Kaori Yamaguchi, an Olympic medallist in judo and an executive member of the Japanese Olympic Committee, made an astonishing statement – astonishing, that is, for an Olympic official. She said that Japan had been “cornered” into holding this year’s Games during a pandemic: “What will these Olympics be for, and for whom? The Games have already lost meaning and are being held just for the sake of them. I believe we have already missed the opportunity to cancel.” She is not alone.

5 June was World Environmental Day (WED). It is an annual celebration and the springboard of the United Nations (UN) in facilitating awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto is "100 percent" certain the Games will go ahead, despite a state of emergency in the city.When And Where Are The Olympics?The 2020 Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in the Japanese capital between 23 July and 8 August. The Paralympic Games are between 24 August and 5 September.They were postponed last year because of COVID.The Olympics involve 33 competitions and 339 events, held across 42 venues.

Hospitals in Japan’s second-largest city of Osaka are buckling under a wave of coronavirus cases, running out of beds and ventilators as exhausted doctors warn of a “system collapse” and advise against going ahead with the Olympics this summer.The speed at which Osaka’s healthcare system has been overwhelmed underscores the challenges of hosting a key global sports event in two months’ time, particularly when only about half of Japan’s medical staff have completed inoculations. “Simp

The United Nations (UN) on Monday declared the world "at war" against COVID-19, as India's death toll passed 300,000 and Japan opened its first mass vaccination centres.But just two months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the United States (US) on Monday advised its citizens against travelling there.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments to apply wartime logic to stark inequalities in the response to the pandemic.Despite rapidly advancing vaccination rollouts in we

Asian energy officials on Wednesday disputed a call from the International Energy Agency (IEA) for no new oil, natural gas and coal investments for the world to be able to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, viewing that approach as too narrow.The IEA, which has previously championed the oil and gas industry, this week outlined a path to net-zero emissions that suggested stopping new investments in oil, gas and coal supply, retiring coal-fired plants in advanced economies by 2030, and ba

Vietnam has detected four cases of a COVID-19 variant believed to be behind a devastating surge of the virus in India, state media said Thursday.Separately, the country also reported its first community outbreak in weeks on Thursday.Vietnam has so far kept case numbers low – reporting 2,910 of them and 35 deaths – thanks to mass quarantines and extensive contact tracing.All four of those infected with the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, which was first found in India, had recently travelled from

North Korea fired several missiles just days after a visit to the region by the top United States (US) defense and diplomatic officials, the White House said Tuesday, in Pyongyang's first overt challenge to the Biden administration.But administration officials, speaking anonymously, downplayed the missiles as "common" military testing and said they would not block Washington's efforts to engage with North Korea on denuclearisation.Two missiles were fired on Sunday, they co

India will produce more than one billion more COVID vaccine doses by the end of next year in an initiative launched Friday with the United States (US), Japan and Australia, challenging China as the four leaders held their first-ever joint summit.US President Joe Biden, who has vowed to reinvigorate alliances in the face of growing worries about China, met virtually with the three nations' prime ministers as they pledged together to defend a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region.&

Saint Valentine's Day may now be celebrated worldwide but traditions are often very different – and sometimes have nothing at all to do with romance.While in Europe it's all about couples cosying up, in the United States (US) it's more about schoolchildren celebrating friendship while in Japan women give chocolates to their bosses.Yet in Muslim countries it has a subversive edge.From pagan festival to marketing ploy, we look at the rich Valentine's mix:All Whipped UpValent