The Japanese government has denied a major British newspaper's report about a possible cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

The Times reported on Thursday that the Japanese government has privately concluded the event will have to be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

NHK has learned that the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games is considering an alternative way to carry out the torch relay in the event of emergencies related to the coronavirus.

The relay is scheduled to start in about two months, on March 25, from Fukushima Prefecture. It will travel across the country over 121 days.

Survivors of the 1945 US atomic bombings of Japan have urged the country's government to join a UN nuclear ban treaty that took effect on Friday.

The survivors, known as hibakusha, spoke about the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at a gathering in Tokyo on Friday. They began with a silent prayer to all the victims who died from the bombings.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 1,175 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday.

The daily tally in the capital has exceeded 1,000 for 10 straight days.

Japan's Cabinet has approved a set of draft bills aimed at helping the country tackle the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively.

Proposals to revise the special anti-coronavirus law, the infectious disease control law and the quarantine law were approved at the Cabinet meeting on Friday.

The mayor of Hiroshima City says the central government should attend as an observer a meeting of the signatories of a United Nations treaty that bans nuclear weapons.

Matsui Kazumi made the comment in a news conference on Friday, when the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into force. Japan has not joined the treaty.

Tokyo police have identified 31 suspects alleged to have exchanged about 190 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency, while knowing it was stolen.

The Japanese virtual currency exchange Coincheck lost more than 500 million dollars' worth of NEM cryptocurrency in a suspected hack in January 2018.

Japan confirmed 5,652 new cases of the coronavirus as of 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.

That brings the total number of infections in the country to 352,688.

NHK has learned that a woman in Tokyo who contracted the coronavirus committed suicide in her home.

Sources say the woman in her 30s was found dead earlier this month in her apartment, where she was self-isolating after testing positive for the virus.

Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has indicated he will do his utmost to secure more hospital beds for coronavirus patients by providing financial support to medical institutions.

Suga spoke at a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Thursday. Minister in charge of the coronavirus response Nishimura Yasutoshi and health minister Tamura Norihisa also attended.

US President Joe Biden has begun working to push his key policy agenda after his inauguration on Wednesday, reversing some of his predecessor's contentious policies.

Hours after being sworn in, Biden signed 15 documents, including executive actions to rejoin the Paris climate accord, and to reverse the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

The Tokyo District Court has found an Upper House lawmaker guilty of vote buying in a national election.

Kawai Anri will lose her seat in the Diet based on an election law if the court's decision on Thursday is finalized.

Survivors of the 1945 US atomic bombings of Japan have urged the Japanese government to join a UN nuclear ban treaty that will take effect on Friday. They say Japan should take the lead in seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The survivors, known as hibakusha, spoke about the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Thursday.

The Tokyo District Court has ruled that a Japanese law forbidding dual citizenship is not against the Constitution.

Japan's Nationality Law stipulates that Japanese nationals lose their citizenship if they acquire foreign nationality of their own will.