Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s prime minister thanked people for helping the country safely hold the Olympics despite the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic.

He noted the Games were delayed by a year and held under tight restrictions, but “I believe we were able to fulfill our responsibility as the host nation,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, thanking the people for their understanding and cooperation.

TOKYO (AP) — Nagasaki on Monday marked the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city with its mayor urging Japan, the United States and Russia to do more to eliminate nuclear weapons.

In his speech at the Nagasaki Peace Park, Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Japan’s government to take the lead in creating a nuclear-free zone in Northeast Asia rather than staying under the U.S. nuclear umbrella — a reference to the U.S. promise to use its own nuclear weapons to defend allies without them.

TOKYO, August 8. /TASS/: President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach has declared the 2020 Olympic Summer Games closed.

He also called on the youth of the world to gather in Paris in three years.

The closing ceremony of the 32nd Olympic Games is being held at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo without spectators.

TOKYO, Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Olympic flag was passed to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo for the 2024 Games at the Tokyo closing ceremony on Sunday.

   Hidalgo waved the flag, decorated with the five Olympic rings, after she received it from International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.

The Tokyo 2020 Games were declared closed by IOC chief Thomas Bach on Sunday, ending the “most challenging Olympic journey” after a year’s pandemic delay and threats of cancellation.

TOKYO, August 7. /TASS/: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have no issue with observing sanctions against Russian sports at the Olympics in Tokyo, President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov told reporters.

TOKYO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Two Belarus coaches who cut short sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya's Tokyo Olympics have had their accreditation revoked and been removed from the athletes village, the IOC said on Friday.

Athletics head coach Yuri Moisevich and team official Artur Shumak were asked to leave the Olympic village, the International Olympic Committee said, days after they ordered Tsimanouskaya pack her bags and go to the airport.

TOKYO, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government decided Thursday to expand the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency to eight more prefectures, with alcohol serving banned in principle, as the highly contagious Delta COVID-19 variant is spreading rapidly in these areas, local media reported Thursday.

TOKYO (AP) — Amid the stress of postponing and finally staging the Tokyo Olympics, the next Summer Games host has moved in relative calm with steady leadership.

The 2024 Paris Olympics emerges fully on Sunday from its unexpected extra year in the shadows with a formal handover from Tokyo.

French President Emmanuel Macron will link up remotely from home with the Paris organizing team in Tokyo led by its president, three-time Olympic champion Tony Estanguet.

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo reported 5,042 new daily coronavirus cases on Thursday, hitting a record since the pandemic began as the infections surge in the Japanese capital hosting the Olympics.

The additional cases brought the total for Tokyo to 236,138, about a quarter of the national total. Japan reported more than 14,000 cases on Wednesday for a total of 970,000.

TOKYO, August 3. /TASS/: A member of Japan’s parliament, Muneo Suzuki, who has dealt with matters of dialog between Tokyo and Moscow for many years, suggested that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the forthcoming Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), the Kyodo news agency reports on Tuesday.