March 25, Thursday, 2021 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline

1. The Olympic torch started its journey across Japan on Thursday morning after a yearlong delay. That’s because the Tokyo 2020 Games were postponed due to the global pandemic. The torch relay will travel through all 47 prefectures and be carried out under tight anti-coronavirus measures. The relay began in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima, which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident.
2.The Japanese government says North Korea launched two ballistic missiles on Thursday morning. Officials say the projectiles were launched around 7 a.m., Japan time and are believed to have fallen in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. 3.Myanmar’s military appears to be taking a carrot-and-stick approach ahead of its Armed Forces Day ceremony on Saturday, as it steps up its crackdown on civilians while releasing hundreds of protesters.