Police detonate backpack near finish line of Rio Olympic cycling race (Reuters)

By Scott Malone and Caroline Stauffer RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A loud blast shook the media seats near the finishing line of the men’s cycling road race on the first day of the Rio Olympics when Brazil’s bomb squad detonated an unattended backpack on Saturday, amid tight security at South America’s first Games. A Reuters witness reported seeing bomb squad agents in protective clothing operating near the area where media were seated on the boulevard of Copacabana beach. Lorie Schmetterling, who traveled from Moorestown, New Jersey with her husband Eric to cheer on their daughter Laura, who is rowing for the U.S. Olympic team, had not heard the blast but was disturbed to learn it had occurred just a few hundred meters from where she was staying.