By Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor

Hello from Beijing, a city obviously anxious to "let the games begin."  There are few if any signs of last minute preparations. As one Beijing resident told me, the country is like someone who has packed for a big trip a month early, and is now impatiently waiting around and eager to get going.

Back at home the big stories we will be reporting on the newscast tonight include the blistering heat wave gripping parts of the country, and fascinating new information about the scientific smoking gun that investigators believed help cinch their case against the suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks. 

Here in China, it is hard to believe it was less than 3 months ago that a catastrophic earthquake struck the Sichuan region killing nearly 70,000 people and leaving thousands still missing. Today the Olympic torch run passed through the quake zone on its way to the games in Beijing. On our program tonight, correspondent Ian Williams returns to the hard-hit city of Hanwang, where he saw first-hand how the government is managing to re-located over 3 million people who lost their homes in the quake.

Thanks for clicking on. We'll look for you later on NBC Nightly News.

by Lester Holt, NBC News Anchor

Each day they trickle into the hotel lobby: The steady flow of NBC personnel just off their 12-13 hours flights from the states. To a person they are amazingly alert and refreshed-looking.  Adrenaline and the excitement of being in a new place will do that to you.  On Thursday I was one of those new arrivals, strolling into the hotel feeling pretty good. But three days into my nearly month-long assignment here I now understand those knowing smiles I got from those who have been here a while. It was that look that said, "Just wait kid."

The fact is, there is no getting around the body clock melt down that comes with a 12 hour time difference -- 15 for our west coast-based staffers.  I am nodding off at the most inopportune times, and prone to the "thousand yard stare." When I come on the air live from Beijing "tonight," the sun will have just come up here "this morning." That's Sunday morning. And "last night" I did the TODAY Show from here "this morning."  That would be Saturday morning.  In full disclosure, I write about this not only as a point of interest but also to keep it straight in my mind. 

More to the point, in my waking hours I have found Beijing to be simply remarkable.  The scale of everything here seems to have been super-sized.  The avenues and buildings are enormous. The Olympic venues are stunning in their design, and are particularly impressive at night when they are bathed in a changing pallet of colored lights.  Those of you who caught my TODAY broadcast got a sneak peak of at least one element of Friday's opening ceremony when fireworks erupted from the Olympic stadium behind me during a rehearsal. What you couldn't see were the thousands of Chinese families who crowded the nearby streets to watch.  The people here are very excited and clearly proud their city is hosting these games.  And I am equally excited to be here to witness this historic event.

I'll see you live from Beijing all this weekend on Nighty News.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Having started the week in Tehran, it seemed like an easy proposition to leave work last night, stop by the Daily Show to tape their broadcast for air last night, then get to Giants Stadium in time for the final concert of the Springsteen tour at the Meadowlands.

It was only because of an overturned propane tanker -- which clogged the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway -- that we were able to get to the concert before it started. That's because the 7:30 start time was pushed back to 9:15, to accomodate all of the folks who were struggling to get there. At one point, the parkway was stopped -- cold -- for 18 miles. So while we may be a little worse for wear today, we pulled it off.

Now if we can only pull off one more broadcast, we can pronounce the week complete and put another one in the books. Fair warning: the next few weeks will be frantic -- for us, at least -- but if we do our jobs right, not for our viewers.

We have Beijing, Minneapolis and Denver to get to, then as September arrives, so does the live cancer benefit in Los Angeles -- a cause we're all anxious to support with our attendance.

There will also be events that happen along the way, and we'll be as ready as we can be to pounce.

By this time next week, we'll be in China, covering a story that has become about so much more than the Olympic Games. As they say, the whole world will be watching--and we'll be in a position to see it up close.

Thanks for watching this past week, we hope you will join us tonight. Have a great weekend.