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Olympics opening ceremony starts amid protests, China’s Xi Jinping takes first visit to Tibet as president, India faces landslides and flooding

Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita breaks down global news headlines: from protests taking place at the Olympic games, President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Tibet, and western India’s alarming floods.

Video transcript

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AKIKO FUJITA: In our "World View" today, a subdued opening ceremony marked the official start of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Athletes marched through an empty stadium, with no spectators allowed inside for the event. Outside, though, we saw protesters clashing with police as demonstrators called for the Olympic Games to be halted. With COVID infections in Tokyo at a six-month high now, an overwhelming majority of the Japanese public remains opposed to these games.

Chinese president Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to Tibet, making him the first Chinese leader in three decades to visit the autonomous region. Xi's first trip comes as China faces growing security concerns in the region stemming from clashes with India and the US-led troop withdrawal in Afghanistan. Xi visited the city of [INAUDIBLE] and the capital, Lhasa, and he urged the Tibetan people to follow the party, saying that support for the Chinese Communist Party will, in his words, lead to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

And nearly 70 people have died in Western India after monsoon rains triggered landslides across the state of Maharashtra. More than 20 inches of rain fell over parts of the country's west coast in just 24 hours, forcing residents to evacuate. The extreme weather prompted rivers and dams to burst, washing over roads and trapping people inside of their homes. At least four people died in Mumbai after a building collapsed, while rising water stranded thousands of trucks on highways. Meanwhile, hundreds of villages and towns are still without electricity and water.