Free Republic

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is calling on the Russian government to allow Chobani Greek yogurt to be delivered to Sochi for U.S. Olympic athletes and NBC Studios employees. Schumer said Tuesday that a shipment of Chobani yogurt is being held up at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey because of "unattainable" Russian Customs certifications.

MOSCOW - Police have killed a senior Islamist militant in Russia's North Caucasus ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where security forces searched on Tuesday for a woman they fear is planning an attack during the Games. Eldar Magatov, a suspect in attacks on Russian targets and alleged leader of an insurgent group in the Babyurt district of Dagestan, died in a shootout, the National Anti-Terror Committee said on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS — The United States and Russia have opened discussions about using sophisticated American electronic equipment, developed by the Pentagon to counter improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and Iraq, in a new effort to help secure the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi next month. The potential for a technological exchange was part of an extensive discussion here Tuesday when Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held his first face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff. The Defense Department would be willing to provide equipment designed to detect...

Russian security officials are hunting for three more young Muslim women — so-called “black widow” terror suspects — who they believe are planning to target the final stages of the Olympic torch relay with suicide bomb attacks. Wanted posters distributed by police say that the women have been dispatched by underground groups to attack between Tuesday and Thursday in Rostov-on-Don, where the torch is expected to arrive Wednesday on its way to the Olympic city of Sochi.

The United States will deploy at least two warships into the Black Sea off the coast of Sochi, Russia, to respond to a potential terror attack during the upcoming Olympics, top officials said on Monday. The positioning of the ships would also enable the rapid evacuation of Americans in the event of an attack, CNN reported. The State Department would take the lead if evacuations became necessary. The ships will have helicopters that could fly Americans out of the country if needed. There are also aircraft on standby in Germany that could be at Sochi in about two hours if...

women's Olympic hockey team has been ordered to remove an image from the United States Constitution from her helmet. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) considers the image to be 'propoganda,' and forbids it. Goalie Jessie Vetter has been told to remove the image, particularly the line "We the People," her name and the Olympic rings. "No writings of any kind to promote the country is allowed," helmet designer Ron Slater tells InGoal magazine. "A sort of 'our country is better than your country' kind of thing that the IOC frowns upon. Her name had to come off because they see...

With palm trees lining a promenade bathed in soft sunlight, it is easy to imagine that you are strolling along a beach on the Cote D'Azur. An angler wearing a light sweater sits at the end of a jetty, keeping an eye on the three fishing lines he has dropped into the still water. Birds hunt for food as though it is mid-summer. Just two things spoil the illusion of being in the South of France - the pebble, rather than sandy beach, and the displays of Olympic souvenirs on sale in small boutiques. Although the shops are also still...

There should be no worries of a snowless Winter Olympic in Russia’s Sochi, as the organizers of the event made sure to stockpile 16 million cubic feet of snow for the competitions. Though it has been a record warm winter for Moscow, the organizers of the Sochi Olympics can guarantee that there will be enough snow for the athletes in any weather at the Black sea resort of Sochi in Russia. There will be four different forms of technology used to ensure snowy Olympics in 2014. First of all, eight vaults have been storing snow for over a year under...

Russia’s slide from democratic reforms and its relationships with international peers threaten to undercut the spirit of the Olympic Games it hosts next month, failed presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Sunday. Romney, who led 2002’s Winter Games in Salt Lake City, said he also worried about security preparations but predicted Russia has done everything it can to prevent violence and to protect athletes at the Sochi games. …

Russia faces a New Year security nightmare after the second devastating suicide bomb explosion within 24 hours, this time on a rush hour trolley bus in Volgograd. The latest blast killed at least 14 with 28 wounded, some severely. A day earlier, an explosion reported as being detonated by a female "black widow" suicide bomber saw 17 killed and dozens wounded in the city's main railway station. The latest explosion was said by law enforcement officials to have been caused by a man detonating a bomb in a crowded trolley bus packed with early morning commuters. At least 14 people...

Russian President Vladmir Putin says everyone will be welcomed to next year's Winter Olympics in Russia, regardless of sexual orientation -- comments that come on the heels of a controversial Russian law on homosexuality. Putin made his latest assurances on the matter on Monday as he welcomed International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and other sports officials to his summer residence in Sochi -- the Black Sea resort town where the Games will happen in February -- state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. "We are doing everything, both the organizers and our athletes and fans, so that participants and guests...

A suspected "Black Widow" female suicide bomber attacked a bus in the southern Russia city of Volgograd today, not far from Sochi, the site of the February 2014 Winter Olympics. The attack is the first such incident in the region in over a year. According to Russia's Federal Investigative Committee, a 30-year-old Dagestani woman named Naida Asiyalova boarded the bus at a stop, then detonated shortly afterward in an explosion that killed at least six people and wounded 32 others. There are thought to have been about 40 people on the bus. Identity documents found near the blast site indicated...

For all of us hockey fans who are tired of NFL murder stories and MLB drug stories, I offer some off season hockey news. Here are some of the team rosters of the countries who look to be contending for Winter Olympic medals.

I thought the Snowden saga had become as much of a freak show as it could be. I was wrong. You know Graham’s too far into the deep end of the pool when even McCain’s calling him back to the shallow side. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the U.S. should consider boycotting the 2014 Olympics Russia is set to host if Moscow grants NSA leaker Edward Snowden asylum.“I would. I would just send the Russians the most unequivocal signal I could send them,” Graham said Tuesday when asked about the possibility of a boycott.“It might help, because what they’re doing...

More than 4,000 people are facing eviction to make room for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, according to campaigners, who say that many will receive little or no compensation. “My family has lived on this land for five generations,” said Dmitry Drofichev, a farmer. “We are being offered a fraction of what the land is worth. They’ll have to bulldoze me and the house to make me move.” The authorities have already begun forcibly removing people from areas where Olympic facilities are to be built. Fifteen families of refugees from a war in the...