Western criticism of Russia's Winter Olympics was reminiscent of Cold War ambitions to hold the Soviet Union back, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, despite signs that the world was warming to the most expensive Games ever held.
While Sochi scrambles to get ready in time for Friday's opening ceremony, the International Olympic Committee cast its eyes past the most expensive Games ever staged and began to look for ways of revamping the global sporting spectacular.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a gamble on Ukraine and is betting that US President Barack Obama will blink first.
Sunday's closing ceremony at Russia's first Winter Olympics will aim to paint the host nation in softer colours than the muscular spectacle that kicked off the Games, organisers said.
Austrian Matthias Mayer conquered the treacherous Rosa Khutor run at Russia's Winter Olympics on Sunday to win the men's downhill, while the host nation was eyeing its first gold medal of the Games in the inaugural figure skating team event.
Russia's Winter Olympics sprang into action on Saturday with the first five gold medals decided, and the world began to forget the security fears and political wrangling that had marred the buildup to the most expensive Games ever staged.
The creative director of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony played down the significance of a technical hitch during the lavish show on Friday, where one of the five rings that make up the Games' symbol failed to open.
The Winter Olympics opening ceremony kicked off on Friday at Sochi's shining new Fisht Stadium on the shores of the Black Sea, and organisers promised viewers around the world a journey through Russian history.
Due to the suspension of the IOA from Olympic fold, the three Indians -- Shiva Keshavan, Nadeem Iqbal and Himanshu Thakur -- will be taking part in the Sochi Games as Independent Athletes under the banner of the IOC
The Winter Olympics will end on Sunday with Russia on top of the medals table in a surprise sporting success for the host nation, but news that a fifth Sochi athlete tested positive for a banned substance dimmed the golden glow.
The United States edged out host nation Russia in a thrilling men's ice hockey game at the Winter Olympics on Saturday, but a last-minute switch of high-tech suits failed to propel American speed skaters to their first medal of the Sochi Games.
Rediff.com brings you the buzz around the sportspersons competing in the Sochi Winter Olympics!
President Vladimir Putin told Olympic chiefs on Wednesday that Russia would have its facilities ready in time to host the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, despite rising costs and concerns about corruption and humans rights abuses.
Albin Ekdal does not care about criticism that they are too defensive and dependent on long balls.
'This, together with Chinese revisionism, will constitute the major test of the international system.'
The terrible beauty of Doval's initiative is that it is all about a new journey rather than about a set compass pointing toward a pre-determined destination, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Catch up on all the big news of the week gone by, in images.
Russian state television said two suspects had been arrested in the Ukranian Black Sea resort of Odessa and who later confessed on air to acting on instructions from the Chechen warlord Doku Umarov to kill Putin after Sunday's elections.
Factbox on Maria Sharapova, who became the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam after beating Sara Errani to win the French Open title on Saturday.
The leader of an Islamist insurgency in Russia's North Caucasus region urged followers on Wednesday to use "maximum force" to prevent President Vladimir Putin staging the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
Security issues in the restive Af-Pak region and an effective strategy to combat global terrorism and drug-trafficking top the agenda of a key quadrilateral summit to be hosted by President Dmitry Medvedev in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said US military commanders are "conducting prudent planning and preparations" should American support be required during the Winter Olympics.
Russia has promised all possible support to Pakistan in dealing with catastrophic floods, even as the second Russian Il-76 cargo plane with emergency relief is scheduled to land in Islamabad on Thursday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will host a quadrilateral summit with leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the volatile Af-Pak region.
Fresh-faced Germany were made to work harder than expected in their 3-2 victory over Australia in their Confederations Cup Group B debut on Monday with the world champions' young squad still adjusting to tournament life.
Russia's disabled athletes will not be allowed to compete as neutrals at this month's Rio de Janeiro Paralympics after their country was banned because of a state-sponsored sports doping programme. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said in a statement on Thursday it had rejected more than 175 Russian athletes who filed individual cases to try to take part in the Brazil event. "The International Paralympic Committee ... will not allow individual Russian athletes to participate as neutral athletes at the Rio Games", the organisation said on its website (www.paralympic.org).
It's hard not to get skin tingles when you see these stunning images. They are winning pictures and shortlisted entries from the sixth annual International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. More than 3,400 photos were entered into the contest from both amateur and professional photographers from around the globe. The shots feature everything from remote beaches to moody mountain ranges.
Germany's Bundesliga is set to be given the green light for a restart, probably from May 15, as part of measures to further ease the country's coronavirus regulations, two people familiar with the preparations told Reuters. The Bundesliga would be the first of the five major European domestic soccer leagues to resume play after a stoppage which has seen almost all football put on hold around the world since mid-March.
India has received the preliminary report of investigation into the disappearance of the shipping vessel M V Rezzak with 25 Indian sailors onboard, conducted by the Marine Casualty Investigation branch of the Panama Maritime Authority.
The original document, brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last Tuesday during his Moscow visit and approved by EU foreign ministers in Brussels the next day, has already been signed by separatist leaders of the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will deliver a keynote speech at the International Olympic Committee session this week before the start of the Sochi winter Games, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Monday.
It took Graham Kentsley, originally from St Albans in Hertfordshire, just over five weeks to make the around 2,000 kilometre (1,243 miles) journey, which he timed so that he would arrive in good time for England's first World Cup match against Tunisia in the southern Russia city of Volgograd.
It seems to be the correct course for an economy which is officially slated to contract by over 2 per cent this year (though some economists are predicting a much harsher contraction of 10 per cent) with a budget deficit of 8 per cent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin showed off his stick skills with a goal and two assists in an amateur ice hockey game at a 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics venue on Tuesday.
A graduate from Le Cordon Bleu, he as also been signed up with Fusion Models NYC.
A fresh search operation by the Turkish authorities to trace any possible survivors of the Panamanian registered ship MV Rezzak that went missing in the Black Sea on February 18 with 25 Indian crew on board is yet to yield any result.
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia could stake a claim to host future summer Olympics games, but had not yet lodged a formal bid to do so, Russian news agencies reported.
Monkeys may become the first earthlings to set foot on Mars. A troop of 40 macaque monkeys are being groomed at the Sochi Institute of Medical Primatology, at Vesyoloye near the Black Sea, to undertake a journey to the red planet, ahead of a human mission.
Families of all 25 Indian sailors aboard Panamian vessel MV Rezzak, which went missing in the Black Sea, have been issued letters by the vessel's manning agent stating that the crew are feared dead. Pelican Marine, the agency which hired the crew for the vessel, has issued letters to the next of kin of all the crew members, the firm's director said.
Many Russian soccer fans believe their underdog national team can pull off another upset when they take on Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals later on Saturday, allowing them to stay in the tournament against the odds.
