Pete Davidson and Phoebe Dynevor may be taking their relationship to the next level. Reports state that the SNL star is considering a move to the U.K. to be closer to his new love.
Sources tell OK! magazine that since the sketch comedy show has been on hiatus, “Pete’s been nesting with Phoebe across the pond, and the relationship is getting serious.” Dynevor is from the U.K. and is currently filming season two of the steamy Netflix hit Bridgerton.
The pair, who first sparked romance rumors in March, “are ready to take it to the next level,” the source adds, noting that Davidson’s contract with SNL is “coming up this year” and “it makes sense for him to think about moving.”
Davidson, 27, and Dynevor, 26, made their first public, and PDA-packed, appearance at Wimbledon on July 3, and while the insider notes that the two “may seem like an odd pairing,” they insisted “they’re the perfect match!”
Prior to Dynevor, The King of Staten Island star has been romantically linked to actress Kate Beckinsale and model Kaia Gerber, as well as pop star Ariana Grande, to whom he was engaged for five months.
(TOKYO) — The U.S. men’s gymnastics team came in fifth in the team competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
The athletes were up against powerful teams from Japan and China, as well as athletes from Russia competing under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). After going into the final rotation in fourth place, the U.S. dropped to fifth in the final scoring. Great Britain took fourth place.
It was a tight fight for the gold between the ROC team and Japan. The Russian athletes won in the end, with the last score determining who would come out on top. The difference between gold and silver was about two-tenths of a point.
China took home the bronze.
The U.S. team consisted of Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Shane Wiskus and Sam Mikulak, a 28-year-old veteran who returned for his third Olympics.
The group has become tight-knit and exuberantly supportive of each other as they sought success at these Games. After qualifying for the finals, Mikulak told his teammates in a huddle he had “never been on a team like this and he’d just had the time of his life out there,” Malone told People magazine.
Their strong finish featured impressive performances especially from Moldauer on floor and Mikulak on parallel bars.
An American men’s team has not medaled at the Olympics since 2008.
Although this was the final for the team competition, the men still have opportunities to medal in individual events.
Malone will compete in the all-around and horizontal bar event, Moldauer in floor, and Alec Yoder — who was not part of the official team but is competing as an individual for the U.S. — qualified for the pommel horse event final.
Of course, Mikulak is looking to bring home an elusive Olympic individual medal. He qualified for the finals in the individual all-around, taking place Wednesday, and in the parallel bars.
Camila Cabello performed her new song “Don’t Go Yet” live on TV for the first time on Friday on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, but some fans expressed concern over the appearance of one of her backup dancers.
The dance number included a diverse array of dancers dressed in 80s fashion — similarly to the song’s official music video. However, critics claimed one backup dancer, who is white, darkened his skin with makeup. This led to some accusing Camila of promoting “blackface.”
Camila denied the accusations when responding to the backlash and explained that the dancer was supposed to represent a white man with a bad orange spray tan.
Taking to Twitter, the Grammy nominee explained, “Hey! So this dude was just supposed to be a white man with a terrible spray tan. [W]e purposefully tried to pull together a multicultural group of performers, the expectation was not that everyone in the performance needed to be Latin.”
She continued, “There are white people, African American people, [L]atin people, etc. and so the point wasn’t to try to make everyone look Latin either. There are a lot of people in the performance who are not.”
“The point was to try to make each person look like an over the top 80’s character just like in the video, including a white dude with a terrible orange spray tan,” the “Havana” singer concluded, signing the note with a red heart emoji.
She also shared an Instagram story from the dancer in question, who posted a photo of his getup and captioned the snap, “In case you missed my spray tan last night.”
In a final tweet on Saturday, Camila teased fans that “Don’t Go Yet” is just the “appetizer of a full-course meal.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 summer surge as the delta variant spreads.
More than 610,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 57% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID-19 has infected more than 194 million people worldwide and killed over 4.1 million.
Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:
Jul 26, 9:11 am
Symptomatic breakthrough infections rare, CDC data estimates
New data shows how rare COVID-19 breakthrough infections likely are.
With more than 156 million Americans fully vaccinated, about 153,000 symptomatic breakthrough cases are estimated to have occurred as of last week, representing approximately 0.098% of those fully vaccinated, according to an unpublished internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document obtained by ABC News. These estimates reflect only the adult population and do not include asymptomatic breakthrough infections.
But in Provincetown, on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, at least 551 COVID-19 infections, many of them breakthroughs, were confirmed after the July Fourth weekend. Of the Massachusetts residents who tested positive as a result of the Provincetown cluster, 69% reported to be fully vaccinated, according to local officials.
Most people were symptomatic. Apart from three hospitalizations, symptoms from cases associated with this cluster were known to be mild and without complication, said Alex Morse, the town manager for Provincetown.
Jennifer Lopez is letting the world know she’s found love in an old flame and posted a photo of her and Ben Affleck sharing a sweet kiss over the weekend.
Lopez had jetted off to St. Tropez to celebrate her 52nd birthday and revealed that she had taken Affleck with her.
Sharing a slideshow of her beachy getaway on Saturday, JLo went Instagram official with her old flame. The first three pictures show the “On the Floor” singer flaunting her toned physique while the final snap is of her and Affleck kissing.
“5 2 … what it do … [pink heart emoiji],” Lopez cheekily captioned the post — sending her 166 million followers and her famous friends, such as Laverne Cox and Kelly Rowland, into a frenzy.
In April, Lopez and Affleck sparked rumors they were back together. Then, last week, when Lopez’s friend Leah Remini shared photos from her 51st birthday bash, she included a snap of Affleck, 48, wrapping his arms around her and Jennifer — marking the first time the couple was captured together on social media.
Lopez’s snap confirms what fans have been hoping to hear since the spring: Bennifer has officially rekindled their flame. Their romance began in 2002 and the two announced their engagement later that year. Jennifer and Ben never made it to the altar, though, going their separate ways in 2004.
Affleck married actress Jennifer Garner and went on to have three children with her. They divorced in 2015. Meanwhile, Lopez wed singer Marc Anthony and had twin children with him. Their marriage ended in 2011.
Lopez later became engaged to Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, but the two ended it in April.
Dexter, which ran for eight seasons on Showtime, will debut its limited-run return on November 7, the cabler revealed over the weekend, along with a new trailer.
The reboot picks up nearly a decade later, with Michael C. Hall‘s titular character now living under an assumed name in the small town of Iron Lake, New York. Despite embracing his new life, a series of unexpected events revives his Dark Passenger.
John Lithgow, who played Arthur Mitchell — a.k.a. the Trinity Killer — in the 2006-2013 Showtime crime series, confirmed to Deadline in June that Arthur would return in a flashback. Clancy Brown, Alano Miller, Johnny Sequoyah and David Magidoff round out the revival’s cast.
It was another surprise twist from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. Old, the latest thriller from the Split, Glass, and The Sixth Sense filmmaker, pulled off a major upset in the box office, creeping past Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins to grab the top spot with an estimated $16.5 million opening weekend.
Additionally, Old, starring Coco‘s Gael García Bernal, Little Women‘s Eliza Scanlen and Jumanji: The Next Level‘s Alex Wolf, also took in an estimated $6.5 million overseas.
Snake Eyes, starring Crazy Rich Asians‘ Henry Golding, was expected to beat out Old for the top spot, but instead settled for second place with an estimated $13.4 million. It trailed the other films in the series, including 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which opened with $54.7 million and $40.5 million, respectively.
Marvel’s Black Widow came in third, delivering an estimated $11.6 million in its third week. It crossed $150 million over the weekend, making it the fastest film to cross that plateau since before the pandemic. It has racked up a total of $315 million worldwide. Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Space Jam: A New Legacy, which topped the box office in its debut last week, fell to fourth place with an estimated $9.6 million — a nearly 70% decline in business.
F9 rounded out the top five, earning an estimated $4.7 million and pushing it past the $160 million mark stateside and $600 million worldwide.
(NEW YORK) — The rapid rebound in leisure travel is fueling a nationwide rental car shortage and price hikes at the pump.
If you’re planning on hitting the road this summer, here’s what experts say you can do to avoid any potential speed bumps:
Don’t wait to rent a car
At the height of the pandemic, rental car companies sold off half of their fleets, and when demand came roaring back they had trouble getting their hands on new cars due to the semiconductor shortage.
“We are in the heart of the car rental apocalypse right now,” Jonathan Weinberg, founder and CEO of AutoSlash.com, said. “And I’d love to say that we’re going to see it get better sometime soon, but it doesn’t look like it.”
He explained rental car locations in destinations like Hawaii, Alaska or anywhere near the national parks are completely sold out of cars right now. And if you can find a car, the rates are two to three times the normal rate.
Travel booking app Hopper said demand for rental cars is up 495% since January, and rental car prices are up 95% from the start of the year.
Given all the challenges, Weinberg recommended travelers start planning now if they need to rent a car anytime this summer, and certainly if they want to get away for Labor Day.
“We recommend people check pricing for rental cars before they book their airfare and hotels,” he said.
Avoid trying to book a rental car during peak travel times
If you are still working remotely or have flexible travel dates, AAA spokesperson Ellen Edmund said you are more likely to find a rental car.
“You might have more luck booking a car on the weekdays versus the weekends,” she said. “It’s just a little more planning this year.”
She also recommended working with a travel agent who can tell you what weeks might have a little lower travel volume.
“If you’re flexible with your dates, and you can consider different times, it will go a really long way in helping,” Edmund said.
Consider renting a U-Haul or van
Some travelers have turned to renting U-Hauls or vans given the rental car shortage.
“The times call for being creative,” Weinberg said.
Car rental company Hertz has a lot of cargo vans available, which they are giving customers a sizable discount on compared to traditional rental cars.
The only downside to consider is these vans only have two seats, and they are very large, so they might not be the best option if you are relying on city parking at your destination.
Look into peer-to-peer renting platforms like Turo
If there are no available cars at traditional rental car companies, or the prices are too high, you can try platforms like Turo that allow you to rent cars straight from the vehicle’s owner.
Many travelers in Hawaii have told ABC News that Turo was the only way they could get a car for a reasonable price.
But Weinberg urges potential renters to be cautious.
“We’ve heard some horror stories,” he said. “People being left high and dry who had reservations then at the last minute the host cancels on them because they realize that they can get more money from someone else.”
Budget for higher gas prices
Early on in the pandemic, national gas prices were sitting at around $2 per gallon on average for regular, but earlier this week they reached $3.17, according to AAA.
“What’s really driving this is higher demand as we see people hitting the roads for summer vacation,” Edmund told ABC News. “We are seeing demand at some of the highest rates in a few years.”
AAA expects gas prices to remain at around $3 throughout the summer, which is the highest rate they have seen in a “few years.”
“We’ve seen travelers offset these costs with cheaper activities once they reach their destination or packing food instead of eating out as much,” she said.
Consider planning a trip to a city that has public transportation or ride-share options
If the cost of a rental car and gas is daunting, you can consider traveling to a destination like New York City or Washington, D.C., that has a variety of public transportation options.
Most trains and buses are running their pre-pandemic schedules, but masks are required until September.
You can also try calculating how much ride-share apps like Uber or Lyft would cost if you used them during your trip instead of renting a car. Depending on how much you leave your hotel, or the distance of your activities, it might be cheaper.
Britney Spears‘ friend and longtime agent Cade Hudson has joined the chorus of people speaking out against her conservatorship.
TMZ reports Hudson took to his private social media account over the weekend to weigh in on the matter, sharing, “I’ve kept my mouth shut for 12 + years on Britney. Enough is enough. After getting thousands of death threats, getting water bottles thrown at my head in bars from bystanders telling me I’m brainwashing her -Britney lm [sic] now speaking up.”
Offering his explanation for Britney’s 2007 breakdown, Cade writes, “Britney who was accused of some errors as a new mom at 26 with 100 cameras in her face daily waiting to document any wrong move she did gets placed under a never-ending conservatorship?”
“Sexism at its best,” Cade declares.
“This is a violation of someone’s basic human rights that were taken away,” he continues. “I’ve kept my mouth shut out of the fear of losing my job as her agent and losing the career I worked my a** off for 15 years to build, out of threats from the man we all know who, but I won’t even dignify mentioning his name. I’m officially done being quiet.”
“The system and the public failed her,” he adds. “Her new attorney is the best of the best and knows that the work has just begun but it’s progress & hope and that’s all we can ask for now until action can be taken.”
“Time to get my girl and best friend back… @Britneyspears it’s your time – the world is listening and is on your side. The world NEEDS you freed and back,” Cade concludes.
(NEW YORK) — Although reports of breakthrough COVID-19 cases occurring among fully vaccinated Americans are garnering much attention, as the country experiences a viral resurgence, new data illustrates just how rare these breakthrough infections are likely to be, and further shows that the vast majority of those becoming severely ill are the unvaccinated.
“While anecdotal cases and clusters can conjure concern around the vaccine, when put in the larger context of how many people have been vaccinated and the sheer volume of cases in the unvaccinated population, we recognize that the vaccines are working and how rare breakthroughs actually are,” said Dr. John Brownstein, the chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
With more than 156 million Americans fully vaccinated, nationwide, approximately 153,000 symptomatic breakthrough cases are estimated to have occurred as of last week, representing approximately 0.098% of those fully vaccinated, according to an unpublished internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document obtained by ABC News. These estimates reflect only the adult population and do not include asymptomatic breakthrough infections.
Substantial vaccination coverage amid increasing COVID-19 case rates are driving an increase in “expected” symptomatic breakthrough infections in recent weeks, the CDC wrote in the document.
Experts stress that no vaccine can provide 100% protection, but they are still very effective at preventing severe illness and death.
“The risk to fully vaccinated people is dramatically less than that to unvaccinated individuals. The occurrence of breakthrough cases is expected and, at this point, is not at a level that should raise any concerns about the performance of the currently available vaccines,” Matthew Ferrari, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News.
“Some vaccinated folks may still get infected, some may still transmit. And the more vaccinated people there are, the more breakthrough cases we’ll see,” he added.
Coronavirus cases are now at their highest point since early May, according to CDC data, with the U.S. average nearly quadrupling since June to 47,000 new cases a day, largely driven by the highly infectious delta variant, which now accounts for more than 83% of new cases nationwide.
Virus-related hospitalizations have also increased, with more than 27,000 patients hospitalized around the country, though that number is still significantly lower than in January, when over 125,000 patients were receiving care at one time.
According to the White House COVID-19 Task Force, severe breakthrough infections remain rare, and nearly all of these hospitalized patients — 97% — are unvaccinated.
Earlier this week, the popular summer destination of Provincetown, Massachusetts, was thrust into the spotlight after at least 430 COVID-19 infections were confirmed, many of them breakthroughs, following a busy July Fourth weekend.
Confirmed cases among Massachusetts residents, stemming from the Provincetown cluster, have been found to be predominantly symptomatic, with 69% of affected individuals reported to be fully vaccinated, according to local officials. Apart from three hospitalizations — two in state and one out of state — symptoms from cases associated with this cluster are known to be mild and without complication, Alex Morse, the town manager for Provincetown, said.
“The transmissibility of the delta variant raises the likelihood of sporadic ‘super spreader’ events among vaccinated people, especially when indoors and in close proximity without masks. These events raise the risk to those unvaccinated while the vast majority of the breakthrough cases will be mild or asymptomatic,” Brownstein added.
Statewide in Massachusetts, state health officials report there have been at least 5,166 breakthrough infections as of July 17. More than 4,800 of these infections resulted in no hospitalization or death. A total of 80 of these breakthrough cases resulted in death, representing 0.0015% of individuals fully vaccinated — and 272 cases resulted in hospitalization, representing 0.006% of those fully vaccinated.
The hospitalizations and deaths that do occur among fully vaccinated individuals tend to occur among people who are older or those with serious underlying medical conditions for whom the vaccines may have reduced efficacy, experts said.
Ankoor Shah, principal senior deputy director at the Washington D.C. Department of Health, said during a Thursday press conference that the district had 200 fully vaccinated breakthrough cases of COVID-19, out of a total record nearly 376,000 fully vaccinated people, representing “only point .05 percent, which just strengthens our confidence on how great these vaccines are.”
And in New Jersey, the total number of breakthrough cases, so far, is 5,678 out of a total of 4.8 million people vaccinated by July 12, according to state data. Forty-nine fully vaccinated individuals have died as a result of COVID-19.
“It is important to point out that 49 deaths due to COVID-19 among 4.8 million fully vaccinated state residents is slightly greater than one in 100,000 fully vaccinated individuals. That means vaccines are about 99.999% effective in preventing deaths due to COVID-19,” Dr. Ed Lifshitz of the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement to ABC News.
Additionally, 27 of these individuals had pre-existing conditions, Lifshitz said, and many had more than one condition.
Of concern to some experts is the decline in daily COVID-19 tests, which makes it more difficult to track the spread of the virus. The nation is now recording just under 600,000 COVID-19 tests a day, which has ticked up slightly in recent weeks but is still much lower than at the country’s peak in January, when U.S. was recording over 2 million tests a day. In addition, the CDC has, since May, ceased reporting asymptomatic or mild breakthrough cases.
According to Brownstein, the combination of the overall testing decline, the mild nondescript nature of breakthrough infections, and the general perception that vaccines are protective, means that any count of breakthrough infections is likely an underestimate.
Hence, he said, “given the efficacy of the vaccines, we recognize that even more cases will be asymptomatic, so these data only show part of the story. While asymptomatic cases are not of clinical relevance, they do help understand important patterns of transmission in the community.”
Experts concur that even with lower case levels than this past winter, the pandemic is not yet over, and it is critical to track the disease in order to attempt to slow its spread.
In a recent editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, experts urged the CDC to “re-energize” its testing services in light of the highly transmissible delta variant, “because without vigorous testing, the nation cannot be sure whether declining cases are a function of decreased numbers of infections or reduced numbers of tests.”
“As long as the virus is circulating, with or without causing illness, it can change and mutate, including into new strains that may be even harder to control,” Samuel V. Scarpino, managing director of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation, told ABC News.
“To get ahead of the pandemic we need to track the virus more closely and collect high-quality information on how and where COVID-19 is changing,” he said. “This high-quality, detailed information is crucial for COVID-19 and future pandemics.”
