The president of the Tokyo Olympics has refused to resign after igniting a storm of criticism by saying that women do not belong on committees because they talk too much.
Yoshiro Mori, the 83-year-old former prime minister and president of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, made the remarks at a meeting of the Japan Olympic Committee on Wednesday.
The sexism scandal marks another setback for Tokyo 2020, which was postponed by a year because of Covid-19 and is still under threat from the prevalence of the virus around the world.
Speaking at an online JOC meeting about proposals to increase the number of female directors, Mr Mori said that in his experience at the Japan Rugby Football Union, women made meetings last too long.
“It takes twice as long. Women have a strong sense of rivalry. If one raises her hand to speak then all the others feel they have to do the same. So it ends up with everybody talking,” Mr Mori said in comments first reported by the Asahi newspaper.
The remarks prompted a popular comedian to withdraw from the Olympic torch relay and furious demands on social media for Mr Mori to quit. At a querulous press conference, he apologised and sought to retract the comments, but said he had no intention of stepping down.
“My comments yesterday were inappropriate and against the Olympic spirit,” said Mr Mori. But pushed about whether he would resign to take responsibility, he said: “I’ve dedicated myself to this for seven years. I have no doubts about what I should do.”
Mr Mori, who was prime minister for a year from 2000-01, has a long history of committing gaffes and making chauvinist remarks, including attacks on women who did not have children and athletes who failed to sing the national anthem loudly enough.
Renho Murata, a member of parliament and former leader of the opposition Democratic party, said Mr Mori’s remarks were “shameful”. Noriko Mizoguchi, a silver medallist in judo at the 1992 Olympics, posted the International Olympic Committee’s code of ethics on Twitter.
JOC member Kaori Yamaguchi, a bronze medallist in judo at the 1988 Olympics, told national broadcaster NHK that the comments were particularly unfortunate because the Tokyo Olympics were themed around the importance of diversity.
On behalf of the government, chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato declined to comment. He said Mr Mori’s comments were a matter for the organising committee.
Even before the Covid delay, Tokyo 2020 was plagued with controversy about its cost and allegations of corruption in the bidding process. Opinion polls show that about 80 per cent of the Japanese public want the Olympics cancelled or postponed again.
The head of the Tokyo Olympics organising committee has apologised for making "inappropriate" remarks about women, after calls for his resignation.
Yoshiro Mori, 83, retracted the comments but said he was not planning to stand down.
The Games chief was earlier quoted as saying women talk too much and that meetings with many female board directors would "take a lot of time".
He was speaking at Wednesday's meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee.
The committee board currently has 24 members, five of whom are women.
In 2019, the committee - which is responsible for selecting Japanese Olympians - set itself a goal of increasing the number of female board directors to 40%.
"If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying," Mr Mori was quoted as saying by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
"We have about seven women at the organising committee but everyone understands their place," he said.
Mr Mori, who was prime minister of Japan in 2000-01, is known in the country for a string of gaffes and undiplomatic statements he made while in office.
His latest comments triggered anger on social media, with the hashtag #Moriresign trending on Twitter.
"Shame. It's time, get out," one user tweeted, while another urged athletes to boycott the Games if Mr Mori kept his job.
Mr Mori told Japan's Mainichi newspaper that female family members had also lambasted him.
"Last night, my wife gave me a thorough scolding. She said: 'You've said something bad again, haven't you? I'm going to have to suffer again because you've antagonised women,'" he said.
"This morning, my daughter and granddaughter scolded me as well," the paper quoted him as saying.
At a press conference on Thursday, he was asked on what basis he said women board members were too long-winded.
"I don't talk to women that much lately, so I don't know," Mr Mori replied.
The Tokyo Olympics organising committee - which has 36 executive board members - is tasked with "ensuring the successful delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic Games", which have been delayed by a year because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The committee takes its members from various organisations including the Japanese Olympic and Paralympic Committees, the Tokyo metropolitan government, and Japan's national government.
TEN million Brits have now been vaccinated against Covid - as the UK officially passed the peak of the second wave.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday hailed the “hugely significant milestone”, saying: “Every jab makes us all a bit safer. I want to thank everyone playing their part.”
He quoted Captain Tom Moore’s “Tomorrow will be a good day” catchphrase.
The NHS is now well on course to vaccinate 15million of the highest-risk Brits by mid-February.
The PM also hailed new research that shows the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine appears to reduce transmission of the coronavirus — and offers 76 per cent protection even after three months.
Every jab makes us all a bit safer. I want to thank everyone playing their part.
Matt Hancock
Just one dose of the Pfizer/ BioNTech jab is also highly protective — giving 90 per cent Covid protection after 21 days.
Ministers are ecstatic that their gamble to delay giving the elderly a second jab for three months — so more people get their first — appears to have paid off.
The NHS doled out 374,756 first doses on Tuesday, taking the national total to 10,021,471.
Chief medical officer Professor Whitty declared that we are “past the peak” of the second wave as deaths and case numbers continue to fall.
"I think that most of my colleagues think we are past the peak," Prof Whitty told a Downing Street press conference.
"Now that doesn't mean you could never have another peak. But, at this point in time, provided people continue to follow the guidelines, we're on the downward slope of cases, of hospitalisations and of deaths, in all four of the nations of the United Kingdom.
"So I think, we do think, at this point, this peak at least, we are past."
Matt Hancock hailed the 'hugely significant milestone'Credit: PA:Press Association
Boris Johnson led the nation in clapping for the NHS and Captain Tom last nightCredit: Rex Features
Captain Tom, 100, died of coronavirus on TuesdayCredit: Reuters
And jabs that protect against the new mutant strains will be ready by autumn.
But the PM warned of lifting lockdown too soon. Speaking at No10, he said: “If we stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives, then in the words of Captain Tom, ‘Tomorrow will be a good day’.”
Mr Johnson also stuck to his February 22 date to set out a “route map” out of lockdown.
And despite mounting pressure from MPs to go faster, he insisted that March 8 is a “prudent” date to begin lifting any measures — starting with schools.
But he said, thanks to vaccines, the country would be in a “very different situation” to last summer — where disease levels had been reduced but there was no defence.
If we stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives, then in the words of Captain Tom, ‘Tomorrow will be a good day’.
Boris Johnson
Nearly nine in ten over-75s have now had their first jab.
A further 39 mass vaccination hubs and 65 more pharmacies will open this week.
Nearly nine in ten over-75s have now had their first jabCredit: PA:Press Association
Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “The programme is in full swing and almost one in five adults are already protected from serious illness.”
Professor Lawrence Young, at Warwick University, said: “We should soon see its impact on reducing levels of hospitalisation and mortality. An effect on transmission will also be evident. It is vital we continue at this pace.”
Epidemiology expert Professor Keith Neal, at Nottingham University, added: “We now know that a single dose provides significant protection and very likely will reduce transmission.
"To produce a brand new vaccine in bulk this quickly is a major achievement.”
Around 90 fire crew will help dish out jabs at Basingstoke station — one of the new hubs. Other sites include Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park, the Royal Cornwall Showground and Chelmsford Racecourse, Essex.
National medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: “These new sites will mean even more people live nearby to a large-scale centre or community pharmacy.
“Along with the incredible work of our local GPs, pharmacists and their healthcare teams, this will allow us to rapidly vaccinate the most vulnerable in our society.”
Professor Andrew Pollard, chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, said work on updated jabs against three worrying variants detected in the UK has begun.
The PM insisted March 8 is a 'prudent' date to begin lifting any measuresCredit: Rex Features
All have the E484K mutation, which scientists fear reduces the protection provided by current jabs.
Prof Pollard explained: “Work on designing a new vaccine is very, very quick. It’s essentially just switching out the genetic sequence for the spike protein for the updated variants.
“Then there’s manufacturing and a small-scale study. All that can be completed in a short time.”
AstraZeneca’s Sir Mene Pangalos added: “Our ambition is to be ready for the next round of immunisations that may be necessary for next winter. We’re very much aiming to have something ready by the autumn.”
Ms Patel, at Neasden Temple, North West London, told The Sun: “I say to everybody from every ethnic background; when you get the call, text or GP’s letter, come down to your vaccination site and get the jab. It’ll save your life.”
Meanwhile, a £7million government-funded study to test the body’s response to different jabs starts recruiting volunteers today.
If successful, it could allow people to gain better anti-body protection and make vaccine rollouts faster and more flexible.
Priti Patel revealed her parents had their vaccines last weekCredit: Dan Charity - The Sun
The Home Secretary visited the Neasden Temple vaccination clinicCredit: @Neasden Temple
Some volunteers will get second doses four weeks apart, and others three months on.
The results are expected in June and are likely to influence vaccine delivery globally.
Associate professor Matthew Snape, chief investigator on the trial, said: “‘If we do show that these vaccines can be used interchangeably in the same schedule, this will greatly increase the flexibility of vaccine delivery — and could provide clues as to how to increase the breadth of protection against new strains.”
The Sun Says
TEN million jabs. A magnificent milestone. A triumph for Britain.
How is the EU responding? With further attempts to undermine our Oxford vaccine with falsehoods about its safety.
But its panicking leaders look more reckless and self-serving by the day. Early evidence indicates the AstraZeneca jab slashes transmission of Covid as well as the numbers hospitalised or dying.
That is vital for a rapid end to our lockdown and the return of more normal life. It will mean the virus finding fewer and fewer people to infect.
If our rollout continues at its current stellar pace, the daily death toll is soon likely to begin falling. Cases and hospitalisations should drop like a stone once those below 70 start getting jabs.
The Oxford vaccine may prove the key to our economy reopening fully before many of those abroad. Behind its bluster and disinformation, Brussels is ashamed it has secured so few doses.
Rightly so. Because the consequences of its folly look increasingly dire.
Boris Johnson to reveal plan for next wave of Covid vaccines for under-70s on February 15
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When long rows of riot police took up positions in central Moscow on Tuesday evening, the message was clear: all protests in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny would be crushed.
For the next few hours, those who dared to test the authorities' resolve were chased through the streets. Images of arrests - police batons flying - were soon being streamed live online.
The scenes came just hours after a judge ruled that Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic would spend the next couple of years behind bars.
Navalny denounced the hearing as a show trial meant to "scare millions" and quash dissent.
But muzzling him and his message may not be as easy as the Kremlin hopes.
Tough tactics may backfire
"I think it's only the beginning of problems for the regime, because Navalny became not only a political force but a moral one, which makes him more attractive to those who weren't previously his followers," argues Andrei Kolesnikov, of the Moscow Carnegie Centre.
"It's not just the political opposition, but civil society that's irritated by the cruelty - the behaviour of the police and the courts."
The Kremlin has long painted Navalny as an "agent" of the West bent on undermining Russia, whilst insisting that the courts are entirely independent and that angry protesters are "hooligans". President Putin's spokesman has praised the security forces for coming down "hard" on "provocateurs".
But some here warn that the tough tactics could backfire.
"The crackdown on Alexei Navalny, which is shocking in its cruelty… is also shockingly foolish," wrote Filipp Styorkin for the independent VTimes website.
He argues that Navalny's prison sentence will fuel further protest, not stop it. Not ideal for the Kremlin in uncertain economic times.
"The authorities persistently saw into the legs of the chair they're sitting on, even though the chair looks increasingly flimsy as it is," Mr Styorkin said.
Many at street rallies do say they are protesting for the first time, and less for Alexei Navalny than against the harsh way he has been treated.
Reuters
On Tuesday evening, after the court hearing, drivers in central Moscow hooted their horns in solidarity with those protesting - still too nervous to stop and join in, but a hint that frustration could be widespread.
That includes anger at the high-level corruption that Navalny's investigations have exposed: especially galling as Russians have seen their own lives get tougher.
Prison unlikely to silence leader
There is some discussion here about how popular the Kremlin's uncompromising stance might be amongst senior officials, as Western governments consider new sanctions: asset freezes and travel bans are an acceptable price for a patriotic project like "returning" Crimea, but targeting an opposition politician may be a less popular cause.
It's not yet clear how long this wave of protests might last.
They may well subside until the next likely flash point - parliamentary elections in autumn, when Mr Navalny had plans to "decimate" the pro-Kremlin United Russia party at the polls.
EPA
His team will now attempt to execute that plan without him.
"It will be tough," Lyubov Sobol admitted last week, when asked how Mr Navalny's team would cope if their leader was sent to prison. "Alexei is our inspiration. But we'll work with even more passion if it happens, fuelled by our anger."
That commitment was immediately challenged, as Ms Sobol and several others were placed under house arrest. They are facing criminal charges - and possibly prison sentences - for calling people to a protest in a pandemic.
Mr Navalny will clearly struggle to rally his supporters and command his team from behind bars, especially if the authorities pursue further, pending charges against him, as many suspect.
But the man who survived a poison attack, then returned to confront those he blames, is unlikely to be fully silenced.
Mobile phones are banned in Russian prison camps, but are commonly available, and Navalny will be able to make occasional authorised calls and have visitors.
Just last week, while on remand, he managed to post a message from prison on Instagram calling on Russians to overcome their fear and protest.
"No-one wants to live in a country where lawlessness and corruption rule," he wrote, a country whose leaders imprison "everyone who speaks out". His words were "liked" by close to a million people.
"Navalny became the persecuted victim, courageous," Andrei Kolesnikov argues, likening the opposition figure in that sense to Soviet-era dissidents such as Andrei Sakharov, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Now the situation became black and white," he says, adding: "You can support Putin or Navalny."
Russia's foreign minister has described reaction from Western countries to opposition leader Alexei Navalny's jailing as "hysteria" - telling them to keep out of Russia's affairs.
At a news conference in Moscow, Sergei Lavrov said: "As for the coverage of events happening in Russia, not just those related to Navalny, but to everything in general, no matter what happens here, they are covered in the West quite specifically, I'd say lopsidedly.
"The hysterics that we've heard over the judicial proceedings in Navalny's case is definitely going overboard.
"And it's been absolutely hidden from the public that the laws in the West for holding demonstrations, rallies, and various protests are much harsher than in Russia."
Image:Navalny was sentenced at the Simonovsky District Court in Moscow on Tuesday
UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement that his sentence was for allegedly violating the conditions of a 2014 suspended sentence in an embezzlement case "that the European Court of Human Rights had in 2017 already unanimously found to be arbitrary, unfair and manifestly unreasonable".
Image:Alexei Navalny's wife Yulia in court. Pic: AP
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert announced at a news conference that the German government cannot rule out further sanctions against Russia and they will discuss further steps with its European partners.
More from Alexei Navalny
Mr Navalny has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison over allegations he violated the conditions of a suspended sentence he received in 2014 for money laundering.
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Navalny salutes 'honest people' in court statement
The opposition leader has already spent 11 months under house arrest, so will therefore be in prison for two years and eight months, his lawyer said.
His wife, Yulia Navalnaya has thanked supporters for "coming out, for writing" and supporting the couple.
She added: "I read all your messages and understand that so many good, strong and correct people support Alexei and me that there is no need to retreat and be afraid. We will win anyway."
The pop superstar Rihanna and the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg have invoked fury from the Indian government after they sent messages of support for the massive farmers’ protests that have gripped Delhi for weeks.
The two led a host of international celebrities taking to social media to back the farmers, who have camped in their tens of thousands on the outskirts of the Indian capital since November. The farmers are demanding the repeal of new laws that they fear will hand control of Indian farming to major corporations and leave millions destitute.
The protests escalated into violent clashes in Delhi last week that left one dead and hundreds injured.
For more than two months, tens of thousands of farmers have laid siege to Delhi
MANISH SWARUP/AP
Rihanna, who has more than 100 million followers on Twitter, wrote, “Why aren’t we talking
Rihanna has shown her support for Indian farmers protesting in New Delhi over new agriculture laws they say will destroy their livelihoods.
The pop star - who has 101m followers on Twitter - shared a CNN article about the protests on the social media site, with the message: "Why aren't we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest".
Her post took the farmer's fight global and has been liked more than half a million times in less than 24 hours.
Following Rihanna's tweet, other high-profile names including teenage activist Greta Thunberg, US Vice President Kamala Harris's niece Meena Harris and Lebanese-American model Mia Khalifa showed their solidarity with the farmers.
Thunberg shared the same article, writing: "We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India."
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Harris, a lawyer and author, wrote: "It's no coincidence that the world's oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India's internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters."
Khalifa shared a photo of protesters, writing: ""Paid actors," huh? Quite the casting director, I hope they're not overlooked during awards season. I stand with the farmers. #FarmersProtest."
More from India
The international organisation Human Rights Watch has also been highlighting the farmers' plight.
In response to criticism, India's external affairs ministry says the new legislation has followed full debate and discussion.
It also put out a statement that appeared to refer directly to Rihanna's tweet, saying: "The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible."
Image:Farmers say the laws make them vulnerable to exploitation by private companies
Tens of thousands of farmers have been living in makeshift campsites on the outskirts of New Delhi for several months and say they will remain in place until the new laws are repealed.
Demonstrators say the new laws around the sale, pricing and storage of produce will turn agriculture corporate, and make them vulnerable to exploitation by private companies.
Image:Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi insists the changes will modernise Indian farming
However, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi says the changes are necessary to modernise Indian farming.
Clashes between the protesters and government forces last week left one protester dead and nearly 400 police officers injured.
In response, authorities - who are notoriously sensitive to any form of public criticism - suspended internet access to several areas around the capital and have previously blocked the Twitter accounts of farmers' leaders and activists.
