Free Republic

VANCOUVER (AFP) – The Winter Olympics suffered a miserable start on Saturday when the men's skiing downhill was postponed and protests turned violent in Vancouver, but the luge went ahead despite the death of a Georgian slider. A day after a dazzling ceremony opened the Games, the first gold medal was claimed by Switzerland's Simon Ammann, who won the normal hill ski jump ahead of Poland's Adam Malysz and Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer. Ammann wants Miami ice ... and more girls Dutchman Sven Kramer took out the 5,000 metre men's speedskating gold, finally capturing a title that had eluded him four...

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — SNIPPET: "The goal, officials say, is to be ready for any emergency that might be magnified by having the Olympics and a few hundred thousand visitors next door, whether a terrorist attack, a truck overturned on Interstate 5 near the border or disruptions from the big winter storms that often pound the region."

VANCOUVER – Thousands of police will keep watch over the Vancouver Winter Olympics but the first line of defence against potential threats at the events themselves will be private security screeners, many with no previous experience. Spectators heading into venues will go through airport-style screening – walking through the familiar metal detectors, perhaps followed by a once-over with a scanning wand while their bags go through an X-ray machine. On the other end of those security devices – in what is likely the biggest security operation in Canadian history outside of wartime – will be 5,000 employees of Contemporary Security...