16 March 2021
The Olympic torch relay kicks off next week at a spectator-free "Grand Start" in Japan, with organizers hoping to avoid a cancellation after last year's delay.
The big picture: The Tokyo Olympics start in four months, and there's considerable opposition to the Games in Japan, AP reports.
- The relay links all 47 Japanese prefectures and presents a real risk of spreading the virus.
- Much of the organizational staff comes from Tokyo, where the outbreak has been most severe in Japan.
Onlookers will be asked to social distance, wear masks and cheer quietly.
- "The objective of the Olympic torch relay is to enhance the enthusiasm," said Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the organizing committee who has also been put in charge of the relay.
- "We need to balance things out between bringing enthusiasm and preventing COVID-19 infection."
The bottom line: Organizers warn they will stop or reroute the torch — or remove runners — if they need to.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.