Japan to close temporary all schools nationwide to control spread of virus
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces the government’s plan to ask all schools in Japan to cancel classes from March 2 until spring break amid the spread of the new coronavirus in the country, during a meeting of the coronavirus task force headquarters at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, on Feb. 27, 2020.
Abe asks all schools in Japan to temporarily close over coronavirus
February 27, 2020
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday the government will request all elementary, junior high and high schools in Japan to close from Monday until the end of a spring break through early April amid concern over the spread of the new coronavirus.
In a meeting of a government task force to fight the virus, Abe cited “children’s health and safety” as the top priority and said the measure, which also includes schools for special needs education across Japan, is intended to better cope with a risk of infection to be generated by students and teachers spending long hours together.
Abe also asked schools to take the best possible steps to prevent infection, such as minimizing the number of participants, if they are to hold entrance exams and graduation ceremonies in the coming weeks.
Japan’s school year ends in March and a new academic year typically starts in early April.
Abe announced the measure as opposition parties have stepped up criticism of his administration for not responding quickly enough, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients continuing to rise in Japan and the end of the outbreak of the China-originated, pneumonia-causing virus not yet in sight.
The number of confirmed infections in Japan topped 900 on Thursday, including over 700 from the Diamond Princess, a virus-hit cruise ship docked in Yokohama near Tokyo.
Given that schoolchildren are expected to stay home in the coming weeks, Abe requested that government agencies and companies allow workers to take days off so they can spend more time with their families.
Nursery schools will be excluded from the nationwide closure request, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Abe also instructed the government to “prepare necessary legislation to curb the spread of infections and minimize the impact on the lives of people as well as the economy.”
Meanwhile, some schoolteachers expressed concern about the prime minister’s request as they have to adjust class and event schedules.
“A one-month closure is unheard of and its impact will be significant,” said a teacher at a public elementary school in Tokyo.
“I’m in the middle of discussions with my colleagues on how to determine grades for students and distribute them,” he said.
Abe’s announcement came as a number of schools have already decided to close or scale down their activities.
Earlier Thursday, the Osaka city government said it will temporarily close all city-run elementary and junior high schools, and kindergartens from the following day through March 13 amid the coronavirus outbreak.
It will diminish the scale of graduation ceremonies scheduled during the closure period by limiting the number of participants and shortening program hours as well, according to the most populated city in Japan outside the Tokyo metropolitan area.
“We will conduct a simultaneous shutdown to ensure safety and prevent expansion of infections,” Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said at a meeting with senior city officials.
During the closure, schools will gather information on health conditions of students from parents and report to the education board if they find any concerns.
In Tokyo, Ochanomizu University said the state-run institution will close affiliated kindergarten, elementary school, and junior and senior high schools from Friday for about a month until early April, following a spring break.
Prince Hisahito, the 13-year-old nephew of Emperor Naruhito, attends the junior high school affiliated with the university.
“I believe it’s an unprecedented closure for such an extended period of time,” a university official said.
Similarly, most of the 1,600 elementary and junior high schools on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido were already closed Thursday for a week.
The action came a day after the Hokkaido board of education urged local authorities to temporarily close all public and private elementary and junior high schools in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Machiko Inari, a 40-year-old resident of Hakodate, said she will take a week off to look after her daughter, a fifth-grader, and son, a kindergarten student.
“Although it will affect my work and co-workers, it’s better if it reduces the risk of infection for children as the disease is still relatively unknown,” she said.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, speaks during a meeting of a task force on the new coronavirus at his official residence in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. Abe was asking all elementary, middle and high schools to remain shut until spring holidays begin in late March.
Japan to close schools nationwide to control spread of virus
February 27, 2020
TOKYO — Japan will close schools nationwide to help control the spread of the new virus, the government announced Thursday.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked all elementary, middle and high schools to remain shut until spring holidays begin in late March.
The measure affects 12.8 million students at 34,847 schools nationwide, the education ministry said.
It does not affect DODEA schools for now, said Todd Schlitz, the DODEA-Pacific chief of staff.
Abe’s announcement came hours after several local governments announced their own decisions to suspend classes.
“The coming week or two is an extremely important time,” Abe said. “This is to prioritize the health and safety of the children and take precautions to avoid the risk of possible large-scale infections for many children and teachers who gather and spend hours together every day.”
The decision comes amid growing concern about the rise in the number of untraceable cases of the virus in northern Japan and elsewhere. Japan now has more than 890 cases, including 705 from a quarantined cruise ship. An eighth death from the virus was confirmed Thursday in Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, now considered a site of growing cluster.
Officials in the northernmost main island of Hokkaido said they were closing all 1,600 elementary and middle schools. Hokkaido now has 54 confirmed cases, the largest in in the country outside the cruise ship.
The emergency school closures come as schools were busy preparing for graduation ceremonies at the end of the school year. Koizumi primary school Vice Principal Norinobu Sawada said the decision to suspend classes was unavoidable.
“The most important thing is to prevent infections, so there aren’t many other options,” he said.
Rise in COVID-19 cases in Japan prompts 9 countries to restrict travel to and from Japan
A significant uptick in COVID-19 cases across Japan has triggered a flurry of advisories worldwide about travel to the country, with at least nine governments calling on their citizens to refrain from nonessential visits or to exercise increased caution during trips.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi confirmed Friday that the nine countries — Israel, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Samoa, Tonga, Micronesia, Kiribati, Bhutan and South Korea — had issued warnings against travel to Japan, one of the nations hit hardest by the new coronavirus epidemic.
Health minister Katsunobu Kato (second from right) attends a meeting of infectious disease experts held Monday at the ministry to discuss measures to tackle the new coronavirus outbreak in Japan
Rise in COVID-19 cases in Japan prompts travel advisory revisions
Feb 24, 2020
A significant uptick in COVID-19 cases across Japan has triggered a flurry of advisories worldwide about travel to the country, with at least nine governments calling on their citizens to refrain from nonessential visits or to exercise increased caution during trips.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi confirmed Friday that the nine countries — Israel, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Samoa, Tonga, Micronesia, Kiribati, Bhutan and South Korea — had issued warnings against travel to Japan, one of the nations hit hardest by the new coronavirus epidemic.
On its official website, the Samoan government strongly recommends that all persons intending to travel to China and any country affected by the coronavirus “postpone their travel arrangements unless necessary.” Samoa also warned that Japanese passport-holders must self-quarantine for at least 14 days at their point of departure, and must undergo medical clearance within three days prior to their trip to Samoa.
Thai media outlets have widely reported that the country’s Public Health Ministry is advising Thais planning to visit Japan to postpone their trips. The Thai government said the coronavirus outbreaks in Japan and Singapore had reached “the third stage” in which a growing number of infected residents have no record of contact with Chinese people or any history of traveling to China, where the virus is thought to have originated.
Israel’s safety measures follow reports that two Israelis were found to have contracted the virus after they were evacuated from the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama Port, where they had spent around two weeks under quarantine.
About 10 Israelis were aboard the ship. Israel was one of about a dozen countries that arranged chartered flights to bring their citizens home last week, in an emergency measure aimed at protecting the evacuees from the virus.
All the evacuees had boarded the charter planes on condition that they tested negative for COVID-19. But at least 14 Americans, six Australians, four U.K. nationals and two Israelis have tested positive so far after returning home from Japan.
On Sunday, after the viral infections were confirmed in the evacuees from the Diamond Princess, Israel announced its entry ban for Japanese travelers and residents of Japan who had visited Japan or South Korea 14 days prior to their arrival, effective from Monday.
Micronesia has also barred direct entry for people from Japan.
Until last weekend, the Diamond Princess remained the biggest COVID-19 cluster outside of China with nearly 700 people found to have developed symptoms of COVID-19 or been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes the disease.
On Monday, the total number of 763 cases reported in South Korea, which is struggling to contain a snowballing coronavirus outbreak of its own, surpassed that of the Diamond Princess.
But with 149 cases reported within Japan as of Monday evening the nationwide total including those from the ship was brought to 840, prompting other governments to upgrade their health advisories concerning travel to the nation.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has also issued a low-level travel advisory for Japan, warning of “sustained community spread” of the virus across the country through unknown routes of transmission.
In its notice, the CDC suggested older adults and those with chronic medical conditions — who may be at higher risk from severe disease — should discuss their plans with a health care provider and consider postponing nonessential travel. They also warned Americans considering trips to Japan of possible travel delays, quarantine and extremely expensive medical costs if they are suspected to have become infected with the virus.
Australia has also adjusted its advice for Japan. The Australian Government announced Sunday on Twitter that it recommends Australians exercise a high degree of caution in Japan due to an increased risk of sustained local transmission of the new coronavirus.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/24/national/japan-covid-19-travel-advisories/#.Xlf7OEpCeUl
A tea ceremony is held during an ume-viewing festival at Kitano Tenmangu shrine in Kyoto, western Japan, on Feb. 25, 2020.
7 countries restrict entry from Japan to thwart new virus spread
February 25, 2020
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Seven countries have restricted entry to Japanese nationals and those traveling from Japan in an effort to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday.
The countries are Israel, Samoa, Micronesia, Kiribati, Comoros, Tuvalu, and the Solomon Islands, Motegi said at a news conference.
The virus, which originated in China and causes a disease known as COVID-19, has spread across the globe infecting more than 78,000 people. There are over 800 confirmed cases of infection in Japan, with many from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama.
Japan has asked Israel to remove the travel restrictions, and briefed each country about Tokyo’s fight against the virus outbreak.
Motegi asked people to check the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s website before making travel plans.
USA desperately pushing the fantasy of Small Nuclear Reactors to India
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“………Ahead of Trump’s recent visit to India, officials of the US Department of Energy were quoted as saying that they are strongly encouraging Westinghouse Corporation to ensure further progress on the nuclear projects already in the pipeline.
Another addition to the nuclear bucket list this time are the Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), which the industry has been fervently pushing both within and outside the United States. While US-based corporations have individually attempted to introduce their SMR business in India in recent years, this is the first time these reactors have been formally introduced as part of the official US-India nuclear dialogue. Globally, nuclear lobbies have promoted SMRs as an innovation that will help address the perennial problems of cost, feasibility, environmental impacts, and scalability associated with conventional large reactors.
However, as independent experts in the field suggest, SMRs are an old and discredited idea – a make-believe renaissance after the Fukushima accident thwarted dreams of building massive-sized nuclear power parks across the globe. SMRs are neither cheap nor innovative nor green, as a number of leading experts in the field have pointed out. In particular, SMRs will be disastrous in densely populated countries like India, which already has an electricity surplus, and whose problems in the power sector owe more to its people’s lack of purchasing power, messy regulatory frameworks that do not allow it to take advantage of renewable energy sources despite their increasing efficiency and competitiveness, and the larger questions surrounding its neoliberal growth model. India has also been desperately trying to position itself as an exporter of SMRs, and the reaffirmation of US support for India’s accession to the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) “without any delay” in the joint statement is expected to boost this ambition.
However, much like the other projections made by the Indian nuclear establishment, the pipedream of India becoming a nuclear exporter reflects its postcolonial aspirations of becoming a big player internationally, rather than being grounded in any realism. India does not have much to offer beyond the sub-300MWe capacity Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) that it mastered in the 1970s by reverse engineering the Canada-imported reactors called CANDUs. Invariably these reactors had huge cost and time overruns, and India is now building their larger versions, 700MWe each, at sites such as Gorakhpur, Chutka, and Kaiga. The smaller designs are evidently unattractive for potential SMR buyers for reasons of cost, safety and reliability. However, simply pitching them in the foreign market will bring to India the tag of a major nuclear player, which is enough international recognition for the chest-thumping present regime. Despite the hype that Trump’s recent visit generated – of an upgrade of US-India relations to a ‘Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership’ and so on – there is very little that India stands to gain. In the absence of any new meaningful and people-centric cooperation on trade, environment, education or technology, this nuclear tango will only remain a farcical buildup at the cost of the safety and livelihoods of Indian citizens.
Not long ago, Modi’s own home state of Gujarat had rejected a US-imported nuclear project labeling it unacceptably risk-prone, especially in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima accident. This leaves the Modi government with no moral right to impose the US reactors on people in other parts of the country. Kumar Sundaram is founding editor of DiaNuke.org, an international platform for nuclear-related discussions and campaigns. https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/6/18388/Namaste-Nukes-Trumps-Toxic-Sales-Pitch-for-the-Stalled-Westinghouse-Nuclear-Project-in-India
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Trump’s toxic nuclear sales pitch to India- undermining India’s nuclear liability law
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In a rush to please the Americans, no matter the cost The recently concluded US President’s visit to India was marked by the odious displays of pomposity for which both Modi and Trump are known to have a soft spot. Even as Delhi burned, with deadly riots engineered and unleashed by majoritarian mobs backed by the ruling party, Modi and Trump continued their photo-ops around the Taj Mahal and Gandhi Ashram. What risks being ignored amid this deafening cacophony are crucial issues concerning the US-imported nuclear reactor project in India, to which both the media and civil society have not paid adequate attention, perhaps due to the fact that these nuclear negotiations have been in the pipeline for more than twelve years now and their mention in bilateral summits and statements appears little more than ceremonious. However, there are additional twists to the India-US nuclear story that deserve our attention. To recap, in 2008, in exchange for the American heavy-lifting of the decades-long nuclear embargo that India faced internationally for testing atomic weapons, a massive contract for a 6-unit nuclear power park was signed with the US nuclear giant, Westinghouse. In a reciprocal gesture for this diplomatic favour, India announced the project without any cost-benefit calculation, safety or environmental impact analysis, and in the stark absence of dialogue, negotiations or the consent of the local communities in Kovvada, a site on India’s eastern coast in Andhra Pradesh. Although the Indian government, in a rush to please its American counterpart, has already pushed through land acquisition in Kovvada, bulldozing grassroots dissent and even resolutions passed by democratically elected local bodies, the project has been stalled by a number of other factors, including the global decline of the nuclear industry post-Fukushima, which led Westinghouse to first sell its stakes to Toshiba and then eventually, declare itself bankrupt.
Additionally, certain other India-specific factors have stalled the nuclear power projects which corporations in the US, France and Russia have been eyeing in order to resurrect themselves. Nuclear liability tops the list here – foreign vendors have been wary of the 2010 liability law enacted by the Indian parliament, which they view as overly restrictive, even as civil society activists and safety experts consider the legislation extremely weak. The Indian law provides for a ‘right of recourse’ in Clause 17(b) under which, in case of a future nuclear accident, the nuclear operator can demand liability from the equipment suppliers.
The nuclear industry lobbies have found this provision to be an anathema and the US government has taken the lead in pressuring successive Indian governments to do away with it.
Despite his party’s vociferous criticism of such moves
 by the earlier Singh-led government when in opposition, Modi’s unabashed dalliance with the US has barely remained under wraps – he and Obama jointly declared in 2015 that India would actively take steps to limit liability in the case of a nuclear accident.However, Modi didn’t stop at that. Not only did his government ensure that the liability rules were dubbed ‘ultra vires’ and against the spirit of the law by former Solicitor-General Soli Sorabjee, entered into force in 2016, it also went on to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) – an international template promoted by the nuclear lobbies to ensure a liability-free market, thereby deliberately creating a contradiction between India’s domestic law and its international commitments. Ever since it assumed power, the Modi government has consistently undermined nuclear liability provisions meant to safeguard the interests of the Indian people.
If the recent utterances of senior officials from the US Department of Energy offer any clues, the American nuclear vendors do not want to settle for anything short of amending the original Nuclear Liability Act – “to be clear, there are still open issues around the liability issue,” the US DoE Assistant Secretary is reported to have said in a Reuters report published last week. As the street protests by indignant survivors of Bhopal’s gas accident during Trump’s recent visit suggest, Indian citizens have had an agonising experience due to the apathy of governments and judicial processes, with the most vulnerable sections having been denied both compensation and justice in the case of the world’s worst industrial disaster. Successive governments in both the US and India have managed to ensure that concerned corporations remain unscathed and that their owners go unpunished.
Neither the routine exhortations of India-US summits being spaces for a rendezvous between two democracies, nor Modi’s much celebrated cleanliness drive, have translated into an open dialogue with the victims of the Bhopal disaster, or the detoxification of the accident site even three decades after the horrific chemical industrial accident.
Trump’s domestic energy policy and budget allocations disproportionately favour the nuclear industry, and exporting American nuclear reactors to developing countries is also a key part of this policy shift. The US under Trump has concluded nuclear deals with the UAE despite massive proliferation concerns………. Despite the hype that Trump’s recent visit generated – of an upgrade of US-India relations to a ‘Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership’ and so on – there is very little that India stands to gain. In the absence of any new meaningful and people-centric cooperation on trade, environment, education or technology, this nuclear tango will only remain a farcical buildup at the cost of the safety and livelihoods of Indian citizens.
Not long ago, Modi’s own home state of Gujarat had rejected a US-imported nuclear project labeling it unacceptably risk-prone, especially in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima accident. This leaves the Modi government with no moral right to impose the US reactors on people in other parts of the country. Kumar Sundaram is founding editor of DiaNuke.org, an international platform for nuclear-related discussions and campaigns. https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/6/18388/Namaste-Nukes-Trumps-Toxic-Sales-Pitch-for-the-Stalled-Westinghouse-Nuclear-Project-in-India |
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International Atomic Energy Agency, run by 5 nuclear weapons nations, backs Fukushima water emptying to the Pacific
China , France , Russia , UK , and the USA, oversee the IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency, this was expected.
UN SC P5 nuclear nations is a fully integrated system inclusive of the Military-Industrial Complex.
An ecosystem that includes weapons of mass destruction, for peace, a leadership group in a state of cultural cognitive dissonance.
Who as a group know gene sheering radionuclides, have an effect on DNA X10 times half-life of any alpha particles out of nuclear reactors.
IAEA backs release of Fukushima water into sea, AsiaTimes, 27 Feb 20,
Most of the radioactive isotopes have been filtered out, but one – tritium, which has long half-life – remains, The world’s nuclear watchdog gave its backing Thursday to Japanese plans to release contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.
Japan has around a million tonnes of contaminated water stored in tanks at the site of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, whose reactors went into meltdown after a huge tsunami in 2011.
A government panel last month recommended the water be released into the ocean or vaporized, but no final decision has been taken, with all solutions deeply unpopular with sections of the Japanese public.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Rafael Grossi told journalists in Tokyo the panel’s recommendations both appeared suitable…….
“Releasing into the ocean is done elsewhere, it’s not something new, there is no scandal here,” Grossi added.
“But what is important is to do it in a way that is not harmful and you need somebody to monitor before, during and after release, to check that everything is okay.”
The radioactive water comes from several different sources – including water used for cooling at the plant, and groundwater and rain that seeps into the plant daily – and is put through an extensive filtration process.
Most of the radioactive isotopes have been removed by the filtration system, but one – tritium, which has a long half-life – remains…….. https://asiatimes.com/2020/02/iaea-backs-release-of-fukushima-water-into-sea/
No. 2 reactor at Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi, halted by 2011 tsunami, passes safety screening
People protest Wednesday in Tokyo over the Nuclear Regulation Authority giving its approval for the safety measures implemented at the No. 2 unit of the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture.
February 26, 2020
A nuclear reactor in Miyagi Prefecture damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster formally cleared screening by a national nuclear watchdog on Wednesday, paving the way for it to restart after anti-disaster measures are completed by the end of March next year.
The No. 2 unit of Tohoku Electric Power Co.’s Onagawa plant won the approval of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, becoming the second disaster-damaged reactor, after the Tokai No. 2 power plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, to pass stricter safety standards introduced after the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Construction of an 800-meter seawall is among anti-disaster measures that still need to be completed at the plant, which straddles the town of Onagawa and the city of Ishinomaki. The operator also needs to obtain consent from local residents before it can restart the plant.
On March 11, 2011, all three reactors at the Onagawa complex shut down when a massive earthquake rocked northeastern Japan and a 13-meter tsunami hit the area, flooding the underground floors of the No. 2 unit.
However, the facility’s emergency cooling system operated correctly and there was no meltdown of the type that occurred at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 plant.
Tohoku Electric applied for safety screening for the No. 2 unit in December 2013 and has been constructing the seawall that will top out at 29 meters above sea level. It expects to spend about ¥340 billion ($3.08 billion) in total on the anti-disaster measures.
The company has already decided to scrap the No. 1 reactor, which began operations in 1984, and is considering applying for the restart of the No. 3 unit, which started power generation in 2002.
When it restarts, the Onagawa No. 2 reactor, which began commercial operations in 1995, will be the first boiling water reactor — the same type used at the Fukushima No. 1 plant — to resume operations since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami hit. The disaster claimed nearly 16,000 lives and left more than 2,500 missing.
Other boiling water reactors at Tepco’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture and the Tokai No. 2 plant of Japan Atomic Power Co. have already secured approval to resume operations from the regulator, but have yet to obtain local consent.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/26/national/miyagi-nuclear-reactor-safety/#.Xlare0pCeUk
Could the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Be a Victim of COVID-19?
February 20, 2020
In a promotional video featuring Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, as well as fans of different nationalities, the organizing committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games revealed on Feb. 17 the event’s official motto: United by Emotion.
Yet if there’s one emotion linking the world today, it might be fear. The COVID-19 outbreak shows little sign of weakening. As of Feb. 19, the disease has infected more than 75,000, killed 2,014 and prompted over 50 countries and territories to close their borders to arrivals from China. The “devil” virus, as Chinese President Xi Jinping has called it, has already surpassed the combined death toll of SARS and MERS and lies on the cusp of becoming a pandemic that spreads around the globe. The next few weeks will determine whether containment efforts can prevent COVID-19 becoming the “black swan event” that Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang has warned may derail the global economy.
The economic repercussions already look severe. According to analysis by research firm Capital Economics, COVID-19 will cost the world economy over $280 billion in the first quarter of this year, meaning that global GDP will not grow from one quarter to the next for the first time since 2009. China’s growth is expected to slow to 4.5% over the same period. Some 5 million companies have Chinese suppliers, according to data company Dun & Bradstreet, and all are under threat from slashed manufacturing capacity.
Korean automaker Hyundai has shut its huge factory in Ulsan due to a shortage of parts. Apple has told investors it will fail to meet quarterly revenue targets and warned of global “iPhone supply shortages” from the shutting of Chinese factories. The slowdown may also undermine U.S. plans to massively boost exports of agricultural goods, energy and services to China, hampering any potential recovery in farming communities and the Rust Belt.
Travel in and around the region has ebbed significantly. Some 21 airlines have cancelled all flights to mainland China. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has cut 40% of network capacity and asked 27,000 employees to take unpaid leave to help it stay afloat. Events from the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens to K-Pop concerts have been cancelled or postponed.
Now, speculation is mounting about one of the year’s biggest events due to take place directly in the orbit of the outbreak—the 2020 Olympic Games, which are to be held in Tokyo beginning July 24. Japan has the second highest rate of COVID-19 infections after China, with 695 people testing positive for the virus, most of them on a cruise ship docked at the city of Yokohama. Yet the Olympics torch relay is due to begin next month and traverse to all of Japan’s 47 prefectures over 121 days, coinciding with its popular cherry blossom bloom.
The chill on visitor numbers across Asia already risk making the Games a subdued affair. Japan received 9.6 million visitors from China in 2019, accounting for a third of foreign tourist expenditure, but Chinese arrivals have virtually ceased since the outbreak. According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Tokyo 2020 organizing committee chief executive Toshiro Muto said on Feb.5 he was “extremely worried that the spread of the infectious disease could throw cold water on the momentum toward the Games.”
Officials have since closed ranks as speculation about the Games has increased. Organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori insisted Feb. 13, “we are not considering a cancelation or postponement of the Games—let me make that clear.” As he spoke, some 3,700 people remained quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise liner, anchored less than two miles from Yokohama Baseball stadium, a key Tokyo 2020 venue. (Those uninfected were scheduled for release beginning Feb. 19.)
Four days later, the city canceled the Tokyo Marathon due to take place on March 1 for all except elite runners. Dick Pound, a former Olympian swimmer and member of the International Olympic Committee, told TIME the organisation was monitoring the situation closely but said no one was talking about relocation or cancelation with five months still to go. “If there’s a legitimate pandemic that is potentially a lot more lethal than normal illnesses of flu, that’s when you need to start thinking about it. But not at this stage.”
Mori’s confidence is in line with projections that COVID-19 will fade during warmer and more humid summer months, as SARS did in 2003. But it’s still not clear why SARS declined as temperatures rose. Some coronavirus strains—like MERS—thrive in the heat, says Prof. Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota. The theory of COVID-19’s summer regress is simply “based on wishful thinking,” he says. “There is no data to support it.”
It’s hard to overstate the economic impact on Japan were the Olympics forced to be canceled or relocated. The investment surrounding the event is staggering; the Games are set to cost $25 billion, according to latest predictions, nearly four times the original estimate. According to hospitality research firm CBRE Hotels, 80,000 hotel rooms were forecast to open across Japan’s nine major cities between 2019 and 2021. Tokyo’s Okura hotel reopened in September after a $1 billion renovation. In May, national carrier Japan Airlines is due to launch a low cost subsidiary, Zipair Tokyo, at a cost of around $200 million, to meet increased demand surrounding the Olympics. It will be based at Tokyo Narita International Airport, which is currently undergoing an expansion to nearly double capacity. (Tokyo’s other main airport, Haneda, is also due to boost capacity by 70%.)
The coronavirus is already keeping international visitors away beyond China. Capital Economics research suggests tourism arrivals in Japan will fall by 40% this quarter due to COVID-19, knocking off 0.4 percentage points from growth. The U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization forecasts that Japan could lose $1.29 billion in tourism revenue over the same period. Koichiro Takahara, CEO of Tokyo-based ride-sharing app nearMe, says he fears the Olympics could get cancelled if the outbreak worsens. That, he says, “would have a big impact on my business, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.”
It would also impose a political cost on Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Already, his insistence during the bidding process that radiation from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant meltdown would be tackled has been called out after Greenpeace found radiation hotspots in December near where the Olympic torch relay will pass. Similar assurances that COVID-19 will not disrupt the Games will be treated with skepticism, says Jules Boykoff, a politics professor at Pacific University, Oregon who studies the Olympics and played soccer for Team USA. “For many, when they hear Abe and other officials saying that COVID-19 will not affect the Olympics, they hear the unmistakable ring of previous empty promises.”
But it’s unclear what a Plan B might look like. Simon Chadwick, professor of the Eurasian Sport Industry at France’s Emlyon business School, suggests a networked event held across different countries is a more likely alternative. (The 2020 UEFA European Soccer Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games are slated for such a format.) Yet there will be considerable resistance from sponsors and broadcasters who have already ploughed vast resources into securing rights deals and promotional activities. NBC alone spent $1.4 billion on broadcasting rights for Tokyo 2020. In this regard, both host and business interests will be furiously resisting any deviation. “The Japanese government is surely lobbying the IOC hard as it seeks to protect its multitude of investments,” says Chadwick.
That might explain an apparent unwillingness to address the uncertainty. Asked what contingency plans were in place for moving or postponing the Games, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government told TIME, “We cannot provide a definitive answer to a hypothetical situation.” Yet as the virus spreads its tendrils further into the Asia region, the risks are only becoming more tangible
Illegal radioactive substances found in South Tangerang house, Jakarta
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Nuclear agency finds radioactive substances in South Tangerang house, News Desk. The Jakarta Post Jakarta / Tue, February 25, 2020 A joint team from the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten) and the National Police has discovered illegally owned radioactive substances in a house in the Batan Indah housing complex in South Tangerang, Banten.
“The radioactive sources contain caesium-137 and other radioactive isotopes,” Bapeten spokesperson Indra Gunawan said in a press release on Monday. Indra said the team would further investigate the matter to ascertain whether the illegally owned substances were linked to the recent discovery of caesium-137 radioactive waste in the complex. Bapeten first detected high levels of radiation in the Batan Indah complex during a routine check at the end of January. Between Feb. 7 and Feb. 8, a joint Bapeten and National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan) team discovered several radioactive fragments in a vacant lot next to a volleyball court in the housing complex. The fragments contained caesium-137, which is commonly used for industrial purposes. ….. https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/02/25/nuclear-agency-finds-radioactive-substances-in-south-tangerang-house.html |
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Communist Party of India (CPI (M) oppose purchase of U.S nuclear, with Jared Kushner’s vested interest
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Party leader urges Centre to protect the country’s securityDemanding dropping of nuclear power plant proposed by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) at Kovvada in Srikakulam district, CPI (M) State Secretariat member Ch. Narsinga Rao on Monday said United States President Donald Trump was on a visit to India to pursue supply of reactor to the plant, among other things. He told reporters along with Greater Visakha unit president of CPI (M) B. Mr. Narsinga Rao said Westhouse company, which agreed to supply the reactor to Kovvada, had been acquired by Brookfield Asset Management, an investment company in which Qatar Investment Authority is a major stakeholder. The CPI (M) leader said Mr. Kushner was an investor in Qatar Investment Authority.
Mr. Trump might be keen on proceeding with the MoU on Kovvada, he alleged and asked the Centre to protect the country’s security by rejecting America’s plea to supply the rector to NPCIL. He said originally nuclear power plant was proposed at Mithivirdi in Gujarat and due to public protest, it was later decided to set up the plant at Kovvada. He said the Kovvada plant would be expensive and unviable and banks funding it were bound to turn bankrupt. Mr. Rao said former Union Power secretary E.A.S. Sarma had also strongly opposed the move to sign MoU with the US for supply of six reactors for Kovvada from the erstwhile Westinghouse company. |
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Terrorism risks in Pakistan’s upgraded nuclear weapons
Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Get a Longer Range and Greater Precision
Pakistan successfully test-fired a new version of its Ra’ad ii nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile on February 16, in the latest sign of the nation’s thermonuclear weapons advancement.
The Pakistan military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ispr) said in a statement that the new version of the Ra’ad ii can travel up to 375 miles, nearly twice the range of the earlier model. It noted that the missile is “equipped with state-of-the-art guidance and navigation systems ensuring engagement of targets with high precision.” The combination of the longer range and the precision navigation “significantly enhances” the military’s “air delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea,” the ispr said…….
Pakistan has steadily developed more powerful, more compact and more numerous nuclear warheads—and, as evidenced by the new Ra’ad ii variant, more deft systems to deliver them.
Meanwhile, parts of Pakistan have become hotbeds of intensifying Islamic radicalism, which calls the security of these unfathomably destructive weapons into question. “Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world,” Michael Morell, a former acting Central Intelligence Agency director, told Axios in 2018. “[A]nti-state jihadist extremism is growing in Pakistan, creating the nightmare society down the road: an extremist government in Islamabad with nuclear weapons.”
The Pakistani military has control over the nation’s 70 to 90 nuclear weapons. But the military routinely works with some of the most dangerous terrorist groups on the planet, including the ruthless Haqqani branch of the Afghan Taliban. The Brookings Institution noted, “Pakistan has provided direct military and intelligence aid” to the Haqqani, which has resulted in “the deaths of U.S. soldiers, Afghan security personnel and civilians, plus significant destabilization of Afghanistan.” …….. https://www.thetrumpet.com/21979-pakistans-nuclear-weapons-get-a-longer-range-and-greater-precision
Positive tests for Caesium-137 in some South Tangerang residents
Survey finds most Japanese do not want to attend live Olympic or Paralympic events
People pass a countdown clock for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo last Tuesday. Most Japanese have no desire to attend Olympic or Paralympic events, according to a recent Jiji Press poll.
Feb 23, 2020
Fewer than 40 percent of Japanese want to watch live Tokyo Olympic or Paralympic events at venues, a recent Jiji Press opinion poll found.
According to the survey, 9.2 percent of those questioned said they definitely want to watch the Olympic or Paralympic opening or closing ceremonies or competitions at event venues, while 27.4 percent want to attend such events only if possible.
The total figure of 36.7 percent is down from 37.1 percent in July last year, the last time the survey covered the subject, and 45.6 percent in 2018.
As many as 62.8 percent said they do not want to attend such events. The figure includes 23.2 percent who said they do not want to watch any live events and 39.5 percent who do not want to attend them so much.
Asked about reasons, with multiple answers allowed, 70.0 percent said they will be satisfied with watching different events via television broadcasts and other types of coverage, 38.5 percent said event venues are too far away to travel to and 22.0 percent said they are worried about heatstroke and other problems due to expected high temperatures during the games.
The low level of interest in attending live events is also believed to reflect concerns over the growing coronavirus outbreak.
Regarding Olympic and Paralympic tickets, only 1.3 percent said they had won tickets in the lottery.
The largest group, or 69.6 percent, said they do not plan to buy tickets, followed by 15.8 percent who did not join the lottery and have not decided whether they will buy them in the future and 5.6 percent who did not enter the lottery and have not yet decided what they are planning to do.
Also, 4.7 percent said they did not apply for the lottery but want to buy tickets, while 2.4 percent said they entered the lottery but failed to win so they want to purchase tickets.
On issues of concern about the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the largest proportion or respondents, at 39.9 percent, cited concern over transportation inconveniences that may result from traffic jams and congestion.
Some 38.0 percent said costs for the Tokyo Games may increase, causing more taxpayers’ money to be used to finance the event, while 37.2 percent are worried that Japan may be targeted by criminals or terrorists.
The interview-based survey was conducted on 2,000 people aged 18 or older across Japan for four days through Feb. 9. Valid responses were collected from 61.1 percent of those questioned.
Replace Tokyo by London as Host of 2020 Olympics
London Seems Ready to Replace Tokyo as Host of 2020 Olympics
Feb 20, 2020
London, Feb. 19 (Jiji Press)–Two major candidates in the London mayoral election in May suggested Wednesday that the city is ready to host the 2020 Summer Olympics if Tokyo is forced to give up hosting the Games due to a possible epidemic of the new coronavirus in Japan.
London, which hosted the 2012 Games, “can host the Olympics in 2020,” Conservative challenger Shaun Bailey said on Twitter.
“We have the infrastructure and the experience. And due to the coronavirus outbreak, the world might need us to step up,” Bailey said.
“As Mayor, I will make sure London is ready to answer the call and host the Olympics again,” he said.
Local newspaper City A.M. reported a comment by a spokesman for Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan that London will do its best in the unlikely event that it be required, although everyone is working toward the success of the Tokyo Games.
John Coates, chairman of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games coordination committee (left), and Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori
Tokyo Olympics have no ‘Plan B’ for coronavirus, organizers say
February 14, 2020
There is no “Plan B” for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics if the event is affected by the coronavirus outbreak in nearby China, organizers said.
“There’s no case for any contingency plans or canceling the Games or moving the Games,” John Coates, head of an International Olympics Committee inspection team, said at a press conference in Tokyo Thursday.
Coates, who had just wrapped up a two-day trip to investigate possible risks, said the World Health Organization has advised him that a back-up plan isn’t necessary.
He added that the starting date of July 24 “remains on track.”
The rapidly spreading virus has infected nearly 64,000 people worldwide and claimed the lives of 1,400 people, with only one fatality reported in Japan.
At the press event, elected officials were also asked if there are any “organizational changes” planned for rolling out the games in light of the virus.
“This stage, no. We are not thinking of any such possibility,” said Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister who is heading the Olympic planning committee.
But outside experts warned that coronavirus-related health risks to Japan are hard to predict.
“There is no guarantee that the outbreak will come to an end before the Olympics because we have no scientific basis to be able to say that,” Shigeru Omi, a former regional director of the WHO.
“We should assume that the virus has already been spreading in Japan.”
https://nypost.com/2020/02/14/tokyo-olympics-have-no-plan-b-for-coronavirus-organizers-say/
Time running out on Tokyo Olympics
February 19, 2020
Japan needs to rethink the Olympics. The most pressing reason to postpone or cancel the 2020 Tokyo summer games, which are due to start in late July, is a raging public health crisis of unknown dimensions.
The second most important reason to put the Olympics on hold is the Japanese government response to the public health crisis to date: it has shown itself to have feet of clay.
If the Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked in Yokohama Port under quarantine, is a litmus test of Japan’s ability to exercise compassion and competence in an emergency involving thousands of people from around the world, the Abe government has failed miserably.
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo continues to dither while a ship docked in a Japanese port is ravaged by a dangerous virus; nearly 500 infected at latest count. Mr Abe and his political associates continue to proclaim the Olympics will not be delayed, but that is just wishful thinking.
How can a country move forward with plans to “welcome” the world to the Tokyo games when it can’t even deal with a single cruise ship stranded in Tokyo Bay?
- Japan hits back at ‘chaotic’ cruise ship quarantine claims
- Two passengers from quarantined cruise ship in Japan die
- Two die on virus ship
Ever since right-wing firebrand Ishihara Shintaro was mayor of Tokyo, the 2020 Olympics have been a pet project of Japan nationalists seeking to burnish a flawed legacy. They hold the vain hope the 2020 games will be as transformative as the 1964 Tokyo Olympics famously were, again heralding an era of national pride.
Perhaps the turning point of the Beijing Olympics of 2008 is a more apt comparison, given the upsurge of social control, information control and the discordant noise of nationalism.
Among other things, Mr Abe also sees the Olympics as a way of proving to the world that the Fukushima nuclear mess — Japan’s answer to Chernobyl — is not a cause for concern. This is ironic because the messy aftermath of the triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami and meltdown) of March 2011 has been seized upon by Mr Abe and his allies to tighten their grip on power.
Fukushima is an environmental tragedy, but the fact is, it cannot be fully contained, so the struggle has shifted to containing information.
Former prime minister Koizumi Junichiro has called Mr Abe “a liar” for sugar-coating the disaster. Mr Abe had statistics about evacuees were reclassified and altered to make things look more positive. He reassured the Olympic Committee that things at Fukushima were “under control”, which is to say he had the flow of information under control, not the toxic, radioactive leaks. In 2019, Mr Abe’s cabinet shamelessly made a move to dump a million tonnes of “harmless” contaminated water into the open sea.
Mr Abe’s ability to control information is bolstered by an “official secrets act” that criminalises journalists and whistleblowers for reporting leaked information, including radiation leaks. He has exonerated those most responsible for the nuclear mishap — big players in the electric power industry — and put the burden on the taxpayer, reminiscent of the US bailout of Wall Street bailout in 2008.
Only instead of toxic default swaps, it’s a swapping of feel-good stories for news of toxic doom.
Japanese consumers are justifiably nervous about food sourced near the Daiichi Nuclear plant, but Mr Abe is willfully pushing to include food from Fukushima at the Tokyo Olympic Village to “prove” it isn’t tainted.
Nor is it mere coincidence that Mr Abe’s government wants the Olympic Torch Run to commence just 20 kilometres from the damaged Dai-Ichi reactor.
Fearing negative news, hundreds of Japan evacuees from Wuhan were quietly dumped at Haneda Airport without mandatory quarantine. Some took the train home. The Abe government also made a point of asking the World Health Organisation (WHO) not to include the feverish passengers on Diamond Princess in Japan’s national case toll, presumably in order not to dampen “Olympic fever”.
Mr Abe’s icy silence regarding the stricken ship was broken with a silly string of excuses for not being able to test everyone. Hong Kong tested and cleared an entire cruise ship in less time than it took Japan to test a tenth of the passengers.
Even as the coronavirus started to spread among Japanese who had not travelled to China in mid-February, a gala Olympic torch event was held in the streets of Tokyo. Even as public health experts warned of a crisis brewing, it was business as usual for tourist festivals, including the uniquely vulnerable “10,000 naked man festival” in Okayama, which brings to mind the ill-fated “feast for 10,000” held by officials in Wuhan.
The Japanese government’s failure to test all cruise passengers meant even those American passengers “lucky” enough for US evacuation on Monday travelled on planes chartered by the US government in tight spaces with infected passengers.
There are many well-equipped military bases in Japan, dozens under the flag of the Rising Sun, dozens more under the Stars and Stripes.
With so many bases nearby, why is land quarantine not an option?
To portray Mr Abe’s cavalier treatment of the imperilled humans trapped aboard the Diamond Princess as racial or national prejudice is not fair; half of the passengers are Japanese.
But it is not wrong to suggest that the stigmatised human beings aboard that ship are being subject to intense prejudice, despite the fact that many of them happen to hold Japanese passports.
When it comes to stigma and exclusion, Japan can be ruthless to natives and non-natives alike. The tradition of “village outcast” (mura hachibu) in rural Japan has been updated to “shunned to the window” (madogawazoku) in modern offices.
This seems to be the fate of those left on the Diamond Princess, though not all of them have windows to sit by.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus continues to infect human beings regardless of race, creed and myths of national origin. Timely intervention makes a difference, as does common sense and common decency.
Unfortunately, we live in a time of toxic nationalism, intolerance and failed leadership. Not just Japan, but China and the US too. Similar dynamics can be seen at play in smaller countries as well, whether it be Thailand and Cambodia, or England and France.
Any leader who insists that “the show must go on” while doing nothing to help people in real distress proves a fundamental unworthiness to run the show.
Will the 2020 Tokyo Radioactive Olympics be cancelled as well?
List of sports events affected by the coronavirus outbreak
Meme made by Christian Roy and Hervé Courtois in 2013
List of sports events affected by the coronavirus outbreak
February 18, 2020
ATHLETICS
World indoor championships in Nanjing from March 13-15 postponed to March 2021.
Hong Kong Marathon on Feb. 9 cancelled.
Asian indoor championships in Hangzhou from Feb. 12-13 cancelled.
Tokyo Marathon on March 1: Restricted to elite runners.
AUTO RACING
Formula One’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 19 postponed. New date not set.
Formula E’s Sanya E-Prix in Sanya on March 21 cancelled.
BADMINTON
China Masters in Hainan from Feb. 25-March 1 postponed. New dates not set.
Asian team championships in Manila from Feb. 11-16: China and Hong Kong withdrew.
BASKETBALL
Women’s Olympic qualifying tournament moved from Foshan to Belgrade, Serbia from Feb. 6-9.
Asia Cup qualifiers postponed: Philippines vs. Thailand on Feb. 20; Japan vs. China on Feb. 21, China vs. Malaysia on Feb. 24. Matches scheduled for Hong Kong moved to opponents’ homes.
BIATHLON
Olympic test event in Zhangjiakou from Feb. 27-March 2 cancelled.
BOXING
Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifier moved from Wuhan to Amman, Jordan from March 3-11.
SPORT CLIMBING
Asian Championships in Chongqing from April 25-May 3 to be relocated.
World Cup in Wujiang from April 18-19 cancelled.
World Cup in Chongqing on April 22 cancelled.
EQUESTRIAN
Hong Kong showjumping leg of Longines Masters Series from Feb. 14-16 cancelled.
FIELD HOCKEY
Hockey Pro League matches between China and Belgium on Feb. 8-9 and Australia on March 14-15 postponed.
India women’s tour of China from March 14-25 cancelled.
Ireland women’s tour of Malaysia in March-April cancelled.
GOLF
US LPGA Tour
Honda LPGA Thailand in Pattaya from Feb. 20-23 cancelled.
HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore from Feb. 27-March 1 cancelled.
Blue Bay LPGA on Hainan Island from March 5-8 cancelled.
European Tour
Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from April 16-19 postponed.
China Open in Shenzhen from April 23-26 postponed.
GYMNASTICS
Artistic World Cup in Melbourne, Australia from Feb. 20-23: China team withdrew.
HANDBALL
Olympic women’s qualifying tournament in Montenegro from March 20-22: China withdrew. Hong Kong declined invitation to attend.
ICE HOCKEY
Chinese clubs in Supreme Hockey League playing home games in Russia.
Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia in Manila, Philippines, from Feb. 23-28 cancelled.
JUDO
Paris Grand Slam on Feb. 8-9: China team withdrew.
Dusseldorf Grand Slam on Feb. 21-23: China team withdrew.
RUGBY
Hong Kong Sevens moved from April 3-5 to Oct. 16-18.
Singapore Sevens moved from April 11-12 to Oct. 10-11.
SAILING
Asian Nacra 17 Championship in Shanghai from March 1-6 moved to Genoa, Italy from April 12-19.
Asian 49erFX Championship in Hainan from March 20-29 moved to Genoa, Italy from April 12-19.
SKIING
Alpine World Cup in Yanqing from Feb. 15-16 cancelled.
SOCCER
Asian Champions League: Matches involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua, and Shanghai SIPG postponed to April-May. Beijing FC allowed to play from Feb. 18.
Asian women’s Olympic qualifying Group B tournament relocated from Wuhan to Sydney from Feb. 3-13. China vs. South Korea playoff on March 11 moved from China to Malaysia.
AFC Cup: All group stage and playoff matches in east zone delayed to April 7.
Chinese Super League, due to start Feb. 22, delayed.
Asian men’s futsal championship in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from Feb. 26-March 8 postponed.
SWIMMING
Asian water polo championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan from Feb. 12-16 cancelled.
Diving Grand Prix in Madrid from Feb. 14-16: China team withdrew.
Diving world series event in Beijing from March 7-9 cancelled.
TENNIS
Fed Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tournament moved from Dongguan to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from March 3-7.
VOLLEYBALL
Beach volleyball World Cup in Yangzhou from April 22-26 postponed.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Asian Championships from April 18-25 moved from Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
WRESTLING
Asian Championships in New Delhi from Feb. 20-23: China, North Korea, Turkmenistan teams withdrew.
OTHERS
Chinese Anti-Doping Agency suspended testing from Feb. 3.
Winter X Games events in Chongli from Feb. 21-23 postponed.
Singapore athlete of the year awards on Feb. 26 postponed.
World Chess Federation’s presidential council meeting moved from China to United Arab Emirates on Feb. 28-29.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Para Games in the Philippines from March 20-28 postponed. New dates not set.
XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championships (offroad triathlon, duathlon) in Taiwan from March 28-29 cancelled.
Snooker’s China Open from March 30-April 5 cancelled.
SportAccord summit in Beijing from April 19-24 cancelled. New site to be determined.
Singapore bans spectators at National School Games from January-August.
University Athletic Association of the Philippines postponed all sports events.
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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