Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes has described Australia's Olympic committee as a "source of aggressions" against Brazil after it banned the team's athletes from visiting the city's favelas during the Games in August. Australia's team chef de mission Kitty Chiller told News Ltd media on Sunday that their Olympians would be barred from going to the urban slums, even on official tours, in accordance with advice from a security expert. "There is still much unfamiliarity about Rio and Brazil," Paes told Brazilian media. "There is a certain dramatisation. And between us, the Australian committee has been a source of aggressions to Brazil." Rio's favelas are among the most violent and crime-ridden areas of the city. Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates, a member of the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission, said in April 2014 that Rio's Games preparations were the worst he had ever seen and critically behind schedule. Coates was more generous in a January assessment, however, saying he felt "very positive" about the delivery of the Games.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday regretted the assault by street criminals of an Australian athlete over the weekend but said that security would be stronger in the city by the time the Olympics begin on August 5.
After a 20,000-km (12,400-mile) journey through the vast nation, the torch crossed Guanabara Bay in a sailboat piloted by former medalists, in a nod to one of the competitions where the host country has claimed Olympic glory.
The village will host more than 18,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, officials, staff and volunteers in 31 buildings and more than 3,600 apartments.
The Olympic torch was raised before Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue on Friday on the final leg of its journey to the opening ceremony of the Olympics, as Brazil excitedly put the final touches to seven years of preparations.
The metro line extension that will connect Rio de Janeiro's Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca with the rest of the city is at risk of not being finished before the Games start in August
The velodrome is only 85 percent ready and workers need another 30 to 40 days to finish the structure, meaning there will not be time for a proper test event before the games begin on August 5.
In the first allegation of corruption linked to next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Epoca magazine reported that construction company Carioca Engenharia allegedly bribed the speaker of the lower house of Congress in order to secure funds for a massive port area regeneration project.
Rio de Janeiro, on Monday enters the one-month countdown to becoming the first South American city to host the Olympics.
Emergency measures are needed to avoid "a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management," a decree in the state's Official Gazette said.
A short display of Brazilian culture, including their music and dance, greeted the Indian contingent at the formal Welcome Ceremony in the Games Village for the 31st Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Sailors and rowers were not worried about getting sick during the Rio Olympics next year despite reports that waters to be used for events have pollution levels equivalent to raw sewage, competitors said on Thursday.
Australia's Olympic delegation in Rio de Janeiro said on Monday that organizers had made "fantastic" progress in fixing problems with unfinished housing, although officials admitted that only two-thirds of the buildings had passed full safety checks.
Olympic organizers are still scrambling to finish everything from a beach volleyball venue to a new subway line, set to open just days before the opening ceremony. At the village, where lines formed Sunday as athletes began checking in, work crews were still making last minute repairs.
Brazil's economy is heading for recession, the President is threatened with impeachment and a huge corruption scandal has engulfed the nation but Rio de Janeiro is riding a wave of confidence in its preparations to host the Olympics next year.
The enduring images of the Games will be not just the great sporting achievements - from US swimmer Michael Phelps' 28th Olympic medal to Usain Bolt's historic sprint 'triple triple' - but also the organizational problems, empty seats and crime.
The largest athlete's village in the history of the Games is a visceral monument to now-faded optimism. Planned when Brazil was booming, its harnessing of private sector wealth was meant to set the gold standard for a sustainable Olympics. Instead, the worst recession in generations pushed the luxury apartments out of reach.
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