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Sochi, Russia - host city of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games

SOCHI, Russia - While Moscow digs itself out of a huge snow storm that hit the Russian capital in the last few days, organizers of the Winter Olympics are worried a lack of white powder could become a problem next February.

Unseasonably warm temperatures this winter in Sochi have forced local organizers to store some 450,000 cubic meters of snow in the nearby Caucasus Mountains that surround this sub-tropical Black Sea resort.

"We've prepared seven separate areas for snow storage high up in the mountains," Sergei Bachin, general director of Roza Khutor, a ski resort in Krasnaya Polyana that will host Alpine skiing, snowboarding and freestyle Olympic competition, told Reuters.

"I want to assure all the competitors that there won't be any shortage of snow next February even if we encounter even warmer temperatures next year," he said.

"We're storing such huge amounts of snow just in case."

The snow will be covered with a "special thermo seal", to protect it from melting during the summer, Bachin said.

"We expect that about 140,000 (cubic meters) will melt away but we'll still have more than 300,000 cubic meters of snow available for next year," he predicted, saying the storage will cost his company an extra $11 million.

Nevertheless, Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko has stated on several occasions that the weather has become a bigger problem for the organizers, who are frantically trying to finish all the construction projects on time, than security or the infrastructure.

Slideshow: Sochi 2014

Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images

The Winter Olympics arrive in Sochi on Feb. 7, 2014. A look at how the Russian city is shaping up for its moment in the spotlight.

Launch slideshow

Bachin, however, assured that Krasnaya Polyana, once a sleepy mountain village, about 70 kilometers from central Sochi, would be ready to host all the outdoor Olympic events next February rain or shine.

"Of the 76 Olympic test events scheduled in Krasnaya Polyana this winter a great majority had been completed and only a handful have been called off because of bad weather," he said.

"I think we've passed the test as the last major event of the season was held this weekend in nearby Laura complex."

Usually, Krasnaya Polyana has the opposite problem - too much snow and the risk of avalanches, Bachin said.

"This was a very odd winter. Even locals don't remember when was the last time they had such warm days in the mountains. It's highly unlikely we'll see the same kind of weather next year," he added.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Nir Elias / Reuters

Fans of Beitar Jerusalem shout slogans during a soccer match against Bnei Sakhnin on Sunday amid controversy over Beitar's signing of two Muslim players.

The Beitar Jerusalem club has long been known for its fans' racist chants, but the situation escalated dramatically last month after the team signed Zaur Sadayev and Gabriel Kadiev, two Muslim players from Chechnya.

The most outspoken wave of hate comes from a hardcore section of supporters – known as La Familia -- who see themselves as Beitar’s real owners.

“Death to the Arabs,” they yell during matches. “Beitar, pure forever,” they declare.

Rocks have been thrown at players and, during a recent practice, a fan ran onto the soccer field and tried to attack one of the new Muslim players.

Nir Elias / Reuters

Beitar Jerusalem's new player Gabriel Kadiev, a Muslim player from Chechnya, (right) is seen in action during the game.

The most shocking incident happened on Feb. 8 when the 76-year-old Beitar clubhouse -- home to the club’s trophies -- was burned to the ground. Extremist fans are suspected.

After this, team management and the government decided to take a hard line.

“The police are taking this very seriously,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said.  “People who would burn an office are not fans, they are dangerous criminals.”

Abir Sutan / EPA

Meir Harush, one of the board members of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, looks over the damage after a fire destroyed the club's history room on Feb. 8. Right-wing extremist fans opposed to a decision by the club owner to sign two Muslim Chechen players are thought to have been responsible.

Bernat Armangue / AP

Burned soccer club trophies won by Beitar Jerusalem are seen after the fire.

Beitar chairman Itzik Kornfein pledged to hold firm too, according to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot.

“We took an important step and we’re moving forward. In the end, all the fans will understand that this is a done deal and there’s no turning back,” he said, referring to the signing of the Muslim players.

“No turning back” took the form of 400 police officers and 200 private security guards sent to secure a Feb. 10 game between Beitar and the Arab-Israeli club Bnei Sakhnin.

Bernat Armangue / AP

Players Zaur Sadayev, center, and Gabriel Kadiev, background, seen after a press conference, have been subjected to abuse from their own fans.

Despite the security, some Beitar fans hurled abuse about Sadayev and Kadiev as well as the Arab team.

When Kadiev entered the game in the 79th minute, fans from La Familia cursed and booed him, but thousands of other supporters cheered him.

Abir Sultan / EPA

An Israeli fan of Beitar Jerusalem soccer team wearing an Israel flag during the game Sunday.

On the other side, fans from Bnei Sakhnin whistled during the Israeli national anthem.

Two Israeli and three Arab fans were arrested and are awaiting indictment for violent actions during the game.

Abir Sultan / EPA

Muslim supporters of the Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin football team cheer after their team scores in Sunday's game.

Bernat Armangue / AP

Israeli security forces detain Bnei Sakhnin supporters during a game against Beitar Jerusalem on Sunday.

Abir Sultan / EPA

Israeli border police stand guard during the game Sunday.

Issei Kato / Reuters

Mongolian-born grand sumo champion Yokozuna Asashoryu performs a ring-entering ritual at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on January 6, 2010 . With a history spanning centuries, sumo once graced the Imperial courts of Japan and wrestlers were held in the highest regard. Those days are long gone. Today, sumo struggles to fill stadiums and attract new fans.

TOKYO -- Aspiring sumo wrestler Mainoumi once convinced doctors to inject silicone into his scalp to meet height requirements for the ancient Japanese sport. Such sacrifice is a rarity now in a sport beset by scandals and with popularity at an all-time low.

With a history spanning centuries, sumo once graced the imperial courts of Japan and wrestlers were held in the highest regard. Sponsors lavished gifts on the hulking giants and to join the ranks of the sumo was considered a worthy occupation.

Those days are long gone, however.

Tarnished by scandals involving drug use, bout-fixing, violence and alleged links to Japanese organized crime, sumo struggles to fill stadiums and attract new fans.

Such is its decline that last month only one person applied to take the sport's entrance exam.

This brought the total number of applicants for the year to just 56, the lowest since the current system of staging six major tournaments a year was introduced in 1958.

More Japan coverage from NBC News

That compares to a peak of 223 in 1992 when muscle-bound Japanese brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana fired up the sport with their dynamic fighting styles.

"We should be wracking our brains to find solutions," said Shoji Kagamiyama, head of a sumo training gym.

"At this rate there will be more wrestlers quitting sumo than coming in. If that trend continues there will be none left. New wrestlers are our most precious commodity."

Last year sumo racked up debts of almost $50 million following a match-fixing sting and widespread arrests which led to a television black-out and a government ticking off.

The sport also drew outrage across Japan when a former gym boss was sentenced to six years in prison after a 17-year-old wrestler was beaten to death.

Last year, a gym chief was given a severe dressing down for beating three young wrestlers with a golf club for breaking curfew and not wearing traditional kimono outside.

"We don't know the reason why the numbers are dropping," a Japan Sumo Association (JSA) official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"You would have to ask (applicants) why, or if the problems have had anything to do with their decision."

The situation is the latest manifestation of a long, slow decline. Public interest in the once-packed tournaments has been falling steadily over the past decade, with both crowds and television viewing figures down.

'Turning point'
Even without the scandals, sumo's popularity has been eaten away by 'cooler' sports. Sumo's Spartan lifestyle and warrior code appears lost on a modern Japan obsessed with glitz and celebrity.

While baseball continues to rule the roost, there is a growing challenge from soccer, whose 'cool factor' has rocketed since the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, stealing still further fans.

Sumo wrestling wracked by jumbo-size scandals

Sumo also lacks home-grown heroes such as baseball's Ichiro Suzuki, who has broken Major League Baseball records for fun over the past 12 years, or soccer's Shinji Kagawa, who sealed a big-money transfer to Manchester United earlier this year.

"There's no question that sumo is at a turning point," said Eiji Takase, editor-in-chief of "Sumo" magazine.

"Compared to many professional sports the pay is relatively low and children think other athletes, like soccer players, are much cooler."

Newly promoted yokozuna (grand champion) Harumafuji, the third successive Mongolian to reach the elite rank, suggested that sumo may be too hardcore for today's pampered youth.

"Sumo is a strict sport," he told reporters. "Of course there are people who feel there is no need to put themselves through such hardship in an age of convenience."

Bathhouse brawls
The JSA has loosened its height and weight requirements in a bid to lure more applicants, but it could be too little, too late unless they can unearth some local role models.

Some observers feel that many of the problems relating to sumo's image can be traced back to Asashoryu's rise to top dog in 2003.

The Mongolian firebrand's brawls with rivals in bathhouses were out of place with the sport's warrior code, and he tested the JSA's patience further when he was caught playing soccer in a Wayne Rooney shirt after handing in a sick note for a back injury.

Asashoryu's fist-pumping, scowling and growling in the ring were also deemed a serious breach of protocol.

But criticism of Asashoryu ignored the fact he kept sumo afloat almost single-handedly in terms of publicity and ticket sales.

PhotoBlog: Sumo wrestling draws crowd in Brazil

"It's hard to imagine Japanese kids jumping into sumo following foreign wrestlers," said Arai, alluding to the fact that there hasn't been a native Japanese yokozuna since 2003.

"Sumo needs a Japanese star."

Takase agrees that this would help, but also advocates taking pride in the cultural rituals unique to the sport and even returning to basics.

"For example, wrestlers don't need to be so heavy - thinner is better. This makes for faster wrestlers and more interesting bouts, like with Mainoumi," he said.

"If they abandon the rituals and just fight and go home, all it becomes is a fight. It's because it has this spirit that it's sumo - it needs to go back to that."

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SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Police in the Dominican Republic said on Saturday they have arrested three suspects in the killing of former New York Yankees pitcher Pascual Perez during a robbery at his home last week, while two others remained at large.

General Maximo Aybar, the chief of the police force's criminal investigations division, said one of the three suspects had confessed to killing Perez, who was found beaten to death last Thursday at his home near Santo Domingo.

Aybar said the three suspects had confessed to conspiring to rob Perez of his Major League Baseball pension, which he received at the end of each month. He said two other suspects were being sought, and that no formal charges had been filed.

During his career, Perez was an All-Star with the Atlanta Braves in 1983 and also pitched for the Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees.

While pitching for the Expos on August 19, 1982, Perez famously missed a start while circling Interstate 285 in search of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Two of his brothers, Melido and Carlos, also pitched in the big leagues, as did a cousin, Yorkis. 

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Sakchai Lalit / AP

Buffalo riders race in Chonburi Province, south of Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 29, 2012. The races are an annual celebration by farmers of the rice harvest.

Rungroj Yongrit / EPA

A jockey falls from a water buffalo during the annual water buffalo races in Chonburi province, Thailand, Oct. 29.

Rungroj Yongrit / EPA

A jockey rides his buffalo.

Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

A water buffalo before the start of the race.

More competitions on PhotoBlog:

Competitors brave muck, mud in Strongmanrun

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A Mexican banderillero adjusts his montera before the start of a bullfight at La Mexico bullring in Mexico City, Sept. 16, 2012.

Edgard Garrido / Reuters — A legislative initiative to ban bullfighting in the country's capital has stalled since April due to a lack of consensus among the seven political parties. The initiative is a direct result of Catalonia's ban of the sport in 2010 launched last year by the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) and supported by the country's animal rights groups.

Aspiring bullfighter Mirafuentes de Anda, 20, waves a cape in front of a bull at La Mexico bullring in Mexico City, Sept. 16.

Apprentice bullfighter Mario 'mayito' Bueno, 13, poses for a photograph during an Under 14 Apprentice Bullfighting competition at the Arroyo bullring in Mexico City, Sept. 8.

A matador's bull training aid sits at La Mexico bullring in Mexico City, Sept. 16.

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Fireworks light up the stadium during the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on September 9, 2012.

Stefan Wermuth / Reuters

Performers with flame throwers burn the grass in the Olympic Stadium during the closing ceremony.

Hannah Johnston / Getty Images

Singer Rihanna performs during the closing ceremony.

Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

Swimmer Ellie Simmonds of Great Britain, right, who won four medals during the Games, enjoys the atmosphere with fellow Team GB Paralympians during the closing ceremony.

Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

Jay-Z performs with Coldplay during the closing ceremony. The stars were paid a nominal one pound ($1.60) to play.

Hannah Johnston / Getty Images

Circus artists enter the stadium from the air.

The Associated Press reports — Farewell, London. Good luck matching that, Rio.

 Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z rocked the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night to give the biggest-ever Paralympic Games a rousing send-off, wrapping up an unforgettable summer of sports in Britain.

 The three-hour party at the packed 80,000-seat arena in east London gave the world a chance to celebrate 11 days of Paralympic competition that have shifted perceptions and shattered stereotypes about the disabled.

 "In this country, we will never think of sport the same way and we will never think of disability the same way," said Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organizing committee. "The Paralympians have lifted the cloud of limitation." Read the full story. 

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Kerim Okten / EPA

Blind Brazilian runner Terezinha Guilhermina and her guide Guilherme Soares de Santana react after crossing the finish line to win the Women's 100m T11 final at the Paralympic Games in London on Wednesday night. 

Blind or partially-sighted athletes are permitted to use a guide runner in Paralympic races, but the guide is never permitted to cross the finish line before the blind runner. At the 2012 Games, guides became eligible for medals for the first time.

 Video: Team USA guns for Oscar Pistorius in 100m showdown

24 hours earlier Guilhermina's bid for 400m glory was derailed when Soares de Santana tripped on the home straight, a moment captured in a series of heartbreaking images published on PhotoBlog.

But their despair was replaced by joy as Guilhermina took the 100m gold in a world record time of 12.01 seconds, adding to the 200m title she won on Sunday.

Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

Kerim Okten / EPA

Julian Finney / Getty Images

Julian Finney / Getty Images

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Julian Finney / Getty Images

Terezinha Guilhermina of Brazil runs as her guide Guilherme Soares de Santana lies on the track after he fell in the Women's 400m - T12 Final on day 6 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games at Olympic Stadium on Sept. 4, in London, England.

Julian Finney / Getty Images

Assia El Hannouni of France wins gold in the Women's 400m - T12 Final on day 6 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games at Olympic Stadium on Sept. 4, in London, England.

Christopher Lee / Getty Images

Terezinha Guilhermina of Brazil and her guide Guilherme Soares de Santana lie on the track after falling in the Women's 400m - T12 Final on day 6 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games at Olympic Stadium on Sept. 4, in London, England.

Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images

Brazil's Terezhina Guilhermina and her guide Guilherme Soares de Santana console each other after Soares de Santana fell just ahead of the finish line of the women's 400m T12 final at the Paralympic Games at the Olympic Park in east London, England on Sept. 4.

Update, September 6th: The night after these pictures were taken Terezinha Guilhermina and Guilherme Soares de Santana returned to the track, and this time their race had a much happier ending. Find out what happened when they competed in the 100m final.

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Eddie Keogh / Reuters

Germany's Wojtek Czyz wins silver in the men's long Jump F42/44 classification final during the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium Aug. 31.

Clive Rose / Getty Images

Timothy Antalfy of Australia competes in the Men's 100m Butterfly - S13 Final on day 2 of the Games.

The London Paralympics is hosting the biggest number of athletes since its inception in 1960 at the Rome Games, with 4,280 competitors representing 164 nations compared to 400 participants from 23 countries in the Italian capital.

Nightly News: Representing Afghanistan at the Paralympic Games

Additional images from the Paralympic Games in Photoblog

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Olivia Harris / Reuters

Matt Stutzman of the U.S. uses his feet to support his bow and his teeth to fire the arrow during the Archery Men's Individual Compound - Open at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Aug. 31.

Justin Setterfield / Getty Images

David Weir of Great Britain (C) competes in the Men's 5000m - T54 heat 3 on Day 2 at the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on Aug. 31, in London.

Dennis Grombkowski / Getty Images

Artists perform as a choir performs 'Principia' by Errollyn Wallen during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics at the Olympic Stadium on August 29,

Dennis Grombkowski / Getty Images

Artists perform with umbrellas during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics at the Olympic Stadium on August 29.

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Artists perform during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics at the Olympic Stadium on August 29 in London, England.

Toby Melville / Reuters

Performers are lifted into the air in the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games August 29.

Slideshow: Olympics Opening Ceremony

James Bond, a giant baby, and fireworks help kick off the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Launch slideshow

"Enlightenment" is the theme for the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Physicist Stephen Hawking was the show's MC and British royalty was in attendence. Some of the photos from today's ceremonies look similar to photos from the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on July 27. The Guardian reports that though there are similarities, it is supposed to be very different.

Over the next 11 days, 4,200 athletes from 164 nations and territories will compete in a variety of sports including wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby. 

Story: 'Meet the Superhumans': Paralympians burst onto the world stage