The Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony is happening now, bringing a hopeful start to the delayed games due to the pandemic.
The Olympic landscape has changed in the five years since the Rio Games in 2016, not counting the global pandemic. Global stars like Usain Bolt have moved on: He retired from competing and is now making music and building a family in Jamaica.
While new names will shine in Tokyo, U.S. gymnast Simone Biles will be one of the few returning superstars from Rio, leading a U.S. team considerably younger than the 24-year-old world champion.
Biles, arguably the greatest gymnast in history, has a strong chance of equaling Larisa Latynina's record of nine Olympic gold medals between the 1956 and 1964 Olympics. On Thursday during practice, she completed the world's most difficult vault ahead of the start of her events Sunday.
Time has a list of the 48 athletes to watch including Allyson Felix, U.S. track and field star; Katie Ledecky, U.S. swimmer; Emily Seebohm, Australian swimmer; Laura Kenny, British track cycler; Gabriel Medina, Brazilian surfer; Japanese skateboarder Yuto Horigome; Eliud Kipchoge, Kenyan marathoner; Chinese diver Shi Tingmao; Dina Asher-Smith, the fastest British woman in history in track and field and more.
The opening ceremonywill be replayed in U.S. primetime starting tonight at 7:30PM ET. Click here to find out how to watch from the U.S. and follow the official website at olympics.com.
Click herefor the full schedule of weekend events.
Keep up with the medalists: Click here and bookmark the Bloomberg Olympic Medal Tracker to track newly minted medalists. And don't miss this video to get an inside view of the Olympics complex:
Programming Note.
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New York City's progress on vaccinations among all adults is impressive, with 70% of all adults with at least one dose. But a deeper look into the data finds pockets of the city with far lower vaccination rates, leaving residents vulnerable to serious illness and even death.
As I wrote yesterday, vaccination rates between neighborhoods in the city have gaping disparities. While some neighborhoods like Tribeca and Flushing reaching 100% of adults with at least one dose, with others like Canarsie and Brownsville with barely 50% of adults with one dose.
But if you look at vaccination rates among different demographic groups, a stark picture of under-vaccination emerges.
What's more alarming? The demographic groups hit hardest by the pandemic from its earliest days are now some of the least vaccinated people in the city.
This disparity needs the most urgent attention as the city faces a rise in cases due to the delta variant and risks a massive surge similar to what's happened in London.
According to NYC health department data, just 30% of Black New York City residents have been fully vaccinated, while just 41% of Hispanic/Latino and 45% of White residents are fully inoculated. Compare that to 70% of Asian/Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander residents in the city who are fully vaccinated.
The numbers among NYC residents age 18-44 are even more concerning: Citywide, only 26% of Black residents age 18-44 are fully vaccinated, followed by 44% of Hispanic/Latino residents and 51% of White residents who are fully vaccinated. At the same time, 78% of 18-44 year old Asian/Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander residents are fully vaccinated.
The full dataset on vaccination rates among various segments of New York City residents provides clarity on the groups that need the most outreach to get the Covid vaccine.
Science has given us a way to prevent further hospitalizations and death, and we urgently need to get more shots into arms across the city by any means necessary before it's too late.
Nationally, cases are likely to rise to 306,909 for the week ending Aug. 14, or about 43,000 cases per day, according to forecasts. The numbers reflect a concerning next chapter in which more transmissible variant cases spread through unvaccinated sections of the U.S.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation with more than 270 million people, reported 1,449 deaths on Thursday, its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic.
Each anniversary of 9/11, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site creates a video for teachers to show in classrooms and spark discussion on what can be a difficult topic to teach at the start of the school year.
This year's video, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the attacks, will focus particularly on the next generation; "young people talking to young people," Alice Greenwald, the memorial and museum's president and CEO, said.
This anniversary will help teach younger generations about the hope, resilience and unity Americans felt in the aftermath of the attacks.
The museum is also launching a fundraiser, called the Never Forget Fund, which will focus supporting educational programming for students, educators and others to understand more deeply the history of Sept. 11 and how it shaped the world.
500 people were trapped on a subway amid catastrophic flooding Tuesday night in Zhengzhou, in China’s Henan province. Click here to watch the unbelievable footage.
Would-be developers are struggling to find enough transmission lines to carry power to the people. One increasingly popular solution: retired coal plants which offer renewable energy producers a back door onto the grid.
This summer’s NYC dining hotspot isn’t a new restaurant, the best place in the city to tear into a dosa, a taco or an everything bagel is atop a dining platform built with two-by-fours and DIY lattices in a former parking space.
Outdoor dining, starting as a pandemic lifeline, has gone from a seasonal attraction to an urban essential.
As the city presses ahead with plans to make it permanent, some community boards are now grumbling about keeping the sheds in place. They should stand down and help us all find ways to improve upon this successful experiment, not reverse it.
Janette Sadik-Khan is a former transportation commissioner in New York Cityduring the Bloomberg administration and is currently a principal with Bloomberg Associates.
Each participating restaurant will offer special lunch and dinner menus for $21 or $39, and some higher-end places will offer three or more courses for $125. Restaurant 'week' will run through August 22.
Some of this year's restaurants include La Barra in Hudson Yards, Marta in Nomad, Tacocina in Williamsburg and Lido in Harlem. Click herefor a full list and their menus.
Jason Sudeikis is better than ever in season 2 of 'Ted Lasso' out today, according to NPR. After the show gathered 20 Emmy nominations last week, the folksy American college football coach transplanted to England is back coaching his much-improved AFC Richmond team. Stream season 2here.
In a sequel series to the 1989 film of the same name staring Tom Hanks, a buttoned-up U.S. Marshall inherits a drooling junkyard dog and soon realizes the pet he didn't want is the partner he needs. Click hereto stream the new series.
And to help prepare for the competition of the Olympics starting today:
Ten pairs of florists, sculptors and garden designers face off in a floral fight to see who can build the biggest, boldest garden sculptures. Hat tip to our colleague Liz Rich for the recommendation. Click hereto stream the show.
Best of Late Night.
On the Milwaukee Bucks winning their first NBA Championship in 50 years:
"The finals’ M.V.P. was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who’s from Greece. Yep, a Greek NBA superstar. He could be the first person to star in 'Space Jam' and 'Mamma Mia.'"
-- Jimmy Fallon
On Republican Congressman Steve Scalise encouraging skeptics to get the shots after receiving his first dose this week, saying, “I’ve been vaccinated, many of my colleagues have been vaccinated, and the vaccine is safe, effective, and it’s widely available:”
"Yeah, Steve, we know. We all got it months ago."
-- Stephen Colbert
On the rise in cases in primarily unvaccinated areas across the U.S. caused by the more transmissible delta variant:
"The rising cases are being fueled by vaccine hesitancy, which itself is being fueled by a dangerous pathogen scientists are calling the Republican Party."
-- Stephen Colbert
"Inoculations have slowed dramatically, and less than half of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated. So if you think of it like a pie, about half of the pie would be vaccinated while the other half wouldn’t be able to taste the pie because they have Covid."
-- Stephen Colbert
"We at ‘The Late Show’ have updated our prize for any unvaccinated Americans who go get the shot. You will now win a lifetime supply of 'life' and 'time.'"
-- Stephen Colbert
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