Polar explorer and federal lawmaker Artur Chilingarov "will lead an expedition to the North Pole as part of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic torch relay." A nuclear ice-breaker, named 50 Years of Victory, "will leave Murmansk port and take the torch to the Arctic at the end of October." Once there, "a group of runners from different nations will light torches onboard the ship before racing to the final destination where the Olympic cauldron will be ignited" (MOSCOW TIMES, 9/12). ... A spokespeson from the Japanese government said that Japan "is to formally complain about a cartoon that appeared in a French weekly newspaper showing sumo wrestlers with extra limbs in front of the Fukushima nuclear plant and linking this to the Olympics." The cartoon, carried in the satirical Le Canard Enchaine, shows two sumo wrestlers, each with an extra leg or arm, facing off with the Fukushima plant in the background as an announcer says, "Thanks to Fukushima, sumo is now an Olympic sport" (REUTERS, 9/12). ... North Korean IOC member Chang Ung "expressed support for South Korea's effort to secure another seat in the sports governing body." The North Korean said that "it will be beneficial if more Koreans become IOC members and that he has no reason to oppose such a move" (KOREA HERALD, 9/12).
