city music hall will reopen for the 1st time after being closed for more than a year because of the krona virus pandemic. it will host the closing night film of tri becca. all of the audience will be fully vaccinated, and masks will be optional. it will be a landmark event, not only for the festival, but for this city hall gabriel's condo, i'll just say to new york. ah, hello again. the headlines on al jazeera joe biden is beginning a busy week of diplomacy. after arriving in the u. k for his 1st foreign trip as the u. s. president. these are the latest pictures out of the u. k. u. c, the u. s. president and his wife walking alongside the u. k. prime minister and his wife bores johnson. of course, hosting the g 7 leaders meeting, which is to begin tomorrow for thousands of mourners have filled streets and

occupied westbank city of ginni and for the funeral of 2 palestinian intelligence officers. they were killed along with another palestinian during a raid by is really forces on thursday and, and is really court has respond to hearing in the case of for palestinian families facing force displacements from their homes until one neighborhood and occupied east jerusalem earlier is really forces attacked the palestinian protesters who are demonstrating outside the core. it's 350000 people are now living in famine and ethiopia were torn t gray region. the un humanitarian chief has warning the situation there is going to get much worse. around 5500000 people in the region are grappling with high levels of food insecurity. they reach famine now. there is famine now in cheek re the number of people in farming conditions in ip 5 conditions is higher than anywhere,

anywhere in the world. at any moment since a quarter 1000000, somalia cost their lives in 2011 as another 2000000 people just to step away from those extreme situations. so you can government says 91 percent of new coven, 1900 infections. there are from the delta variance, which was 1st identified in india. the health secretary, mat hancock announced the statistic while facing questions from fellow politicians about his handling of the pandemic response. the rise of the variance could delay england's plans to lift current virus rules later. this month, people in parts of the northern hemisphere have been treated to a solar eclipse, particularly those in canada, greenland, and northern russia. the ring of fire is seen when the moon moves across the sun, but doesn't completely block its light. those are the latest headlines on al jazeera, more news at the top of the hour, with hollow dots after the stream. thanks for watching flows to host world leaders

at the u. k. coastal town for the 2021 g 7, summit corona virus, vaccines and carbon emissions will be high on the agenda. but with roster in china out of the loop, how much progress can be made in tackling the global issues of our time. the g 7 summit on al jazeera news high us i me okay today on the street, we asked how safe are the tucker olympics from covey 19 we start our conversation with rich pounds. he is a senior member of the international olympic committee, which it is. so good to have you here on the stream, you are going to be in japan in a couple of weeks time. what will keep you safe participants safe, volunteer safe? well, i think all of the preparations that everybody has been taking, including the olympic movement, are designed to make sure that as many people as possible are,

are vaccinated twice. i'll have my 2nd shot, i think next week. and the medical advice we have is the week and the bubble that everyone wants to create can be created and maintained. and that will start when i get on a plane in montreal, all have been tested a couple of times in the, the days preceding that. when i arrive in tokyo, 13 hours later, i'll get tested again, and i won't be let out of the airport if there's any doubted at all about being infected. i'll be put on a bus taken to the i o. c hotel, which is one of the bubbles if i were to be limbic athlete on this occasion, which displayed my youthful experience. i'm not taken to the olympic village. and that's another bubble. and so we've got a whole bunch of playbooks prepared and in process to make sure that everybody

involved knows what should be done, what should not be done. what conduct is safe, what is not the advice we have is that there is no additional risk. so we, we have to spell, he's going to come up and in this program talking about some of the protocols that should actually be in place. and she is concerned that best practices are not being a deal to, for instance, why would you put athletes in rooms together? junior global pandemic would be a good idea to have athletes in a single room at one by one by one phase, one of them. unfortunately get having 1900, not all of them get covered 90 doctors but i was saying this is not best practice right now. well, this is the, the one income tax advice talk to me were, were getting medical advice in japan that we think is competent and the,

the books and that may include more than one person in a room have been put together with, with all concern for health and safety, so let me just say that we and the japanese authorities are satisfied with that advice and that's what we're proceeding with. all right, let's see what happens professor tony is also joining us a little bit later in the show. professor tani is concerned that public opinion in japan is beginning to change, but a lot of people do not want the olympics to be held in japan right now during a global pandemic, japanese people will be paying for the olympics in some form in some way. why wouldn't you listen as the i o c to public opinion? so what are the questions? why is the see yeah. if pub in a public opinion in japan, if we are not comfortable with the olympics happening this year,

your response is what richard or responses look. whereas concerned as anybody about public health and safety and we are not going to put anybody in incremental danger at all. the advice we have now is that this can all be done the way it's been described. and i like anyone interested in the olympic games that i'm getting more excited as that the time gets closer and closer and i'm sure that excitement is spreading throughout the world with all of the olympic athletes have been on tenterhooks about some of this. this is opinion and negative opinion is quite often apparent just before the games and it disappears as soon as you find out that the games are being well organized and are perfectly safe. i want to bring out one more point and this is from jose boy called political science professor pacific university. his point is on video, which is have

a listen and then respond immediately afterwards. please. medical officials in tokyo and around the world are clamoring for the tokyo olympics to be cancelled more than 80 percent of the population in japan. do not want the olympics to be staged this summer. olympic athletes are amazing to behold. there's no question about it. but the olympics are wholly optional sporting spectacle, not an essential service to humanity. it's time that we listened to the science holding the tokyo olympics under pandemic conditions could create a massive potentially dangerous petri dish. let's listen to the scientists. it's time to cancel the tokyo olympics for the sake of global public health. i think one of the things we should do is, is he's serious fat check. i don't know what medical experts he's talking about. we are in constant touch with the people that we think are competent and we're

getting advice that as it's quite safe to go with these games under these conditions. and that's what we're going to do. let's a pound is a senior member of the international impact committee. he did not want to bake on the street today, but he was kind enough to kick off conversation. i'm going to bring in another thought here. and this comes from the head of the advisory committee on corona virus response in japan. as this happened in parliament last week in japan, have a listen. avalon, hola, let us call you probably just not normal to hold the games during a pandemic. but they, the organizers are trying to do that. if they hold the games, the government and the olympic committee will have to bear a heavy responsibility for their sectors or the general public will not support them. punish you and see that when i did, i got the so you now you've had to very different perspective. where did you stand

a few on youtube, you can be part of our discussion. jump into the comment section, be part of today's program. let me introduce you to i guess you can talk to them as well. dr. barrow, professor at tawny. megan o'leary. so good to have you. i'm going to get you to introduce yourself in the context of the olympics. dr. barry, you go 1st. hi tammy. good to be here. i am a critical care physician. i've worked on the frontlines of various about reg, including corvette border polio, and i am a global public health specialist. i'm here in my capacity as one of the co authors of the new england journal paper where we support a 1000000 pix, but we ask for 1000000 bix being informed by the best science professor at tawny, get to have here in central south to international audience. hello, i am so the way tiny are from speaking from a japan. i am a professor of sports agenda. initially the studies i've been looking up the impact

of the lympics on the whole cities for the past 2 years. and through the i've been seeing more and more cases of people who especially marginalized in the community, be negatively impacted. and this time in the with ok. all right, thank you. grange reduction more to come. i reckon introduce yourself trying to national go ahead. hi me. megan leery, i'm currently in princeton, new jersey, united states. i am in 20162021 pin. scheduled had to tokyo and just a few weeks to compete of the game. like and i am looking at team usa, the rowing team here. they looking fine for me. are you freaking out about tokyo? you know, i think as athletes, we at this point sort of put the blinders on. right. there's a lot of support staff around us that are meant to try and take on all of the

noise around us. but i, you know, i have concerns. i, i was in real obviously we all remember a lot of the conversation as we headed into the real games about, you know, the water quality of the, you know, i'm rover. i was on that body of water. and so, you know, it's, it's not foreign to me in terms of this conversation or that head into the games. but this is something different. this is definitely something different. this time you heard the most senior member of the i see just at the top of our program. was he reassuring for you as an athlete? and you know, yes and no. i think that's coming from a place of i do, i have to put trust in my n g b, you know, us throwing have to put trust in my own, my support staff and that, that funnels up to the support and i o. c. but i do think it's the responsibility of the athletes, and we are the reason that the games exist to continue to apply the appropriate pressure to the powers that be in this case. the i o. c, to make sure that the games are safe for all and equitable for all in terms of the

experience we're having. and so, you know, i, i want to continue to apply that pressure in the best way i can because it needs to be safe. if you know we've decided to host the game or hold the games and go forward, dr. star, i feel like i'm seeing your cynical spice looking down for your office. no, i am not sure that you are convinced by richard pounds. and i'm also looking here my laptop at the playbook, athletes and officials, your guide to safe and successful games. you've had to look at what should be concerned about on 1st of all, i think that down rather have a different definition of what a bubble wage. dig pounds the definition for bubble, look to me more. i could change where these are not bubbles. these are, you know, really open spaces where a lot of people are coming and going and they're simply not informed by the best practice. for example, the village is ventilated with pre corporate ventilation. that means it's got

designed, his career changes per hour. the minimum we would be necessary if 5 a changes per hour, if not 9. now actually expected to spend a lot of time in their hotels in the village particular they're not allowed now to go outside to mix, to mingled in those lies. now that what that means is they're going to be spending a lot more time in the hotel and not necessarily but in each other's street. and instead of actually doing the obvious and of course it's partially late now to retrofit no ventilation everywhere. and the same applies to indoor venue, which is very different from out go venue. so if you're a row like megan will to some extent to protected in her field and play because she's out in the open rowing. if you're a wrestler, you know that's about as intimate as intercourse, and any sport that is inside the gymnast, for example. even though they are not necessary in direct proximity with other,

with, with their competition. they're still at risk because it's an indoor venue. the one of the obvious pictures, for example, is complete. the put in half the filters highest patient, the particle, and it filters which can clean the air. we need to stop this charade, of cleaning the surfaces, which we know has nothing to do with getting rid of coverage and stop focusing on washing our hands and stop focused on cleaning the air and testing athletes every single day. and, and frankly, everyone else as well, and that's how we're going to make it as they have to autonomy. we have to remind as i was at all of the things thousands of acne, they're coming to japan. but also that means that the right potentially to japanese population as well. not just are we worried about all the athletes, make it, they're pretty fit. most of them i want to also talk about the problem. so let's, let's just talk about the influx of people coming into japan. are you feeling comfortable about that in a months time, just over a months time?

so 1st of all, i am not a medical expert. so i've been trying to listen to the find this, i've seen doctors and nurses and other words as to the government. and i've been cheering only concern basically. and based on that, i don't feel like the, the safety is, are short. and when we talk the people who say it's going to be safe, they only focus on the athletes. i have a tremendous respect to athletes, and i'm sure they will follow the rules. however, there are other tindall, thousands of people trying into your pan and who are going to make sure that they are following the rules. and also another aspect does not discuss the is that there are again, 100 thousands of people, if no more coming to tokyo within japan. and these people will not be monitored, no vaccinate, it's enough for him not to mention being tested. and the we are currently on in the

4th way we'll infection and we are in the 3rd state we emergency, it's just because we had some increase the role of people in march when the state of emergency was lifted. so all these things indicate that if you only focus on the movement of the athletes, we are getting about the other huge risks that we are facing. i had a look for your twitter feed professor tardy. this is what i found. we are planning to have no really takes action. and this idea that i have a feeling that if you could cancel the olympics, you would i was lily. you know, this is not just about the risks of health risks, but the attitudes that we have seen from the i c and the government is enough to call for the cancellation because we have the voice in the opinion and the we are taxpayers. we are putting a lot of results into this, but we are hurt. we are respected and the i o c. so this self of the you know,

the movement of peace and friendship all the corporation. but we only should be basically being ignored. and people feel increasingly frustrated and the fact that the moral will have been ignored is enough. find this game must not go on. but maybe what would you say to professor autonomy because you train so hard so long. you are fortunate in the this is not your only olympics that you will be attending, but sometimes it's the only challenge and you entire korea. what would you say to professor tony about that? you know, i mean it's, it's hard to, it's hard to argue with professor tawny on this, to be honest. i mean, i, you know, as an athlete, you're so focused on the goal. and the goal is, you know, for this instance, it's a go the olympics. but you never want that to be at it at the expense of someone else, especially when it comes to health. you know, i've been fortunate to go to limpid games. i made the decision last year to continue on thinking that when and if we decided to have the games,

it would mean that the world was able to come together around the games. and it's, it's really difficult to, i'm excited, but it's really difficult to be excited because that's not the case. you know, we're, we're holistically not ready. we're not having international fans, right? we, i think there has been acknowledgement that this is not beaten yet. being coven, and so, you know, it's hard to argue with that at all, in terms of the science of supporting it. and, you know, you see it in, in the press that the, the happy population, the majority, it's up to 80 percent, i think right now are calling for, you know, they don't want the games right now. and understandably, and i know, you know, richard pound mentioned that there's always negative sentiment leading to games for some reason or another. but this is different. i understand that. absolutely. i'm looking here you thought to spare a headline from the times of india. new poll finds half of japanese back and lympics this summer. so the numbers who are appreciating that the olympics are coming to the country going up

a little bit by little bit. i am just thinking about what could possibly be the worst case scenario. if you have a number of different variance coming into japan over a short period of time, what could happen, what could happen? and what almost certainly will happen if it proceeds as the under the current measures. and by i see it's what we'll see and then pick of the variance. and that means, you know, we, we already see the, the delta very much across the k. and we see that been vaccinated isn't necessary protection whether that is vaccine escape or whether it's because, i mean the virus is like software, right? they constantly innovate. so we made our vaccines for version $1.00 of the virus and now we're up to, or the different variance, which practically $2.00. wherever we're at. now,

you know the athletes a young and fit and healthy. they're also the most likely people to carry variance back, sorry, just to actually come in the village and the venues. and so will their support stuff. so will the public. so will the media again live in that where the variance can mix and you cage and mix match them. so you know, have virus prompting me have pardon me and take them back to 205 countries. now northern countries have heavy case. those countries have variance, but what we can certainly see or expect to see is, is a global impact. i expect that we'll probably scrape through the olympics, you know, with, you know, there's so many different sporting events that about the power limping cancelled. what about the, what about the power lympics? because we're talking about is incredibly fit athletes, but also athletes who have all the challenges which could be

a whole spectrum of different challenges. so their health may be at a different level from athletes. he would been taking part in competition 2 weeks earlier, a few weeks earlier. absolutely. so those are the 2 issues. first of all, we're going to see this huge spike, right? no matter, no matter what we can expect to see a spike that picture the spike, the global spike after christmas, or the u. s. bike after thanksgiving. and the parents picked going to be right back smack in the middle of that because there we see that spike start 2 weeks after and then the parent and picks out another 2 weeks after that. and the parent and more diverse, the differently i bought the less functional they have a diverse range of community competence. and they just simply not as, as able to cope with the, you know, the virus the same way that actually can or that better. so is it they keep really vulnerable and that's where we need to please make sure that that can still go ahead, you know, at a different time and that and athletes aren't compromised and definitely government

isn't held or the barrel the way that the irish basically has a ribeiro right now. ok. professor tony, i want to play this to you. this is poor oshea. he's thinking about he's an academic, he's thinking about the liberal democratic party and maybe where they stand in terms of the liberal definitely happening or not happening. however listened to poor and then respond to him. i don't think public opinion manage that much of the decision to go ahead to the games or something. and there is an election in autumn, but the opposition is pretty weak and divided. and due to the nature of the japanese political system, actually the be only need about 25 percent the most to stay in power. the i o c for the part is dead set on the games, going ahead. so for tokyo to counsel them unilaterally, would become very expensive during messy, and it were party cost prime ministers to get his job. so from the government's perspective, actually, it makes sense to define public opinion and to push ahead of the games, at least under the current conditions. just of you heard the l d p early

ruling party is notorious for not listening to people. and that is even more the reason why people are worried about this will lympics no matter how much the l d p or the government said it can be safe. we don't trust it. the past year and a half they feel to contain they fail to provide enough number of testing. and in this condition, they have a tremendous financial interest in also, right. the interest in national pride is hosting the olympics. so these people in so these are the people represented in japan and people are not happy about this. and also i want to jump on to the popular, popular opinion about about half of the people supporting. but i have to point out that the pole has a flow because it does not have the choice, did not have the choice of postponement. if you are the option about 80 percent of people don't want it because this summer in the pulling was done by the human body

symbol, which is one of the sponsors. but we see all these ways of making it look like people are supporting and it's going to be safe, but it is definitely not the representation of what we are feeling here. and we do an on scientific poll on youtube here. hello for us. thank you very much for watching on youtube. i don't think my scattering is safe. no matter how careful the organizes are. s p o pure a one. still recommends postponing with japan said i'd rather do it this year. we're not doing it so there's no option is either happening or is no happening. seems like it's happening. they are particularly worried about this new very into new cases. megan, i feel like we've given you the worst off the new never right and you're crowding so deeply. this is not good for your terrain. a good feel your mental process. but what please like yourself talking to each other about if i could be on a fly on the wall at the u. s. a rowing team, what would you be talking about? would you be like,

how do you just handle it and try not to think about it. unfortunately, i think it's the ladder, although, you know, even the earliest you know, just this, this morning after practice. you know, we, we are bubbled as a team and we've all vaccinated, but we're starting as we start to plan our departure and heading to a pre camp before entering into tokyo. you know, really making sure that we're all doing what we need to do to make sure were you know, the habits of wearing a mask and making sure that we're falling all the rules that we keep. we are capable of to protect each other. but also, you know, the professor atanya and dr. sparrow mentioned, there are so many people coming into the country and we are rely on everyone behaving positively in terms of calling the world and you know, and then fix is a party, it's about human endeavor. and that is really is also amazing policy for the people who are spectating people who are joining in and also some of the athletes

a young. and i'm not sure i know how well they can be behaving. all right, good luck. stay safe. megan, are you showing a room with anybody? you know, they haven't told us quite yet, or, you know, they haven't, even, they haven't told us our living situation and the 1st time about that we would likely be running with another athlete. i see that the fact is cheryl nodding. we've been given little information. right. so yeah, we don't know how to make the connection not to start megan, say, view of the u. s. a. rowing team. he's got good advice that we show you here. thank you. so much, and we show you how you can follow americans journey. you can follow her on twitter . also keep up with professor it's connie, and also dr. i'm a sparrow for the latest that on what they're thinking about the upcoming tokyo olympics. i think it's upcoming. i think it's definitely happening. thanks for watching. i'll see you next time on the string. take everybody ah

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