TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s new prime minister said Saturday that he’s determined to host the Tokyo Olympic Games next summer as “proof that humanity has defeated the pandemic.”
The 2020 Games were postponed as the coronavirus spread worldwide, and there’s been widespread doubt about their future.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in a prerecorded speech at the U.N. General Assembly that he will “spare no effort in order to welcome you to Games that are safe and secure.”
Surveys have shown that a majority of Japanese companies and the public don’t think the Olympics will, or should, happen next year. A poll published in June by Japanese broadcaster NHK said two-thirds of sponsors were undecided about extending for another year.
Keeping domestic sponsors on board is financially critical, and Japanese leaders have been eager to signal the Games’ viability next year.
Recruited by Japanese advertising agency Dentsu Inc., domestic sponsors have paid a record $3.3 billion — at least twice any previous Olympics — to the local organizing committee. That’s on top of a dozen permanent Olympic sponsors who have signed long term with the International Olympic Committee. Some also have individual contracts with Tokyo organizers.
Japanese organizers are saying little, however, about how 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, staff and officials will be safe with no vaccine or treatment for the virus yet available.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.