Month: May 2021

The Japanese government Tuesday was quick to deny a U.S. warning for Americans to avoid traveling to Japan would have an impact on Olympians wanting to compete in the postponed Tokyo Games. U.S. officials cited a surge in coronavirus cases in Japan caused by virus variants that may even be risks to vaccinated people. They didn’t ban Americans from visiting Japan, but the warnings could affect insurance rates and whether Olympic athletes and other participants decide to join the Games that begin July 23. Most metro areas in Japan are under a state of emergency and expected to remain so through mid-June because of rising serious COVID-19 cases that are putting pressure on the country’s medical care systems. That raises concern about how the country could cope with the arrival of tens of thousands of Olympic participants if its hospitals remain stressed and little of its population is vaccinated. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a regular news conference Tuesday that the U.S. warning does not prohibit essential travel and Japan believes the U.S. support for Tokyo’s effort to hold the Olympics is unchanged. “We believe there is no change to the U.S. position supporting the Japanese government’s determination to achieve the Games,” Kato said, adding that Washington has told Tokyo the travel warning is not related to participation of the U.S. Olympic team. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee said it still anticipates American athletes will be able to safely compete at the Tokyo Games. Fans coming from abroad were banned from the Tokyo Olympics months ago, but athletes, families, sporting officials from around the world and other stakeholders still amount to a mass influx of international travelers. The Japanese public in opinion surveys have expressed opposition to holding the Games out of safety concerns while most people will not be vaccinated. The U.S. warning from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said: “Because of the current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to Japan.” The State Department’s warning was more blunt. “Do not travel to Japan due to COVID-19,” it said. 
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The Italian glam rock band that won the Eurovision Song Contest returned home Sunday to the adulation of fans, congratulations from the government and so much speculation that the lead singer had snorted cocaine during the show that he vowed to take a drug test.
“We want to shut down the rumors,” Maneskin lead singer Damiano David told reporters at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport as the band arrived home after their victory in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
 
Rumors spread on social media after David was seen bending over a table during the Saturday night live television broadcast. Asked at a post-victory news conference whether he’d snorted cocaine, David said he doesn’t use drugs and that he’d bent over because another band member had broken a glass at their feet.  
Eurovision confirmed that broken glass was found under the table in question, but announced David had offered to take the test, which is scheduled for Monday.
In Italy, the drug claim didn’t mar the praise that poured in Sunday from the Italian establishment for the victory of the rather anti-establishment Maneskin, a glam rock band that got its start busking on Rome’s main shopping drag.
Their win gave Italy a sorely needed boost after a dreadful year as one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus and will bring next year’s competition back to the place where European song contests began.  
The band was the bookmakers’ favorite going into the Eurovision finale and sealed the win early Sunday with the highest popular vote in the enormously entertaining, and incredibly kitsch, annual song festival.  
“We are out of our minds!” Florence’s Uffizi Galleries tweeted, echoing Maneskin’s winning song lyrics, along with an image of a Caravaggio Medusa and the hashtag #Uffizirock.
Maneskin, Danish for “moonlight” and a tribute to bass player Victoria De Angelis’ Danish ancestry, won with a total of 529 points. France was second while Switzerland, which led after national juries had voted, finished third.
“It is amazing. It is amazing,” band members said as they got off the plane and were met by a gaggle of reporters outside baggage claim.  
De Angelis said the band was shocked at the claims of drug use, which were echoing particularly loudly in runner-up France, where mainstream media prominently reported the suspicions and the country’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, was even asked about them on a news show Sunday.  
Le Drian stayed clear on the controversy, saying: “If there is a need to do tests, they’ll do tests.”
De Angelis said the band wants to put the controversy behind them because drug use goes against their ethos and message.  
“We are totally against cocaine and the use of drugs and we would have never done it of course, so we are shocked that many people believe this,” she said.  
The band got its start performing on Via del Corso, the main commercial thoroughfare in downtown Rome. Their scrappy performances in front of a Geox shoe store were a far cry from the over-the-top, flame-throwing extravaganza Saturday night that literally split David’s pants.
David told a news conference this week that starting out on the street was embarrassing, since the group had to contend with other musicians vying for the same prized piece of sidewalk while neighbors complained about the noise.  
“They were always calling the police,” De Angelis said, laughing.
Maneskin’s win was only Italy’s third victory in the contest and the first since Toto Cutugno took the honor in 1990. The victory means Italy will host next year’s competition, with cities bidding for the honor.  
Launched in 1956 to foster unity after World War II, Eurovision evolved over the years from a bland ballad-fest to a campy, feel-good extravaganza. It has grown from seven countries to include more than 40, including non-European nations such as Israel and far-away Australia.  
Legend has it that Eurovision got its inspiration from Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival, which began in 1951 as a post-war effort to boost Italian culture and the economy of the Ligurian coastal city that has housed it ever since.
Perhaps best known for having launched the likes of Andrea Boccelli and one of Italy’s most famous songs “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” — popularly known as “Volare” — the Sanremo festival usually picks Italy’s official selection for the Eurovision contest.  
Maneskin won Sanremo this year with the same song, “Zitti e Buoni” (“Quiet and good”) that it performed Saturday night in Rotterdam.
De Angelis said she hoped that their victory would send a message to future Italian contestants that ballads aren’t the only genre that can win contests.
“We think maybe from now on more bands will have the chance to play what they want and not be influenced by the radios or what the main genre is in Italy,” she said. “They can feel themselves and play rock music too.”
 
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It was a family affair at the Billboard Music Awards: Pink twirled in the air in a powerful performance with her daughter, and Drake was named artist of the decade, accepting the honor alongside his 3-year-old son.
Drake, who extended his record as the most decorated winner in the history of the awards show to 29 wins Sunday, was surrounded by family and friends who presented him with the Artist of the Decade Award. He walked onstage outside the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with his son Adonis holding his hand.
“I wanna dedicate this award to my friends, to my longtime collaborators … to my beautiful family, and to you,” he said, looking to Adonis and picking him up to kiss him.
Drake placed his first song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2009, and since has logged the most songs ever on the chart, with 232 entrees. He’s also logged a record 45 Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 and a record 22 No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.
He was also named top streaming songs artist Sunday.
Pink received the Icon Award and was joined onstage by her 9-year-old daughter — showing off their powerful gymnastic skills as they spun in the air in a jaw-dropping performance. Known for her signature aerial and acrobatic moves, Pink was matched by Willow Sage Hart as “Cover Me In Sunshine” played in the background, Pink’s song featuring vocals from her daughter.
“Willow, you nailed it,” Pink said after the performance. “I love what I do and I love the people that I get to do it with, and we’re pretty good at what we do, but it wouldn’t matter if no one came to see us and play with us. So all you guys out there … thank you for coming out!”
Pink’s performance was one of several pre-taped moments at the awards show, which aired on NBC and was hosted by Nick Jonas. Live performances were held outdoors, in front of feverish audience members wearing masks.
The Weeknd was on hand to accept the most wins of the night — 10. He walked into the show with 16 nominations, winning honors like top artist, top male artist, top Hot 100 song for “Blinding Lights” and top R&B album for “After Hours.”
“I wanna take this opportunity to thank you, my parents,” he said. “I am the man I am today because of you. And thank you to my fans, of course. I do not take this for granted.”
The late rapper Pop Smoke was also a big winner: He posthumously earned five honors, including top new artist and top rap artist, while his debut — “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” — won top rap album and top Billboard 200 album, which his mother accepted onstage.
“Thank you to the fans for honoring the life and spirit of my son, so much that he continues to manifest as if he was still here in flesh,” Audrey Jackson said.  
Another late rapper was also honored during the show. Before presenting top rap song to DaBaby, Swizz Beatz dedicated a moment to those who have recently died in hip-hop, including his close friend and collaborator DMX. And Houston rapper and activist Trae Tha Truth, who earned the Change Maker Award, ended his speech with a powerful sentence: “We still gon’ need justice for Breonna Taylor.”
Other winners Sunday included Bad Bunny and BTS, who both won four awards and also performed. Breakthrough country singer Gabby Barrett won three awards, including top female country artist and top country song for the hit “I Hope.” The song’s remix featuring Charlie Puth won top collaboration.
“Oh my gosh. Thank y’all so much. This means so much to me,” Barrett said as she broke into tears. “I’ve been performing for 10 years really hard. …We’ve worked so hard to get here.”
Another country star also won big Sunday though he wasn’t allowed to participate in the show.
Morgan Wallen, who was caught on camera using a racial slur earlier this year, won three honors, including top country artist and top country album for “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which has had major success on the pop and country music charts despite his fallen moment.
Wallen was nominated for six awards, and Billboard Awards producer Dick Clark productions said it couldn’t prevent Wallen from earning nominations, or winning, because finalists are based on album and digital sales, streaming, radio airplay and social engagement. The producers did ban Wallen from performing or attending the show.
The Billboard Awards kicked off with a collaborative performance by DJ Khaled, H.E.R. and Migos, who brought the concert vibe back to life a year after live shows were in the dark because of the pandemic. Doja Cat and SZA — accompanied by futuristically dressed background dancers — sang their big hit “Kiss Me More” inside the venue, where the seats were empty. Alicia Keys, celebrating the 20th anniversary of her groundbreaking debut “songs in A minor,” sang songs from the album including the hit “Fallin’.” The performance was introduced by former first lady Michelle Obama.
Other performers included Karol G, twenty one pilots, Duran Duran, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jonas Brothers and Glass Animals.
Stars like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Kanye West won honors at the show though they didn’t attend. Machine Gun Kelly, who started in rap but has had recent success on the rock charts, won top rock artist and top rock album.
“I released my first mixtape 15 years ago and this is the first big stage I’ve ever been invited to accept an award on,” he said, kissing his actor-girlfriend Megan Fox before walking to the stage.
“To the box that society keeps trying to put me, you need stronger material because you can’t keep me in it,” he proclaimed.
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An investigation was underway Monday into the deaths of 21 runners during a mountain ultra-marathon in northwest China, as harrowing testimony emerged from survivors who battled to safety through freezing temperatures and bone-chilling winds. The extreme weather struck a high-altitude section of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) race held in the scenic Yellow River Stone Forest in Gansu province Saturday afternoon. Provincial authorities have set up an investigation team to look into the cause of the incident, state media reported, as questions swirled over why organizers apparently ignored extreme weather warnings from the city’s Early Warning Information Center in the lead up to the race, which attracted 172 runners. China’s top sports body also vowed to tighten safety rules on holding events across the country. Survivors gave shocking testimony of events on the rugged mountainside, where unconfirmed meteorological reports to local media said temperatures had plunged to as low as minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit). “The wind was too strong, and I repeatedly fell over,” wrote race participant Zhang Xiaotao in a Weibo post. “My limbs were frozen stiff, and I felt like I was slowly losing control of my body… I wrapped my insulation blanket around me, took out my GPS tracker, pressed the SOS button and lost consciousness.” He said when he came round he discovered a shepherd had carried him to a cave, placed him by the fire and wrapped him in a duvet. ‘Foaming at their mouths’Marathon survivor Luo Jing told state broadcaster CCTV she saw runners struggling back down the mountain wearing only T-shirts and shorts. They “described to us people foaming at their mouths, and urged us to quit the race as soon as possible,” she said. Other survivors said insulation blankets provided by organizers were blown to shreds by strong winds. One told state media as he battled down the mountain he saw many people lying on the ground, some he believed to be dead. Gansu province is often subject to extreme weather conditions including sandstorms and earthquakes. The Gansu Meteorological Bureau had warned of “sudden heavy showers, hail, lightning, sudden gale-force winds” and other adverse weather conditions across the province in a report dated Friday. Victims included elite Chinese long-distance runners Liang Jing and Huang Guanjun, local media reported. Liang had won multiple Chinese ultramarathons in recent years while Huang won the men’s hearing-impaired marathon at the 2019 National Paralympic Games. Fury mounted on Chinese social media after the disaster, with many users blaming organizers for poor contingency planning. More than 84 million viewed the hashtag “Is the Gansu marathon accident natural or man-made?” while 130 million scoured a thread around safety concerns for marathons and cross-county races. “This is purely a man-made disaster,” wrote one. China’s top sports governing body has issued instructions to the country’s sports system to improve safety management in sports events. The previous management model for safety in races “had some problems and deficiencies,” the sports administration said in a readout published Monday, and said all organizations would now have to set up detailed contingency plans and a mechanism to halt the event quickly if needed. 
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Phil Mickelson has delivered so many thrills and spills over 30 years of pure theater that no one ever knows what he will do next.His latest act was a real stunner: A major champion at age 50.Mickelson captured his sixth major and by far the most surprising Sunday at the PGA Championship. He made two early birdies with that magical wedge game and let a cast of contenders fall too far behind to catch him in the shifting wind of Kiawah Island.He closed with a 1-over 73, building a five-shot lead on the back nine and not making any critical mistakes that kept him from his place in history.“This is just an incredible feeling because I believed it was possible, but everything was saying it wasn’t,” said Mickelson, who had gone more than two years since his last win and had not won a major in nearly eight years. He had not even contended in a major in five years.Julius Boros for 53 years held the distinction of golf’s oldest major champion. He was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship in San Antonio.Pure chaos broke out along the 18th hole after Mickelson hit 9-iron safely to just outside 15 feet that all but secured a most improbable victory. Thousands of fans engulfed him down the fairway — a scene typically seen only at the British Open — until Mickelson emerged into view with a thumbs-up.That might have been the most pressure he faced on the back nine of the Ocean Course.“I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience like that, so thank you for that,” Mickelson said at the trophy ceremony. “Slightly unnerving, but exceptionally awesome.”Just like he plays the game.Chants of “Lefty! Lefty! Lefty!” chased him onto the green and into the scoring tent, his final duty of a week he won’t soon forget.Three months after 43-year-old Tom Brady won a seventh Super Bowl, Mickelson added to this year of ageless wonders. Mickelson became the first player in PGA Tour history to win tournaments 30 years apart. The first of his 45 titles was in 1991 when he was still a junior at Arizona State.Mickelson became the 10th player to win majors in three decades, an elite list that starts with Harry Vardon and most recently added Tiger Woods.“He’s been on tour as long as I’ve been alive,” Jon Rahm said. “For him to keep that willingness to play and compete and practice, it’s truly admirable.”Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen had their chances, but only briefly. Koepka was 4 over on the par 5s when the game was still on and closed with a 74. Oosthuizen hit into the water as he was trying to make a final run and shot 73.“Phil played great,” Koepka said. “It’s pretty cool to see, but a bit disappointed in myself.”Mickelson finished at 6-under 282.The victory came one week after Mickelson accepted a special exemption into the U.S. Open because at No. 115 in the world and winless the last two years, he no longer was exempt from qualifying. He had not finished in the top 20 in his last 17 tournaments over nearly nine months. He worried that he was no longer able to keep his focus over 18 holes.And then he beat the strongest field of the year — 99 of the top 100 players — and made it look easy.The PGA Championship had the largest and loudest crowd since the return from the COVID-19 pandemic — the PGA of America said it limited tickets to 10,000, and it seemed like twice that many — and it was clear what they wanted to see.The opening hour made it seem as though the final day could belong to anyone. The wind finished its switch to the opposite direction from the opening rounds, and while there was low scoring early, Mickelson and Koepka traded brilliance and blunder.Koepka flew the green with a wedge on the par-5 second hole, could only chip it about 6 feet to get out of an impossible lie and made double bogey, a three-shot swing when Mickelson hit a deft pitch from thick grass behind the green.Mickelson holed a sand shot from short of the green on the par-5 third, only for Koepka to tie for the lead with a two-shot swing on the sixth hole when he made birdie and Lefty missed the green well to the right.Kevin Streelman briefly had a share of the lead. Louis Oosthuizen was lurking, even though it took him seven holes to make a birdie.And then the potential for any drama was sucked out to sea.Oosthuizen, coming off a birdie to get within three, had to lay up out of the thick grass on the 13th and then sent his third shot right of the flag and into the water, making triple bogey.Just like that, Mickelson was up by five and headed toward the inward holes, the wind at his back on the way home with what seemed like the entire state of South Carolina at his side. 
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The singer for Italy’s Eurovision Song Contest winning rockers Maneskin will take a voluntary drug test after denying speculation that he was snorting cocaine during the broadcast, organizers said Sunday. Red lederhosen-clad vocalist Damiano David will be tested after going back to Italy, following viral footage of him leaning over a table in the hospitality area of the competition in Rotterdam.  “We are aware of the speculation surrounding the video clip of the Italian winners of the Eurovision Song Contest in the Green Room last night,” the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement.  “The band have strongly refuted the allegations of drug use and the singer in question will take a voluntary drug test after arriving home,” it added.  “This was requested by them last night but could not be immediately organized by the EBU.”  The Maneskin singer was asked about the footage during the winners’ press conference early on Sunday, and said he had been looking down because guitarist Thomas Raggi had broken a glass.  “I don’t use drugs. Please, guys. Don’t say that really, no cocaine. Please, don’t say that,” David said.  The band later said on their Instagram stories that they were “ready to get tested because we have nothing to hide.”   “We are really shocked about what some people are saying about Damiano doing drugs. We really are AGAINST drugs and we never used cocaine,” they said. The EBU said evidence at the scene backed up David’s account about the glass smashing.  “The band, their management and head of delegation have informed us that no drugs were present in the Green Room and explained that a glass was broken at their table and it was being cleared by the singer,” its statement said.  “The EBU can confirm broken glass was found after an on site check. We are still looking at footage carefully and will update with further information in due course.”  Maneskin fought off stiff competition from France and Switzerland, surging to victory on the back of the public vote to win with 524 points. 
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Italy woke up Sunday to news that a glam rock band who got their start busking on Rome’s main shopping drag had won the Eurovision Song Contest and was bringing next year’s competition back to the place where Europe’s song contests began. From the premier’s office on down, congratulations poured in Sunday from the Italian establishment for the rather anti-establishment group Maneskin, giving Italy a sorely needed boost after a dreadful year as one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus. The band was the bookmakers’ favorite going into the Eurovision finale and sealed the win early Sunday with the highest popular vote in the enormously entertaining, and incredibly kitsch, annual song festival. “We are out of our minds!” Florence’s Uffizi Galleries tweeted, echoing Maneskin’s winning song lyrics, along with an image of a Caravaggio Medusa and the hashtag #Uffizirock. Maneskin, Danish for “moonlight” and a tribute to bass player Victoria De Angelis’ Danish ancestry, won with a total of 529 points. France was second while Switzerland, which led after national juries had voted, finished third. “Rock’n’roll never dies, tonight we made history. We love u,” the band tweeted before heading back home from Rotterdam, Netherlands, where this year’s contest was held. The band got its start performing on Via del Corso, the main commercial thoroughfare in downtown Rome. Their scrappy performances in front of a Geox store were a far cry from the over-the-top, flame-throwing extravaganza Saturday night that literally split lead singer Damiano David’s pants. David told a news conference this week that starting out on the street was embarrassing, since the group had to contend with other musicians vying for the same prized piece of sidewalk while neighbors complained about the noise. “They were always calling the police,” De Angelis said, laughing. Maneskin’s win was only Italy’s third victory in the contest and the first since Toto Cutugno took the honor in 1990. The victory means Italy will host next year’s competition, with cities bidding for the honor. Launched in 1956 to foster unity after World War II, Eurovision evolved over the years from a bland ballad-fest to a campy, feel-good extravaganza. It has grown from seven countries to include more than 40, including non-European nations such as Israel and far-away Australia. Legend has it that Eurovision got its inspiration from Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival, which began in 1951 as a post-war effort to boost Italian culture and the economy of the Ligurian coastal city that has housed it ever since. Perhaps best known for having launched the likes of Andrea Boccelli and one of Italy’s most famous songs “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” — popularly known as “Volare” — the Sanremo festival usually picks Italy’s official selection for the Eurovision contest. Maneskin won Sanremo this year with the same song, “Zitti e Buoni” (“Quiet and good”) that it performed Saturday night in Rotterdam. 
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Move over sequins, disco beats and power ballads. A four-piece band of Italian rockers won the Eurovision Song Contest in the early hours of Sunday.Maneskin’s win was only the third victory for Italy in the immensely popular contest and the first since Toto Cutugno took the honor in 1990.Italy, the bookmakers’ favorite, trailed Switzerland, France and Malta after the national juries delivered their votes but were propelled to victory by votes from the viewing public.Ahead of the show, crowds gathered outside the Ahoy arena in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Drag queens mingled with families as a man in a gold suit waited to get into the venue.The hugely popular music festival that oozes flamboyance is seen as a significant step toward a post-pandemic return to live entertainment, but not everybody managed to avoid the virus.The popular Icelandic band Dadi og Gagnamagnid, known for its kitsch dance moves and green leisurewear costumes, is in the final, but can’t perform live because one member tested positive for the virus earlier in the week. Instead, viewers will see a recording of one of the band’s dress rehearsals.”The point was to go and actually experience how it was to compete in Eurovision, and that’s just really not happening,” lead singer Dadi Freyr said from isolation in Rotterdam.While the entertainment world has changed in the pandemic, the Eurovision final formula familiar to its worldwide legion of fans has not. The event is being hosted as usual by the last winner, the Netherlands, except that it won in 2019.After acts from 26 countries perform their songs Saturday night, they are awarded points by panels of music industry experts and by members of the public voting by phone, text message or via the contest’s app. The winner takes home a glass microphone trophy and a potential career boost.For the fans, there is still plenty of the over-the-top spectacle that has become Eurovision’s trademark.Norwegian singer Andreas Haukeland, whose stage name TIX is a reference to growing up with Tourette syndrome, sings his song “Fallen Angel” in a pair of giant white wings while chained to four prancing devils.Cyprus’ Elena Tsagrinou is flanked by four dancers in skintight red costumes as she performs “El Diablo,” a song that ignited protests among Orthodox Christians in the Mediterranean island nation who claim it glorifies satanic worship. Tsagrinou says it’s about an abusive relationship.San Marino has enlisted the help of U.S. rapper Flo Rida to join performer Senhit in her bid to win the title for the first time for the tiny city-state surrounded by Italy.
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The IOC vice president in charge of the postponed Tokyo Olympics said Friday the games would open in just over two months even if the city and other parts of Japan were under a state of emergency because of rising COVID-19 cases.
 
John Coates, speaking from Australia in a virtual news conference with Tokyo organizers at the end of three days of meetings, said this would be the case even if local medical experts advised against holding the Olympics.
 
“The advice we have from the [World Health Organization] and all other scientific and medical advice that we have is that — all the measures we have outlined, all of those measures that we are undertaking are satisfactory and will ensure a safe and secure games in terms of health,” Coates said. “And that’s the case whether there is a state of emergency or not.”
 
Public opinion in Japan has been running at 60-80% against opening the Olympics on July 23, depending on how the question is phrased. Coates suggested public opinion might improve as more Japanese get fully vaccinated. That figure is now about 2%.
 
“If it doesn’t then our position is that we have to make sure that we get on with our job,” Coates said. “And our job is to ensure these games are safe for all the participants and all the people of Japan.”
 
IOC officials say they expect more than 80% of the residents of the Olympic Village, located on Tokyo Bay, to be vaccinated and be largely cut off from contact with the public. About 11,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes are expected to attend.
 
Coates said about 80% of spots in the Olympics would be awarded from qualifying events, with 20% coming from rankings.
 
Coates left no doubt that the Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee believes the Tokyo Games will happen. The IOC gets almost 75% of its income from selling broadcast rights, a key driver in pushing on. And Tokyo has officially spent $15.4 billion to organize the Olympics, though a government audit suggests the real number is much higher.
 
Tokyo, Osaka and several other prefectures are currently under a state of emergency and health-care systems are being stretched. Emergency measures are scheduled to end on May 31, but they are likely to be extended.
 
“If the current situation continues, I hope the government will have the wisdom not to end the emergency at the end of May,” Haruo Ozaki, head of the Tokyo Medical Association, told the weekly magazine Aera.
 
Ozaki has consistently said government measures to control the spread of COVID-19 have been insufficient. About 12,000 deaths in Japan have been attributed to the virus, and the situation is exacerbated since so few in Japan have been fully vaccinated.
 
Ozaki warned that if the emergency conditions are not extended, the virus and contagious variants will spread quickly.
 
“If that happens, there will be a major outbreak, and it is possible that holding the games will become hopeless,” he added.
 
Ozaki is not alone with this warning.
 
The 6,000-member Tokyo Medical Practitioners’ Association called for the Olympics to be cancelled in a letter sent last week to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa, and Seiko Hashimoto, the head of the organizing committee.
 
“We believe the correct choice is to the cancel an event that has the possibility of increasing the numbers of infected people and deaths,” the letter said.
 
Hashimoto addressed the worry of ordinary Japanese.
 
“At present there are not a few people who feel uneasy about the fact the games are going to be held where a lot of people are coming from abroad,” she said. “There are other people who are concerned about the possible burden on the medical system of Japan.”
 
She said the number of “stakeholders” coming to Japan from abroad had been reduced from 180,000 to about 80,000. She said Olympic “stakeholders” would amount to 59,000, of which 23,000 were Olympic family and international federations. She said an added 17,000 would involve television rights holders, with 6,000 more media.
 
She also said 230 physicians and 310 nurses would be needed daily, and said about 30 hospitals in Tokyo and outside were contacted about caring for Olympic patients.
 
Organizers have said previously that 10,000 medical workers would be needed for the Olympics.
 
Hashimoto said retired nurses might also be called in. Separately, the IOC has said it will make available an unspecified number of medical personnel from unnamed national Olympic committees.
 
Fans from abroad were banned months ago. Hashimoto said the number of spectators — if any — at venues would “depend on the spread of the infection.” She has promised a decision on venue capacity next month.
 
Kaori Yamaguchi, a bronze medalist in judo at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee, hinted in an interview with the Kyodo news agency this week that organizers were cornered. She has been skeptical about going ahead.
 
“We’re starting to reach a point where we can’t even cancel anymore,” she said.
The IOC’s most senior member, Richard Pound, said in an interview with Japan’s JiJi Press that the final deadline to call off the Olympics was still a month away.
 
“Before the end of June, you really need to know, yes or no,” JiJi quoted Pound as saying.
 
Pound repeated — as the IOC has said — that if the games can’t happen now they will be cancelled, not postponed again.
 
IOC President Thomas Bach now plans to arrive in Tokyo only July 12. He was forced to cancel a trip to Japan this month because of rising COVID-19 cases.
 
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An inquiry into how the BBC secured the 1995 interview with Britain’s Princess Diana in which she disclosed intimate details of her failed marriage concluded on Thursday that the journalist involved had acted deceitfully. The BBC set up the investigation, headed by former senior Court judge John Dyson, in November following allegations from Diana’s brother Charles Spencer that forged documents and “other deceit” were used to trick him to introduce Diana to journalist Martin Bashir. FILE – Martin Bashir, then one of the anchors of the ABC news program ‘Nightline’, taking part in a panel discussion at the ABC television network Summer press tour for television critics in Beverly Hills, California, July 26, 2007. ​Dyson’s report found that Bashir, then a little known reporter, had shown Spencer fake bank statements to induce him to arrange a meeting with Diana. “Mr Bashir acted inappropriately and in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the Producers’ Guidelines on straight dealing,” the report said. He also concluded the BBC had fallen short of “the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark” in its response to allegations of impropriety. During the explosive interview, watched by more than 20 million viewers in Britain, Diana shocked the nation by admitting to an affair and sharing details of her marriage to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles. It came at a nadir for the royal family and was the first time Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997, had made public comments about her doomed marriage. Her remark that “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” — a reference to Charles rekindling his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, now his second wife — was particularly damaging to the Windsors. Last week, the BBC announced that Bashir was leaving his current job as the publicly-funded broadcaster’s religious affairs editor because of ill health. Bashir apologized but said he did not believe the faked statements had prompted Diana to give the interview, PA Media reported. Spencer says Bashir had persuaded him to get his sister to agree to the interview by telling him Diana was being bugged by the security services and that two senior aides were being paid to provide information about her. Both Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, have welcomed the investigation as a chance to find out the truth of what had happened. “While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today,” BBC director-general, Tim Davie, said in a statement. 
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The Ivory Coast resort town of Grand-Bassam is known for its beaches and French colonial architecture. Recent flooding and the passage of time have taken a toll on the city’s historic buildings, but some people are determined to fix things, as Yassin Ciyow found in this report narrated by Carol Guensberg.Camera: Yassin Ciyow 
Produced by: Robert Raffaele 
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Charles Grodin, the droll, offbeat actor and writer who scored as a caddish newlywed in “The Heartbreak Kid” and later had roles ranging from Robert De Niro’s counterpart in the comic thriller “Midnight Run” to the bedeviled father in the “Beethoven” comedies, has died. He was 86. Grodin died Tuesday in Wilton, Connecticut, from bone marrow cancer, his son, Nicholas Grodin, said. Known for his dead-pan style and everyday looks, Grodin also appeared in “Dave,” “The Woman in Red,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Heaven Can Wait.” On Broadway, he starred with Ellen Burstyn in the long-running 1970s comedy “Same Time, Next Year,” and he found many other outlets for his talents. With bone-dry understatement, Grodin could steal entire scenes with just a look. His commitment, whether acting across De Niro or Missy Piggy, was unsurpassed. In his many late-night appearances, he once brought a lawyer with him to threaten David Letterman for defamation. (The lawyer instead took a shine to Letterman.) Hosting “Saturday Night Live,” he pretended to not understand live television, ruining all the sketches. Steve Martin, who co-starred with Grodin in 1984’s “The Lonely Guy,” remembered him as “one of the funniest people I ever met.” In the 1990s, Grodin made his mark as a liberal commentator on radio and TV. He also wrote plays and television scripts, winning an Emmy for his work on a 1997 Paul Simon special, and wrote several books humorously ruminating on his ups and downs in show business. FILE – Charles Grodin attends the Ripple of Hope Awards in New York, Dec. 11, 2013.Actors, he wrote, should “think not so much about getting ahead as becoming as good as you can be, so you’re ready when you do get an opportunity. I did that, so I didn’t suffer from the frustration of all the rejections. They just gave me more time.” He spelled out that advice in his first book, “It Would Be So Nice If You Weren’t Here,” published in 1989. Grodin became a star in the 1970s, but might have broken through years earlier: He auditioned for the title role in Mike Nichols’ 1967 classic “The Graduate,” but the part went instead to Dustin Hoffman. Grodin did have a small role in “Rosemary’s Baby” and was part of the large cast of Nichols’ adaptation of “Catch-22″ before he gained wide notice in the 1972 Elaine May comedy “The Heartbreak Kid.” He starred as a Jewish newlywed who abandons his comically neurotic bride to pursue a beautiful, wealthy blonde played by Cybill Shepherd. The movie was a hit and Grodin received high praise. He commented: “After seeing the movie, a lot of people would approach me with the idea of punching me in the nose.” “I thought the character in ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ was a despicable guy, but I play it with full sincerity,” Grodin told the A.V. Club in 2009. “My job isn’t to judge it. If it wasn’t for Elaine May, I probably would never have had that movie career.” In the next few years, Grodin played in a lavish 1976 film remake of “King Kong” as the greedy showman who brings the big ape to New York. He was Warren Beatty’s devious lawyer in “Heaven Can Wait,” and Gene Wilder’s friend in “The Woman in Red” (Less successfully, he appeared in May’s 1987 adventure comedy “Ishtar,” a notorious flop). His turn in 1981’s “The Great Muppet Caper” was typically dedicated as a thief wooing Miss Piggy. In 1988’s “Midnight Run,” Grodin was a bail-jumping accountant who took millions from a mobster and De Niro was the bounty hunter trying to bring him cross-country to Los Angeles. They’re being chased by police, another bounty hunter and the Mob, and because Grodin is afraid of flying, they are forced to go by car, bus, even boxcar. Grodin and De Niro improvised in many scenes in the film, revered as among the greatest buddy comedies. Often Grodin was genuinely trying to amuse his more intimidating co-star. One line he threw at De Niro: “You ever had sex with an animal, Jack?” “I moved a little more toward drama and he moved a little toward comedy,” Grodin said at the time. “And we met on a very good ground.” “Beethoven” brought him success in the family-animal comedy genre in 1992. Asked why he took up such a role, he told The Associated Press he was happy to get the work. “I’m not that much in demand,” Grodin replied. “It’s not like I have this stack of wonderful offers. I’m just delighted they wanted me.” Amid his film gigs, Grodin became a familiar face on late-night TV, perfecting a character who would confront Johnny Carson or others with a fake aggressiveness that made audiences cringe and laugh at the same time. “It’s all a joke,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 1995. “It’s just a thing. It was a choice to do that.” His biggest stage success, by far, was “Same Time, Next Year,” which opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran nearly 3½ years. He and Burstyn were two people who — though each happily married — meet in the same hotel once a year for an extramarital fling. Beyond the humor, the play won praise for deftly tracing the changes in their lives, and in society, from the 1950s to the ’70s. Critic Clive Barnes called Grodin’s character “a monument to male insecurity, gorgeously inept.” After 1994’s “My Summer Story,” Grodin largely abandoned acting. From 1995 to 1998, he hosted a talk show on CNBC cable network. He moved to MSNBC and then to CBS’ “60 Minutes II.” In his 2002 book, “I Like It Better When You’re Funny,” he said too many TV programmers’ believe that viewers are best served “if we hear only from lifelong journalists.” He argued that “people outside of Washington and in professions other than journalism” also deserved a soapbox. He returned to the big screen in 2006 as Zach Braff’s know-it-all father-in-law in “The Ex.” More recent credits include the films “An Imperfect Murder” and “The Comedian” and the TV series “Louie.” Grodin was born Charles Grodinsky in Pittsburgh in 1935, son of a wholesale dry goods seller who died when Charles was 18. He played basketball and later described himself as “a rough kid, always getting kicked out of class.” He studied at the University of Miami and the Pittsburgh Playhouse, worked in summer theater and then struggled in New York, working nights as a cab driver, postal clerk and watchman while studying acting during the day. In 1962 Grodin made his Broadway debut and received good notices in “Tchin Tchin,” a three-character play starring Anthony Quinn. He followed with “Absence of a Cello” in 1964. He co-wrote and directed a short-lived 1966 off-Broadway show called “Hooray! It’s a Glorious Day … and all that.” That same year, he made his movie debut in a low-budget flop called “Sex and the College Girl.” In 1969, Grodin demonstrated his early interest in politics by helping write and direct “Songs of America,” a TV special starring Simon and Garfunkel that incorporated civil rights and antiwar messages. But the original sponsor pulled out and Simon later called the little-noticed effort “a tragedy.” Simon returned with a special in 1977 that spoofed show business and featured Grodin as the show’s bumbling producer. Grodin and his co-writers won Emmys. Grodin and his first wife, Julia Ferguson, had a daughter, comedian Marion Grodin. The marriage ended in divorce. He and his second wife, Elissa Durwood, had a son, Nicholas. 
 
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