USA Gymnastics takes silver at Tokyo Games after Simone Biles withdraws
Without the GOAT leading her team for the finals competition, USA Gymnastics took the silver medal at the Tokyo games, following Simone Biles' surprise withdrawal earlier today.
The athletes from Russia came out on top, beating the cumulative U.S. score by more than three points. Great Britain won bronze.
The U.S. women's gymnastics team was seeking to bring home the gold for the third time in a row at the competition on Tuesday.
This was one of the strongest gymnastics teams the world has seen, led by all-time great Biles and uneven bars phenom Sunisa Lee. The team is rounded out by Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum.
After a rare stumble on vault Tuesday, Biles withdrew for what USA Gymnastics called a "medical issue." She went on to cheer on her teammates from the sidelines.
Following news of her withdrawal, Simone got praise online, including from fellow Olympic medal winner Adam Rippon. The former figure skater noted on Twitter, "I can't imagine the pressure Simone has been feeling. Sending her SO much love. It easy to forget she's still human. WE LOVE YOU."
After a shaky Olympic debut on Monday, Biles Instagrammed, "It wasn’t an easy day or my best but I got through it. I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn’t affect me but damn sometimes it’s hard hahaha! The Olympics is no joke!"
Source-ABC
Netflix to include mobile games for subscribers
Netflix has confirmed that it will include video games as part of subscription packages at no extra cost.
In a letter to investors, it said it was in the early stages of expanding into games and those for mobile would be added to the platform first.
"The time is right to learn more about how our members value games," it said on Tuesday.
But Netflix shares dipped in after-hours trading after it missed a target on subscriptions.
The California-based company said it expects to sign up 3.5 million new customers in the three months to the end of September - less than the 5.86 million analysts had estimated.
"Covid has created some lumpiness in our membership growth (higher growth in 2020, slower growth this year), which is working its way through," it said in its latest financial update.
"We continue to focus on improving our service for our members and bringing them the best stories from around the world."
It now counts more than 209 million paid-up members in total, having seen a surge in sign-ups when consumers were spending more time at home during coronavirus-related lockdowns.
But the pandemic has proven a double-edged sword for Netflix, because it disrupted the production of some big titles.
"Covid and its variants make predicting the future hard, but with productions largely running smoothly so far, we're optimistic," it said, pointing to new seasons of the series "Sex Education" and "Never Have I Ever".
Despite the slowdown on-set, in the three months to the end of June the firm's revenues totalled $7.3bn - about 19% higher than a year before.
Profits dipped to $1.35bn, down from $1.7bn the previous quarter, citing additional investment in improving its apps and non-English language content.
Source-BBC
Khloe Kardashian opens up about discussing race with daughter True
Khloe Kardashian is opening up about how she plans to discuss race with her daughter, True.
The Good American founder shares her three-year-old daughter with her ex-boyfriend, NBA player Tristan Thompson, who is of Jamaican descent.
"I will be always learning and trying to do the best I can do as being her mom," Khloe said in Monday's episode of the Role Models podcast. "I’m obviously not a woman of color, but I do want her to be exposed to as much inclusion but variety as possible."
The 37-year-old reality star added that she didn't want True "living in a bubble thinking, because we do have this very privileged life, I want her to know all types of life and all types of living and be very aware of that."
"I know some people get uncomfortable with talking to their kids about race, or they think, 'Oh we live in a bubble, we never have to address that my child is Black.' I mean, of course you do," she expressed. "You’re only setting them up, I think, for failure if you don’t talk about race and probably the things they’re going to endure once they’re in, quote, the real world."
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star added that the "beauty" of having sisters in the same situation is that they get to have some of those conversations together. Kim Kardashian has four mixed race children with Kanye West and Kylie Jenner has a mixed race child with Travis Scott.
While Khloe admitted to not knowing exactly what age she'll bring up the conversation with True, she concluded saying that she wants True to grow up in "a world surrounded by love but still very aware that she is a woman of color."
Source-ABC
Former Trump adviser Tom Barrack charged with acting as agent of UAE
Tom Barrack, a longtime friend of Donald Trump's who chaired the committee that raised more than $100 million for his inauguration, has been charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government and obstruction of justice.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Tuesday that in 2016, Barrack illegally sought to use his influence with the new president on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
In May 2016, according to the indictment, Barrack "took steps to establish himself as the key communications channel for the United Arab Emirates" to the Trump campaign and, that same month, gave a co-defendant a draft copy of an energy speech then-candidate Trump was preparing to deliver. The co-defendant then sent it to a UAE official and solicited feedback.
Between May 2016 and October 2017, Barrack "repeatedly promoted the United Arab Emirates and its foreign policy interests during media appearances" after soliciting direction from his co-defendant and UAE officials, the indictment said.
The allegations involving Barrack came to light as part of a House Oversight Committee investigation, ABC News reported in July 2019.
A spokesman for Barrack, 74, told ABC News that "Mr. Barrack has made himself voluntarily available to investigators from the outset. He is not guilty and will be pleading not guilty."
Source-ABC
Tokyo Olympics leader doesn't rule out canceling games at last minute
The chief of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee addressed concerns of rising COVID-19 cases during a press conference on Tuesday and did not rule out the possibility of a last-minute cancellation of the games.
As of Tuesday, Tokyo Olympic organizers said 71 people accredited to the games, including athletes in the Olympic Village, have tested positive for the virus just days ahead of the opening ceremonies set for Friday.
Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee will continue to monitor cases and make decisions based on the current situation at hand.
At the beginning of the month, Japan announced a state of emergency due to large outbreaks in the greater Tokyo area, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Tuesday, the country reported 2,477 new cases.
Source-ABC
Barbados to slash taxes by 50 per cent for regional travellers
Barbados will be going the same route as its Caribbean neighbour Antigua and Barbuda in slashing airport taxes for regional travellers by as much as 50 per cent.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport Lisa Cummins made the disclosure this morning as she responded to a question from Barbados TODAY during the state of the tourism industry update at the Barbados Hilton.
“Cabinet has agreed that there is to be a 50 per cent reduction in airport service charge to regional travellers. That brings us pretty much in line with what you have been hearing coming out of other markets, and in particular, Antigua . . . that is meant to reduce the taxes on inter-regional travel,” said Cummins.
She was outlining several measures aimed at breathing new life into the tourism industry and getting more visitors to the island.
The move to reduce the taxes came a year after Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that it was a step her administration was examining.
Source-Barbados Today
DDME Receives Mobile Antenna Towers For Improved Emergency Communication And Hurricane Preparedness
On Monday 19th of July the Department of Disaster Management and Emergency Services held a ceremony to commemorate the official hand over and commissioning of the DDME’s mobile antenna towers.
There are three mobile antenna towers currently in the Turks and Caicos these will be stationed in Providenciales, Grand Turk and South Caicos with the expectation of more to supply Salt Cay, North and Middle Caicos. A representative of alumni towers, a Florida based company who provided the satellites, noted that the company has been able to build systems that are specifically designed to with stand hurricane conditions. He said they are elated to provide the TCI with equipment that will strengthen the response efforts and communication after a disaster.
The Emergency Communications Manager, Mark Wilkinson, went into detail about the work that went into designing and creating the mobile antenna towers which are meant to provide more efficient communication and its notably long operation time of up to a week without electricity.
Wilkinson added that the mobile antenna towers were built to last much longer that towers that were previously built in the islands. Mentioning that it was important that the systems were able to withstand a hurricane seeing that previous systems were easily destroyed by Ike and Hanna in 2008. The mobility of the systems were also a benefit that the Emergency Communications Manager boasted about stating that transporting the system will be a two person job and takes 30 minutes to an hour to be installed. He also spoke about the regional benefits that would come with the establishment of these systems.
The Acting Governor, H.E. Anya Williams, gave opening remarks where she reminisced on the events of the 2008 hurricane season saying that while she is hopeful that the TCI will experience a less active hurricane season it is comforting and reassuring to have the equipment on hand to handle it, and to never have a repeat of what transpired when connection was lost between Grand Turk & Providenciales.
Minister with responsibility for Disaster Management, Honorable Arlington Musgrove, took a different approach, noting the many missed calls that the TCI has faced in this season but also the many other natural disaster including earthquakes or tsunamis that the islands are vulnerable to. Noting that this is an investment in disaster preparedness and the first step towards a more prepared and capable TCI.
Others in attendance to witness the unveiling were Permanent Secretaries & Deputy Permanent Secretaries along with Acting Director for DDME, Mike Clerveaux who also brought brief remarks.
Milwaukee Bucks beat Phoenix Suns to win first title for 50 years
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points as the Milwaukee Bucks claimed their first NBA title for 50 years with a 105-98 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
The Bucks' 4-2 series win was sealed in front of a 17,000 crowd as 65,000 celebrated outside the Fiserv Forum.
They are only the fifth team to win the best-of-seven finals series after losing their first two matches.
"I'm happy I was able to do it with this team for Milwaukee," said Antetokounmpo.
The Suns were seeking a first NBA crown in their 53-year history, having also lost NBA Finals series in 1976 and 1993.
However, they were unable to contain Antetokounmpo, who became only the seventh player to register 50 points in a Finals game.
It was also the third game in the series in which the 26-year-old has managed at least 40 points and 10 rebounds.
Antetokounmpo matches the feat of Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon by collecting a regular season MVP, NBA Finals MVP and NBA defensive player of the year awards.
"I want to thank Milwaukee for believing in me. I want to thank my team-mates for playing hard with me," Antetokounmpo said.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer described the Greek forward as "a special human being".
"I've learned so much from him. He's a special leader," he said.
"These players are champions every day. They've embraced getting better every day."
Budenholzer was only four years old when NBA legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson led the Bucks to their only previous NBA tile in 1971, when some of the current players' parents had not been born.
Unlike the 2020 NBA Finals which were played without fans, the Bucks' win kicked off a wild party inside the arena and on the streets of Milwaukee.
More than 10% of the city's population, crowded together in the Deer District outside Fiserv Forum, with some fans waiting in line for five hours before the game to ensure they would have seats.
Source-BBC
Chip Shortage Is Now Affecting New Car Sales
The semiconductor chip shortage that's affecting new vehicle supply and causing used car prices to climb is officially, concretely affecting new car sales. It's not a surprise and dealers and shoppers all knew this was coming, but now we have the data to prove it.
Numbers collected by Black Book, Hearst's data and analytics arm, show that new-car sales for June were down about 14 percent compared to 2019 (2020 is not a good marker to look at for comparison to what's "normal," since that was during the pandemic). This was the first month where the shortage affected actual sales. As you can see in the chart above, which shows the average number of new listings using a two-week moving average, the number of new vehicles available in the marketplace has dropped substantially.
Starting from a base of around 3.4 million units in May 2020, the number of new-vehicle retail listings dropped off to around 2.5 million by last July. But then it stopped declining, hovering between around 2.2 and 2.7 million for about nine months. Things started to decline in May and have only just continued to fall. For mid-July 2021, the number of new retail listings is around 1.2 million.
"We saw a substantial drop in available new inventory starting early in the spring due to chip shortage," said Alex Yurchenko, senior vice president of data science and analytics at Black Book. "The inventory was dropping fast throughout the spring [as] dealers were selling everything they got with very low incentives and high speed."
Looking forward, the second half of 2021 is likely to be another wild roller coaster for people looking to buy and sell cars.
"We expect the sales to remain below 2019 (and 2020) levels at least in Q3 with some rebound later this year," Yurchenko said. "The timing is still a big unknown. Even talking to OEMs does not help. Once the production numbers are restored, we expect the incentives to go up as many OEMs will fight to regain market share."
Around 17 million cars were sold in the U.S. in 2019, the fifth year in a row the industry moved that much metal. Yurchenko said Black Book's current projections for 2021 sales remain at 16 million, with sales numbers dropping in the third quarter, and possibly also the fourth, due to the shortage.
Source- Car and Driver
Biden tries to clarify comment that Facebook is 'killing people'
Days after Facebook publicly rejected President Joe Biden's message to the platform that it's "killing people" by allowing the spread of vaccine misinformation, even as COVID-19 infections rise and vaccinations fall around the U.S., he tried to clean up his comment about the social media giant Monday, saying he hopes Facebook doesn't take it "personally."
"It was pointed out that Facebook, of all the misinformation, 60% of the misinformation came from 12 individuals. That's what the article said," the president said, in reference to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's warning last week of the threat misinformation poses to public health.
"My hope is that Facebook -- instead of taking it personally -- that somehow I'm saying Facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation -- the outrageous misinformation -- about the vaccine. That's what I meant," President Biden clarified.
When pressed if he felt the social media company was doing enough to combat the misinformation, the president said he was unsure, because he wasn't sure what action they had taken over the weekend.
The controversial comment came on Friday, one day after the surgeon general put out a new advisory arguing that misinformation, particularly on social media websites like Facebook, has hindered vaccination efforts and prolonged the pandemic -- putting more lives at risk