Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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| Olympic flame arrives in Sochi |
We remember tragic situations which happened in the past during international competitions, says Putin
Olympic flame has arrived in Sochi after a four-month journey that saw it travel more than 60,000 kilometres, taking in the North Pole and even a trip unlit into space. The Winter Games officially start on Friday with the opening ceremony. The torchbearers arrived on stage and transferred the flame to a miner’s lamp.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the athletes’ village in the company of double Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva. His immediate focus was on the threat from terrorism. “We remember tragic situations which happened in the past during international competitions, including the one in the United States during the marathon. It’s all quite recent,” Putin said.
He also mentioned other attacks including the London bombings in 2005 which happened while the G8 was taking place in Scotland. The president told the Russian Olympic team that “hundreds, thousands, millions” of fans would be following them.
Others will be watching more than sporting performances. Journalists have arrived in Sochi to find their hotel rooms and other facilities in a questionable condition. Abroad, gay rights activists have been holding a day of protests over Russia’s laws on homosexuality.

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