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 …

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 …

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  …

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 …

Pounding beats? Check. Uplifting lyrics? Check. Huge, backlit white wings? Check. After last year’s Eurovision Song Contest was canceled amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is roaring back to life this year with coronavirus bubbles added to its heady mix of music and melodrama. National delegations traveling to the Dutch port city of Rotterdam are abiding by strict measures to reduce the risk of infections, while the thousands of fans allowed to attend dress rehearsals, two semifinals and the grand final on Saturday will have to undergo testing to ensure they do not bring the virus into the cavernous venue. Executive producer Sietse Bakker is glad it’s going ahead at all. “Organizing the Eurovision Song Contest is always challenging because you have less than a year to organize one of the biggest and most complex events in Europe. But to do it in a pandemic is much, much more complicated,” he told The Associated Press. Despite the pandemic measures, the contest that aims to unite Europe in song is continuing its 65-year tradition of upbeat fun. Fans near the Ahoy arena can get into the swing of the event early. Traffic lights at a pedestrian walkway outside the venue have been transformed so that a green …

Rombauer romped to an 11-1 upset victory Saturday in the Preakness, denying Bob Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby winner Medina Sprint the chance at a Triple Crown that would have come with a giant asterisk.Medina Spirit finished third in the 1 3/16-mile race and was passed for the first time in his career after starting as the 2-1 favorite. All eyes were on Medina Spirit after he failed a post-Derby drug test for the presence of the steroid betamethasone.Midnight Bourbon, who was 3-1, was second. Keepmeinmind was fourth and Baffert-trained Concert Tour ninth in the 10-horse field.Rombauer busted the bias of horses hugging the rail, passing Midnight Bourbon and Medina Spirit down the stretch and winning by 3½ lengths.Jockey Flavien Prat won the Preakness two years after being elevated to the Derby winner aboard Country House when Maximum Security was disqualified.Trainer Michael McCarthy won his first Triple Crown race and captured the Preakness before Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, for whom he worked as an assistant before opening his own barn.Rombauer is owned by John and Diane Fradkin, a far cry from Medina Spirit’s Zedan Racing Stables and other horse racing conglomerates. He won for the third time in seven starts.McCarthy said …

May 17 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Willis Conover, the Voice of America broadcaster who helped popularize American jazz worldwide. Mike O’Sullivan looks back on his career and global impact on music and diplomacy.Producer (opening segment): Jimi Cook. …

The first game of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) tips off on Sunday in Rwanda, and fans of the sport say they hope the new league, and playing host to the games, will shine a spotlight on African players and help promote the sport in Africa.Competition was to have begun last year but was put off in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday, finally, Rwanda’s Patriots will face off against Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers at Kigali Arena, which will host all the games.Some Rwandan basketball supporters lament that required coronavirus testing will prevent them from being able to attend the games at Kigali Arena. But many will be cheering from a safe distance.The Basketball Africa League logo.Arnold Nkusi, 21, plays for the Rwandan military-funded APF, or Army Patriotic Front Club. A former student in the U.S. state of Texas, he said he thinks the BAL is “a great step for African teams. They can show how they are good in their talent.””In the past years,” he said, “we haven’t had time to, like, to show our potential and everything. So now it is a good opportunity, especially that it is happening in Rwanda. Now our players will be …

Nigerian basketball fans are preparing to cheer on the national team, Rivers Hoopers, as they face off Sunday in Kigali against Rwanda’s Patriots in the first game of the Basketball Africa League. The league is a joint effort between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA). The Nigerian team includes three former NBA players, Chris Daniel, Ben Uzoh and Sullivan Valdis. Basketball lovers like Chibuike Nwakakwa pledge their support for the Nigerian team. “I believe the boys have what it takes. I feel like they’ll excel, we stand positive, we stand with our country,” Nwakakwa said. The competition will have 12 teams, including Nigeria, competing for the African title between now and May 30. Anthony Ekpenkhio, basketball player and secretary of an Abuja basketball club, said Nigeria has a good chance of winning the competition. “If any country stands a chance of winning, I believe it’s Nigeria for a few reasons,” he said. “First of all, we have more international players than any other nation, especially in the U.S. and in the NBA. Some of our players are playing in top teams and some of them are even the best players in their teams.” Ekpenkhio said the Basketball Africa League is a …

Washington’s famed Smithsonian Museums began to reopen Friday after being closed to the public since November due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the museums reopening Friday was the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and prior to its re-opening to the public, First lady Jill Biden toured some of the exhibits and spoke to museum staff. Her visit was designed to promote the reopening, as well as to highlight how vaccinated Americans can start returning to some of the pre-pandemic norms. One day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance to say that those who are fully vaccinated do not need face coverings in most situations, Biden told reporters, “It felt so good to be outside and have our masks off.” Biden followed museum guidelines and wore her mask during the tour.Jill Biden pauses at the The Point of Pines Plantation Slave Cabin during a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture with Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian, center, and museum director Kevin Young, May 14, 2021. Along with the African American Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, …

Twenty-six games, writing a major chapter of African sports history. That’s the narrative of the inaugural season of the new Basketball Africa League, an offshoot of the U.S. National Basketball Association.     The action tips off Sunday, in Rwanda’s capital.     Basketball is not currently the continent’s favorite sport. That trophy goes to the mighty soccer, or football, as it’s more commonly known.     But the hardwood game has risen in popularity since it was introduced widely on the continent in the 1960s, siring African stars who hit American courts running, like NBA legends Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria, Dikembe Mutombo of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Luol Deng of South Sudan.     The 12 BAL teams are culled from the best clubs — many of them police and army teams — across the continent. They include West African teams from Nigeria, Cameroon and Senegal, southern heavyweights Angola and Mozambique and the might of the Maghreb in the form of teams from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. And, bringing a bit of musical flash and street cred to the new league: rapper J. Cole has signed on to the Rwandan team, the Patriots BC, according to local …

A Pakistani immigrant who is now an American citizen is working hard to bring glory to U.S. professional squash in upcoming tournaments.  Training was especially hard for Shahjahan Khan during Ramadan, as Saba Shah Khan reports.Producer: Saba Shah Khan. Camera: Matt Dibble, Qazafi Babar.   …

Eid al-Fitr is a special time of year for nearly half of Africa’s population, who are adherents of Islam. But this year’s celebration is different amid a continuing pandemic and the devastation it has caused across the continent. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Johannesburg.Camera: Zaheer Cassim, Amos Wangwa  Produced by: Marcus Harton    …

The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on May 29 has been moved from Istanbul to Porto to allow English fans to travel under COVID-19 restrictions, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday. The final was scheduled for Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, but Turkey was last week put on Britain’s travel ‘red list’, meaning that no English fans would be able to attend the game. It will now be held in FC Porto’s Estadio do Dragao. UEFA said that each club would receive 6,000 tickets which are expected to go on sale from today. The final capacity for the match has yet to be confirmed. There had been discussions over moving the final to London’s Wembley Stadium but UEFA said that despite “exhaustive efforts on the part of the (English) Football Association and the authorities, it was not possible to achieve the necessary exemptions from UK quarantine arrangements.” “I think we can all agree that we hope never to experience a year like the one we have just endured,” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin. “Fans have had to suffer more than twelve months without the ability to see their teams live and reaching a Champions League final …

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday said it supported Japanese measures to counter COVID-19 and was confident the Tokyo Olympics would be a “historic” event, despite wide public opposition. With less than three months to go before the games begin on July 23, Japan is battling a surge in coronavirus infections. A majority of its population wants the Olympics canceled or postponed for a second time, according to several polls, with about 70% of the 10,500 athletes — about 7,800 — already qualified for the games. “We are now very much in an implementation phase with 78 days to go and fully concentrated on delivering the games,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams told an online news conference. “When the games happen and the Japanese people are proud hosts of an event that will be an historic moment, I think I am very confident we will see public opinion hugely in favor of the games.” FILE – People protest the Tokyo 2020 Olympics amid the coronavirus outbreak, around Olympic Stadium (National Stadium) as an Olympic test event for athletics is held inside the venue in Tokyo, Japan, May 9, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo.His online news conference, however, ended with a protester, who had …

Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and the Go-Go’s were elected Wednesday to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame their first time on the ballot, leading a class that also includes Tina Turner, Carole King and Todd Rundgren. Each will be honored during an induction ceremony in Cleveland on Oct. 30 before what organizers hope is a full house of fans enjoying live music again. The hall will also welcome LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads with musical excellence awards, and honor Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton as early influencers. With Jay-Z, the hall inducts a 23-time Grammy winner and the first rap artist in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His discography includes “Hard Knock Life,” “99 Problems” and “Empire State of Mind.” He has had 14 No. 1 albums to his credit. After serving as Nirvana’s drummer, Dave Grohl stepped to center stage with Foo Fighters, becoming one of the few modern rock bands comfortable in arenas. Their hard-hitting sound produced the hits “Best of You,” “Everlong” and “Times Like These.” As an all-female band that played their own instruments, the Go-Go’s were a relative rarity in the early 1980s. Born from Los Angeles’ punk rock scene, …

Amid growing pressure on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from studios, stars and large swaths of the film industry, NBC said Monday that will not air the Golden Globes in 2022, putting in doubt the viability of one of Hollywood’s oldest and most-watched award shows.  In a statement, the network said it believes the press association — which is facing possible boycotts from Netflix, Warner Bros. and many Hollywood actors — is committed to reform.  “However, change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right,” the network said. “As such, NBC will not air the 2022 Golden Globes. Assuming the organization executes on its plan, we are hopeful we will be in a position to air the show in January 2023.” The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, long a subject of ridicule from even its own telecast hosts, has come under fire following an investigative report in February by The Los Angeles Times that recounted the organization’s questionable record on diversity — including, presently, no Black members among its 87 voting members.  The press association has pledged to thoroughly reform itself, and last week approved a plan to, among other …

After more than a year in shutdown brought on by the pandemic, eight Smithsonian Museum facilities in and around Washington are reopening this month. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. Camera:  Mike Burke           Produced by: Julie Taboh / Mike Burke   …

As graduation approaches for university and college students in the United States, students are preparing for one of the most important milestones of their lives. But this year, COVID-19 has taken the pomp out of this year’s celebrations. Yanet Chernet explains, narrated by Kathleen Struck. …

China on Monday named five foreign-born players for critical World Cup qualifiers starting later this month as the world’s most populous country steps up its controversial naturalization policy.China, who have big ambitions but are perennial underachievers ranked 77th in the world, began drafting in players born overseas in 2019 in a quick fix to reach the Qatar 2022 World Cup.Coach Li Tie has picked a 26-man squad that includes a trio of offensive players originally from Brazil — Elkeson, Fernando Henrique and Alan Carvalho.Also included is their Guangzhou FC teammate Tyias Browning, the former Everton central defender who was born in Liverpool and played for England youth teams.The fifth naturalized player is Nico Yennaris, the former Arsenal midfielder and another to have played for England youth teams before switching to China.In their previous World Cup qualifier, a 2-1 defeat to Syria under former coach Marcello Lippi in November 2019, only Elkeson and Yennaris featured.Some Chinese media, pundits and former internationals have questioned the move to bring in foreign players.China’s hopes of reaching the World Cup are in the balance but Li is boosted by the return of star forward Wu Lei, after he failed to make recent training squads because …

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Monday that he has never “put the Olympics first”, the same day an opinion poll showed nearly 60% of people in Japan want the Olympics cancelled less than three months before they begin. Japan has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo until the end of May and is struggling to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases, raising further questions about whether the Games should go on. Its vaccination rate is the lowest among wealthy nations. International Olympic officials, Tokyo planners and Suga himself have insisted the Games will go on in “a safe and secure” way. Foreign spectators have been barred and planners issued an elaborate playbook of rules last month aimed at preventing coronavirus infections. But a public opinion survey, conducted from May 7-9 by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily, showed 59% wanted the Games cancelled as opposed to 39% who said they should be held. “Postponement” was not offered as an option. Another poll conducted at the weekend by TBS News found 65% wanted the Games cancelled or postponed again, with 37% voting to scrap the event altogether and 28% calling for another delay. More than 300,000 people have signed a petition to cancel the …

Sunday is Mother’s Day in the United States.The second Sunday in May is a day especially designated to show moms and other mother figures how much they are loved and appreciated. It is a day full of cards and flowers, telephone calls and acts of kindness for moms. Many moms enjoy breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day.The origins of Mother’s Day in the U.S. began before the Civil War when Ann Reeves Jarvis, who lived in West Virginia, began Mother’s Day Work Clubs to teach women the intricacies of taking care of their children.After the war, Jarvis organized Mothers’ Friendship Day. On this day, women from the clubs met with former Union and Confederate soldiers in the spirit of reconciliation.Jarvis died in 1905, but her daughter, Anna, campaigned for a national holiday honoring motherhood. She also argued that American holidays honored male achievements, while ignoring the achievements of women.In 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson officially designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. After a few years, Anna Jarvis became disillusioned with the commercialization of the day, which is not a federal holiday in the United States.By the time Anna Jarvis died in 1948, she had disowned the occasion …

The value of dogecoin dropped sharply in early U.S. hours on Sunday, after Tesla chief and cryptocurrency supporter Elon Musk called it a ‘hustle’ during his guest-host spot on the “Saturday Night Live” comedy sketch TV show. Dogecoin was quoted as low as $0.47 on crypto exchange Binance, down 28% from levels around $0.65 before the show. The billionaire Tesla Inc chief executive hosted the show at 11:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday (0330 GMT on Sunday). Cryptocurrency enthusiasts had for days been eager to see what he would say, after his tweets this year turned the once-obscure digital currency into a speculator’s dream. Asked ‘what is dogecoin,’ Musk replied, “It’s the future of currency. It’s an unstoppable financial vehicle that’s going to take over the world.” When a show cast member Michael Che countered, “So, it’s a hustle?” Musk replied, “Yeah, it’s a hustle.” And laughed. Musk is the rare business mogul to have been asked to host the venerable comedy TV show. The timing puts Musk back in the spotlight just as Tesla’s stock is losing steam following last year’s monster rally. The unconventional CEO has posted numerous comments about cryptocurrencies on Twitter and criticized regular old cash for having negative real interest rates. “Only a fool …

The fight to make the French language kinder to women took steps forward, and back, this week.   Warning that the well-being of France and its future are at stake, the government banned the use in schools of a method increasingly used by some French speakers to make the language more inclusive by feminizing some words.     Specifically, the education minister’s decree targets what is arguably the most contested and politicized letter in the French language — “e.” Simply put, “e” is the language’s feminine letter, used in feminine nouns and their adjectives and, sometimes, when conjugating verbs.   But proponents of women’s rights are also increasingly adding “e” to words that normally wouldn’t have included that letter, in a conscious — and divisive — effort to make women more visible.   Take the generic French word for leaders — “dirigeants” — for example. For some, that masculine spelling suggests that they are generally men and makes women leaders invisible, because it lacks a feminine “e” toward the end. For proponents of inclusive writing, a more gender-equal spelling is “dirigeant·es,” inserting the extra “e,” preceded by a middle dot, to make clear that leaders can be of both sexes. …