Organizatorët e Lojërave Olimpike Dimorëre të vitit 2006, me bazën në Torino të Italisë, po përballen me protesta për shkak se sponsorizohen nga gjiganti amerikan i pijeve Coca Cola. Mark Duff njofton:

Dëgjo lajmin

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

Dëgjo fjalët

put most of their headaches behind them
kapërcyen një varg problemesh

fresh doubts
dyshime, shqetësime të reja

emerge
dal (në sipërfaqe)

funding
fond

heightened fears
frikë, shqetësime në rritje

a row
mosmarrëveshje, argument

sponsorship
sponsorizim, patronazh

back
mbështes

path
rrugë

In exasperation
i/e pezmatuar nga