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Tokyo 2020 organizers to issue ticket refunds due to delay

Jul 10, 2020 (Japan Times) - The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee will issue ticket refunds to people unable to attend the games due to their one-year postponement, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

Organizers have sold about 4.48 million tickets for the Olympics and roughly 970,000 for the Paralympics through the official ticketing website. The games are slated to open in Japan next July after being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

In principle, tickets that have already been purchased are valid for next summer's games, but consideration will be given to spectators who are unable to attend as a result of the delay.

Also, sources confirmed Wednesday that organizers are on track to secure all the venues originally planned for use this summer, before the pandemic halted major sporting events across the world.

The first competition of the Olympics is expected to be softball in Fukushima Prefecture two days prior to the opening ceremony as originally planned.

The local organizers plan to make a report to the International Olympic Committee's general assembly on July 17.

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A man believed to be in his 50s or 60s was found dead with knives lodged in his left eye and abdomen inside a container at a company property in Kobe's Suma Ward on June 8th, prompting police to investigate the possibility of a criminal case.

The family of James "Weston" Higginbotham, a 20-year-old Auburn University student who disappeared during a family vacation in Japan, announced on June 7th that he has been found dead after a volunteer search-and-rescue team located his body in a mountainous area outside Kyoto, bringing a week-long multinational search to a tragic end.

A clinic director and a former Peruvian staff member have been referred to prosecutors after the man allegedly performed medical procedures without a license, including an external cephalic version—a procedure used to manually turn a baby into the correct position before birth—at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Fukuoka City, raising concerns about patient safety and oversight in maternity care.

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