国际英语新闻:Olympics 2020 City Contest Becomes 'Least-ugly Parade'

Fukushima Nuclear Plant
 
The disclosures in recent weeks about the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant 230 km (140 miles) from Tokyo came as an unwelcome shock to an Olympic membership not appreciative of surprises.
 
The plant's operator has been forced to reverse denials and admit that hundreds of tons of radioactive water are pouring into the Pacific Ocean each day, and radiation levels have spiked.
 
Abe's government said this week it will spend almost half a billion dollars to try to fix the water crisis and critics said the government's sudden embrace of the issue was aimed largely at winning the Olympic bid.

“During our presentation, I look forward to conveying Tokyo's safety, strong finances, world class transportation and organizational ability,” Tokyo governor Naoki Inose said on Friday.

“We believe we have shown that Tokyo is the right partner for the International Olympic Committee [IOC] and will host a safe and incredible city-center celebration," he continued. “Considering the world economy recently, for a true celebration, for a party for mankind like the Olympic and Paralympic Games, strong evidence exists that Tokyo has the ability to deliver.”
 
Istanbul launched its bid on the back of an Islamic card, of becoming the first Olympics in a predominantly Muslim country and the first staged across two continents simultaneously - Asia and Europe.
 
But instead of promoting that angle, the bid team has been fending off fears of unrest following weeks of protest in June after police cracked down on anti-government demonstrators, leaving four people dead and 7,500 injured.

Now it is also forced to contend with fears a potential U.S. military intervention in neighboring Syria could stop the bid in its tracks.
 
“This is a global issue ... now the world leaders are dealing with it,” Turkish bid chief Hasan Arat told Reuters when asked whether unrest in the region could harm the city's chances.
 
But geopolitics could weigh on Turkey, which has felt the strain of a refugee exodus from Syria's civil war.
 
More than two million refugees have fled Syria, the United Nations said this week, calling the crisis “the tragedy of the century”.