The week at a glance...International

Volgograd, Russia

Olympics threatened? A suicide bombing in southern Russia is raising fears of terrorism at the Sochi Olympics in February. A female bomber from Dagestan, a restive, mostly Muslim province near Chechnya, killed six people and injured dozens on a bus in Volgograd this week. Russian media said the bomber’s husband, a member of the insurgency in southern Russia, built the suicide vest for his wife. The bombing comes a few months after Chechen warlord Doku Umarov released a video calling on his followers to use “maximum force” to disrupt the Olympics. “My main worry is that it may be the first one in a series,” Pavel Baev of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo told Time. “Every rebel mastermind knows how vulnerable Putin’s pet Olympic project is.”

Tehran

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When hanging doesn’t kill: Iran may reprieve a condemned criminal who survived his hanging. The man, identified only as Alireza, was sentenced to death for possessing a kilo of crystal meth and was pronounced dead after being hanged for 12 minutes. Horrified morgue workers, though, saw condensation from his breath on the plastic wrapping covering his head, and they sent him to the hospital, where he is now on life support. “I do not think there is any need for a re-execution,” said Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi. Iran has executed more than 500 people so far this year, most for drug offenses.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Snub to the U.N.: In an act unprecedented in U.N. history, Saudi Arabia has refused to accept a seat on the Security Council. Surprising the entire U.N. and evidently many Saudi diplomats, U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said the country would not join a body that had failed to stop Syrian bloodshed, end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction—an apparent reference to Israel’s presumed nuclear and chemical weapons. It was the first time Saudi Arabia had been elected to take one of the 10 rotating seats on the council, which also has five permanent members. “The Saudis no doubt quickly realized that being on the UNSC would mean they could no longer pursue their traditional back seat and low-key policies,” said Princeton professor Bernard Haykel.

Harbin, China

Smog-out: Record levels of smog have shut down Harbin, a city of 11 million people. The smog alert grounded planes and shuttered schools this week, after temperatures dropped and coal plants fired up. Particulate levels are off the charts, 40 times what the U.N. says is safe. Authorities said the coal pollution was worse this year because of low winds and high humidity. Last month, China said it would begin naming and shaming the country’s worst polluted cities to spur authorities to action. “We must put air quality control as an ecological red line for economic management and social development,” said Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.

Sydney

Heroic firefighting: Firefighters have turned back the wall of flame that was threatening Sydney’s western suburbs. “There are many hours of firefighting still to come, many hours of concern for those who are living in the fire-affected areas, but the broader risk to a much larger, more widespread population has certainly eased,” said fire service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons. He said his teams had used emergency techniques like burning off tinder under controlled conditions before the wildfire arrived, to deprive it of fuel. The worst fires in living memory have been raging across New South Wales as summer approaches, following an unusually warm and dry winter.