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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and the IOC stood firm on Friday on their commitment to host the Tokyo Olympics this year and denied a report of a possible cancellation, although the pledge looks unlikely to ease public concern about holding the event during a pandemic.
Though much of Japan is under a state of emergency due to a third wave of COVID-19 infections, Tokyo Olympic organisers have vowed to press ahead with the re-scheduled Games, which are due to open on July 23 after being postponed for a year because of the coronavirus.
A government spokesman said there was “no truth” to a report in Britain’s Times newspaper that the government had privately concluded the Games would have to be cancelled.
Wednesday, 20 January 2021
The President of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), Alisher Usmanov, has been named on a list of individuals jailed Russian politician Alexei Navalny wants Western Governments to sanction.
Navalny ally Vladimir Ashurkov published a list of eight individuals Navalny wants to see punished by the international community, saying that the West must sanction the decision makers and the people who hold their money if penalties against Russia are to be effective.
On Sunday (January 17), Navalny was detained upon returning to Russia and remains in custody.
Prosecutors say the leading Russian opposition figure violated the terms of a suspended sentence for embezzlement, but Navalny s supporters have dismissed these charges as being politically motivated.
Correspondent
Tokyo’s delayed Olympics and Paralympics are scheduled to begin six months from now, but while authorities insist the events will go on, a surge in coronavirus cases in the capital is prompting many to question whether they can, or should.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the organizers sold millions of tickets for events, and the capital was readying to welcome spectators from all corners of the globe. The head of the organizing committee, Mori Yoshiro, said on January 12 that he remains committed to holding the Games this summer.
But the number of COVID-19 cases has been surging since last month and Tokyo was already under a state of emergency when he made that vow. One of the measures instituted by the government is an entry ban for all foreigners in principle.