The first week of the Olympics may have provided us with enough drama and sensation to last a lifetime but, for many, the real theatre of the Games is only just beginning. Today the classic track and field events begin, including several sports that the Ancient Greeks would have recognised.

According to him, the Council will offer it to the government for adoption and then to the Serbian parliament. Nikolić told daily Danas that he would appoint Defense Minister Aleksandar Vučić as secretary of the National Security Council when this becomes possible and in line with the law. The secretary will have an office in the Serbian Presidency building.

The British Foreign Office was left in a spin when forced to explain how a relatively junior diplomat had enjoyed an amusement park ride with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un. Proving that international relations with a pariah state have their ups and downs, the British charge d'affaires, Barnaby Jones, was firmly strapped into the seat in front of the dictator and his wife, Ri Sol-ju.

The Olympic play-to-lose badminton fiasco took a fresh twist when China's Yu Yang quit the sport in anguish, and later on Thursday black belt President Vladimir Putin and British leader David Cameron will grapple over Moscow's position on Syria in a day of judo diplomacy. Cameron welcomed Putin, honorary president of the International Judo Federation, to Downing Street and will urge the former KGB spy to take a tougher line on the civil conflict in Syria, Russia's firmest foothold in the Middle East.

Colombia's "cultural diplomacy" in Asia has helped the South American country open new markets and attract more investment, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.