Tokyo Olympics to allow spectators amid ongoing coronavirus crisis

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Tokyo Olympics
Organizers for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics said on Monday that venues could welcome fans up to 50% capacity, with a maximum of 10,000 spectators for each Olympic site. The decision comes despite warnings from health authorities over the potential spread of the coronavirus, amid Japan’s slow vaccination rollout. The announcement comes as a coach from Uganda’s Olympic team tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Tokyo. International fans were banned from attending the Games in March and officials say the local spectators that do attend will not be allowed to shout or speak loudly, and will be required to wear face masks.

Brazil COVID
Health officials in Brazil confirmed a grim milestone over the weekend: The country has passed 500,000 deaths from COVID-19. Demonstrators in at least 22 of Brazil’s 26 states took to the streets in protest of President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic. Brazil has the third highest number of coronavirus infections in the world, after the US and India, and the second highest number of deaths.

Ethiopia election
Ethiopians went to the polls on Monday in a general election test for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who came to power in 2018. More than 37 million people are expected to vote in an election amid ongoing violence in the northern Tigray region and a humanitarian crisis with 350,000 people living in what some are calling famine conditions. In other global election news, Iranians elected judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi as the country’s new president in a vote widely criticized as rigged.

From The World

Human rights activists hope international court will help end Duterte’s deadly war on drugs in the Philippines

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken a crucial step that may lead to an official investigation into the thousands of killings linked to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody, yearslong war on drugs.

Last week, Fatou Bensouda announced that her office, through an over-two-year preliminary investigation, had found “a reasonable basis to believe” that crimes against humanity were committed between 2016 and 2019, when some 12,000 to 13,000 Filipinos were systematically killed by state security forces as part of Duterte’s anti-drugs campaign.

Students push for adding Asian American history to school curriculums across the US

Illinois could become one of the first states to require public elementary and high schools to teach a unit on Asian American history — if it’s signed into law in the next few months. Other states, like New York and Wisconsin, have made similar proposals.

This comes as anti-Asian violence increases across the US and advocates say education can be a long-term solution to help address the violence.

Bright spot

Social media is obsessed with Jamaican track and field star Usain Bolt. Bolt and his partner anounced the names of their twins on Father’s Day, and they are ⚡!

In case you missed it

Listen: Iranian presidential election stokes controversy

Friday was election day in Iran. And the presidential election is already mired by controversy. Critics say the stage has deliberately been set for one candidate to win — the man closest to Iran’s supreme leader. Also, throughout the US, states are pulling out all the stops to encourage people to get vaccinated, including lotteries. In Thailand, get vaccinated, win a cow. Plus, celebrating Juneteenth in China this year has a special meaning for Black Americans living there.

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