Taste of Sweden

The Swedish retail giant IKEA opens its first store in Nevada today, offering stylish, relatively inexpensive and self-assembly home furniture along those famous Swedish meatballs from its 42nd store in the U.S., located by the 215 Beltway between Sunset and Durango roads in Las Vegas. Deputy Chief of Mission for the Swedish Embassy Göran Lithell joined the company executives and local government representatives in the opening ceremony.

Postcard SE-47353 from Sweden shows steamboats anchored in Stockholm, Sweden during a winter evening.

FIFA World Cup Opens Today

2014 FIFA World Cup opens with music and dance in São Paulo, Brazil today. The official anthem and slogan is "We Are One".

However, a protest, against the money lavished on football stadiums instead of essentials for people and schools, broke out in the very morning and was met with police forces. Meanwhile, Fifa's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar is under on-going scrutiny with allegations of corruption.

Brazil team won over Croatia with a 3:1 victory in the opening game. While the Brazilian players like Neymar did beautiful job on the field, they could not escape from the controversies such as the over-generous penalty call and the staged training session.

Nonetheless, as the month-long tournament starts, watched by millions of people around the globe, we hope that we can be united and find more consensuses in the end. The 2014 World Cup plays from June 12 to July 13, 2014. The featured postcard was made from a team sticker by Hyundai, an official sponsor.
  

#450511240 / gettyimages.com

2014 Winter Olympics Starts at Sochi

Postcard RU-2282790 from Russia shows the 2014 Winter Olympics that starts today at Sochi, Russia with opening rounds in Figure Skating (Team – Men Short), Freestyle Skiing (Ladies' Moguls – Qualification), and Snowboard (Men's Slopestyle – Qualification). The Opening Ceremony will be held at 8 pm local time (8 am PST or 11 am EST) tomorrow on February 7. There are 98 events to compete in 15 winter sports through February 23, 2014.