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Learning English - Words in the News 07 November, 2005 - Published 12:53 GMT Olympic torch controversy | ||||||||||||
Organisers of the 2006 Winter Olympics, centred on Turin in northern Italy, are facing the prospect of potentially embarrassing protests over the Games' sponsorship by the American soft drinks giant, Coca Cola. This report from Mark Duff: With just three months to go the Turin Games' organisers would have hoped to have put most of their headaches behind them. Not so: the last few weeks have seen fresh doubts emerge about the extent of Italian government funding for the Games, as well as heightened fears about possible terrorist attacks, and, most recently, threats by environmentalists to disrupt the games in protest at a new high speed rail link being built between Turin and the French city of Lyon. Now, the Olympic torch itself is at the centre of a row over Coca Cola's sponsorship of the Games. It's due to start its journey from Rome to Turin next month for the Games' opening ceremony on February the 10th. But even before it's left, two municipal councils in Rome have decided to ban it from passing through their streets in protest at what they say is the bad treatment of Coca Cola workers in Colombia. The leaders of the campaign say more than three hundred other councillors across Italy back them. The Games' organisers say there simply isn't time to change the torch's path to avoid possible problems. In exasperation, the president of the region which includes Turin has urged the mayor of Rome to, in her words, make the protesting councillors see sense. Mark Duff, BBC, Milan put most of their headaches behind them fresh doubts emerge funding heightened fears a row sponsorship back path In exasperation |
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