(TOKYO) — Olympic athletes are set to see some reprieve from extreme weather conditions, as Tropical Storm Nepartak is now forecast to miss Japan’s capital city.
The storm is expected to make landfall in northern Japan on Wednesday morning local time. It was located approximately 134 nautical miles east-northeast of Yokosuka, Japan (a town that houses a U.S. military base and is some 35 miles south of Tokyo) at 11 a.m. ET, according to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The naval weather center said in its 11 a.m. ET release that, within 12 hours, the storm will be just off the northeastern coast of Japan near the city of Sendai (some 230 miles north of Tokyo), and within 24 hours the center of the storm will have passed over the archipelago nation completely.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the storm is carrying maximum wind speeds of 44.8 mph and maximum wind gust speeds of 67.1 mph. It is moving north at just over 12 mph.
Japan’s national public broadcaster NHK reported heavy rainfall along northeastern Japan’s coastal cities and warned that the storm will likely cause downpours in the region. NHK reported that local officials are also warning of mudslides and potential flooding in low-lying areas in the region.
While the storm was never forecast to strengthen into a typhoon, news outlets and local officials have been labeling it as such. In a statement Monday, Tokyo 2020 organizers predicted that the storm will have “limited impact on the Games,” but said any changes in competition schedule would be announced on its website and via the Tokyo 2020 app.
Rowing and archery events that were scheduled for Tuesday were rescheduled, but no other changes to event lineups have been announced.
While the tropical storm is missing the Olympics host city, athletes will likely not see relief from the infamous Tokyo summer heat.
No rain is on the forecast for Tokyo throughout the rest of the week, and temperatures on Wednesday are expected to hit a high of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. On Thursday, temperatures are forecast to hit 93 degrees Fahrenheit. Daily weather updates, in English, are being posted on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Tokyo 2020 weather portal.
Some athletes participating in outdoor events have complained about the extreme heat conditions potentially impacting their performances. The No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has advocated for matches to be moved to the late afternoon to avoid the blazing midday heat.
Athletes participating in surf competitions, which made an Olympics debut in Tokyo, reportedly embraced the extreme weather as the tropical storm churned large waves off of Japan’s coast. American Carissa Moore rode the waves into the history books on Tuesday, becoming the first woman ever to win a gold medal in surfing at the Olympics.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images; VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images
Is Lady Gaga going for the gold?
Fans have spotted the singer’s doppelganger competing in the Tokyo Olympic games, and the internet is having a field day with it.
“Why is Lady Gaga at the Olympics,” Gaga Daily tweeted on Monday along with a photo of Jordanian taekwondo fighter Julyana Al-Sadeq, who bears a striking resemblance to the star.
Other tweets and comments flooded in, with one person writing, “lady gaga said ‘f*** grammys and oscars, i want a gold olympic medal now.’”
Another referenced Gaga’s oft-quoted phrase during her A Star Is Born promo tour: “There can be a hundred people at the olympics and one of them is Lady Gaga competing for a taekwondo medal.”
And yet another fan tweeted, “Singer, actress, activist and now Olympian! Lady Gaga really does do it all!”
Neither Gaga nor Al-Sadeq has yet to comment on the similarities. Al-Sadeq unfortunately lost to Brazilian fighter Milean Titoneli on Sunday.
New York City is celebrating its comeback from the COVID-19 pandemic with a major concert.
Kane Brown has been tapped as part of the expansive lineup for We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert, a multi-act event in Central Park on August 21.
The “Worldwide Beautiful” singer is the lone country act in a massive list of multi-genre acts including Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson, Jimmy Fallon and more.
The event is organized by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, legendary producer Clive Davis and Live Nation.
“This is a celebration of our city, of every working family who faced incredible challenges last year and overcame. This is a celebration for you,” de Blasio says in a statement.
Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to attend the show, with 80 percent of the tickets available for free. Tickets go on sale on August 2 at 10 a.m. ET.
(TOKYO) — Simone Biles’ shocking withdrawal from the team competition at the Tokyo Olympics Tuesday put a spotlight on mental health and the extreme stress elite athletes like Biles are under.
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team won silver in the team competition after Biles left the competition early following a rare stumble on vault.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement that Biles, 24, withdrew “due to a medical issue,” which the gymnast later confirmed was not a physical injury.
“No injuries, thankfully, and that’s why I took a step back because I didn’t want to do something silly out there and get injured,” Biles said in a press conference following the competition. “So I thought it was best if these girls took over and did the rest of the job, which they absolutely did.”
Biles, aiming to win an unprecedented six gold medals in Tokyo, told reporters Tuesday this Olympics, her second, has been “really stressful.”
The Tokyo Olympics are taking place under strict restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, including no fans in the stands and no family members or friends of the athletes allowed to attend. The Games were also postponed one year due to the pandemic.
“It’s been really stressful this Olympic Games, just as a whole,” said Biles. “It’s been a long week. It’s been a long Olympic process. It’s been a long year.”
“I think we’re just a little bit too stressed out,” she said. “But we should be out here having fun, and sometimes that’s not the case.”
Biles’ comments echo feelings she shared on Instagram earlier this week, after the Americans were surpassed in the qualifying round by athletes from Russia competing under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The athletes from Russia came out on top in the final round to win gold.
“I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times,” Biles posted on Instagram after the qualifying event. “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!”
Biles has qualified to compete in individual events later this week, but it remains to be determined if she will compete.
“We’re going to take it a day at a time,” she said Tuesday. “I know tomorrow that we have a half day or at least the morning off, so it will be a good mental rest and so we will take it from there.”
Biles’ comments on the emotional toll the Olympics have taken on her came as tennis superstar Naomi Osaka was eliminated from the Games after losing a third round match in straight sets.
Osaka, who took a months-long break from tennis due to what she said were mental health struggles, also spoke about the pressure she felt at the Olympics.
“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka said after her loss, adding, “I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure, so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”
Earlier this year, another Olympic athlete, Simone Manuel, revealed a burnout diagnosis after a loss at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, saying her body had, in her words, “completely crashed.”
Swimmer Michael Phelps, a 28-time Olympic medalist, has also been open about his mental health struggles, revealing he suffered from depression at even the height of his career.
Valorie Kondos Field, former longtime head coach of the UCLA Women’s Gymnastics team, said she hopes that athletes like Biles, Phelps, Osaka and Manuel speaking out about mental health opens the conversation on the type of pressures they face.
“You don’t just have the weight of America wanting you to win gold, you have infinitely more sponsorships than any other athlete,” Kondos Field told “Good Morning America.” “And then on a personal level you have your team and wanting to do well for your teammates.”
“It’s easy for us to put celebrities on that level on a different plane and say, ‘They brought it on themselves. They wanted it all,'” she said. “I hope that we as humans tap into our humanity and understand that all of these Olympians are people. They’re real people with real emotions and real feelings and real pressure.”
Kondos Field described how different it is for an athlete to experience a mental health issue compared to a physical injury.
“With a physical injury, you can see it and feel it and you know what’s wrong,” she said, noting that the adrenaline that comes with physical injuries can also power athletes to continue competing. “With a mental health issue, there’s no X-ray, like with a torn ACL, that can show us what’s going on.”
“And with mental stress, the concern I’ve always had is nobody really knows the layers that have compounded to get [an athlete like] Simone Biles to this level,” Kondos Field added. “She’s had to compartmentalize so much more than any of us know. It’s not just the game or the stress of being at the top of your game, it’s everything else that we don’t know.”
“You’ve got to believe in your team and I know that Simone has always shown support and believed in her teammates,” said Kondos Field. “It probably would have been a different result had she competed, but in that moment she didn’t feel that she could, and nobody can question the validity of that. That is her truth.”
“It was simply on that given day she felt that her teammates were going to be able to perform better than she could,” she said, noting that in gymnastics, competing not at the top of your game can result in severe injury.
Kondos Field added that she hopes Biles’ example sends a message of self-reliance and self-truth to people, including young athletes with hopes of reaching the Olympics one day.
“I think it’s a message to all of us that regardless of what people will say about us, if you can’t rely on yourself to take care of yourself, then you’re allowing other people to assume your truth and what’s going on really deep inside you,” she said. “I always invite young girls to be your own best friend, to take time to pause and really understand what’s going on inside of you regardless of what anyone is going to say.”
Winston Duke is leaving Wakanda behind — at least for a little while — to start a brand-new gig in Gotham City.
Duke, who became a breakout star in Black Panther with his portrayal of M’Baku, has been tapped to lead Spotify’s podcast series Batman Unburied, where he’ll voice the Dark Knight himself. Duke will be joined by Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs, who has signed on as Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler and right-hand man, Alfred.
The forthcoming series is described as a psychological thriller that “takes listeners deep into the mind of Bruce Wayne introducing a slew of dark twists and turns with a number of classic Batman Super-Villains.” In this narrative, Bruce is a forensic pathologist working at Gotham Hospital where he is “tasked with examining the victims of The Harvester, a gruesome serial killer preying on Gotham’s citizens.” The series follows Batman’s personal struggles with his own mental demons as he works to save the citizens of Gotham.
Additional casting for BatmanUnburied has yet to be announced.
As previously teased by Ariana Grande, the new promo for season 21 of The Voice has arrived.
The clip introduces Ari as the newest The Voice coach as she floats down on a crescent moon to join Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend around a campfire.
The coaches tell Ariana about their camping tradition, which requires the new coach to sing a song. She obliges, launching into a magical rendition of “Hopelessly Devoted.” The other coaches can’t help but sing backup — even the forest animals are mesmerized. Host Carson Daly even makes an appearance as a park ranger with a singing grizzly bear behind him.
“This is gonna be an amazing season,” Blake says, as Ariana winks at the camera.
Season 21 of The Voice debuts September 20 on NBC.
Diane Warren has called on a vast array of talent for her upcoming debut album, The Cave Sessions Vol. 1.
On Tuesday, the legendary songwriter unveiled the track list for the cross-genre album that includes a series of collaborations with country artists.
Maren Morris is featured on “I Save Me,” while Jimmie Allen appears on “You Kind of Beautiful.” Darius Rucker teamed up with the hit songwriter for the previously released “Times Like This.”
Other artists on the project include John Legend, Celine Dion, Carlos Santana, Jon Batiste, Sofia Reyes, Pentatonix and many others.
“Putting out an album with so many of my favorite artists is truly a dream come true!” Diane remarks on Twitter.
The Cave Sessions Vol. 1 is set for release on August 27.
Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace play Trevor and Phoebe, grandkids to legendary Ghosbuster Egon Spengler, who was played by the late series co-star and co-creator Harold Ramis. The original team, including Bill Murray‘s Dr. Peter Venkman, co-creator Dan Aykroyd‘s Dr. Raymond Stanz, and Ernie Hudson‘s Winston Zeddemore, are shown in an old photo with Spenger.
Inheriting a “creepy old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere,” the kids adapt to their new life. “So you’re saying he left us nothing?” their mom, played by Carrie Coon, asks returning player Annie Potts, reprising as Janine Melnitz.
“I wouldn’t say nothing,” Janine teases.
Sure enough, the kids find their grandfather left them the tools of his paranormal investigations and eliminations trade. At first, “nerdy” Phoebe unlocks a puzzle in the floor to reveal one of his signature ghost traps. Later, Trevor gets under the hood of a mothballed ECTO-1, and gets the original “Ghostbusters mobile” roaring back to life.
It’s just in time, too: spirits start emerging from a fissure in the earth. Soon enough, the teens are back at work busting ghosts — complete with some modern modifications to the team’s original gear.
The also teens look up the original Ghostbusters on — where else? — YouTube, and call the number on the old TV spot.
The trailer ends with a phone being answered, and Aykroyd heard saying, “We’re closed.”
Murray, Aykroyd, and Hudson are all returning as their original characters, as is Sigourney Weaver. Ghostbusters: Afterlife opens November 11.
(ATLANTA) — The 22-year-old man who killed eight people during a shooting rampage in March targeting Atlanta-area spas pleaded guilty Tuesday to four of the murders and accepted a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Robert Aaron Long entered his plea in Cherokee County Superior Court after answering a series of questions from Judge Ellen McElyea. He loathed his sexual addiction, he said, and it drove him to transfer blame from himself to sex workers at the spas he frequented for sex.
Long pleaded guilty to the killings he committed on March 16 at Young’s Asian Massage near the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock in Cherokee County.
Killed in the Cherokee County massacre were Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54.
Long still faces multiple murder charges in Fulton County, where he allegedly continued his shooting rampage at two different spas in Atlanta.
He was indicted in Fulton County for the deaths of Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; and Yong Ae Yue, 63.
Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace told McElyea that while most of the victims were Asian, a thorough investigation involving the FBI found no evidence to warrant bringing hate crimes against Long. Wallace said investigators interviewed more than 40 people, including Asian friends of Long, and found “this was not any kind of hate crime.”
McElyea responded, “Once hatred is given a gun, it doesn’t matter who gets in the way. We are all subject to being the victim of a hate crime, whether we belong to that group or not.”
In May, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed court documents saying her office intends to seek the death penalty and hate crime charges against Long.
Willis filed a motion last week requesting Long be transferred to the Fulton County jail following his court hearing in Cherokee County, and requested to schedule an arraignment for Long in Fulton County “on or before Aug. 6, 2021, or as soon as practical,” according to court documents.
Mark Hoppus recently took a significant step in his battle with cancer: he played his bass for the first time since being diagnosed.
The Blink-182 vocalist brought out his trusty instrument during a recent Twitch stream, which was posted by a fan on YouTube.
“This is the first time I’ve felt well enough to play my bass since I was diagnosed,” Hoppus said before playing along to a recording of Blink’s 2005 single, “Not Now.” “So this is the first time I’ve picked up my bass in a few months.”
Hoppus revealed in June that he’d been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer for the past three months. In a post on July 19, he shared that a recent scan indicated that the chemo was working.
“I still have months of treatment ahead, but it’s the best possible news,” he wrote.
