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Childears said. "At best, this amounts to 'serve these customers at your own risk' and it emphasizes all of the risks. This light is red."
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Developing countries use big events to build reputations, but risk their reputations
• BEIJING (AP) -- Playing host to the Olympics or World Cup can showcase an ambitious country's rise and cast a harsh light on its weaknesses.
• This week in Sochi, the eye-popping cost of Russia's Winter Games and logistical fumbles got as much attention as figure skaters and snowboarders. But organizers say the problems will be forgotten quickly, while the infrastructure improvements, international attention to the region and new winter resort built for the games will be a legacy benefiting Russia for decades.
• Russia is hardly alone. Brazil, South Africa, India and other rising star economies that shoot for an image boost by hosting sports mega-events can be forced to contend with accusations of mismanagement, graft and misplaced priorities.
• This has been going on for half a century. The 1964 Tokyo Games helped post-war Japan show off its postwar revival and technical prowess, as viewers around the world marveled at rebuilt cities and the new bullet train. In 1988, South Korea used the Seoul Games to highlight a modern industrial economy. And just four years ago, South Africa used a successful World Cup to show how the nation had emerged from apartheid.
• Brazil, eager to raise its global profile and attract investors, is taking on the daunting challenge of holding the World Cup this year and, just two years later, the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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In Volkswagen union vote, United Auto Workers fall 87 votes short of key victory in South
• CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Just 87 votes at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee separated the United Auto Workers union from what would have been its first successful organization of workers at a foreign automaker in the South.
• Instead of celebrating a potential watershed moment for labor politics in the region, UAW supporters were left crestfallen by the 712-626 vote against union representation in the election that ended Friday night.
• The result stunned many labor experts who expected a UAW win because Volks (Continued on page 40)
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