Threats to Sochi 2014
An opinion piece in The Australian says "any doubt that Islamist terrorists pose a threat" to the 2014 Winter Olympics "has ended with the suicide bomb attacks launched in the city of Volgograd."
The attacks have claimed at least 31 lives in Volgograd. Bloomberg reporter Leonid Bershidsky asks, "Why is Putin silent on these pre-Sochi bombings?"
Last week, Putin released five Greenpeace campaigners from jail and dropped all pending charges of hooliganism made against the group. The Independent’s Mary Dejevsky says Putin’s actions could signal a shift in Russia that is "about more than just the Sochi Winter Olympics."
Vancouver Sun reporter Matthew Fisher discusses Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hopes for one gold medal in particular at the Sochi Games. According to Putin and the Russian media, the only gold medal that "really matters" is the one earned "on ice."
Financial Times writer Christopher Caldwell explores "why the west has not boycotted the Sochi Olympics."
BBC News writer Martin Barber reports that an oak tree given to a 1936 Berlin Olympics gold medal winner by Adolf Hitler has been "saved for future generations."
In Other News
The Associated Press saysSalt Lake City is an Olympic city "that did it right."
"The legacy of the 2002 Winter Games carries on vibrantly more than a decade later," AP reporter Paul Newberry writes.
Yomiuri Shimbun readers ranked Tokyo’s successful 2020 Olympic bid first on the list of "Japan’s top 10 news stories" for 2013.
Compiled byNicole Bennett.
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