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| We've made it to Friday, Daily Briefing readers! Let's get to it. |
| Washington state's police academy is failing to ensure students have learned what they need to do their jobs, a new investigation reveals. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are among the Pacific Rim leaders who'll discuss an economic way forward from the coronavirus pandemic. And LeBron James is following in Michael Jordan's footsteps – but don't call his new hybrid animation "Space Jam 2" – it's "a new legacy," according to the director. |
| Steve and Jane are here with today's news. |
| 🌎New this morning: Graduates of the state of Washington's police training academy are unprepared to patrol streets, law enforcement leaders say. And the problems have existed for years. |
| ⚖ 'Let the people vote. Fight for justice': Ohio Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty was arrested by Capitol Police while participating in a voting rights demonstration. |
| 🦠The fourth wave of COVID-19 cases is here. Will we escape the U.K.'s fate? It's too soon to know. |
| 🏀 'An abundance of caution': The U.S. men's basketball exhibition game against Australia scheduled for Friday was canceled because of health and safety protocols. |
| 📺 'Jadon & Marcus & Bukayo': "Ted Lasso," star Jason Sudeikis showed his support for the three England soccer players who faced racist abuse in the aftermath of the Euro 2020 final with a special shirt. |
 | | Jason Sudeikis attends the "Ted Lasso" Season 2 premiere at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California. | | Amy Sussman, Getty Images | |
| 📝 Did you follow this week's news? Test your knowledge with our quiz! |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, hear who's blaming who for the assassination of Haiti's president. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| What else is happening today: |
Wildfires continue to rage in the West; Paradise, California on edge |
| Paradise, California, was virtually destroyed by the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history less than three years ago. Now, the town is nervously watching the Dixie Fire — 10 miles away. Since igniting Wednesday, the uncontained blaze has swept through more than 3½ square miles of mostly brush and timber. The fire is one of more than 70 in 12 states from California to Minnesota fueled by weeks of heat and drought in a relentless loop this summer. The largest blaze is the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which has burned through more than 330 square miles since igniting July 6. It remains only 7% contained, the Forest Service says, and full containment is expected before October. |
What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 Are you still stretching before your workout? Experts warn that practice could "lead to injury." |
| 🔵 'Failures...with no accountability': Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called for the firing of two Fulton County election officials. |
| 🔵 How we've failed Millie Bobby Brown: While the actress' childhood has been full of accolades, it has also been rife with media scrutiny, online bullying and sexualization. |
| 🔴 Teen baller goes viral: Zhang Ziyu, who is 7-foot-4 and just 14 years old, has taken the internet by storm in a video of her playing basketball, towering over her teammates and opponents. |
| 🔵 'Very proud of our tuna': Subway has launched a website defending its sandwich after a New York Times investigation claimed that its tuna isn't real. |
Biden, Pacific Rim leaders to discuss economic way out of pandemic |
| President Joe Biden, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the Pacific Rim leaders gathering virtually Friday to discuss strategies to help economies rebound from a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will chair the meeting of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Biden, who is expected to address several topics, will discuss his administration's efforts to serve "as an arsenal of vaccines to the world" and how alliance members can collaborate to bolster the global economy, the Associated Press reports. |
IOC officials visit Hiroshima, Nagasaki amid opposition |
| Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, visited Hiroshima in Japan on Friday and his vice president John Coates visited Nagasaki, ahead of the start of the Tokyo Olympics next week. A group of 11 anti-Olympic and pacifists groups submitted a letter to Tokyo opposing Bach's visit. The Games are happening despite a state of emergency in Tokyo and persistent opposition in Japan from the general public and the medical community due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bach and Coates are using the backdrop of the cities, hit with atomic bombs by the United States in 1945, to promote the first day of the so-called Olympic Truce — a tradition from ancient Greece that was revived by a United Nations resolution in 1993. |
| 🏅 Want behind-the-scenes access to the Tokyo Olympics? Sign up for USA TODAY's Olympic texts for exclusive access to the Games and athletes chasing gold. |
Newsmakers in their own words: NFL Network's Rich Eisen on getting COVID-19 |
 | | NFL Network broadcaster and talk radio host Rich Eisen | | USA TODAY graphic | |
| The NFL Network's Rich Eisen is quarantining with COVID-19, according to an Instagram post. Despite receiving both doses of the Pfizer vaccine in February, Eisen, 52, contracted the virus and does have symptoms. The broadcaster said health professionals told him the shots saved him from having a worse experience. |
Docuseries about tennis champ Naomi Osaka debuts on Netflix |
| "Naomi Osaka," a three-part docuseries about the four-time Grand Slam tennis champion, debuts Friday on Netflix. Film of wins and losses is interwoven with scenes of Osaka's time with family and her boyfriend, the rapper Cordae; her training and business demands; Osaka's reflections on her career, multiracial identity and her decision to protest police killings of Black men and women. Osaka, 23, withdrew from the French Open in May, citing "huge waves of anxiety" before speaking to the media and revealing that she has suffered long bouts of depression. She also skipped the just-ended Wimbledon. In a recent Time magazine essay, Osaka wrote that, "I do hope that people can relate and understand it's O.K. to not be O.K., and it's O.K. to talk about it." |
Also premiering on Friday ... |
| 📽 New documentary explores chef's "tortured" life: "Roadrunner" is a captivating portrait of the Anthony Bourdain as a restless spirit and live wire, writes USA TODAY's Patrick Ryan. The movie, out in theaters today, charts the beloved Bourdain's rise from struggling restauranteur to renegade star of CNN's "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown." |
| 📺 One of the Top 10 TV new shows of the summer: When TV critic Kelly Lawler compiled her list of best new series for the year's hottest months, Apple TV+ comedy 'Schmigadoon!', which premieres today, made the list. Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong play a couple on the rocks who wander into a mystical town where every day is a "Music Man"-style musical – and they can't escape. |
 | | Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key in "Schmigadoon!" premiering July 16. | | Apple TV+ | |
'Space Jam: A New Legacy' premieres in theaters, HBO Max |
| Welcome to the Space Jam, LeBron James style. Twenty-five years after Michael Jordan took to the court with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang, James on Friday entered the beloved film arena with his own take, "Space Jam: A New Legacy." And once again, a new generation's basketball GOAT battles for his very existence against impossibly formidable Goon Squad opponents. How did James carve his own path? We asked the filmmakers. "We made our own movie, paying homage to the past. We did copy that structure," says director Malcolm D. Lee. "But we didn't want to call it 'Space Jam 2' because it's not truly a sequel. It's a new version, a new legacy." |
ICYMI: Some of our top stories on Thursday |
| 🌕 Brace for flooding: Thanks to a "wobble" in the moon's orbit and rising sea levels, every coast in the U.S. will face rapidly increasing high tide. |
| 🧴 Johnson & Johnson is recalling five of its sunscreen products after low levels of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer, were found in samples. |
| 🔴 'Reichstag moment': Military leaders made informal plans to stop a coup by former President Donald Trump and his allies, according to excerpts from a new book. |
📸 Photo of the day: Smile! It's the Cannes Film Festival 📸 |
 | | (From left) Haitian director Gessica Geneus, Haitian actress Nehemie Bastien, Haitian actress Fabiola Remy and Haitian actress Djanaina Francois pose during a photocall for the film "Freda" as part of the Un Certain Regard selection at the 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, France, on July 15, 2021. | | CHRISTOPHE SIMON, AFP via Getty Images | |
| After being canceled last year because of the pandemic, the 74th Cannes Film Festival returned as a star-studded in-person, summertime event. |
| Tap here to see more celebrity photos from the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. |
| The Daily Briefing is free, but several stories we link to in this edition are subscriber-only. Please support our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today. |
| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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