's Atika Shubert that they are not deterred by their camp being broken up.
Hundreds of police in riot gear staged an early morning raid Tuesday to clear Occupy protesters from a campsite outside London's St Paul's Cathedral, activists said.
Nine men were jailed in London Thursday on terror charges, four of them over "an al Qaeda-inspired plot" to bomb the London Stock Exchange, UK police said.
CNN's Pedro Pinto previews the star-studded line-up for Monday's Laureus World Sports Awards in London.
George Osborne will sign a deal on Monday with Hong Kong aimed at helping turn the City into an offshore trading centre for the renminbi in what the chancellor sees as a vote of confidence in London.
CNN's Jim Boulden investigates the Olympic Games that have made and lost money.
A deal which would have seen English football club West Ham United move into the London 2012 Olympic Stadium collapsed on Tuesday, casting doubt over the future of the purpose-built venue.
Overseas stock markets closed a difficult year on a slightly positive note Friday, as markets in London and most of Asia closed slightly higher for the day while other European markets were also holding gains ahead of their close.
Roger Federer wants to add an Olympic singles gold medal to his list of achievements in tennis after securing his 70th career title at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
On Friday in London's Trafalgar Square, 5,000 members of the public were served a free hot curry, free apple juice and an array of fresh groceries.
A total of 179 people were arrested Friday in central London during Remembrance Day commemorations, the city's Metropolitan Police told CNN Saturday.
London has beaten off the challenge of Doha to be named as host for the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
It is a year since an 18th-century Chinese vase was sold in London for $68 million, smashing world records.
For centuries the city of London has been the center of European finance, but what's in store for the district's future?
The financial sector has long been London's lifeblood, positioning the city as Europe's center of commerce.
Occupy London's "general assembly" laid out Wednesday a statement saying it is seeking "a global system that is democratic, just and sustainable."
CNN's Erin McLaughlin reports on a clergyman resigning over St. Paul Cathedral's handling of Occupy London protesters.
London's landmark St. Paul's Cathedral will suspend its legal action against Occupy London protesters camped outside, it said Tuesday.
The Dean of London's historic St. Paul's Cathedral has resigned amid criticism of his handling of a large "Occupy" protest taking place on the church's doorstep.
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