Every video game music track in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 opening ceremony


By Vic Hood

How many of these iconic gaming tracks did you identify?

(Image credit: Shutterstock/carlos castilla/Sega/Square Enix/Future)


The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games opening ceremony took place on July 23, 2021, kicking off what is set to be a somewhat surreal, spectatorless Olympic Games that we're sure to never forget.

The Opening Ceremony was a spectacle that allowed Japan to showcase its culture on a global stage. However, we were somewhat surprised to find a huge (but often forgotten) element of Japanese culture represented during the ceremony.

The Opening Ceremony featured nearly 20 video game tracks, from games including Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, which played as each country entered the Olympic Stadium. In true Olympic spirit, we've rounded up each of the tracks featured below - so you can stop scratching your head as to where you might have heard that jingle from before. Here's every video game music track featured in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games opening ceremony.

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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games opening ceremony video game music list

Dragon Quest: Introduction: Lotto Theme
Final Fantasy: Victory Fanfare
Tales of Series: Sley's theme - Guru
Monster Hunter: Proof of Hero
Kingdom hearts: Olympus Coliseum
Chrono Trigger: Frog's Theme
Ace Combat: First Flight
Tales of Series: Royal Capital - Dignified
Monster Hunter: Wind of Departure
Chrono Trigger: Robo's Theme
Sonic the Hedgehog: Star Light Zone
Winning Eleven: eFootball Walk On Theme
Final Fantasy: Main Theme
Phantasy Star Universe: Guardians
Kingdom Hearts: Hero's Fanfare
Gradius (Nemesis): 01 Act 1-1
NieR: Song of the Ancients
Saga Series: Saga Series Medley 2016
Soulcalibur: The Brave New Stage of History
Opinion: gaming on the main stage


It's fantastic to see gaming represented on a global stage such as the Olympics opening ceremony - even if the BBC presenters claimed viewers may recognize these tracks from "their children" playing these games.


Gaming is a huge part of Japanese culture, remaining the home of major publishers including Nintendo, PlayStation and Sega (to name but a few) and so we're glad to see it wasn't skipped over in the opening ceremony - in fact it played quite a large part.


Here at TechRadar we wish all those competing in Tokyo 2020 the best of luck.

COP26 OFF TO THE USUAL START

G20 ministers fail to agree on climate goals in communique -Italy

By Gavin Jones
Posted on July 23, 2021

G20 climate and environment ministers meet in Naples

NAPLES (Reuters) -Energy and environment ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations have failed to agree on the wording of a key climate change commitment in their final communique, Italy’s Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said on Friday.

The G20 meeting was seen as a decisive step ahead of United Nations climate talks, known as COP 26, which takes place in 100 days’ time in Glasgow in November.

The failure to agree to common language ahead of that gathering will be seen as setback to hopes of securing a meaningful accord in Scotland.

Cingolani told reporters that ministers meeting in southern Italy could not agree on two disputed issues and that these would now have to be discussed when G20 heads of state and government hold a summit in Rome in October.

He said negotiations with China, Russia and India had proved especially difficult.

Cingolani said one of the sticking points was phasing out coal power, which most countries wanted to achieve by 2025 but some said would be impossible for them.

The other problem concerned the wording surrounding a 1.5-2 degree Celsius limit on global temperature increases that was set by the Paris Agreement.


Average global temperatures have already risen by more than 1 degree compared to the pre-industrial baseline used by scientists and are on track to exceed the 1.5-2 degree ceiling.

Cingolani said the final communique, which had been due to be published on Friday, would probably not now be released until Saturday.

Ahead of COP 26, environmental activists had hoped that the G20 gathering would lead to a strengthening of climate targets, new commitments on climate financing, and an increase in countries committing to net zero emissions by 2050.

Cingolani said the G20 had made no new financial commitments, but added that Italy itself would increase its own climate financing for underdeveloped countries.

The urgency of climate action has been brought home this month by deadly floods in Europe, fires in the United States and sweltering temperatures in Siberia, but countries remain at odds on how to pay for costly policies to reduce global warming.

(Editing by Barbara Lewis and Crispian Balmer)

G20 climate and environment ministers meet in Naples

‘Time to start blaming the unvaccinated’: Alabama’s governor splits critics as she loses it over state’s low inoculation rate
23 Jul, 2021 18:10
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Kay Ivey waits to be sworn in as Alabama's governor 

© REUTERS/Marvin Gentry/File Photo

Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who was previously dubbed “one of the best” in the US by Donald Trump, has earned surprising praise from liberals for venting her frustration on those who remain unvaccinated against Covid-19.

Asked by reporters on Thursday how to better promote vaccinations to those still refusing as cases spike in various states, Ivey replied, “I don’t know, you tell me!”

She added that “folks [are] supposed to have common sense” and then went on to claim it’s “time to blame the unvaccinated folks.”

“It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down,” she said.

Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with less than 40% of people 12 and up fully vaccinated. Vaccination rates have slowly been dipping month-to-month in the state, as well.

Daily coronavirus cases have increased 70% in the last week, with hospitalization rates rising too, and Ivey says it’s “crystal clear” this is an issue among unvaccinated residents.

“These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle and self-inflicted pain,” the governor said. “You know we’ve got to get folks to take the shot. The vaccine is the greatest weapon we have to fight Covid, there’s no question about that, the data proves it.”

Ivey, who is fully vaccinated, claimed she has done “all I know how to do” when it comes to promoting vaccines to her constituents.

“I can encourage you to do something, but I can’t make you take care of yourself,” she said.

Ivey’s targeting of unvaccinated Americans is similar to statements from White House health officials, who have warned of a “pandemic among the unvaccinated” as they continue to promote vaccines and issue stark warnings about the growing delta variant.

There are numerous cases of vaccinated Americans still getting infected with Covid-19, but the vast majority who have found themselves infected and hospitalized are unvaccinated, according to officials.

State data from Alabama shows there have been 500 deaths from Covid-19 since the beginning of April, and only 20 of those deaths were people who were fully vaccinated.

In the wake of her comments, Ivey, a Trump supporter, has earned surprising praise from liberals on social media for venting her frustration against those still refusing to get inoculated.

Many critics, however, have also claimed it’s ‘too little, too late’ and Ivey’s past and current support of Republicans nixes her argument.

 

Ivey previously earned praise from conservatives for being one of multiple governors to ban potential ‘vaccine passports’ in her state.

She has also announced this week that masks will not be required when students go back to school in the fall, something many liberal activists have argued should be mandated. Chicago Public Schools, for instance, announced this week that, regardless of vaccination status, students will be masking when they return to classes.

Alabama's GOP Gov. Kay Ivey draws fire after blaming it's time to start blaming the unvaccinated' amid her state's COVID spike

Taylor Avery
USA TODAY


Alabama also has one of the lowest vaccination. rates in the country.

Alabama's Republican Gov. Kay Ivey drew fire on Friday after saying it was "time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks” for a spike in her state's COVID-19 cases, with critics charging she has failed to show leadership in tackling the pandemic.

Asked Thursday what it would take to lift Alabama's low vaccination rate, Ivey snapped to a reporter: "I don't know, you tell me!"

“Folks are supposed to have common sense," Ivey continued. "But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down."

Her remarks come as the U.S. vaccination effort is flagging and cases are surging because of the more contagious delta variant.

Alabama has reported more than 11,000 new COVID-19 infections over the last 14 days, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. The state reported a positivity rate of 11.7% at the end of last week, up from 7.6% the week before.

Alabama also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with only 34% of the population being fully vaccinated, according to the New York Times COVID-19 tracker.

When asked if it was part of her responsibility to get the situation under control, Ivey said, “I’ve done all I know how to do. I can encourage you to do something, but I can’t make you take care of yourself.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, when asked about Ivey's remarks on Friday, emphasized the importance of informing people about the risks of not getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

"I don’t think our role is to place blame, but what we can do is provide accurate information to people who are not yet vaccinated about the risk they are incurring not only among themselves, but also the people around them," she said.


As clips of Ivey's remarks went viral on Twitter, critics pounced. They noted Ivey lifted her state's mask mandate a month before the CDC recommended doing so and signed a measure into law barring private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination.

"With Covid cases rising, Alabama has the nation’s worst vaccination rate. Yet Gov. Kay Ivey says she’s done enough," author Keith Boykin posted on Twitter. "She's a liar."

Ivey, who was fully vaccinated in December, is among a handful of Republican officials who have recently become more forceful in urging their constituents to get vaccinated.

GOP leaders have come under pressure to address misinformation about the virus and the vaccine as COVID cases spike across the country, driven by the more contagious delta variant.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R.-La., encouraged Americans to get vaccinated during a press conference Tuesday after receiving his first dose over the weekend.

America's history wars get serious as the Texas GOP launches a fascist assault on education

Chauncey Devega, Salon
July 23, 2021

Klansmen via Flickr commons

In the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney proclaimed that Black people have "no rights that the white man is bound to respect." Today's Jim Crow Republican Party, and the white right more broadly, have taken the spirit of those words and updated them for the 21st century, effectively by arguing that "white people are not bound to respect historical truth or established facts — at least not as they pertain to Black and brown people in America".

As the next step in their war against multiracial democracy, the Republican Party and its allies have launched a moral panic about "critical race theory." Of course, their version of "critical race theory" is a type of racial bogeyman or psychological projection, a function of white racial paranoia about the "browning of America" and the threat of "white genocide."

Facts do not matter in the right-wing echo chamber. It is of no importance that the white right's version of "critical race theory" has nothing to do with the scholarly paradigm of the same name.

As the truism holds, history is written by the victors. To that end, in dozens of states across the country, the white right is engaging in an Orwellian campaign of rewriting school curricula to prevent the teaching of "critical race theory" -- which in practice means stopping any serious engagement with America's real and often uncomfortable history of racism and white supremacy.

For example, in Florida, a law was recently passed mandating a survey of students and faculty in public colleges and universities to determine their political beliefs. Of course, Florida has also banned the teaching of "critical race theory."

Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, perhaps the single most influential voice on the white right, recently suggested that cameras should be placed in classrooms to ensure that no teachers will deploy "critical race theory" or other facts and arguments deemed to be "unpatriotic."

The Republican-controlled Texas Senate recently passed a bill eliminating a requirement that the history of the civil rights movement and other human rights struggles be taught in public schools. The bill also removed a condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan from course requirements as well.

As Yahoo News reports, the requirements removed from the state's curriculum include two speeches by Martin Luther King Jr., any mention of Latino labor organizers Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and any mention of Thomas Jefferson's long-term relationship with Sally Hemings, an enslaved teenage child who bore six of his children. The bill bars any use of the New York Times' 1619 Project and "prohibits teaching that slavery was part of the 'true' founding of the United States" and removes the requirement to study the "history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong."

This Republican legislation has been met with widespread outrage. But that reaction should just be the beginning. The next step involves doing the harder work of understanding why so many other (mostly white) Americans actually believe that "critical race theory" and the teaching of America's real history should be banned. Understanding these beliefs and motivations is essential to defeating American neofascism and its white supremacist social and political project.

Many Americans have been propagandized by their schools, news media, the internet, churches and other social institutions to believe in a large set of interlocking lies and myths about the country's past and present. To intervene against these lies often causes emotional pain and/or narcissistic injury to those who hold such beliefs.

This dynamic is especially powerful for those who are emotionally, psychologically, financially and politically invested in defending and protecting white privilege and white people's control over almost every aspect of American life. In that context, the personal truly is political: Whiteness, as a concept and a social force, has become linked at an individual level to the maintenance of white power.

How does this right-wing fantasy machine work? The Root has exhaustively documented how some of America's most widely used history textbooks misrepresent the real history of the color line and distort such topics as chattel slavery, the Civil War, the civil rights movement and social injustice more generally, through the use of what sociologist Joe Feagin has called the "white racial frame."


Michael Harriot offers this analysis:

So when Mitch McConnell and 38 Republican senators sent a letter to the secretary of education decrying the ghastly prospect of white students having to learn actual facts about slavery, it was not unexpected. For centuries, this country's schools have perpetuated a whitewashed version of history that either erases or reduces the story of Black America down to a B-plot in the American script. It's why they hate Critical Race Theory, The 1619 Project and anything factual — because the white-centric interpretation of our national past is so commonly accepted, white people have convinced themselves that anything that varies from the Caucasian interpretation must be a lie. …

This is why they oppose expanding the historiography of our national story. American schools have never taught a version of history that wasn't racialized. But, apparently, it's perfectly fine if the racial narrative skews toward whiteness. They can't be opposed to learning a different historical perspective because they never learned history; they were spoonfed fiction in bite-sized morsels.

To be fair, it's understandable why they are so adamant about what they believe in.
Imagine you are a white man. Now imagine what it's like going through 12 years of school, four years of college, graduate school and an entire career that made you one of the most powerful people on the planet. Now imagine a group of Black journalists, led by a Black woman, told you that you don't know shit.

To that point, the right-wing echo chamber consistently repeats neo-Confederate "Lost Cause" myths, such as the oft-repeated lie that the Civil War was fought over "states' rights" rather than white-on-Black chattel slavery.

The right obsessively depicts the Democrats as "the party of the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow and slavery". This is a deliberate distortion of history because the pro-slavery, pro-segregation faction of the Democratic Party became solid Republicans after the enactment of civil rights legislation in the 1960s.

Right-wing propagandists also love to claim that Martin Luther King Jr. was a "Republican," or at least espoused Republican values. This is a ludicrous allegation: In contemporary terms King was a democratic socialist or progressive who opposed racism, poverty, military adventurism and injustice of all kinds. King would have viewed the modern-day conservative movement as a great force for evil in American society and the world.

Black conservative propagandists play an important role in the right-wing echo chamber, validating racist fantasies that slavery was a "gift" to Black people because it brought them to America. In this twisted perception of history, chattel slavery is understood as a "necessary evil" because it gave Black people Christianity and taught them the value of "hard work".

These same Black conservatives love to repeat the vicious lie that the Democratic Party is a type of "plantation." In reality, the plantations of the antebellum South were prison camps, charnel houses and places of torture, rape, suffering and death. Black conservative propagandists frequently announce that they are special and uniquely capable of "thinking for themselves," as compared to the vast majority of Black people who support the Democratic Party and are therefore deemed to be ignorant or uninformed.

The campaign against "critical race theory" — and against teaching America's real history — must be understood as part of a larger fascist strategy of attacking public schools and other institutions of learning with the aim of creating compliant followers and a public that is not equipped to participate in democracy — or to defend it.

This plan involves placing white supremacists, QAnon conspiracists, Trump supporters and other right-wing extremists — to the degree those categories of people can be separated — on local school boards and library advisory councils, banning "controversial" books, and the surveillance or intimidation of teachers deemed too "liberal" or suspected of "politicizing" the classroom, i.e., by refusing to teach right-wing dogma and other lies.

The fascist assault on education and critical thinking also involves think tanks, right-wing activists and advocacy groups, along with a network of wealthy funders committed to remaking American society to fit their racist, theocratic and plutocratic vision.

The Texas Republicans' attempt to literally whitewash the Ku Klux Klan out of American history is so ridiculous that it approaches parody. That doesn't make such historical erasure and distortion any less dangerous. Those dangers are further amplified by the crisis of democracy caused by the Jim Crow Republicans and ascendant neofascist movement.

As historian Timothy Snyder warned in a recent essay in the New York Times:
Democracy requires individual responsibility, which is impossible without critical history. It thrives in a spirit of self-awareness and self-correction. Authoritarianism, on the other hand, is infantilizing: We should not have to feel any negative emotions; difficult subjects should be kept from us. Our memory laws amount to therapy, a talking cure. In the laws' portrayal of the world, the words of white people have the magic power to dissolve the historical consequences of slavery, lynchings and voter suppression. Racism is over when white people say so.
We start by saying we are not racists. Yes, that felt nice. And now we should make sure that no one says anything that might upset us. The fight against racism becomes the search for a language that makes white people feel good. The laws themselves model the desired rhetoric. We are just trying to be fair. We behave neutrally. We are innocent.

When viewed in the aggregate, these attacks on "critical race theory" and the teaching of America's real history echo some of the worst aspects of the country's past. In his book "Trouble in Mind", historian Leon Litwack details how history was taught during the Jim Crow reign of terror:

The history to which Black children were exposed in the classroom and the primers made a virtual gospel of the superiority of Anglo-Saxon institutions and ways of thinking and acting…. What little they learned of their own history consisted often of disparaging caricatures of Black people as the least civilized of the races — irresponsible, thoughtless, foolish, childlike people, satisfied with their lowly place in American life, incapable of self-control and self-direction. The history of Black people was a history of submission gladly endured and of services faithfully rendered. Transported from the darkness of heathen Africa to the civilized and Christian New World, grateful slaves found contentment and happiness…. The treatment of emancipation depicted Blacks passively waiting for Massa' Lincoln to strike off their shackles. And Reconstruction saw the enthronement of Black ignorance and inexperience, with the Ku Klux Klan in some account redeeming Anglo-Saxon civilization from alien rule. The history lessons taught in public schools were calculated to produce patriotic citizens, albeit with a distinctive southern bias.

The Jim Crow Republicans and the white right view this approach to American history as admirable, something to be resuscitated from the dustbin of the country's past.

In the self-serving stories told by the Ku Klux Klan, that terrorist organization had noble origins, represented "Christian values," did charity work and helped the poor, served the community by dealing with drunks and other miscreants, and protected "white families" as well as the "good Blacks". This is the fake history that the Jim Crow Republicans want to see taught to America's young people.

The neofascist movement understands that if it wins the battle over the teaching of the past, it can in turn control the future. In total, the right wing's moral panic over "critical race theory" resembles the kind of hearts-and-minds indoctrination favored by the great villains of history. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler and Goebbels would be proud to see their legacy continued.

Missouri's GOP governor buried for 'dishonest and dangerous' COVID rhetoric in scathing local newspaper editorial

Bob Brigham
July 22, 2021

Gov Mike Parson on Facebook.

The Republican governor of Missouri was the focus of a hard-hitting editorial by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday.

Only Arkansas and Florida have higher per-capita coronavirus infection rates, and the editors at the Post-Dispatch laid blame for this squarely at the feet of GOP Gov. Mike Parson.

"Gov. Mike Parson, embarrassed by another spike in Missouri's coronavirus infections, has once again resorted to his stock response: Shoot the messenger," the newspaper began. "Parson on Wednesday singled out the Post-Dispatch, The Kansas City Star and the Missouri Independent nonprofit news site for spreading 'propaganda' about the delta variant that's raging across the state."

The paper went on to show how data culled from hospitals across the state could not possibly be "propaganda."

"It's a curious allegation, given that the data these and other credible news organizations have reported comes from official figures about new coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths. That data for this supposed propaganda originates with Parson's own government," the editorial board explained.

The editorial board warned Parson's approach would cause more death.

"Parson's deft shifting of blame from his own end of the political spectrum isn't quite as irresponsible as the behavior of Fox News or of some of Parson's own fellow elected Republicans. But the more their base of followers is encouraged to distrust solid information from mainstream sources, the more likely those followers are to embrace the flurry of dangerous lies coming from the right. The result being more vaccination reluctance followed by more deaths and hospitalizations from the coronavirus," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch cautioned.

In addition, The Kansas City Star also editorialized about Parson.

"Shots at us are fine, but not when they undermine this simple message: Get the shot," the editorial board urged.

 

Climate 'mysteries' still puzzle scientists, despite progress

Agence France-Presse
July 23, 2021

The effects of climate change are being felt ever more forcefully(AFP)

What worries one of the world's leading climate scientists the most?

Heatwaves -- and particularly the tendency of current models to underestimate the intensity of these bursts of deadly, searing temperature.

This is one of the "major mysteries" science still has to unravel, climatologist Robert Vautard told AFP, even as researchers are able to pinpoint with increasing accuracy exactly how human fossil fuel pollution is warming the planet and altering the climate.

"Today we have better climate projection models, and longer observations with a much clearer signal of climate change," said Vautard, one of the authors of an upcoming assessment by the United Nations' panel of climate experts.

"It was already clear, but it is even clearer and more indisputable today."

The assessment, the first part of a trio of reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will be released on August 9 at the end of meetings starting Monday.

It focuses on the science underpinning our understanding of things like temperature increases, rising ocean levels and extreme weather events.

This has progressed considerably since the last assessment in 2014, but so has climate change itself, with effects being felt ever more forcefully across the planet.
'Phenomenal' heat

Scientists now have a greater understanding of the mechanisms behind "extreme phenomena, which now occur almost every week around the world", said Vautard, adding that this helps better quantify how these events will play out in the future.


In almost real time, researchers can pinpoint the role of climate change in a given disaster, something they were unable to do at all until very recently.

Now, so-called "attribution" science means we can say how probable an extreme weather event would have been had the climate not been changing at all.

For example, within days of the extraordinary "heat dome" that scorched the western United States and Canada at the end of June, scientists from the World Weather Attribution calculated that the heatwave would have been "almost impossible" without warming.

Despite these advances, Vautard said "major mysteries remain".

Scientists are still unsure what part clouds play "in the energy balance of the planet" and their influence on the climate's sensitivity to greenhouse gases, he said.

But it is "phenomenal temperatures", like those recorded in June in Canada or in Europe in 2019, that preoccupy the climatologist.


"What worries me the most are the heat waves" and the "thousands of deaths" they cause, said Vautard, who is director of France's Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute, a climate research and teaching centre.

With rainfall, scientists have a physical law that says water vapour increases by seven percent for every degree of warming, he said, with intense precipitation increasing by about the same amount.

But extreme heat is harder to predict.


"We know that heatwaves are more frequent, but we also know that our models underestimate the increasing intensity of these heatwaves, particularly in Europe, by a factor of two," he said.

Climate models have come a long way, even since 2014, but there is still room for improvement to reduce these uncertainties.

"Before we had models that represented the major phenomena in the atmosphere, in the oceans," said Vautard.


Today the models divide the planet's surface into grids, with each square around 10 kilometres (six miles).

But even now he said the "resolution of the models is not sufficient" for very localised phenomena.

The next generation of models should be able to add even more detail, going down to an area of about a kilometre.

That would give researchers a much better understanding of "small scale" events, like tornadoes, hail or storm systems that bring intense rain like those seen in parts of the Mediterranean in 2020.
Tipping points

Even on a global scale, some fundamental questions remain.

Perhaps one of the most ominous climate concepts to have become better understood in recent years is that of "tipping points".

These could be triggered for example by the melting of the ice caps or the decline of the Amazon rainforest, potentially swinging the climate system into dramatic and irreversible changes.

There are still "a lot of uncertainties and mysteries" about tipping points, Vautard said, including what level of temperature rise might set them off.

Currently, they are seen as low probability events, but he said that it is still crucial to know more about them given the "irreversible consequences on the scale of millennia" that they could cause.

Another crucial uncertainty is the state of the world's forests and oceans, which absorb about half of the CO2 emitted by humans.

"Will this carbon sink function continue to be effective or not?" Vautard said.

If they stop absorbing carbon -- as has been found in areas of the Amazon, for example -- then more C02 will accumulate in the atmosphere, raising temperatures even further.

"It is a concern," said Vautard.

‘No sport can escape’: Tackling climate change at the Tokyo Olympics

By Euronews • Updated: 23/07/2021 - 10:08


No sport can escape the impacts of a changing climate. Less snow and ice, higher temperatures, and extreme weather events such as storms and heatwaves, all affect competitors and spectators alike.

“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges humanity has ever faced, affecting sport alongside so many other human activities,” says Marie Sallois, IOC Director for Corporate and Sustainable Development.

“Sporting events must constantly adapt to the impacts of climate disruption, and the Olympic Games are no exception. As a global event with a huge visibility, the Games also carry the responsibility to take effective action to address it.”



Committed to a more sustainable future, the Olympic Movement has already taken significant steps to reduce its own footprint and contribute to a climate-friendly society. Both Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 are aiming to be carbon neutral.

Extreme weather events such as storms and heatwaves, all affect competitors and spectators alike.

In March 2020, the IOC decided that from 2030 onwards all Olympic Games will be required to be ‘climate positive’.

This means that they will reduce their carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, compensate more than 100 per cent of their remaining emissions and use their influence to drive effective climate action.

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium IOC

Well ahead of the 2030 target, Paris 2024 has already committed to staging the first ‘climate positive’ Games. The IOC itself is committed to becoming climate positive by 2024, and will compensate more than 100 per cent of its unavoidable emissions, mainly through the planting of an Olympic Forest.

Feeling the heat

In parallel to actively addressing climate change and compensating carbon emissions, the Games are also adapting to the effects of a changing climate.

With temperatures rising around the world including in Tokyo, organisers are keen to minimise the heat impacts on athletes to protect their health as they compete.

Organisers are keen to minimise the heat impacts on athletes to protect their health as they compete.

Among the measures taken to protect competitors, the decision was made in 2019 to move the marathon and race-walking events to Sapporo, where daytime temperatures can be up to five degrees cooler than in Tokyo.

Other events have been scheduled for earlier in the day or later in the afternoon to avoid the midday heat.

Athletes take part in a swimming training session at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on July 21, 2021, ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP or licensors

Athletes will have access to additional shaded space, and the new Olympic Stadium has been designed to let in as much wind as possible and allow the maximum circulation of air.

The venue provides natural cooling, using giant eaves inspired by traditional Japanese architecture.

The International Olympic Committee’s Medical Department has also issued a ‘Beat the Heat’ guide for competitors.

“Exercising in hot and humid conditions presents a variety of concerns, from increasing the difficulty of endurance performance to making you vulnerable to such illnesses as heat cramp, heat exhaustion and heat stroke,” it notes, addressing athletes set to compete at Tokyo 2020.

“But we don’t want this to have a negative influence on your preparation for the Games.”

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Net Zero Games

Short-term adaptation, however, is no substitute for long-term climate action. As part of its bid to host the Olympic Games, one of the three pillars of Tokyo 2020’s sustainability strategy was to achieve “carbon-neutral Games by reducing energy and resource consumption and carbon emissions, using renewable energy, public transport, and low-energy vehicles, and zero-waste policies.”

Many residents are now looking to Tokyo 2020’s pledge of net zero carbon emissions as an opportunity to accelerate the city’s transition to a more sustainable future.

The venue provides natural cooling, using giant eaves inspired by traditional Japanese architecture.© Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village

In addition, as part of its drive to create a model zero-carbon society, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) says it wants to “leverage the Games to create sustainable economic growth, environmental conservation initiatives and improved quality of life through new innovations.”

TMG announced new targets in January 2021 to halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the city by 2030 (compared to 2000 levels) and to increase the use of renewable energy by approximately 50 per cent. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has already declared that Japan will aim to reduce GHG emissions to net zero by 2050.
Hydrogen power and fewer overseas visitors

The organisers’ strategy of repurposing existing facilities wherever possible, and erecting temporary venues reflects the drive for net zero carbon. Of the 43 competition venues, 25 are being reused – including five that were used at the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 - ten are temporary, and only eight have been built from scratch. The new venues are all powered by renewable energy.

Green energy plays a big part in reducing emissions - the Games are partly powered by biomass energy directly from a plant in Kawasaki City, and partly by a solar farm in Fukushima. For the first time, hydrogen from solar power fuelled the Olympic Torch during part of its journey and both the Olympic and Paralympic Cauldrons.

Hydrogen also runs the electricity and hot water in dormitories, cafeterias and training facilities for 11,000 athletes in the Olympic Village - and after the Games, the Village will be turned into hydrogen powered flats, a school, shops and other facilities.

According to the recently published update to the Tokyo 2020 pre-Games sustainability report, Japan’s decision - taken earlier this year - not to allow entry into Japan for overseas spectators for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 due to the prevailing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, will lead to an estimated reduction of emissions of 340,000 tonnes of CO2. However, athletes, coaches, staff, officials and media in Tokyo for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will still need to move between venues.

Tokyo Olympic VillageIOC

The report states that at least 90 per cent of the Games vehicles will be fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) or hybrid models. A fleet of 500 hydrogen FCEV cars and 100 FCEV buses have been provided by Olympic Partner Toyota, and an additional 35 hydrogen fuelling stations installed in the city. Hydrogen produces no CO2 emissions and can be produced using renewable electricity.

Where it has not been possible to use renewable energy, Tokyo 2020 is using green power certificates to compensate for the use of non-renewable electricity.

As Tokyo Metropolitan government says itself, “Looking ahead to the Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond, Tokyo intends to continue evolving with a view to becoming a more sustainable city and an inspiration to the world.”

America is a major violator of human rights


TEHRAN, Jul. 01 (MNA) – The United States and the West are among the main human rights abusers, and the West's past crimes in its colonies is a clear example of human rights violations.

By: Mohsen Pakaein

Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, at the suggestion of some institutions and experts, has designated July 7-12 as American Human Rights week and has called for this opportunity to be used to Disclosure and condemn human rights violations by the United States. The initiative of the Leader of the Revolution in naming the American Human Rights Reading and Disclosure Week has very important messages, and in fact, exposing the ugly face of the United States has become a strategic matter and has become one of the duties of the Islamic world.

For years, Western countries, especially the United States, have been accusing the Islamic Republic of Iran of human rights violations by waging psychological warfare against the Iranian people.

The United States and the West are among the main human rights abusers, and the West's past crimes in its colonies, especially in Africa and their current atrocities, including complicity with the Zionist regime in the massacre of the Palestinians and complicity with the Saudi rulers in the massacre in Yemen is a clear example of human rights violations.

One of the most obvious examples of human rights abuses by the United States, which, according to the Iran Leader, the United Nations should also condemn, is the burning of the Davidic Center during the Clinton presidency. At that time, the US military brutally attacked members of a Christian denomination who had gathered in a house, and dozens of women, men, and children were burned alive in the blaze.

The crimes of American officers and soldiers in Afghanistan's Bagram prison are unprecedented after the occupation. In this prison, American soldiers cut off the fingers of their victims and used them as game pieces. They used the severed heads of innocent Afghans as soccer balls and enjoyed the sexual harassment of prisoners in front of their families. Similar crimes took place many times in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The torture that took place in this prison is a kind of medieval harassment perpetrated by the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people and has a history in Iran during the Pahlavi era.

The Guantanamo Bay massacre, which is another manifestation of human rights abuses, is not hidden from anyone, and its pathetic images are available on the Internet. At Guantanamo Bay, Americans imprisoned their opponents in the worst possible conditions without trial and did not even give their bodies to their families.

The racist and inhumane treatment of people of color by the US police and military, which culminated in the assassination of George Floyd, is undoubtedly in violation of human rights. Today, Americans of color, the main victims of American human rights, are targeting the unjust structure of the United States in their struggles and are determined to change that structure to continue the struggle.

The creation of terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Nusra and giving them a mission for the US proxy war against Syria and Iraq is also on the US human rights record. In fact, the United States is complicit in all of ISIL's atrocities against the defenseless people of West Asia.

The US support for the Zionist regime for the brutal massacre of the Palestinian people, most recently in Gaza, is a prime example of human rights violations by the White House. Such crimes should increase the US support for the Saudi rulers in the war in Yemen, and unfortunately, all these crimes are being committed in front of the eyes of the United Nations and the head of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Bachelet.

Every fair and just person, looking at the available statistics and information, concludes that no government in the world has violated human rights as much as the United States. However, human rights violations by France, Britain, Canada and the Zionist regime, both in the past and now, are obvious and have clear examples, and unfortunately, the countries that hold the flag of human rights protection were and are the main violators of human rights. .

American Human Rights Week is a symbol for exposing the west and American crimes, and the activities of relevant institutions should not take place only during this week. The fact is that given the crimes committed by the United States in different parts of the world, every day can be considered a day of human rights violations by the United States.

Relevant bodies such as the judiciary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and non-governmental organizations must coordinate and plan to expose and condemn human rights violations by Western countries, especially the United States, and fulfill the strategic demands of the Leader of Islamic revolution.

News Code 175523

US humiliated in Afghanistan

 

By: Mohsen Pakaeen

TEHRAN, Jul. 23 (MNA) – In his message to the world’s Muslims during the time of Hajj, Imam Khamenei referred to America’s ignorance in its presence in Afghanistan.

He stating that “This ignorance led America to be humiliated in Afghanistan. After that raucous invasion 20 years ago and after having used weapons and bombs against defenseless people and civilians, it felt it had become stuck in a quagmire and eventually withdrew its forces from that country.”

This is a certain reality that America was humiliated in Afghanistan many times. The peak of this humiliation was when Joe Biden confessed that he no longer wanted to see American soldiers being killed there after twenty years of occupying Afghanistan. Being ashamed of more than 2,400 soldiers being killed and approximately 21,000 being wounded, Biden withdrew all American forces from Afghanistan in such a way that the American people witnessed the greatest failure of their country in contemporary times after the Vietnam War. Biden said, “I am now the fourth United States president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.”

The Afghans’ fight to free their country from the occupation of the arrogant NATO forces and particularly their continuous resistance to the White House occupation was another factor that led America to be humiliated.

The US deployed its army to Afghanistan like other superpowers would and left Afghanistan when its power was waning. American politicians realized quite well that the willpower of nations is much stronger than their torturers, killers, planes and missiles targeting the innocent people of Afghanistan.

America was also humiliated when they sat across from the Taliban leaders in Doha. They sat humbly before the Taliban asking them for their own soldiers’ security while they had come to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban terrorists and provide security for Afghanistan! Even though they had come to Afghanistan under the slogan of defending women’s rights, in Doha they approved of and accepted the Taliban as a supporter of women’s rights. In referring to the Islamic laws that support women’s rights, they expressed hope that the Taliban movement would fulfill its commitment to women.

America was also humiliated by the Taliban after announcing the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan. The Taliban accused the US of violating the Doha agreement and said, “The US has violated the Doha peace agreement by postponing the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan. Based on the Doha peace agreement, American forces should have left Afghanistan by May.”

The US’s humiliation of being accused by the Taliban terrorist group of breaking their agreement will remain in the history of that country.

The US was also humiliated in its own country. The occupation of Afghanistan cost the American taxpayers two billion dollars. Now a fundamental question that remains for the American people and particularly its intellectuals is, “If Taliban was a terrorist group, which was the reason for the US and NATO forces occupation of Afghanistan for twenty years, then why did you enter into negotiations with this group and why did you agree to withdraw your military forces?” Another question raised by intellectuals is, “How is it that after spending two trillion dollars in Afghanistan, not only terrorism was not defeated, but the terrorist group ISIS entered Afghanistan too?” One Afghan official said that if the Americans had given 20 cents of each dollar (they spent in Afghanistan) to us, we would have been able to build our country and train our forces. Indeed, if America had spent that two trillion dollars on building hospitals, schools, and universities, funding development projects and fighting narcotics and the farming of narcotics, would it have withdrawn from Afghanistan “humiliated”?

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan proved that this country is no longer the superpower of the world and cannot impose its will on nations. During the twenty years of its occupation of Afghanistan, the Americans were continuously exposed to humiliation. The US’s inhumane measures, which led to the destruction of Afghanistan, and the shameless actions of their soldiers in the Afghan prisons that were in opposition to human rights, not only led to the humiliation of the White House internationally, it also incited the endless hatred of the Afghan people toward the occupiers.

The Afghan people’s resistance shattered the US’s grandeur and the same will happen in the case of the US crimes against the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, because the resistance forces in the region have found the courage to defend their rights against the aggression of the US and its allies.

In his message on the occasion of Hajj 2021, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution referred to the US’s continuing plots against regional countries. He advised that the vigilant Afghan nation remain watchful concerning America’s tools for gathering intelligence, its soft-war weapons in this country and to vigilantly fight them.

One of the soft-war weapons used by NATO and the US in Muslim countries is transforming the culture of these countries. The West plans to spread the Western lifestyle in Afghanistan by promoting the culture of liberalism. At the same time, they wish to surreptitiously, slowly, quietly alienate the Muslim people of this country from their Islamic culture. These goals have been proposed by the Foreign Ministers of Western countries in international summits under the title of creating a civil society in Afghanistan. In claiming to defend women’s rights, they imply that not wearing the Islamic covering is a factor for women’s development in Afghanistan. The strategic plan of the NATO policy makers in Afghanistan, which will continue in Afghanistan even after the withdrawal of the military forces, is to use modern communication tools for institutionalizing the cultural superiority of the West in this country. Due to their strong religious roots, the people of Afghanistan will never accept the spread of the secular culture of the West or its promiscuity and unrestraint. In this area, the religious scholars and intellectuals should enter the field to protect the Islamic culture and identity of their country.  

On the other hand, America does not want the Afghan crisis to be solved and they want the withdrawal of US forces from this country to create a new round of crisis and insecurity. Following the US withdrawal, its mission in Afghanistan is likely to be taken over by third party countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey and terrorist groups such as ISIS or the military branch of Taliban. The US forces will be replaced by intelligence services in Afghanistan and the Pentagon is interested in continuing its political presence and role as an advisor in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan should restore the national unity they had when fighting in the way of God. The government and ethnic groups, particularly the Taliban, should realize that the crisis in Afghanistan cannot be solved by military means. The best action to be taken is to declare a ceasefire and to continue internal negotiations. In this way, the legal structures may be kept and based on the people and the influence of different ethnicities and groups, a Government of National Reconciliation can be established.

This article has been first published on Khamenei.ir

MAH

News Code 176454

Canadian politician told MNA:

Residential schools designed to eliminate indigenous culture

TEHRAN, Jul. 17 (MNA) – Questioning Trudeau's silence, Caesar-Chavannes says that residential schools were designed to eliminate indigenous culture, not just for land, but also for the belief that their culture was inferior to that of the Europeans.

Since May 28, more than 1,000 unmarked children's graves and remains have been identified at former Indigenous residential boarding schools in Canada. In addition to the Penelakut Island graves, unmarked burials at three more locations were detected by First Nations communities between May and July, using ground-penetrating radar scans at sites in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

For almost 150 years in Canada — from 1863 to as recently as 1998 — more than 130 residential schools such as Kamloops, Marieval, St. Eugene's and Kuper Island were funded by the Canadian government, and until 1969 many of the schools were operated by Christian churches. These schools forcibly separated Indigenous children from their families and isolated them from their communities and cultures, according to Indigenous Foundations, a website for the First Nations Studies Program at the University of British Columbia.

The children were abused, malnourished and raped in these schools, and 3,200 indigenous children were reportedly killed in these schools.

Many Indigenous peoples blame the residential boarding schools that have played a major role in the lives of generations in Canada for social problems such as alcoholism, domestic violence and high suicide rates.

In 2008, Ottawa formally apologized to the survivors of those who had spent the residential boarding schools. The country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 said they were victims of "cultural genocide."

To shed light on the issue, we reached out to Celina R. Caesar-Chavannes, a Canadian politician and former Member of Parliament for the riding of Whitby in the House of Commons of Canada from 2015 to 2019. 

Pairs of children's shoes are seen at a memorial in front of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, May 31, 2021

Following is the text of the interview with her:

According to reports and assessments, one of the aims of Canada with establishing residential schools is said to be the elimination of the indigenous culture in order to make more land and resources available to settlers. What is your take on this?

The removal of native people from their land, source of energy and livelihood for the perpetuation of the idea of “white supremacy”There is no doubt that residential schools were designed to eliminate Indigenous culture, not just for land, but also for the belief that their culture was inferior to that of the European settlers on the land. It is the entire foundation on which colonialism is built. The removal of native people from their land, source of energy and livelihood for the perpetuation of the idea of “white supremacy”. This removal manifests in the form of genocide, sexual and gender-based violence, disease, enslavement, control (the Indian Act, in place since 1876, still governs First Nations, Metis and Inuit in Canada) and elimination of any trace of identity (residential schools in Canada or the renaming of enslaved people). Additionally, Treaties with Indigenous people were made in good faith, but broken in every encounter. 

Despite all the recent findings and earlier investigations, Canada has never charged any individual or institution with the crime against humanity or war crimes. What does this inaction imply? 

It is a cover-up of the highest order. These schools are not ancient history. Many survivors, who suffered through them, as well as the perpetrators, are still alive. Our government and the Catholic Church’s inaction demonstrates a lack of respect and value that is placed on the lives of Indigenous children. The Trudeau government has consistently said that their relationship with Indigenous people “is the most important relationship”. If this is the case, why is there no accountability?

The paddle song is performed during a vigil in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada June 2, 2021

Some say the International Criminal Court should investigate the residential schools’ case. How far this case can go internationally? 

My hope is that the international criminal court will not be necessary – that the actors who participated in this, will own up to their roles and seek reconciliation with Indigenous communitiesThat is a very good question. My hope is that the international criminal court will not be necessary – that the actors who participated in this, will own up to their roles and seek reconciliation with Indigenous communities. The Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 94 Calls to Action outlined very specific steps that were required to build a relationship with Indigenous people. It is up to Canada to follow the calls related to 1) legacy which includes child welfare, education, language and culture, health and justice and 2) reconciliation which includes the adoption of UNDRIP, a royal proclamation and covenant of reconciliation, equity in the legal system (Indigenous and Black people make up the highest percentages of people in prisons in Canada - see https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-investigation-racial-bias-in-canadian-prison-risk-assessments/), a National Council for Reconciliation, professional development and training for public servants, sport, business and media reconciliation, commemoration, information for newcomers to Canada, museums and archives review, youth programs, an apology from the Church and missing children and burial information. The final report from the Commission was made public in 2015. Canada should ensure every call to action is honoured. 

What are Vatican’s responsibilities regarding the case? 

It begins with an apology to Indigenous communities for the Church’s role in the residential school system. Then full disclosure of all documents and materials pertinent to an investigation – should one be launched. The Church should also conduct its own internal investigation and hold accountable those individuals who played a role in these atrocities. Most importantly the Vatican should “establish permanent funding to Indigenous people. All of these requests are listed in Call to Action numbers 58-61.

Interview by Zahra Mirzafarjouyan

News Code 176211

Zahra Mirzafarjouyan